Belarusian phrasebook

Belarusian and Russian are the two official languages of Belarus, but Russian is more widely spoken. Although Belarusian has been compulsory in all schools since independence, it is difficult to get by in Belarus without some knowledge of Russian. In the cities, most people speak Russian as their first language and have limited proficiency in Belarusian, while you are more likely to meet a native Belarusian speaker in rural villages. Codeswitching between Russian and Belarusian, known as Trasianka, is common among the rural youth. Belarusian is most closely related to Ukrainian, and somewhat more distantly related to Russian. The Belarusian language also exhibits strong Polish influences that are not found in Russian due to Belarus' history as part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. All road signs and many street signs in Belarus are written in Belarusian.

Belarusians have used both Cyrillic and Latin alphabets throughout centuries. Belarusian Tatars also used the Arabic script for writing in Belarusian. Nowadays, the Cyrillic alphabet is the main writing system for the Belarusian language.

The Belarusian Latin alphabet has several variants. The one that has been adopted by the government and approved by the United Nations for transliteration of Belarusian geographical names is based on the variant that has been in use since the 1920s. This transliteration standard is used in maps published in Belarus, in Minsk metro and on the Belarusian Railway website. Transliteration of Belarusian geographical names from their Russian forms (e.g. Grodno instead of Hrodna) is still common and can be confusing for tourists.