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Comment by aj-4 | Hacker News Reader

Estonia and its people are culturally the most similar to Finland - in fact none of the baltic countries are slavic - and all speak exceptional English (better than Western Europe). They are very pro-EU countries whom have benefitted greatly economically and 'defensively' (vs Russia, at least in terms of peace of mind). What will continue to limit Russia are its authoritarian attitudes towards information and trade.

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The part about English spoken in the Baltic is vastly untrue -- outside (center of) Tartu and Tallinn [the 2 biggest cities] English is not that well spoken when it comes to Estonia. Latvia is similar - mostly Riga (even though Russian is more profoundly spoken). Most of the younger generation could have an ok English but nothing remarkable, even doctors may not have good English. I don't have good enough impressions of Lithuania, although it's not uncommon to fall back to Russian in restaurants.

Compared to Denmark or Norway where virtually everyone (from kids to elderly people) actually speak decent English, none of the Baltic countries have 'exceptional English'.

Compared to the Nordic countries or Netherlands, 'exceptional' might be the wrong word. But certainly compared to, say, Germany or France, the level of English is in my experience considerably higher in the Baltics (and in Poland too). I say this having lived in both Germany and France and visited all the Baltic countries.

"Even doctors may not have good English" -- in Paris I'm happy to find one that will speak English at all. Do not underestimate how unwilling or afraid to speak English a lot of people are even in places like Paris and Berlin.

I agree about Germany (depends a lot on the city, though) or esp. France.

Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian (which is non indo european language) have virtually no non-native speakers and large amounts of the Russian born citizens (and aliens) may not speak the language, rendering English a good choice to obtain information. Having tiny user base forces the case compared to France, Germany or Italy (imo worse than both France/Germany).

For instance movies at the theater (and largely on the TV) have no dubbing unless they are targeted to kids who are unable to read.

>will continue to limit Russia

Russia doesn't seem very limited to me.

"Russia-China Bilateral Trade Up 30% In Q1 2017" [0]

"Russia upgraded to top rank in world wheat exports in 2017-18" [1]

"In Moscow, Saudi king slams Iran, signs billion dollar defense, energy deals" [2]

"King Salman and Putin Deals Leave the U.S. Out in the Cold" [3]

"Russia, world's 2nd-biggest arms seller, wants to expand its arms sales abroad" [4]

[0] https://www.russia-briefing.com/news/russia-china-bilateral-...

[1] http://www.agrimoney.com/news/russia-upgraded-to-top-rank-in...

[2] https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-moscow-saudi-king-slams-ira...

[3] https://www.rand.org/blog/2017/10/king-salman-and-putin-deal...

[4] http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-russia-poised-to-expand-it...

That's some great info and thanks for sending those.

Check out another one I found -- "Russia US Trade up 25% in 2017"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenroberts/2017/04/22/russia-u-...

There no doubt that Russia is still a major player in trade, in fact economists see it as one of the countries with the most potential for development in BRIC (brasil russia india china).

Unfortunately, the way the strata of government and society are has left the population to stagnate in terms of their well being and they are missing the opportunities in new-age, non-oligarchical industries - Russia is held back by its antiquated social structures and lacks incentive to change.

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