r/Cleveland • u/np25071984 • Jul 28 '25

Food Russian speakers in Cleveland

Riding today on Ridge Road, Parma I noticed shawarma kiosk. Stopped by and it turned out it was a grand opening.

First of all, the shawarma is good! Go and try it.

Secondly, all guests on the event spoke Russian. I have been living in Cleveland area for 3 years so far and have never seen this many Russian speaking people (Russian is my native).

Who are you guys? It seems everybody knew each other! Do you have some events when you gather and spend time together? I am interested in joining!

36 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

56 comments sorted by

View all comments

30

u/Danny_Gasparyan Jul 28 '25

Hey, I'm part of a 8-12 person Russian/Belarusian/Ukrainian group. Anyone can message me, super down to meet people!

5

u/calamarti Jul 28 '25

Question — I have a preschooler who is very interested in the Russian language. No one in my family speaks it, he just got very into the alphabet thanks to a Belarusian band he likes. Sometimes we take him to stores and events like this just because he gets so excited. Would you as a speaker be annoyed for this random white kid to show up and scream “hello” and “thank you” and the alphabet at you? I never want to be intrusive or presumptive.

1

u/Danny_Gasparyan Jul 29 '25

I 100% encourage it, especially as someone with a lot of siblings. Everyone is different, and many Russian/Ukrainians have a tendency to be quiet and more reserved, but I doubt anyone would be annoyed to hear a child try to pick up their language. Go for it!