Do former Soviet states speak Russian?

Only five former Soviet republics now have Russian as an official language alongside their own: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Is Russian a valuable language to learn?

Russian is an incredibly important language on the world stage, and one that is highly sought after. Therefore, learning Russian is a highly rewarding and highly regarded skill, and will continue to be for years to come.

Where did the Russians get their language?

Kievan Rus’
Classification. Russian is an East Slavic language of the wider Indo-European family. It is a descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus’, a loose conglomerate of East Slavic tribes from the late 9th to the mid 13th centuries.

Did everyone in the Soviet Union speak Russian?

Soviet language policy Everyone had the right to use their own language, both in private and public, as well as in correspondence with officials and while giving testimony in court. The USSR was a multilingual state, with around 130 languages spoken natively.

What language did Soviets speak?

Together with Ukrainian and Belarusian, the Russian language makes up the eastern branch of the Slavic family of languages. Russian is the primary language of the overwhelming majority of people in Russia and is also used as a second language in other former republics of the Soviet Union.

Is Russian more useful than Spanish?

Though Russia geographically looks larger – Spanish has a much wider reach. Spanish is a very popular second language in the United States. It’s actually considered one of the more useful languages to learn to live in the US, explains DayTranslations.

How does the Russian language work?

Russian pronunciation and phonology The Russian language alphabet is a variation of Cyrillic script. It has 33 letters, including 20 consonants, 10 vowels, one semivowel («й», which is similar to the letter “y” in English), and two unvoiced modifiers, or “signs”.

Is Russian harder to learn than English?

Of all the European languages a native English speaker can learn, Russian is among the most difficult. The Germanic and Romance languages have a lot of the same core because they both have roots in Latin. Russian is from a completely different language branch called the Slavonic branch, which includes Czech and Polish.

Which countries still have Russian as an official language?

Only five former Soviet republics now have Russian as an official language alongside their own: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. But even in these countries, the issue of language remains contentious.

Will the Russian Language Ever Fall Out of use?

But experts say in many former Soviet republics, where Russian used to be widespread, the language is starting to fall out of use. “It’s very possible that in a few decades, Russian will no longer be spoken there. Or, at least, it will exist, but only as a foreign language that is taught in schools like any other.”

Is Russian still important in the former Soviet republics?

Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics. In Belarus, Russian is a second state language alongside Belarusian per the Constitution of Belarus. 77\% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 67\% used it as the main language with family, friends, or at work.

What happened to the Russian language in the Soviet Union?

The revolutionary policy (10th Congress, 1921) abandoned russification and proceeded to implement the pluralist policy, but reserving a role for Russian, as centrist meaning that it would be the lingua franca, the language used by the military, in meetings of the Supreme Soviet, by the central government, etc.