The Russian Language in the World

Without knowing the language, we can hardly imagine our acquaintance with Russia and Russian culture, studying at Russian universities, and adaptation to the living conditions in Russia. And here it should be noted that Russian not only performs a communicative function, transferring information from person to person, but also is a guide to Russian culture in its multinational diversity.

The Russian language is one of the most widely spoken languages on our planet. Russian ranks 8th among the most popular languages in the world. English and Chinese rank 1st and 2nd respectively by a long shot.

The widespread use of the Russian language internationally is historically contingent and has its characteristic features. In the period of establishment of Russian nationhood, the country gained new territories. Interestingly, it often happened on the initiative of small peoples that handed in a petition to the Russian ruler to become part of Russia, while preserving their national and cultural identity. In these historical processes, the Russian language ensured integration, developing a diverse common ethnocultural landscape. It is no coincidence that Russian has many vocabulary items (words) that originate from the languages of indigenous peoples, constituting the ethnic diversity of contemporary Russia.

Russian today

• The language of international communication. Fifteen international organizations such as the UN and global associations use Russian as an official and working language.
• The Internet language. This is proved by the fact that Russian ranks 2nd by the number of Russian-language websites and 9th by the number of Russian-speaking users of the web.
• The language of science. Russian ranks 5th by the number of scientific publications, according to Web of Science and Scopus.
• The language of mass media. With 32,543 periodicals published in Russian worldwide, the great and mighty Russian language ranks 7th in the world.

Taking into consideration socio-political shifts and the development of international cooperation, proficiency in Russian as a foreign language has become an advantage and a valuable asset in professional development. Even now, there is an increasing number of RFL learners. They want to get an education in Russia, build a successful career as well as immerse themselves in the wealth of great culture and its heritage.

That is why the HED magazine is launching a large-scale project “Say It in Russian,” as part of which the magazine will publish the content about the Russian language, subtle aspects of its grammar, tips for learners as well as educational and awareness-raising articles about Russian culture and mentality.