Learn where Russian is spoken
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Intro |
|---|
| Michael: Where is Russian spoken? |
| Saodat: And how many varieties of Russian are there? |
| Michael: At RussianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following scenario: Emma Eliasheva is meeting Natalia Ivanova for the first time. On hearing her speak Russian, Natalia asks, |
| "Where did you learn Russian?" |
| Наталья Иванова: Где ты учила русский? (Gde ty uchila russkiy?) |
| Dialogue |
| Наталья Иванова: Где ты учила русский? (Natal'ya Ivanova: Gde ty uchila russkiy?) |
| Эмма Элиашева: В Кыргызстане. (Emma Eliasheva: V Kyrgyzstane.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Наталья Иванова: Где ты учила русский? (Gde ty uchila russkiy?) |
| Michael: "Where did you learn Russian?" |
| Эмма Элиашева: В Кыргызстане. (V Kyrgyzstane.) |
| Michael: "In Kyrgyzstan." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, we'll focus on where Russian is spoken in the world. |
| Saodat: Русский язык (Russkiy yazyk) |
| Michael: or Russian is most widely spoken in Central Asia, as well as the Caucasus, Baltic States, and Eastern Europe. |
| This Indo-European language, which is also considered an East Slavic language, is spoken as a first language by around 150 million people worldwide of which around 144 million are residents of Russia. Additionally, around 110 million people speak Russian as a second language. |
| This gives us an impressive number of around 260 million people who speak Russian as a first or second language, but if Russia has only 144 million citizens, where else can we hear Russian? |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: To answer this question let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Natalia asks "Where did you learn Russian?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Saodat: Где ты учила русский? (Gde ty uchila russkiy?) |
| Michael: And how Emma answered "In Kyrgyzstan?” |
| Saodat: В Кыргызстане. (V Kyrgyzstane.) |
| Michael: Kyrgyzstan is one of many Russian-speaking countries and was part of the |
| Saodat: Советский Союз (Sovetskiy Soyuz) |
| Michael: or Soviet Union until 1991, when the Soviet Union was dissolved. The entire territory of the Soviet Union, also called the |
| Saodat: Союз Советских Социалистических Республик (Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik ) |
| Michael: or Union of Soviet Socialst Republics, Russian was the default language, which means that all countries that were a part of the Union had to use Russian as their official language. Up to today, countries like Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan use Russian, next to their own languages, as an official language. Moreover, in countries that were a part of the |
| Saodat: СССР (SSSR) |
| Michael: or USSR, like Ukraine, Armenia, Latvia, and Georgia, you will still find a huge number of people speaking fluent Russian. |
| Today, it is still routine for formal politics and business to be carried out in Russian for those countries once belonging to the Soviet Union. Large populations of Russian speakers can be found in other countries as well, including Israel and Mongolia. In North America, Russian is particularly prevalent amongst diasporic Jewish communities in places like New York and parts of Canada, for example. |
| Russian is also an official language of organizations such as the commonwealth of independent countries, the United Nations, or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, we learned that Russian is spoken in many countries located in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: The Soviet Union didn't only influence the countries belonging to the Union itself, but also countries which signed the |
| Saodat: Договор о дружбе, сотрудничестве и взаимной помощи (Dogovor o druzhbe, sotrudnichestve i vzaimnoy pomoshchi) |
| Michael: in English, “Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance,” also known as the Warsaw Pact, in 1955. |
| Simplifying, we could say that this organization had a similar function as the widely known NATO but was focused on the USSR and its political supporter states, such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, Albania, and the German Democratic Republic. |
| Until the dissolution of the Soviet Union, all of these countries had to teach Russian as a second language in school. This is why, while visiting those countries, you might still be able to communicate with eldery people using Russian. |
| After the dissolution of the USSR, some countries still continued to teach Russian as a second language. In Germany, for example, Russian can be chosen in many schools as a third obligatory language to learn. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Saodat: Пока! (Poka!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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