Russian is a Slavic language spoken primarily in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Moldova, Latvia, Estonia, and to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics of the USSR. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of three living members of the East Slavic languages.
It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages. It is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the 8th most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers and the 4th by total number of speakers. The language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
Why Learn Russian?
- Russian is a great cultural language. When you speak Russian you can read Chekhov’s plays, Dostoevsky’s novels, read avant-garde posters and understand Vladimir Visotsky’s songs or Red Army Choirs
- Russia sits on the Council of Europe, even though it’s not a member of the European Union
- Russia is one of the great economic players in the contemporary world
- Russian tourists and businessmen are travelling more and more to Europe
- The knowledge of Russian is a good asset for an international career
- When you speak a Slavic language, you can easily learn other languages of the same family (Bulgarian, Polish, Czech)
- Russian is a working language in International Institutions
- Russia is a member of the G8 and of the UN Security Council
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