Why Russian universities annually try to attract as many foreign students as possible is understandable: their number is one of the most important performance indicators educational institution and a way to replenish the budget (most of them study for a fee). But why do foreign students go to Russia to study Russian with such zeal today? The editors of "NE" tried to find out why foreign youth needed one of the most complex languages in the world.

200 foreigners entered the Ural Federal University this year, State University 80 ways of communication, 67 to the mountain, 41 to the pedagogical one. Today, universities were worried that due to the unstable political situation in the world, students from abroad would come by an order of magnitude less than last year. The catastrophe did not happen: the number of foreigners on average decreased by only three to five percent.

According to Ekaterina Lyubimova, director of the UrFU Institute of International Education, there are some of the most common scenarios by which foreign students enter Russian universities. Some guys participate in competitions for state grants and scholarships that cover all tuition costs. Others participate in intercollegiate exchange programs, which work on the principle: you - to us, we - to you. In most foreign universities, participation in such programs is required condition for every student. As a rule, the duration of such training is six months. Of course, the guys cannot master any specialty in just one academic semester, but they are quite successful in learning the local language and getting to know the peculiarities of the country.

Quite often, enterprises send foreign students to study in Russia, which in this way train their own workforce. For example, this year, three Mongolian students will study at USMU under the direction of the Erdenet company.

But, paradoxically, most often foreign youth enter Russian universities without any state support and university areas - on their own. And this is despite the fact that no state-funded places are allocated for this category, and they pay 20 percent more for education than Russian students.

“Those who come to study in Russia as “savages” can conditionally be divided into three categories,” says Ekaterina Lyubimova. - The first is businessmen who are going to cooperate with Russian market. For example, some Hungarian works in a large automobile concern and dreams of becoming the manager of this enterprise in Eastern Europe. Without knowledge of Russian, nothing shines for him. Where will he go to learn the language? That's right, to Russia. The second category is international affairs: diplomats, translators, guides, consultants, managers. There is a third - it includes children, grandchildren of emigrants who once left Russia. These guys do not want to lose their national identity, so they go to study the homeland of their ancestors.

Of course, work, business, national self-identification is far from a complete list of reasons why foreigners learn Russian and join our culture. We tried to learn more stories from the guys themselves, who temporarily moved to Yekaterinburg from far abroad and study at UrFU. To be honest, it was not easy: despite years of cramming, they still speak Russian with great difficulty.

Self-education yielded no results. Went to Moscow. I remember how on the first day in Russia I sat in a minibus in the place behind the driver. Passengers started handing me money, but I didn't know what to do with it. When everyone started yelling at me, I jumped out of the vehicle out of fear. In general, the capital scared me with its rhythm of life, which I did not fit into.

Friends recommended me to move to Yekaterinburg, which I did in 2011, when I entered UrFU at the Faculty of Philology with specialized Russian. Already in the second year he developed his own program and began to teach English privately. On the one hand, I am happy with such earnings, on the other hand, it upsets me that any foreigner in Russia can imagine himself a teacher. If you know the language perfectly, it does not mean at all that you can teach it.

I feel good about Russia. In the US, many people think your country is dictatorial, but it's not. For me, there are much more liberties and freedom here than in my homeland. I plan to stay here for another three or four years, and then life will show. After graduation, I plan to get a job as a Russian-English translator.

I would love to stay in Yekaterinburg, but it is very difficult for me to endure the harsh Ural winters. It is even harder to understand your participles, prefixes, declensions of words and their case forms. I know many Russian students whose English is simply indistinguishable from native speakers. But the reverse situation - did not meet.

I think the Russian language will come in handy for me - after all, it is one of the eight UN languages. Besides, I'm a doctor, and who knows who I'll have to treat tomorrow.

Despite an in-depth study of the Russian language, I never learned to read Russian literature in the original. I do not get any pleasure from this, so I read everything in translation.

I myself began to learn Russian at Xi'an University. After graduating I wanted to do commercial activities. But after a trip to Yekaterinburg, I realized that teaching is closer to me. Now I teach at the Confucius Institute of UrFU. In addition, I am engaged in tutoring with Russian students. According to my observations, the Chinese language in Russia is now in second place in popularity. This suggests that our countries are interested in each other.

By my first education I am a teacher of the Russian language. However, at one time I taught not my native language, but Russian as a foreign language. After observing the (m)teachings of Indian and Arab students of one of the medical schools of the country in which I was lucky enough to work as a teacher of the preparatory faculty, as well as talking with citizens of various countries during my life abroad, I can safely name 8 reasons why learning the Russian language is so difficult for foreigners.

Cyrillic

Russian letters are absolutely different from the usual, for example, in English-speaking countries, Latin. If the letters “k”, “o” or “m” usually quickly find a common language, then thanks to such letters as “v” or “r”, teachers of Russian as a foreign language sometimes have to hear the expression “Please bring me bodies ” and “beautiful farts” instead of reading the words “water” and “hands”. If a smart foreigner still manages to quickly distinguish and learn all our letters, then his or her difficulties begin at the moment when he or she realizes that the spelling of Russian letters often unfortunately differs from their printed version.

Phonetics

When teaching pronunciation, it is always relevant to rely on the native language, where pronunciation skills are automated. Learning to pronounce our stop consonants "u" or "c", another foreigner runs the risk of breaking the language in the truest sense of the word, because in some peoples these sounds often do not occur at all. And our incomparable vibrating "r"? In foreign films, the front-lingual sound “r” is an integral distinguishing feature of the speech of Russian characters. And this is not accidental, because not every foreign articulatory apparatus can do this sound. So, for example, for a German, if he is not a resident of the southern part of Germany, where dialects with the front-lingual “r” are found, the word “hello” is often difficult to give. Thais, on the other hand, cannot pronounce this sound at all and replace “r” with “l”. Try to learn a language here if you can't even pronounce its name.

accents

Probably, more than one impulse to learn the “great and mighty Russian language” ruined our “accents”. Here, even the most understanding Russian-speaking person, by the end of school, did not always understand where and how to correctly place these migrating stresses of ours, but how to understand for a foreigner why, for example, in the word "frost" the unstressed "o" is read as "a".

Russian grammar

Photo: goodmoments/iStock/Getty Images

This is the pain of any foreigner who decides to learn our language. Cases are also found in other language groups, but we have six of them. If we automatically inflect nouns and adjectives depending on their number and gender, then foreign citizens one has only to sympathize, because they have to memorize it all. Our verbs also do not make life easier for foreigners and their Russian language teachers, because not everyone will be able to explain and understand the difference between the verbs “ate” and “ate”.

Exceptions

For every rule there is an exception in our language. In one of the foreign textbooks on the Russian language, which somehow fell into my hands, it was written that there is no rational explanation for this or that exception to the rule, but for some reason Russians must write “zhi” - “shi” with the letter "i". And again I think about the same Germans who are used to living and teaching strictly by the rules. However, faced with the grammar of the Russian language, they have to deviate from the usual mechanisms and discover new possibilities of their brain, because there are often such foreigners who communicate freely and grammatically correctly, read and write in Russian.

Foreign school systems

The Russian language, unfortunately, is rarely part of the school curriculum abroad. But the first acquaintance with any foreign language, as a rule, begins at school. At the same time, interest in a particular language often arises. In ordinary European schools, students are primarily offered English, Spanish or even Latin to choose from. In this case, the choice of a student is often influenced by a possible future profession or the geographical proximity of the country of carriers. foreign language. Russia, on the other hand, seems to many to be a very distant and exotic country - both for work and for travel.

Limited contact with native speakers

The fastest way to learn any foreign language is among native speakers of that language. It is customary for foreign students, for example, to spend one of the semesters in another country. During this time, they often learn a foreign language. In our country, such student exchange programs are not very common, so the language practice of many foreigners who study our language boils down to the question “How to get to ...” during tourist trips around Russia. Also, foreign youth likes to arrange a year of work and travel before entering a university. To decide on plans for life and learn a foreign language, they travel around the world as nannies or farm workers. Since this type of part-time travel, unfortunately, is not fully developed in our country, foreigners most often have to learn Russian from textbooks, which greatly complicates and drags out this actually very exciting process.

Russian wives and their relatives

Since the Russian people are quite inquisitive and versatile, Russian women, for example, marrying a foreigner and getting to another country, readily and eagerly begin to learn the language of their husband. Whether behind this is a desire to control his correspondence in social networks or a keen interest in a foreign language, but Russian women quickly master new language. Foreign husbands then simply do not need to learn Russian. Only if a foreigner certainly wants to communicate with Russian relatives without intermediaries, he begins to attend language courses. However, when he comes to Russia and rejoices at the opportunity to practice the Russian language in the homeland of its speakers, he, to his surprise, realizes that his wife’s uncles, aunts and even grandparents are more happy to try to communicate with him, remembering their school curriculum in one or another foreign language.

In fact, there are probably more reasons why it is difficult for a foreigner to learn Russian, and each foreigner has his own. The reason why someone obeys a foreign language, despite any grammatical, geographical or family barriers, is only one - and this is desire. And if it is, then no exceptions to the rules or phonetic tricks can stop a person from comprehending a new language, and with it the culture, character and history of another people. And if such a desire brings a foreigner into the Russian-speaking environment, his patience and work are rewarded not only with the opportunity to read Tolstoy and Dostoevsky in the original, but also bring him closer to unraveling the mysterious Russian soul.

Today, September 26, the European Day of Languages ​​\u200b\u200bis celebrated - with the aim of maintaining linguistic diversity, bilingualism of every European, developing the teaching of various languages ​​​​in the world and their study.

Our experts from different countries answered the question "" - "Why should foreigners learn Russian?"

Elena Eremenko prepared a material on multilingualism in Europe.

My brother and I were ordinary Soviet children, very independent. Like everyone else, we ourselves were going to school, we ourselves went to different circles-sections, entertained ourselves while our parents were at work. Then, quite a long time ago, we had a favorite game - when the rhythms of foreign pop music or songs performed by artists of the Union republics sounded on Mayak radio - we played the game invented by us "Guess the language" - the one who guessed in what language the song sounded won.

I must say that it was quite difficult, the sound background of radio and television in those distant years of our childhood was surprisingly polyphonic.

The languages ​​of the Warsaw Pact countries, the polyphony of the Soviet Union - all this linguistic diversity sounded and sang on radios every day. Remember how everyone joked about the mandatory quota for all "fraternal peoples" at any holiday concert? But on the other hand, I can still learn most of the languages ​​\u200b\u200bof the former Soviet Union and, in fact, I am very happy when, somewhere in Berlin, in a museum where tourists from all over the world are crowded, I recognize not only Polish speech, but also guess Latvians and Estonians .

Today, September 26, Europe, where I now live, celebrates a wonderful holiday, the European Day of Languages.

The idea is very nice - there are 47 states in Europe, many languages, and it is important that all these languages ​​are preserved, not gone into oblivion. A few years ago, a large and much needed campaign was launched in Europe to promote the policy of multilingualism. Its goal is to preserve European languages ​​and ensure that every inhabitant of a united Europe has the opportunity to master the languages ​​of neighboring countries.

This very wise decision should have protected European languages ​​from the onslaught of the English language, which, of course, continues to be very popular in all corners of Europe. And, as a rule, it is English that Europeans choose for interethnic communication, forgetting that there are many other opportunities.

It even seems to me that multilingualism in Europe has somehow not worked out yet. At least in the most advanced in all matters, Germany - if you turn on the radio, the only foreign language, of course, will be English.

You'll be lucky if you find Radio Kultura - there you can hear some Italian, French, Spanish and maybe more Portuguese. But what about other languages, you ask. And there are none, practically, they do not sound. And this is very sad.

Why teach Russian to foreigners? This question was answered by residents of several European countries.

Snezhana Bodishteanu ( Malta): Oh... If you start with humor, then - firstly: find yourself a Russian beauty! Secondly: US government agencies are now recruiting specialists with knowledge of Russian ...

Well, from my point of view: the Russian language, in spite of everything, is the main one in science, since most of the laboratories in the West are under the guidance of specialists nurtured by Russia.

And one more thing - if you learn Russian, then a foreigner can get a very strong language for free. technical education at our Russian university.

If we talk further about the promotion of linguistic diversity, then we need to go to bookstores and look at translated literature. Here the picture is somewhat rosier - a lot of translated literature from the Polish language, the result of long-term cultural projects. It goes without saying that the quality factor also played - Polish literature is interesting reading.

As for literature, for example, the Baltic countries, here is a failure. It is difficult to judge how things are with the authors now, but as a child I read fairy tales of Lithuanians and Latvians and, by the way, I also learned about the island of Saaremaa thanks to a book about the adventures of an Estonian boy. Then I always wanted to visit those places, I memorized words from these languages ​​with pleasure and still remember them.

If we talk about practice - about learning a language, you need to look at what is happening at school. As the first foreign children, as a rule, they learn English, this is understandable. And then, you need to choose a second foreign language, often from the fifth grade, but there are not so many offers and the situation has not changed due to the growth of the European Union. The language policy of Germany was influenced only by an agreement with its neighbor France, on the symmetrical study of languages.

Ravid Gore (Israel): The role of Russia in the world economy and geopolitics is constantly growing in last years. It is useful for foreigners to learn Russian in order to discover new opportunities in different areas activities: business, politics, culture, media. Especially given the fact that Russian is still slightly easier to learn than its closest competitor, Chinese.

A foreigner who speaks Russian will get a huge advantage over competitors, and as a bonus, he will always be able to feel at home in a vast territory the globe, finding a common language with representatives of more than one and a half hundred nationalities.

In the set of offers of German schools, Spanish is the leader, which everyone wants to learn, but there are not so many opportunities, and French, which children do not choose so willingly. But here they did without democracy: French was ordered to be taught, so that German was taught in France - such an exchange. There is Latin, but not much of it either.

A slightly different picture at universities - there is a larger choice of languages ​​in the language centers, you can find Czech, Polish, but the rest of the linguistic diversity of Europe is still unexplored land.

And what about the Russian, at this celebration of life?

How are things, for example, in Germany? The Russian language is not for Germany the language of a neighboring country and does not belong to the language of the national minorities of the European Union, therefore it does not fall under the rules formulated by the policy of multilingualism. (But you need to remember that Russian is a neighbor language for several EU countries.)

Well, not everything is so bad here - the Russian language has its own special destiny and road in Germany. Of course, the Russian language is heard here quite often - several million of our compatriots have moved here for permanent residence and Russian remains the first language of communication in their families for them. Russian, as a rule, is also spoken by citizens who are already free, independent states- Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic countries, Armenians, Georgians, Uzbeks, Kazakhs - the generation that is over thirty.

Our compatriots opened hundreds of schools with their public organizations, where you can learn the language on weekends, there are already schools full cycle. These schools from the very beginning were designed not only for children from Russian-speaking families, but also for those Germans who want to learn Russian.

Ekaterina Blinova-Villeron(France): "Judging by the foreigners who go to our courses, this is a business - they already work in companies cooperating with Russia.

And personal life - married to a Russian, or going to.

There is another contingent, small - just like it as an unusual hobby.

By the way, on September 26-27, the Coordinating Council of German Compatriots is holding a round table on the Russian language in Hamburg. The German Pushkin Society is currently meeting in Weimar. Still, the Russian language belongs to Europe and life only confirms this!

The Russian language is taught in German schools - much more in the eastern lands than in the western ones. It is often chosen by the children of those who learned the language in GDR times, often families explain the choice by the fact that they expect to help the child, based on their knowledge.

Politics, politics and nothing personal

Until relatively recently, Russian experienced a real surge of interest in Germany and was willingly taught, hoping for professional growth and future careers. Now there is a new situation for the Russian language. And this is not even connected with the crisis of the last two years; Slavic scholars sounded the alarm a few years ago.

In higher schools and universities, departments of Slavic studies were closed everywhere, and this naturally affected the reduction of Russian. But a delicate balance was maintained - there was a surge in the activity of German-Russian business, and Russian was no longer taught in Slavic, but in other places, for example, in technical universities and language centers. And Russian even grew, reaching the fifth place (104 thousand students) among foreign languages ​​in schools and universities, ahead of Italian, Turkish and Greek.

Two years of tension and a year of sanctions have not fundamentally changed the situation, but trends have emerged.

Ludmila Sigel(Sweden): If people learned Russian, they would be able to figure out what is going on themselves, but for now they will be thrown media in their language, then they will swallow it. The global threat is terrorism, and Russia is leading a coalition against the most terrible threat to the world. So you need to be able to communicate with this main force, so learn the language.

And yet - how can I tell them about the war, about the stories of my father, uncle, mother-in-law, about what they experienced? If they understand the Russian language, they will be able to learn from EVERY Russian what horror EVERY family has experienced, what losses, because people here don’t know anything about 27 million. They would understand HOW we "WANT" war. I would tell them that people here really say, like my friend’s grandmother: “Oh, granddaughter, we will survive everything, if only there was no war.”

They would still understand our jokes, our humor, ditties, they would laugh with us to tears.

The author of the article refers to a specialist from the Goethe Institute, who determines the conditions that affect the choice of language - the more economically developed the country, the more interest in its language. The ease of learning also affects the choice: if you can learn a close language, they choose it: this, according to the author of the article, explains the success of French in Moldova.

The author believes that the historical factor also plays a role, saying that German was taught in the countries of Eastern Europe as the language of the "fraternal GDR" - and this is still valid. Here you stumble a little - the logical arguments of the Goethe Institute specialist give some kind of failure when they touch the Russian language. In his opinion, Russian plays practically no role for European students and is of little interest to them, except for the Baltic countries, where many Russian speakers live. That is, the author directly refutes his statement about historical connections, made a paragraph earlier.

After all, it is clear that in the countries of the Warsaw Pact, Russian was taught more often than German. But German for some reason continues to be historically in demand because of the memory of the "fraternal GDR", while Russian is not, the author is sure.

It is even more surprising that this is said by an employee of the Goethe Institute, an organization that is called upon to popularize the German language in Russia (where it is still second only to English). It is impossible to explain such logic by anything other than political engagement.

Well, how will Russia take it and say that German is no longer interesting for Russian schoolchildren? After all, this is exactly what happened in France, when they began to abandon bilingual classes with German. Germany has already sounded the alarm, the Minister of Education spoke on this topic.

But let's get back to Russian - and we will give the opinion of scientists.

Scholars are identifying the language of the future by examining social media and the use of Wikipedia. Here, too, English dominates, a sure first place. But then the picture is somewhat different than in the statistics of learning Russian in schools. More precisely, it is radically different: in social networks and work with Wikipedia, Russian is ahead of all other languages ​​- it is in second place, followed by Spanish and French. Such widespread world languages ​​as Hindi, Arabic and Chinese (Mandarin) are very far from the aforementioned leaders.

Conclusion: if you want to be understood in the future, English, Spanish, French, Russian remain important for you - these are the languages ​​from which and into which most of the books are translated, used on the multilingual Internet, and in Wikipedia translations. - and scientists conclude that it is more profitable to study these four languages.

So, with all of us a holiday of European languages!

Elena Eremenko

P.S. Dear readers! Do you have your own answer - why should foreigners learn Russian? Write to the editor, leave a comment under this material, respond to

Why do foreigners learn Russian?

I wonder why students from other countries study Russian? What attracts them Russian history and culture? Read our material in honor of the Day of the Russian Language and find out how and why foreigners master the “great and mighty”.

During the year to study cases? Every morning stand at the mirror and pronounce the letter "Y"? Nonsense! The most difficult thing is to understand the mysterious Russian soul. The Faculty of Linguistics helps foreign students of RSSU in this. On the eve of the holiday, we talked with Larisa Aleshina, Associate Professor of the Department of Russian Language and Literature, Candidate of Philological Sciences.

How difficult is the Russian language?

The usual situation for a Russian language teacher:

— I know why you don't like the letter "R"

- Why?

— And how does your tiger growl in China?

- X-x-x

- And the Russian tiger "Rrr" does. Now you understand why you can't get this letter

The main difficulty of the Russian language is phonetics. Explaining to students from China how to pronounce the letter "R" is difficult, because there is simply no such sound in Chinese. The same number includes the letter "s" and hissing: "sh", "u" and "h". Japanese, Koreans, Arabs and Jews experience similar problems, because the Cyrillic alphabet has nothing to do with either Japanese or Chinese characters, nor with the letters of the Hebrew and Arabic alphabets.

How do students deal with this problem?

We just learn these sounds. There are various tricks. For example, it is very difficult for students from Arab countries to say the sound "Y". There is a special exercise when you need to put some object between your teeth and then it will not work. "AND", but only "Y". Chinese who cannot pronounce "R" first learn to pronounce syllables with this letter, when it is at the beginning of the syllable, then at the end.

Don't believe stereotypes! Foreigners are calm about hard and soft sign. Of course, when they make attempts to pronounce them, the teacher still has a hard time:

They realize that they are learning a foreign language, and they must learn it as it is. They have no denial. They understand everything perfectly. They are smart people from good education received in your country.

Another difficulty is that our grammar is very structured, unlike other languages. Students do not understand at all what cases and gender are.

First, we show all the cases together, according to the table, and then throughout the year we gradually work out each case. And not in order, not like in Russian schools. It is easier to first explain the features of the prepositional case, then the accusative. And the most difficult for foreigners is parenting.

Where does learning start?

Acquaintance with the "mysterious" country, the first experience of traveling in the subway, walking along Red Square are accompanied by the first classes at the university:

On the Elementary level the first few days we start the lesson with the Russian alphabet and Russian sounds, then gradually we move from sound to a syllable, then to words, small sentences, at the same time we learn to write.

Writing in cursive is the most disliked activity of foreign students. They explain it this way: "In China, all classes are computerized, everyone has computers, and there is no need to write by hand with a pen at all - this is the last century."

What else do foreigners study in Russian universities?

Country Studies,

Culture and traditions of Russia,

History of Russian literature,

scientific style of speech,

Theory and practice of translation from a foreign language into Russian

In general, it all depends on the purpose for which the language is being studied. There are foreigners who study with ordinary students at the rank and file of the faculty. Then they have a standard list of subjects: mathematics, economics, history, depending on the direction of training

ATTENTION. Exclusive!

An excerpt from a student's essay about his impressions of Russia:

“As for Pushkin. I love his poetry very much. Very very. Especially "I loved you ...". He is a smart, romantic, brilliant person. He started the Golden Age of Russia. Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy too great person, he wrote "War and Peace" - the greatest work of Russian literature, after that he wrote "Anna Karenina" - a novel about the power of love. Also Sunday. There is a lot of cultural life in Russia. Countless museums are located here. Teachers of the school with children visit museums together. It is perfectly. A person from childhood can look, learn with his ear and eye, get used to his surroundings. That's why Russian culture is the Champion of the World."

“All foreigners love Pushkin. The Chinese like the sound of this name on mother tongue. They say it's very beautiful and melodic."

They love our classics. They don't like movies. They do not want to watch old films, because they are young people and it is boring for them. And the new ones, unfortunately, we have not very high quality. But the guys are happy to go to museums, theaters, listen to opera. They especially like to go to children's performances.

Which student is more comfortable with Russian?

African students are very talented. They are good at Russian. They have practically no problems with phonetics. And their success lies in the fact that they are very sociable, unlike students from Vietnam, Korea, China.

Asians are open only in the circle of "their own". And Africans are very sociable, they easily make friends. Their learning is much faster, more joyful. They are musical, they love songs very much, and it is much easier to learn the language from songs.

History from teaching practice

When we were studying a basic level of in Russian, says Larisoa Aleshina, “we came across a text about how Irina Saltykova, a singer, was presented by a friend with a star named after her. student from South Korea said:

“I don’t understand how it is possible to give a star and what kind of gift it is.”

I explained to her that Russian girls are very romantic and often choose a star instead of a diamond. He didn't believe me and said it was impossible.

A girl from Iran was sitting nearby, who, together with the Korean woman, also said:

“It's stupid to choose a star over diamonds. We don't believe"

Then we went with them to walk along the corridor of the Faculty of Linguistics and stop teachers, men and women, students and ask what they would choose diamonds or a star. And almost all Russian girls and teachers, even men, said: "Of course, a star."

The Korean wrote about it on Facebook. An hour later, she received a message from three thousand Korean men: "We want a Russian wife."

“I still don’t understand,” she answered, “here, for example, lives with me beautiful girl Natasha, who wants to marry a millionaire, and she will definitely choose a diamond.”

"Alright, let's call her."

We call Natasha. We explain the situation. Natasha tells us that if her beloved man offers her such a gift, then, of course, she will choose

star. This put our foreign students in a stupor. They thought for a long time, and finally understood the reason:

“I have my beloved boyfriend Ali, he is already a diamond for me, why do I need another one ?! That is, I will also choose a star.

I really enjoyed doing this sociological survey. For several years I have been asking foreign youth this question. And then a student from Italy came to us. I told the same situation and invited Danila to make her choice. No one expected him to take it so seriously:

“No, it's too expensive and the star and the diamond. I do not agree, the maximum is dinner.

We tried to explain to him for a long time that this was a joke, that you only need to imagine such a situation. And he:

“Well, Larisa Nikolaevna, can I give at least a book?”

However, after much persuasion, he still chose a diamond. This is the difference between our mentalities

Why do foreigners need Russian?

South Korea and China are building economic and trade relations with Russia. For African students, this is an opportunity to get an inexpensive good education.

A student from Italy just really fell in love with Russian culture.

Once he came to me for a master class in oratory, where I told the meaning of a name for a person. We talked about how the name determines the fate of a person. He listened and then said:

“You know, you are right. My mother has always loved Russia and Russian culture. There are five of us in the family and it was me she called the Russian name Danila. And here I am today with you, writing a dissertation on the classics.

He loves Chekhov. He loves Russian literature, and he really fell in love with Russia, like many foreign students.

Text: Irina Stepanova

Main difficulty

Letters

Simplifying the task

It is worth giving an answer to the question of how foreigners learn Russian in order to avoid difficulties. No way. It's impossible. When a person takes on the development of a new skill, he cannot avoid difficulties. But here's how to simplify the task. Many foreigners set a rule for themselves - you need to learn 30 words a day, of which at least 10 must be verbs. According to the majority, it is they and their forms that are the most difficult in Russian.

Another way is to learn the language in the first person. Thus, a person immediately in the subconscious models a situation in which he would be an acting character. And then, when such a case really happens, he remembers what he had learned by heart and puts it into practice. If you do this consistently, you can develop a habit.

How to get oriented?

Talking about how foreigners learn Russian, it is worth returning to the topic of pronunciation. It is very difficult for beginners to understand when a certain consonant should be soft and when it should be hard. Moreover, problems arise not only with those words in which there are “b” and “b”. On the contrary, they are easier to understand. Because every foreigner builds himself. At the sight of "b" and "b", a comparison works for him, helping him determine how to pronounce this or that word.

Much more difficult in normal cases. Take, for example, the letter "p". The word "daddy" is pronounced firmly. But the “spots” are soft. But for a foreigner to get confused - just spit. And having memorized the pronunciation of the word "papa", he will want to pronounce "patna", but he will immediately get confused. After all, the letter “I” is next, and not “a”. We, Russian speakers, pronounce words without thinking. But they are difficult. Why is it difficult for foreigners to learn Russian? At least because we do not have rules for open and closed syllables. And it takes decades to remove the accent.

And also important point is intonation. The Russian language is good because the order of words in a sentence can be changed as you like. We determine the meaning by intonation, and subconsciously. Foreigners are initially trained on the "classic" options. Therefore, if they hear the sentence that is familiar to them, but in a different variation, they will not understand anything.

About meaning

In fact, everyone understands why it is difficult for foreigners to learn Russian. Especially in the modern world. The meaning of many expressions is extremely difficult to explain to citizens of other countries. Take, for example, the following text: “Oh, autumn, blues… Time is running out, but I still haven’t taken my legs in my hands to move the work forward - I’m just sitting with my nose hung.” From such a foreigner will simply be a real shock. "Go" is a verb. And where does the time, the form of the flow of certain processes? The same applies to working with her "shifts". How can you take your feet in your hands? And what does "hang your nose" mean?

All this is too complicated for beginners. Therefore, teachers avoid such difficulties when teaching foreigners. The same is recommended for the people with whom they communicate. They will have time to get acquainted with metaphors, hyperbole, epithets, litotes and allegory later. Although, when foreigners are already on sufficient level speak Russian and begin to study the above, they become fun. To many, comparisons of all kinds seem amusing and original.

Cases

This is the same unloved topic for foreigners as verbs. Having learned one case, they forget about the existence of five more. How do they manage to cope with the task? First, for foreigners, attempts to explain what answers the questions “who?” and what?". After all, it is impossible to substitute a single ending for all inflected words. And there is only one way out - remembering the principle through illustrative examples and situations. It's pretty simple.

The foreigner simply takes a short paragraph on the topic of his life. And on his example, he learns cases: “My name is Bastian Müller. I am a student (who? - nominative case). Now I live in Moscow (where? - prepositional, or second local) and study at the Faculty of International Languages. Every day I go to the university (where? - accusative). There I work and study. Then I go home from the university (from where? - parental). At home I read the news (what? - accusative) and correspond with friends (with whom? - creative). Then I quickly give food to the dog (to whom? - dative), and then I walk in the center of Moscow.

And this is just one of the examples. But there are still countless of them, even if we do not take into account the deprivative, directional, longitudinal and other cases. That is why it is difficult for foreigners to learn Russian.

Transcriptions

Why should foreigners learn Russian? There is no single answer, everyone has their own reasons. But if a person has already taken up this business, he comes up with all sorts of methods in order to get used to it faster. And one of them is to compile a transcription. But even this does not allow you to quickly understand Russian.

Dsche - this is what the Russian "zh" looks like in German. "C" is tze. "H" - tsche. And "sh" - schtch. The word "nonsense" will look like this in German in transcription: tschuschtch. Looking at this cluster of letters, you can immediately understand why some foreigners memorize one short word for several days.

Numbers

This topic also raises a lot of questions from foreigners. But they have learned to avoid difficulties with a simple trick. Take, for example, age. Does it end with one? Then say "year". Does it end with 2, 3, 4? In this case, say "years". If the age or term ends in 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 0, then say "years". And this a simple recommendation foreigners skillfully apply in relation to everything.

It is also worth noting the use of such a particle as “li”. Of course, a foreigner can safely do without it. But in the speech of Russians it is always present. And, having heard “should I?”, “hardly!” etc., he will be perplexed. You need to know the essence of such phrases, since this particle is part of some stable combinations.

In fact, “whether” is the English whether, thanks to which it turns out to introduce an indirect question into the sentence. Here, for example, is such a sentence: "He asked the librarian whether he could take another book." From English it is translated as follows: "He asked the librarian if he could borrow another book." It is enough for a foreigner to draw an analogy, and he will no longer be surprised at the “whether” particle.

Perception

How to start learning Russian for a foreigner? With an attempt to realize that a lot of strange things will await him. And one of those moments is "I would like one cup of coffee, please" - it's too difficult to pronounce. “Bring coffee” is too rude for a foreigner, although in Russia this is the norm.

Another feature is the arrangement of letters. Foreigners say that it is easy for them to memorize those words in which vowels alternate with consonants. But “agency”, “counter-admission”, “adult”, “postscript”, “cohabitation” and similar words cause fear in them. Even the most common "bread" they learn to pronounce for a long time.

It is also worth noting the following: some Russian words are translated differently into other languages. "Account" in French means "toilet", and in an extremely rude form. A "vinaigrette" is a buttery mustard sauce, not a salad. However, this is the minimum difficulty. In any case, you don't even have to come up with associations.

Prepositions

Word formation is very difficult for a foreign person to understand. There are a lot of rules and exceptions in Russian. And to this are added gender and number. The former is absent in some languages ​​altogether. And of course, prepositions are another difficulty. How to explain to a person when you can use “on”, and when “in” is suitable? Everything is pretty simple here.

A foreigner must understand: "in" is used when he wants to talk about something that is inside. Within something. In the house, in the country, in the world... The scale is not important. The main thing is that there are limits and something happens within them. But “on” is used when we are talking about a place on any surface. On a table, on a person, on a house (already a different meaning, although the example is the same).

Why do they need it?

Many people are interested in the question: why do foreigners learn Russian, since it is so difficult? Well, everyone has their own reasons. For example, an Irishwoman named Julia Walsh, who is Business Development Manager at Enterprise Ireland, says she started learning Russian because of Russia's importance in European history. It was difficult. But after years of study, the language no longer seemed impossible. But it remained difficult. But citizens of Slavic countries (for example, the Czech Republic) say that Russian is not very difficult. So says the journalist Jiří Yust. Czech and Russian represent the same language group. So the words are similar, and the grammar. And in Czech there is even one more case.

There is also a question: why should foreigners learn Russian? Because otherwise it will be difficult in Russia. Many locals study English, but it cannot be said that everyone has developed it at a decent level. And besides, it is necessary for an accurate perception of everything that happens around. Why should foreigners learn Russian if they are not going to Russia? The reason for this is the same as for each of us, taking on something new. And it lies in the interest and self-development.

Many of our compatriots are interested in how foreigners learn Russian. Why? Yes, because even the Russian people are not fluent in it. Most, for sure. How many times has it happened: a person is talking to someone and suddenly thinks - did he put the stress or declined the word? However, many examples can be cited. But still it is better to delve into the originally designated topic.

Main difficulty

Where does the learning of each language begin? Of course, alphabetically. From his reading and understanding how this or that letter is pronounced. The overwhelming majority of foreigners fall into a stupor at the sight of the Cyrillic alphabet. This is something unknown to them. Even if you look at the map of the distribution of Cyrillic alphabets, you can see only Russia and a number of adjacent small states located in Europe.

What is the sound "s" alone worth. Many teachers ask foreigners to imagine that they were kicked hard in the stomach. And that's what sound they make, and there are "s". The next problem is hissing: "sh", "u" and "h". How do foreigners learn Russian? Asking a bunch of questions at the same time. What are these sounds for? The same question is evoked by soft and hard signs. And when they understand the meaning and make attempts to pronounce them, the teacher has a hard time. “Box” turns into “box”, “porridge” - into “kascha”, and “thicket” - into “saschu”.

Russian is still terrible for foreigners by hardness. In most other languages, the "r" is very soft. Or burr, as in the case of German. It takes a very long time to learn how to pronounce the correct Russian “r”. The most annoying thing for foreigners is that we can burr or soften it. And they are not even able to immediately give it hardness.

Simplifying the task

It is worth giving an answer to the question of how foreigners learn Russian in order to avoid difficulties. No way. It's impossible. When a person takes on the development of a new skill, he cannot avoid difficulties. But here's how to simplify the task. Many foreigners set a rule for themselves - you need to learn 30 words a day, of which at least 10 must be verbs. According to the majority, it is they and their forms that are the most difficult in Russian. Another way is to learn the language in the first person. Thus, a person immediately in the subconscious models a situation in which he would be an acting character. And then, when such a case really happens, he remembers what he had learned by heart and puts it into practice. If you do this consistently, you can develop a habit.

How to get oriented?

Talking about how foreigners learn Russian, it is worth returning to the topic of pronunciation. It is very difficult for beginners to understand when a certain consonant should be soft and when it should be hard. Moreover, problems arise not only with those words in which there are “b” and “b”. On the contrary, they are easier to understand. Because every foreigner builds an associative array for himself. At the sight of "b" and "b", a comparison is triggered for him, helping him determine how to pronounce this or that word.

Much more difficult in normal cases. Take, for example, the letter "p". The word "daddy" is pronounced firmly. But the “spots” are soft. But for a foreigner to get confused - just spit. And having memorized the pronunciation of the word "papa", he will want to pronounce "patna", but he will immediately get confused. After all, the letter “I” is next, and not “a”. We, Russian speakers, pronounce words without thinking. But they are difficult. Why is it difficult for foreigners to learn Russian? At least because we do not have rules for open and closed syllables. And it takes decades to remove the accent. Another important point is intonation. The Russian language is good because the order of words in a sentence can be changed as you like. We determine the meaning by intonation, and subconsciously. Foreigners are initially trained on the "classic" options. Therefore, if they hear the sentence that is familiar to them, but in a different variation, they will not understand anything.

In fact, everyone understands why it is difficult for foreigners to learn Russian. Especially in modern world. The meaning of many expressions is extremely difficult to explain to citizens of other countries. Take, for example, the following text: “Oh, autumn, blues… Time is running out, but I still haven’t taken my legs in my hands to move the work forward - I’m just sitting with my nose hung.” From such a foreigner will simply be a real shock. "Go" is a verb. And where does the time, the form of the flow of certain processes? The same applies to working with her "shifts". How can you take your feet in your hands? And what does "hang your nose" mean? All this is too complicated for beginners. Therefore, teachers avoid such difficulties when teaching foreigners. The same is recommended for the people with whom they communicate. They will have time to get acquainted with metaphors, hyperbole, epithets, litotes and allegory later. Although, when foreigners already speak Russian at a sufficient level and begin to study the above, they become fun. To many, comparisons of all kinds seem amusing and original.

This is the same unloved topic for foreigners as verbs. Having learned one case, they forget about the existence of five more. How do they manage to cope with the task? Firstly, for foreigners, attempts to explain that the genitive case answers the questions “who?” and what?". After all, it is impossible to substitute a single ending for all inflected words. And there is only one way out - remembering the principle through illustrative examples and situations. It's pretty simple. The foreigner simply takes a short paragraph on the topic of his life. And on his example, he learns cases: “My name is Bastian Müller. I am a student (who? - nominative case). Now I live in Moscow (where? - prepositional, or second local) and study at the Faculty of International Languages. Every day I go to the university (where? - accusative). There I work and study. Then I go home from the university (from where? - parental). At home I read the news (what? - accusative) and correspond with friends (with whom? - creative). Then I quickly give food to the dog (to whom? - dative), and then I walk in the center of Moscow. And this is just one of the examples. But there are still countless of them, even if we do not take into account the deprivative, directional, longitudinal and other cases. That is why it is difficult for foreigners to learn Russian.

Transcriptions

Why should foreigners learn Russian? There is no single answer, everyone has their own reasons. But if a person has already taken up this business, he comes up with all sorts of methods in order to get used to it faster. And one of them is to compile a transcription. But even this does not allow you to quickly understand Russian. Dsche - this is what the Russian "zh" looks like in German. "C" is tze. "H" - tsche. And "sh" - schtch. The word "nonsense" will look like this in German in transcription: tschuschtch. Looking at this cluster of letters, you can immediately understand why some foreigners memorize one short word for several days.

This topic also raises a lot of questions from foreigners. But they have learned to avoid difficulties with a simple trick. Take, for example, age. Does it end with one? Then say "year". Does it end with 2, 3, 4? In this case, say "years". If the age or term ends in 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 0, then say "years". And foreigners skillfully apply this simple recommendation to everything. It is also worth noting the use of such a particle as “li”. Of course, a foreigner can safely do without it. But in the speech of Russians it is always present. And, having heard “should I?”, “hardly!” etc., he will be perplexed. You need to know the essence of such phrases, since this particle is part of some stable combinations. In fact, “whether” is the English whether, thanks to which it turns out to introduce an indirect question into the sentence. Here, for example, is such a sentence: "He asked the librarian whether he could take another book." From English it is translated as follows: "He asked the librarian if he could borrow another book." It is enough for a foreigner to draw an analogy, and he will no longer be surprised at the “whether” particle.

Perception

How to start learning Russian for a foreigner? With an attempt to realize that a lot of strange things will await him. And one of those moments is imperative mood. “I would like one cup of coffee, please,” is too hard to pronounce. “Bring coffee” is too rude for a foreigner, although in Russia this is the norm. Another feature is the arrangement of letters. Foreigners say that it is easy for them to memorize those words in which vowels alternate with consonants. But “agency”, “counter-admission”, “adult”, “postscript”, “cohabitation” and similar words cause fear in them. Even the most common "bread" they learn to pronounce for a long time. It is also worth noting the following: some Russian words are translated differently into other languages. "Account" in French means "toilet", and in an extremely rude form. A "vinaigrette" is a buttery mustard sauce, not a salad. However, this is the minimum difficulty. In any case, you don't even have to come up with associations.

Prepositions

Word formation is very difficult for a foreign person to understand. There are a lot of rules and exceptions in Russian. And to this are added gender and number. The former is absent in some languages ​​altogether. And of course, prepositions are another difficulty. How to explain to a person when you can use “on”, and when “in” is suitable? Everything is pretty simple here. A foreigner must understand: "in" is used when he wants to talk about something that is inside. Within something. In the house, in the country, in the world... The scale is not important. The main thing is that there are limits and something happens within them. But “on” is used when we are talking about a place on any surface. On a table, on a person, on a house (already a different meaning, although the example is the same).

Why do they need it?

A few centuries ago, Mikhailo Vasilyevich Lomonosov wrote in his work Russian grammar:

Charles V, the Roman emperor, used to say that it was decent to speak Spanish with God, French with friends, German with enemies, Italian with women. But if he were skilled in the Russian language, then, of course, he would add to that that it was decent for them to speak with all of them, for he would find in it the splendor of Spanish, the liveliness of French, the strength of German, the tenderness of Italian, moreover, richness and strength in images brevity of Greek and Latin.

Such a statement causes pride, although in the time of Lomonosov the Russian language was not only the language of interethnic communication, the place of which was occupied by Latin and French, but in Russia itself it was considered the language of the common people, the aristocrats could speak it only about the simplest. Remember Pushkin in "Eugene Onegin"?

“She didn’t know Russian well,

Didn't read our magazines

And expressed with difficulty

In your native language

So, I wrote in French ... "

This is about the same letter to Onegin, which is learned by heart at school.

But times change, and so do priorities. In the modern world, Russian is one of the most widely spoken languages ​​in the world; it is included in the World Languages ​​Club, which, in addition to Russian, includes English, French, Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin) and Spanish. To get into this club of the elite, the language must meet certain requirements.

Firstly, how more people considers the language native, the better. One hundred and forty million people in Russia alone, without even taking into account Russian-speaking residents in the rest of the countries of the former Soviet Union, is a very weighty argument. But insufficient. Because there are other numerous nations with their own languages. Japan, for example.

Secondly, among those for whom this language is not native, there should be a large number of people who speak it as a foreign or as a second language.

At the moment, the number of foreigners studying Russian is somewhere around 10 million, and in the recent past, during the Soviet period, even more, since it was necessarily studied in all countries of the socialist camp. As you probably remember, this socialist paradise included a considerable number of countries, now independent. In addition, despite all the efforts of our good neighbors, the Russian language in their countries by no means wants to give up its position as a language of communication. Indeed, it is possible by decrees to prohibit publishing books and newspapers in some language, teaching in it, showing films, but how to force people not to communicate with each other in this language by decree, that is the question! However, another development option is also possible: by the time the population of neighboring countries has forgotten the Russian language through the efforts of their governments, people, for some reason, will again want to learn it from scratch. It's embarrassing, but oh well...

The third condition is that this language must be spoken in many countries, on several continents and in different cultural circles. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, as many as 14 independent countries were formed, where the population, one way or another, constantly speaks Russian. This is a plus to those many countries located on different continents where there is at least some kind of Russian diaspora.

fourth, the language must be officially taught as a foreign language in many countries. Of course, Russian has not yet been able to keep up with the leader, English, and the point here is not so much the difficulty of the Russian language for learning, but the decline in interest in Russia itself and its role in the world in recent times. But, as life experience shows, this is quite fixable. Throughout the history of mankind, the linguistic leader has, as a rule, become the language of the country that provides big influence to the rest of the world, both culturally and scientifically. We will not consider the influence of conquests in this context, since practice shows that they do not play a significant role, because Latin is still the only and unique in medicine and jurisprudence, although Ancient Rome hasn't won over in a long time.

The fifth condition for awarding the status of an international language, is its use as official language in international organizations, at international conferences and in large international firms. The Russian language has no problems with this either.

Well, Russian is one of the languages ​​of the United Nations in which official documentation is published, one of the most widely spoken languages ​​in the world, and so on…

And what about its euphony to the untrained ear of a foreigner? What do our contemporaries think, for whom Russian is not their native language? After all, it is difficult to objectively assess how a language sounds if you have been in it since birth. But one must also understand that foreigners, especially those who do not understand Russian, can also be biased, and they make their assessment based on the pronunciation of the interlocutor and, of course, the phonetics of their native language.

Below is a selection of opinions on the phonetics of the Russian language, expressed wholeheartedly.

“It's like an invitation to a desperate flirt. And especially when Russian girls pronounce their "PACHIMA?" in an incredibly sweet voice.
(Alessio, journalist, Italy)"

– “A highly emotional language - Russians put a lot of feeling and passion into intonation. Example: "THIS IS YES!"
(Chris, consultant, Corsica)"

“The Russian language is the sounds that a cat would make if you put it in a box full of marbles, squeaks, squeals and complete confusion.
William-Jan, designer, Netherlands)»

“It always seemed to me that the Russian language is a mixture of Spanish with a rounded “r” of French, to which they added “zh”, German rough sounds.
(Jeremy, teacher, USA)"

“For me, Russian sounds exactly like Polish. The same intonation, the same "feminine" pronunciation, especially compared to Czech.
(Jakub, financial analyst, Czech Republic)"

“For me, Russian speech is something between the roar of a walrus and the melody of Brahms.
(Abe, Accountant, UK)"

“Before I started learning Russian, and some time after I started studying Slavic studies, the more I listened to Russian, the more it seemed to me like a record of any other language, started up backwards.
(Gethin, scout, Ireland)"

“It’s as if someone didn’t really clear their throat, got a mouthful of saliva and at the same time tries to talk.
(Dean, retired, New Zealand)»

“Russian sounds very brutal, masculine. This is the language of real machos.
(Wil, Financial Analyst, Australia)"

“The most amazing thing is that the Russian language can sound completely different: it all depends on the speaker, and on what exactly is being said. In principle, if you wish, you can achieve an angelic sound from the Russian language. True true! Russian is plasticine, from which any master can mold whatever he wants.
(Batyr, photographer, Mongolia)"

“The Russian language is a pair of familiar words lost in a complete linguistic chaos of sounds that are unpleasant to the ear.
(Albertina, infectious disease specialist, Germany)"

- Like the sound sandpaper, scraping on a rough surface covered with a thin layer of varnish. And if we talk about the provincials, then their Russian is a scraper of sandpaper on a rough surface without any varnishing at all.
(Mark, teacher, UK)"

“It's like a roar on a bus stuck in a traffic jam. "Yes, yes, yes." And so - on the rise.
(Aim, artist, Israel)"

- “The Russian language is like a very poorly adjusted radio: Full of unnecessary rustles, crackling and squeaking.
(Maria, translator, France)"

Yes, for the most part not the most pleasant statements. But it is worth taking comfort in the fact that, in general, the assessment of language as a rough or tender phenomenon is subjective. For example, Gulliver in his travels (if anyone does not know, Gulliver was not only in the country of the Lilliputians) also subjectively assessed the language of the horses, in the country of which he was brought by the indefatigable fantasy of Jonathan Swift: “ Guingngms pronunciation - nasal and guttural, of all known to me European languages it most resembles Upper Dutch or German, but it is much more elegant and expressive". It can be assumed that the Germans somewhere crossed the path of Jonathan Swift, and he gracefully took revenge on them, subtly hinting that even a horse's neighing is more pleasant to the ear than ... but oh well.

In general, in the Russian language they blame the abundance of hissing, growling "r", swallowing vowels, which makes the language seem harsh. Yes, indeed, in English, for example, even solid sounds it is customary to smooth, soften, while in Russian they are pronounced clearly. Remember how to pronounce the sound "R" in English and Russian! But where can Russian be before Icelandic (I somehow came across a DVD dubbed into Icelandic). That's really where the "rockfall into a mountain river" really is!

Yes, the Russian language is not easy, perhaps even very difficult for foreigners. Let's remember at least our 6 cases and many case endings, tricky numerals and lingering hissing participles, defending from adverbs and not noticing invasions of external enemies. Nevertheless, Russian, like any other foreign language, can be learned, which was proved by many newcomers of the era of French tutors and German court guest workers. And in our time there are many people who managed to master this block.

Well, for those foreign citizens who find Russian grammar immeasurably difficult... you can, smiling, confidentially say in your ear: “Say thanks that we don’t have tones, like in Chinese or Vietnamese, and we don’t write in hieroglyphs!”

Konstantin Mikhailov

Recently, more and more people in different parts of the world are eager to learn Russian. Knowledge of a foreign language has become more popular and prestigious than ever. And recently, according to research, the greatest interest is growing precisely in the Russian language. Why does it attract people from other countries so much? And what benefits does it promise to those who can overcome the “great and mighty”? Teachers of Russian as a foreign language courses have found five reasons why it is so important to know Russian.

1. Intricacy and complexity

Having chosen Russian as a foreign language, among your peers you will surely pass for an ambitious, stubborn person with remarkable mental abilities. After all, it's no secret that this particular language is considered one of the most difficult to learn. Try to understand what meaning the interlocutor put in the answer: “No, probably.” Go figure out why it's hands do not reach when someone wants to see or do something. Learning Russian is really difficult, but very exciting. Especially in the courses of Russian as a foreign language.

2. The richness of Russian culture

We have already mentioned that now many foreigners are striving to learn the “powerful” language. And one of the reasons is the desire to join the richest culture which is of great importance to the whole world. Knowledge of the Russian language opens up a lot of opportunities - you can read the great Russian classics in the original, feel the mood of the musical works of famous composers and enjoy the brilliant productions of Russian theaters. Today, the language of Pushkin and Tchaikovsky, known all over the world, is gaining popularity, thanks in part to Russian culture.

3. Wide distribution in the world

There are about 260 million Russian-speaking people in the world. The Russian language proudly bears the title of the most widely spoken Slavic language in the world and the most widely spoken language in Europe in terms of the number of speakers for whom it is native. Be sure, on every mainland you will hear Russian speech. And this is not only ease and barrier-free travel, but also new acquaintances.

According to Forbes, an American magazine, knowledge of the Russian language increases income by 4% on average.

4. Significance on the world stage.

Russian is one of the working languages ​​of the UN. Russia occupies one of the first places in the development of science and technology. Along with English, it is used to communicate on the International Space Station. In addition, Russia also plays an important role in world politics. And, consequently, more and more foreign leaders are looking for Russian speakers in their team.

5. Demand in the labor market

Large companies in developed countries are interested in applicants - native speakers of Russian or people who speak it well. Such specialists open up new opportunities for the organization: cooperation with prestigious partners from Russia, market promotion in countries former USSR. Workers with knowledge of the Russian language are expected in the authorities state power countries of Europe, America and Asia, as well as in ministries and many companies.

Razvan Rat
Romanian football player
Experience of studying Russian - 12 years

If I say "I'm going to London" (as I go in English), they will look at me like I'm crazy. I have to say: I'm flying, I'm going, I'm swimming. Why do I have to decide how I'm going to get there? "Ay go" - and that's it. “Go to London”, “go to shop”, what difference does it make how you get there. The coolest thing in Russian is 1, 2, 3, 4 years and - bam! - 5 years!

It's fantastic! And then again 21, 22, 23, 24 years - and 25 years ... And why not 5 years, and then 6 years? Why not 21 years old? “Terrible beautiful” - I don’t understand at all, how is it? Why are castle and castle spelled the same but mean different things? And one more time you read the castle, and another time - the castle. One time you read "o", another time "a". There must be logic, maybe they just hide it from me?

In Romanian, for example, there is a rule: you cannot put “n” before the letters “p” and “b”, only “m”. Iron rule, no exceptions. And in your language there is always a rule, and there are a lot of exceptions to it.

I have never studied the language with anyone, I just hear and remember. He started playing in the Ukrainian Shakhtar, and a year later he gave his first interview in Russian. It is clear that I spoke worse than now, but I could already say a lot of things. Now I even dream in Russian. When I'm in a Russian company, I think in Russian and count in Russian, but when I get to fifteen, I count in Romanian.

Miguel Lara Mejia
Cuban, guide
Experience of studying Russian - 27 years

Why do you need to say: “Will you have tea?” and the same way, speaking, for example, about the profession: “Who will you be?” Will you be a doctor? Will you have tea? Two different meanings. This was very incomprehensible to me at first. Regarding the verbs of motion: in Spanish there is one verb - ir, this is to go, and to go, and to fly. In the case of the Russian language, an anecdote can happen. For example, they ask why I was late, and you answer: because I was walking. And this is wrong, I must say: I walked.

François Divet
French, company director
Experience of studying Russian - 10 years

I went to Russian courses - as a result, I survived only 8 classes, stopped going to them and learned Russian, communicating with friends and colleagues. I don't write in Russian, but I continue to learn it. I need it to pick up girls who don't speak French or English.

Actually, I more or less understood everything in Russian. But I never learned declension, since I had already suffered from them in the process of studying German and Latin. On top of that, when you don't bow your words, you retain the charm of a foreigner.

Deliana Pavlova
Bulgarian employee
Experience of studying Russian - 16 years

Russian and Bulgarian are very similar, and this often gives the impression that Russian is easy to learn. I taught it at school, then it was a compulsory subject. Most of all, we were confused in words that have the same sound in Russian and Bulgarian, but have different meanings. For example, the Bulgarian word "t-shirt" is your "mother", a bank is a bank, a table is a chair, to the right is straight. We even have a joke in Bulgaria about learning the Russian language: “A Bulgarian comes to Russia, enters a restaurant, a waitress comes up to him and asks: “Do you want a menu?”, And he replies: “No, I want to eat, then you ". Even in the Bulgarian language there are no declensions, therefore, in order to learn them, I memorized phrases, for example, “world map”.

Gregor Frey
German, language assistant at the Goethe-Institut

For me, the perfect and imperfect forms of verbs have always been difficult. In principle, it is logical to say: “I am reading a book”, “I have read a book”, but so far I often fail. In addition, I use the word “I will” too often in a sentence, for example, “we will meet tomorrow” and not “we will meet tomorrow.” This is because in German we say ich werde morgen or in English i will do...

It is still very difficult for me to distinguish between the sounds “c” (price) and “sh” (tire), “ch” (very) and “u” (borscht), I don’t hear the difference. And “y”, as in the words “beech”, “best”, I can’t pronounce at all. I compiled my vocabulary in three months, but I did not speak Russian, I only read it. In Russia, I improved my speaking.

I use Russian every day, even sometimes in Germany, when I'm alone on the street, I start talking quietly to myself in Russian. People probably think I'm crazy.

Suzuki Kinihiro
Japanese businessman
Experience of studying Russian - 3 years

IN Japanese syllabic alphabet, so it is very difficult to understand how deaf consonants are pronounced - “hu”, “fi”. Japanese doesn't have the "y" sound, and it's hard to know what it is because English doesn't have it either. There is also a problem with stressed and unstressed vowels. Verb conjugation causes great difficulties: there are too many exceptions, there is no system. Next - the gender of the noun: it is strange to call some thing "he" or "she", in Japanese there is no gender of inanimate nouns. I am constantly confused with "go - go", "go - go". The most difficult thing is cases: no matter how many years you learn, you won’t learn!

Also, we Japanese do not hear and do not understand the differences between "b" and "c", "l" and "r". We can say and write "Angerica", "Raspberry".

Katerina Nicasi
Greek, lawyer

I started learning Russian primarily because I'm generally interested in languages, before that I studied English, French and Spanish. Well, and then in recent years in Greece, interest in Russian has noticeably grown. There is a demand for Russian-speaking specialists of various professions, lawyers are no exception. I decided that this would be an important addition to my resume. The most difficult thing in the Russian language is intonation and the fact that words in writing are not stressed (in Greek, all words are written with stress. - “Nation”). Therefore, it is often necessary to put emphasis at random, and the probability of missing is extremely high!

I was surprised when I found out that Russian has two different alphabets: printed and uppercase, but it wasn't that hard to get used to. Another confusing thing is great amount words expressing movement or its absence. The use of prepositional and dative cases is also difficult; they do not exist in Greek. Despite all this, I like to overcome learning difficulties. And I really like the language. I hope one day I can speak it fluently enough.

George Chatziteodoru
Greek businessman
Experience of studying Russian - 2 years

I have been learning Russian for two winters now. Only in winter, because in summer I work in Halkidiki in a family business. That is why I began to teach, I need to be able to communicate with Russian tourists. First of all, I did not understand why there are so many letters, there are only 24 of them in our alphabet. So imagine my surprise when they told me that there are 33 of them in Russian! What cool sibilants you have, they are not in the Greek language. Short "sh" and longer and harder "u"; "g", "h" ... I like them very much. As for capital letters, the small "t" is written the same way as the English "m", and the small "d" is similar to "g" - I was a little confused at first, but gradually I get used to it. In general, I have no particular complaints about Russian, I try to actively practice my work.

Bubu Buessi
French, restaurant owner and chef
Experience of studying Russian - 5 years

I am learning Russian for work, to communicate with clients. I do not understand many things, for example, the meaning of Russian jokes. I don’t understand the letters “y”, “sh”, “u” and “h”. I am lost in variety: go out, go around, go over, go in.

Elliott Lelievre
French student
Experience of studying Russian - 1 year

I started learning Russian because I specialize in relations between Russia and Latin America and I am closely considering the possibility of living in Moscow. The thing that I will never understand in Russian: why the letter “y” exists at all and why inflect words. Recently, I have been increasingly interested in the question of why the stupid word “carefully” is pronounced “astarojna” (astarojna).