Overview of the Russian Language

The Russian language is the official language of the country of Russia. Russian is spoken as the first language by over 160 million people, including many living in the former Soviet Republics. Russian is also widely spoken in the former Warsaw Pact countries of Eastern and Central Europe, where many people learn Russian as a second language in schools. In addition, Russian is one of the official languages of the United Nations (along with English, Spanish, French, Chinese and Arabic).

Russian belongs to the East Slavic branch of the Slavic subfamily of Indo-European languages. Other languages in this group include Belorussian and Ukrainian. Linguists believe that the Slavic languages have retained the features of the original Proto-Indo-European language to a much greater extent than have the Germanic and Romance languages. The spoken Slavic languages show a great deal of similarity to each other, although some are written in the Cyrillic alphabet and others in the Latin alphabet.

Russian is written in the Cyrillic alphabet, which is believed to have been introduced by the Greek missionaries Cyril and Methodius in the 9^th century. The Cyrillic alphabet is based on the Greek alphabet, with the addition of several letters borrowed from Hebrew to represent sounds that do not exist in Greek.

The original written language in those early times was called Old Church Slavonic. The first documents written in Russian, rather than Old Church Slavonic, date back to the 11^th century. By the 13^th century, there were noticeable differences between Russian and Ukrainian; and by the 16^th century, Belorussian appears as a separate language.

Russian Vocabulary

Many Russian vocabulary words have entered the English language-- politburo, vodka, borshcht, tsar, steppe, and tundra, to name just a few.

As you are learning Russian vocabulary, you will notice some words that bear a resemblance to English. But be on your guard against false resemblances! For example, the Russian word replica means "report" or "stage cue." The word is actually means "from" in Russian! And the Russian word sam is pronounced just like the English word "some," but means "by himself."

Formal and Informal Address in the Russian Language

There are two forms of address in the Russian language, the polite second person plural vy and the familiar second person singular ty. It is considered rude to use the familiar form when first meeting someone, unless the person you are addressing is a small child. Always use the polite form of address until you are invited to switch to the familiar. An invitation to do so is a sign that your friendship has reached a warmer, more intimate level.

Russian Grammar

Many people who are learning to speak Russian agree that one of the most difficult aspects of Russian to master is the correct placement of stress within words. The stress is mobile, and does not follow strict rules. In the Russian language, nouns (as well as adjectives, and most pronouns) decline in six cases. Because Russian is so highly inflected, the word order in Russian sentences is fluid (unlike in English). The declined endings of Russian nouns identify the subject and the direct and indirect objects, as well as other meanings.

Russian verbs possess a feature called "aspect." The aspect can be perfective or imperfective, showing perpetual action and action that is completed. A variety of prefixes that help create perfective verbs can let a single Russian verb convey shades of meaning that frequently require several words in English, or defy translation altogether.

Because the Russian alphabet is so different from the English letters, and because Russian pronunciation is fairly difficult to master, regular practice is necessary to learn to speak Russian well. That's why good Russian software and other Russian products can be so important. It's easier than ever to learn Russian and to begin to speak Russian with the language resources and Russian language software from Transparent Language. With RussianNow!, Before You Know It, PDQ Russian, and our other language learning products, you will speak Russian, learn the Russian alphabet, understand Russian grammar, and master Russian pronunciation quickly!