Russian have always been very open toward learning foreign languages. After the end of the Second World War, English has quickly become a very important foreign language in Russia and people have had positive feelings towards leaning and using it in the different spheres of life.
Russians learn and speak English for a variety of purposes, mainly internet communication, education and international communication.
Nevertheless many people in Russia have negative feelings vis-a-vis the English culture and language penetrating their own.
Negative feelings are more common among older people-who tend to be very resistant to these changes- and educated people. Youngsters, on the other hand, are more open towards English and have positive feeling towards it.
The following are two examples of two Russian scholars expressing their negative views about the usage of English words in Russian:
"The Russian speech has always been smooth, but nowadays it is chopped, rhythmically and intonationally anglicized; it is running somewhere feverishly, its structure is losing both thought and feeling. I see the greatest menace in the change of its inner rhythm, the transition to accelerated turns: to think the shortest, to feel the least, the chief thing is information." (Leontovich, 2005: 526, cited in Lazaretnaya, 2012: 24).
The source of such mass Anglicization (Americanization) is not our lack of education, but idleness. It is much easier to take the already existing word and place it into the fertile soil of the Russian language, than to think a little of a new one. As you know the resources of the Russian language are very rich. (Radchenko, 2008, cited in Lazaretnaya, 2012: 24).
Though the government has taken many steps towards improving the teaching of English in Russia, it has also taken many measures to preserve and promote the Russian language, both nationally and internationally (Lazaretnaya, 2012, p. 26-27). According to Lazaretnaya (2012), these measures include:
Russians learn and speak English for a variety of purposes, mainly internet communication, education and international communication.
Nevertheless many people in Russia have negative feelings vis-a-vis the English culture and language penetrating their own.
Negative feelings are more common among older people-who tend to be very resistant to these changes- and educated people. Youngsters, on the other hand, are more open towards English and have positive feeling towards it.
The following are two examples of two Russian scholars expressing their negative views about the usage of English words in Russian:
"The Russian speech has always been smooth, but nowadays it is chopped, rhythmically and intonationally anglicized; it is running somewhere feverishly, its structure is losing both thought and feeling. I see the greatest menace in the change of its inner rhythm, the transition to accelerated turns: to think the shortest, to feel the least, the chief thing is information." (Leontovich, 2005: 526, cited in Lazaretnaya, 2012: 24).
The source of such mass Anglicization (Americanization) is not our lack of education, but idleness. It is much easier to take the already existing word and place it into the fertile soil of the Russian language, than to think a little of a new one. As you know the resources of the Russian language are very rich. (Radchenko, 2008, cited in Lazaretnaya, 2012: 24).
Though the government has taken many steps towards improving the teaching of English in Russia, it has also taken many measures to preserve and promote the Russian language, both nationally and internationally (Lazaretnaya, 2012, p. 26-27). According to Lazaretnaya (2012), these measures include:
- The adoption of the On the State Language of the Russian Federation in 2005 by the Russian Parliament. According to this law "Russian is the only language used for official matters" (p. 26).
- The proclamation of the year 2007 as the year of the Russian language, with the aim of drawing the interest of the world to the learning of the Russian language, Russian literature and culture, and promoting a positive image of Russia, both on the national and the international levels (p.26).
- The establishment of the Russian national Cyrillic domain .рф (.rf) on May 12, 2010 (p.26).
- The promotion of the Russian language and culture through the “cross year.” For example, the year 2010 was the Russian year in France (and the French year in Russia), the year 2011, the was Russia year in Spain (and the Spanish year in Russia) and the year 2012, was the Russian year in Germany (and the German year in Russia) (p. 27).
- TThe implementation of the Russian Language project in 2011-2015, with the goal of promoting the English language abroad, especially in the Commonwhealth of Independent States (Countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union) (p. 27).