Tag Archives: Russian outside Russia
10 Fun Facts for Russian Language Day Posted by Maria on Jun 6, 2019
June 6 marks Russian Language Day (День ру́сского языка́). This date was chosen because that’s when Alexander Pushkin (Алекса́ндр Пу́шкин) was born — a writer and poet credited with shaping contemporary Russian (совреме́нный ру́сский язы́к) by blending the “high” literary genres with the vernacular. To mark this occasion, let me share ten fun facts about…
Who Gets Called “Russian”? Posted by Maria on Feb 5, 2018
How often have you heard the phrase “So-and-so is Russian”? What was meant by “Russian” in that case? Was the person a citizen of the Russian Federation? Did they live in any of the neighbo(u)ring countries? Did they speak Russian? This post will examine the many ways “Russian” (русский and other related words) is used…
3 Incorrect Assumptions about Native Russian Speakers Posted by Maria on Oct 10, 2017
I sometimes hear statements about fluent Russian speakers abroad that are based on certain incorrect assumptions. Some of our readers know better, but others may discover something new from this post. Because this post touches upon deeply personal aspects of identity, language, ancestry, and political affiliation, it is quite natural that people will have different…