This makes sense because it's a language that has been around for centuries. It is well-known by many people around the world. This can also be seen on a broader scale. Only about 10% of Russians use English as their primary language, and only 5% speak it fluently.
If you're looking for a challenge, try visiting a smaller city or town. Russia ranked just below China on the EPI at 38th, but with 5.48 percent of its population speaking English — not to mention a foreign alphabet you won't be able to easily read — this definitely counts as a challenging travel destination.
English is not as widely spoken in Russia as it is in some other countries, but a significant portion of the population does speak it. English is taught in schools and universities, and many people use it in business and tourism. However, it is not as commonly spoken as Russian.
Together with Ukrainian and Belarusian, the Russian language makes up the eastern branch of the Slavic family of languages. Russian is the primary language of the overwhelming majority of people in Russia and is also used as a second language in other former republics of the Soviet Union.
Specifically for Russian native speakers, many sounds of English are simply absent in Russian, which leads speakers to struggle with those pronunciations. Let's explore the top sounds that are tricky for Russian speakers in English, so you can take the first step in improving your clarity on those sounds.
FLUENT (C2)
Once you have reached this level, you are free to go in any direction: read Russian news, articles and books, listen to podcasts, watch Russian television and communicate with native speakers comfortably. It is the level of Native, or Bilingual proficiency.
Primary education in Russia
Most primary schools also begin to teach children a foreign language, which is usually either English or German.
Ukrainian and Belarusian are the closest languages, as together with Russian they form the East Slavic group of languages. These three languages have an 86% lexical similarity; that is, they share 86% of the same words.
Of all the European languages a native English speaker can learn, Russian is among the most difficult. The Germanic and Romance languages have a lot of the same core because they both have roots in Latin. Russian is from a completely different language branch called the Slavonic branch, which includes Czech and Polish.
English and Russian are both Indo-European languages and share several similarities, including both being written in the Latin alphabet, having similar verb tenses, and both having nouns that are declined.
As Russia slipped further into global isolation, it was announced that all foreign-made aircraft were to cease flights operating abroad effective from Sunday. It is unclear how many British expats currently reside in Russia, with estimates ranging from anywhere between around 6,400 to more than 22,000.
The United States and India have the most total English speakers, with 306 million and 265 million, respectively. These are followed by Pakistan (104 million), the United Kingdom (68 million), and Nigeria (60 million).
It is believed that there are around 230 million native speakers in the United States, making it the largest English-speaking country, while the United Kingdom has approximately 60 million native speakers.
Foreign languages
English is the primary foreign language taught in Ukraine. According to online polls, as many as 50% of Ukrainians can speak English.
Some speculate that the "Z" could stand for "zapad," which means west in Russian. Some have snidely suggested that the symbol stands for other words such as "zhopa," meaning ass in a reference to stiff Ukrainian resistance. The letter does not appear in the Cyrillic alphabet used by both Russia and Ukraine.
Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.
Serbian, Bosnian, and Croatian speakers sound very similar to Russian speakers.
Since 1996, Russia's constitution has provided citizens and residents with the right to free healthcare. This is provided by the state through the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund (also called the OMI or Obligatory Medical Insurance). It is funded through payroll and employer contributions.
Russian school schedules extend from Monday to Friday in most places, with kids typically attending from about 8 a.m. to 1 or 2 p.m.
The holidays are spread across the four seasons. Schools with a semester system have a 10-day break in autumn, an 11-day break in winter, a nine-day break in spring, and a break of around three months for summer (plus first graders get an extra 10-day break in February).