Russian is the official language of Russia and many other countries. For example, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Only 10% of people can speak English in Russia. You can find someone who speaks English in Russia.
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 (80% out of all foreign language speakers or 11% of the population; 30% to some degree.
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.
Russian is the official language of Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, and it's considered an unofficial lingua franca in Ukraine and many former Soviet countries. These include Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Once again, big cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg are more accustomed to English speakers. According to 2002 census data, 7 million out of 145 million people speak English in Russia, and the majority of those people live in Moscow.
Russia - Level 4: Do Not Travel.
Many Russian speakers have difficulty pronouncing the English consonant sounds /w/, /v/, /r/ & 'th'. Russian has a quarter of the vowels that English does so many English vowels are challenging. Word stress is often flatter and more even than an English native speaker.
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). As of 2022, there were about 373 million native speakers of English.
Russian is widely believed to be one of the most difficult languages to learn. This is mostly true, if you have no knowledge of other Slavic languages (e.g. Bulgarian or Czech). The grammar rules in Russian are very complex and have numerous exceptions.
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 Russian Language: Learn the Basics
In daily life, however, it will be very difficult to get by without speaking any Russian at all, even in the expat hotspots of Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
Americans are often surprised by the cultural differences around small talk in Russia vs. the U.S. In America, we often use small talk to approach a stranger or to test the waters before delving into more serious discussions. However, Russians aren't as prone to making small talk with strangers.
For Russian citizens planning a trip to Australia, obtaining an Australian visitor visa is necessary. Once you have an Australian visitor visa, you can: Enjoy multiple entries, which means you can come and go from Australia during the validity of your visa.
Russia is generally safe for solo female travellers, as long as they take the necessary precautions. It is important to be aware of your surroundings, avoid walking alone at night, and dress modestly.
Sanctions haven't stopped wealthy Russian tourists from travelling, according to a new report. Travel sanctions didn't stop rich Russians from going on holiday last year, a new report has revealed. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union suspended visas for Russian travellers.
You don't need a college degree (although it's recommended) You don't need prior experience teaching before getting your TEFL certification. You don't need any Russian language proficiency.
According to the rating of the most English speaking cities in Russia, the leading positions belong to Moscow and St. Peterburg, followed by Novosibirsk, Kazan, Vladivostok, Nizhniy Novgorod, Omsk, Kaliningrad, Perm, and Ufa.
If you are in Russia on a work or study visa you should leave Russia before your visa expires, or apply to the local authority for a visa extension or a temporary residence permit before your visa has expired. As a British national, you may also obtain a temporary or permanent residence permit to live in Russia.
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.
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.