The Russian language belongs to the Eastern Slavic language group. It has about 250 million speakers world-wide. The beginning of the Russian language history started around 500 AD, when Slavic tribes migrated toward the west to the river Elbe and to the south and into Balkan. Around 1000 AD three distinct different Slavic language group had been formed. These were the Western, Southern and Eastern Slavic groups. The Eastern Slavonic language group is today formed by three main languages. Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian. In the southern group you find Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian. In the western group you find Polish, Slovakian and Czech.
With the introduction of the orthodox faith among the first Bulgars and with the contribution of Two Greek missionaries Constantine and Methodius, a substantial contribution was made to the history of the Russian Language. They invented and introduced the Cyrillic alphabets and this in turn resulted in the usage of Old Slavonic or Old Church Slavic language in many Slavic countries as a common written language.
Between 14th and 17th, there were two languages simultaneously used in Russia. The spoken Russian language used by ordinary people and Old Church Slavonic. The Old Slavonic was the liturgical language used in the Russian Orthodox Church. The alphabet was modernized during the reign of Peter the Great and got the final appearance it has today during the Russian revolutions. The old Slavic remained in use in Russia until the 18th century.
Russian literature and poetry flourished particularly during the eighteenth century. This was a time of great technological achievements. During this time Russian absorbed elements from other European languages. Especially the French language and culture had a major impact on Russian aristocracy and on the Russian language history. In the 19th century the dialect spoken in the Moscow region become the official language in the Russian empire. Today it is the mother tongue for 150 million people and one of the world's major languages.
Russian is the official language of Russia and to a lesser extent, the other countries that once constituted the USSR like Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Georgia. Though most of these republics have their own official languages, Russian often retained its official status due to its unifying effect in the post-Soviet era.
Apart from the regions mentioned above, Russian speaking populations can be found in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Finland. In the twentieth century during the cold-war era, Russian was taught in the schools of many countries, these included Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Albania and Cuba. Russian is taught in Asian countries such as Laos, Vietnam, Mongolia, the People’s Republic of China and it is also used in Afghanistan.
There is a sizeable Russian-speaking population in North America, mostly in the urban centers of the U.S. and Canada. In the USA the Russian population is around 2,660,000 and in Canada it is around 160,000. The bilateral cooperation and presence of Russian population groups is increasing in North America and therefore it is becoming important to communicate effectively and efficiently and bridge the gap in language and linguistic communication.
___________________________________________________________________________________
This post was created by Textronics Communications Ltd. (www.textronics.com), a leading language and translation services provider since 1991. Our service offering includes translation, interpretation, proofreading, narration, transcription as well multi-lingual desktop publishing and web design services in all languages and subject matters. Our growing client base includes corporate, public and non-profit sector clients in Canada, the United States and Europe. Our language specialists are highly trained, tested and have many years of experience in their chosen subject matter and we consistently strive to offer high-quality language services at affordable prices. New clients can take advantage of a free test translation to try out our services first hand at no cost.
www.textronics.com – Communicate with the World
Textronics Communications Ltd. also publishes www.travelandtransitions.com, a popular web portal for unconventional travel and cross-cultural connections. Award-winning travel writer Susanne Pacher chronicles her personal journeys to places such as Havana, Mexico City, New York City, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Sicily, and various other places in Europe and North America and writes about the people behind the destinations. Compilations of these articles are now available as electronic books at the following link: http://www.travelandtransitions.com/ebooks.html. In addition, the website offers interviews with fascinating personalities and tourism experts as well as practical travel advice and regional travel information.www.travelandtransitions.com – Life is a Journey – Explore New Horizons
No comments:
Post a Comment