TranslationsInLondon has launched a new initiative to learn a bit more about languages. Each month we will focus on a language and share a few facts about it. Let’s kick off with Russian.
There are a lot of reasons to find the Russian language interesting. From how it sounds to the history and the sentence structure, there is no wonder it is the 7th most popular language in the world. Whether you are a native speaker or you have learned to communicate, there are a few interesting facts about the Russian language that you might not be aware of. These facts will show you the uniqueness of Russian.
7 fun facts about the Russian language
1. Russian origin: The language itself can give you an idea of its origin. In its written form, a large number of the alphabets have a strong resemblance with old Latin alphabets. The language is an East Slavic language with influences from Old Church Slavonic, India, Europe, and West Asia. Just like many other languages, there are several dialects; however, the central Russian spoken in Moscow constitutes modern Russian.
2. It is a popularly spoken language: Russian is popularly spoken worldwide, the 7th most spoken language worldwide with 260 million speakers. It comes only after English, Chinese, Spanish, Bengali, Hindi, and Portuguese in no particular order. It is also the most geographically widespread language in Eurasia
3. Thinking of being a space traveler, think in Russian: If you are fancy being an astronaut and going to space, one rule you should know about is that you must know how to speak Russian. Although a lot of people on earth speak it, why do you have to speak in Russian if you are traveling to space? The reason is that you must go via the Soyuz spacecraft which has its controls in Russian. That includes NASA astronauts, so if you ever meet an astronaut, consider saying hello in Russian.
4. Russians have different words for different shades of blue: If you love the color blue, you will be intrigued by the fact that Russian vocabulary registers different shades of blue as different colors rather than shade. That’s awesome because the next time a Russian describes someone in a blue shirt, you know what shade of blue they are referring to.
5. There is no hard and fast rule for order in the sentence structure: Perhaps one of the reasons why it is considered a difficult language is that the sentence structure can be randomly arranged, and it would still make sense. Every speaker decides which word they want to place in front of the other. Hence, Russian differentiates between a sentence from a question with the intonation, unlike in the English language. To some, this unique sentence structure is one more reason why it is easier for them to grasp the language.
6. Some Russian shares similarity with English words: Although not as extensive as French, there are a few Russian words whose English meanings can be guessed because they sound alike. However, do not rely on spotting this similarity because there are also so many words that sound like English words while having an entirely different meaning.
7. The unique structure of words in Russian: traditional Russian words hardly ever start with an A, and any exception to this rule can be traced to foreign influences. Russian words can also bear a different meaning just by altering their stress syllables, making it a delicate language to speak. There are also only 200,000 documented words in the literature.
In conclusion, there are more fun facts about the Russian language, especially when it shows the culture of the people. However, lots of people consider it a difficult language. With such a high population of speakers spread geographically, businesses often have to consider the Russian audience to expand. Hence, a proficient translation service that understands its uniqueness and complexities is required. TranslationsInLondon will ensure that your Russian translations are accurately done.