Just like other languages, so many fun facts about the Russian language exist. All of them are worth knowing because they help you understand not only the language but also the characteristics and traditions of its speakers.

Considering the number of first and second language speakers of Russian around the world, which is more than 258 million today, Russian is the 8th largest spoken language worldwide.

Russian or russkij jazyk as it is called in Russia, has 138 million speakers within the Russian Federation. About 86.2% of them speak Russian as their first language. It is a working language of the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Russian loanwords into the English dictionary include mammoth, sputnik, cosmonaut, babushka, intelligentsia, sable, troika and pogrom. Others include vodka, blini and pavlova, and several administrative and political terms like Bolshevik, glasnost, Leninism, mir and politburo.

Fun Facts About the Russian language

Although Russian in one of the more difficult languages for English speakers to learn, more people are learning the language today. Many organizations, including those for space exploration, science and technology and global business are looking for Russian speakers, as the language remains one of the important languages in the world.

If you are interested in learning Russian or want to travel to countries where Russian is spoken, some of these fun facts could help you break the ice to start a casual conversation or to add to what you already know about Russian.

1) Language of space

Astronauts are required to learn Russian. It is included in their training, since the computer system in the International Space Station (ISS) uses both Russian and English languages. But why learn Russian? Astronauts traveling to the space station have to ride the Soyuz spacecraft whose controls are in Russian. They have to travel to Kazakhstan where Soyuz lifts off. A Russian citizen commands the spacecraft. Most of the ground crew members speak either Russian or English only.

2) Russian uses the Cyrillic script

Written Russian uses the Cyrillic script, but it is not of Russian origin. The script is a version of the Greek alphabet from the Bulgarian Empire, developed by the disciples of St. Methodius and St. Cyril. Some of the script’s letters look like the letters in English although the pronunciation is different.

3) No native Russian words start with the letter A

Surprisingly, only a few native Russian words start with A. This fact makes it easy to distinguish the words as ”loan words.” The same is true with the letter F.

4) Most words can have 10 or more letters

The Russian language likes to have long words and phrases, with some typical words comprising up to 38 letters. For example, the term internationalize in Russian is Интернационализирующимися (Inter-natsi-o-nali-ziroo-yoo-shim-sya), which has 25 characters. This one is 38 characters long: сельскохозяйственно-машиностроительный (Sel’-sko-hozay-stvenoo-mashino-stroitel’-niy). It means “manufacturing of agricultural technology.”

5) Russian humor is different

Sarcasm is part of Russian humor just like some of their humorous jokes which are depictions of everyday life in the region.

6) 47 U.S. states have thousands of Russian speakers

The United States is a multilingual country, which means that it is unavoidable to know that many U.S. states have quite a number of Russian-speaking residents. Close to 900,000 people in 47 states in the U.S. speak Russian. Cities with the most number of Russian speakers include New York, California, Washington, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida.

7) Limited number of words

The English language boasts of over one million words. In contrast, Russian only has around 500,000 words. Despite the small number, Russian speakers are able to express themselves very well, because many of the words in the Russian dictionary have several meanings. And they commonly use only about 2,500 of them!

8) Distinction for the color blue

Russian categorize the color blue into two: goluboy (light blue) and siniy (dark blue). In a study, Russian participants are quick to distinguish the different shades of blue compared to their English-speaking counterparts. What is amazing is that they are able to identify them even if they see squares of nearly similar shades.

9) English speakers only understand 10% of the Russian language

Even if Russian and English are from the same language family, they belong to different branches, which explains why English speakers only understand about 10% of the Russian language.

10) Some Russian words have three consecutive Es

Some English words have two consecutive Es. Russian tops that, with some words having three consecutive Es, such as длинношеее (long-necked) and змееед (snake-eagle).

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