Why do people still learn RUSSIAN? | RUS, ENG Subs

I am regularly asked in the comments of almost every video why someone continues to study the Russian language. I understand that these questions are asked with sarcasm, with aggression, but if people are interested, then let's answer this question. So, a quick answer to the question why foreigners continue to study the Russian language. In fact, the answer is very simple. It means that the motivation of these people does not depend on the political situation. But then I will talk in more detail about different types of motivation and how these different groups of people perceive the Russian language in different ways and why they study the Russian language less, more, and why they continue. It seems to me that most often I come across 5 groups of people who study the Russian language. If we are talking about foreigners, these are polyglots, people who just like to study Russian, well, not only Russian, but in general any languages. Then those who like Russian culture, politics, some science, history. Travelers who want to go to Russia, wanted to go to Russia. People who have Russian-speaking loved ones, well, for example, a husband, wife or friends. It also happens, even colleagues. And, in fact, business. These are people who are now working and generally worked before, for example, they had Russian offices and so on. Well, in general, such an international business. Now let's go into more detail. So, if we are talking about polyglots and generally people who like to study different languages, then for these people the Russian language is not just the language of Russia. First of all, well, maybe not first of all, but ... Yes, the Russian language is such an entry into all Slavic languages. Because it is the most common language in the Slavic group. And this is not even a riddle. If you know, for example, some language, then the easiest thing for you is to learn a native language. Well, for example, it will be much easier for me as a native speaker of the Russian language to learn, I don't know, Polish, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian languages. Compared, for example, to Spanish or Chinese. Just because they are closer. And people who study different languages often choose languages from a pragmatic point of view. How much will this language help them learn other languages in the future. And in this regard, the Russian language is also an entry into many languages of the post-Soviet space. For example, Kazakh, Tajik. Well, of course, I already said about Slavic languages, Belarusian, Ukrainian. And in general, many others. Because the Russian language simply has materials for studying these languages. For example, I think that in English it is very difficult to find materials for studying some Azerbaijani, for example. In Russian, you can find these textbooks. And therefore, polyglots, people who just love to study different languages, continue to study Russian. Also, of course, you need to understand that a person can have more than one motivation, but several. Well, for example, a person loves to study many, many different languages. And this is his goal. And on the other hand, for example, he has Russian-speaking friends. Or this person has an interest, for example, in the history of the Soviet Union. Then these motivations overlap with each other and become somehow stronger. The next group. Those who like Russian literature, history, politics, some scientific achievements. Well, I don't know, mathematics, for example. Or physics. In general, some scientific achievements. For these people, the situation in Ukraine, the war in Ukraine, became a very powerful reason to stop studying Russian. Well, this is understandable. But for another group, on the contrary, it became even more motivating to understand what is happening in the Russian-speaking space, in Russian-speaking media. And the Russian language is one of the most popular languages on the Internet. That is, if English is in the first place, then in the second place in terms of the total content, in which language, then there is the Russian language. And the amount of this information is very interesting. Well, that is, of course, if a person is interested in the history of Russia and politics, then, damn, what is happening now? In general, what is connected with Russia is practically all politics and all history. And do not forget that the Russian language is a language that is spoken not only in Russia, but also in many post-Soviet countries. And there are also different political, no less interesting processes. And yes, so all this is worth attention. The next group is travelers who want to come to Russia. Well, because, well, I think that Russia is such a country that attracts many people who have never been there. Simply because it is different. Since the beginning of the war, and with all the sanctions, it has become, firstly, more difficult to come to Russia. Secondly, someone thinks it is more dangerous. Well, you can understand, it is more difficult, for example, if you go to Russia, then it is more difficult, all the logistics. There are no direct planes. To pay, to use money there, you need to come up with something, and so on. And here I see such a sagging. But on the other hand, I think, well, I travel, or when you travel, and you go somewhere, do you often learn the language of this country? Because, for example, I studied literally a few words, a few phrases. Because, well, damn, now there is just the Internet, and you can use the Internet and translate everything calmly. Therefore, I do not know exactly how much the number of people learning Russian has decreased. Who learned the language only for travel. And, well, on the other hand, I don't know how many people there were who actually started learning Russian to go there. That's why it's hard to say. At the same time, they speak Russian not only in Russia. And yes, many of my acquaintances, with whom I talk, foreigners who learned Russian, they go to other countries of the CIS of the former Soviet Union. And there they can speak Russian calmly. Yes, that's it. Now business. To be honest, I had very few students, and not very many people at all, I know, from those who came to Russia or learned Russian because they had a business in Russia. But in my opinion, this group suffered the most. Because, well, I don't even know how you can do business in Russia now or not. But this is if we are talking about European countries, about Western countries. That is, this is Europe, USA. But if we look now in the direction of who is doing business in Russia now. This is Turkey, this is India, this is China. There are even more people. There are a lot of people. And these people are starting to learn Russian quite actively. Therefore, it is difficult to say how much the number of people in this group has actually changed. And the last one. These are the people who have either favorite Russian-speaking people. That is, for example, a husband, a wife. Or those who have roots from Russia. Well, for example, these are children of immigrants. These are children of immigrants in general in many, many generations. It is also so ambiguous here. Because, of course, if you have a Russian-speaking husband or wife. And you learned Russian. But you continue to be in a relationship with this person. Therefore, your motivation is outside of politics. Your motivation is not related to politics. If you found out that or you knew and you learned Russian. Because your grandfather, your grandmother were from Russia. And you were just interested in getting to know this culture more. Then I think it is more politically oriented. And at the same time, let's think like this. Over the past year and a half, about a million people have left Russia. Who live now somewhere in other countries. Right? And most of them are people with good education. Active. Open. Who are kind with their position. Kind. Who do not agree with what is happening now in Russia. They do not agree with the war in Ukraine. And in general, with this whole situation. And these people, of course, communicate with local residents. That is, they communicate with those people where they came from. Of course, in these conditions, new relationships appear. Someone falls in love. Someone starts to be friends with these people. And in general, get to know Russian culture more. And among these people, potentially, there are people who will also start learning Russian in the future. And I repeat, this is about a million people. And of course, yes, you will tell me that 10 times more people have left Ukraine. Yes. But a large part of people from Ukraine, they also speak Russian. And for many ... I don't know the statistics. And for many of them, the Russian language is the native language, the main language. Therefore, it seems to me that it is very important to separate the Russian language from the country in general. For example, we cannot say that the Spanish language is a language only in Spain. No, they speak Spanish in almost all of Latin America. Almost in all of South America. And here the situation is, well, plus or minus similar. That is, the Russian language is not only the language of Russia. And so we are. The last, last words. If we talk in general, then, of course, I think that the number of people who have begun to study the Russian language is falling. Especially if we compare with the USSR. If we are talking about the level, about the status of the Russian language in the post-Soviet space, or in general in other countries, the status of the Russian language. Because at that time it was simply necessary to speak Russian. If you are in the Soviet Union, this is a huge number of people. And everyone, everyone learned Russian, everyone was forced to learn Russian. There was an implantation of the Russian language. Now, of course, this is not the case. Therefore, of course, the number of students is falling. For example, we see this in the number of groups in universities. Foreigners who came to learn Russian in universities in Russia. Yes, it is noticeable. At the same time, somewhere fewer people become, somewhere more. Therefore, maybe this trend is not very critical. But the number of people learning the Russian language will never be equal to zero. And it will never be practically small. Yes, perhaps this is a decrease by several percent. Perhaps even by 10%. Although, probably, this is already unlikely. I am worried about the medium-term and long-term prospects. How this whole political situation will affect, how it will affect the Russian language in 5-10 years. I think only then we can draw some conclusions. Because now it is still not very clear. If before I had a more pessimistic view of things, now I am also pessimistic, but not so much. Yes, and in this video, I hope in this one, you can see my thoughts, what I said half a year ago about the Russian language, about the Russian language in Russia, about the exchange of the Russian language. It is interesting to compare. And see you soon!