Russian language in the USA. Why do they study Russian in America Do they study Russian in American schools

The United States of America is a large multinational state, in which almost the entire palette of the most common languages ​​in the world is represented. Is any language official? How are languages ​​distributed by state? We will focus on these issues in the article.

Let us note that attempts to establish English as the state language were nevertheless made by the US Senate several times, but this was not crowned with success.

English in the USA

This language, as we have already mentioned, is used as the main one. 95-96% of the population speak it fluently, 82% consider it native. Yes, in general, every student knows that the vast majority of Americans speak this language, which is unofficially referred to as "American English".

In addition, English is the language of record keeping, it is spoken by politicians, written - that is, all official activities in the United States are carried out.

In addition, in 27 US states this language is officially recognized as the state language. For example, this is done on .

What is the difference between "American English" and British? What is the best language to learn when traveling to the USA? Answers to these questions in the next video.

What language is taught

Spanish

It is the second most common and the main one in a number of regions of the United States of America. So, in Puerto Rico (by status it is a dependent territory of the United States), it is Spanish that is recognized as the official language, it is spoken by almost the entire island.

Spanish is also common in the state of Florida (it is spoken by 20% of the inhabitants of the entire state), and in the city of Miami - as much as 75%, that is, almost the entire city! Another region of distribution is the state of New Mexico. In the above states, all laws, all paperwork is carried out in Spanish, there are Spanish-language TV channels, film studios, most of the signs in the cities are also duplicated in this language.

In the whole country, about 40 million Americans speak Spanish, and in recent years its prevalence has only been growing. Some experts even believe that Spanish is gradually replacing English.

In schools, it is Spanish that is most often studied as a foreign language, and the most popular translations in the United States are from Spanish to English (and vice versa).

If you know this language, you can travel to at least three regions of the United States where you feel comfortable. In addition, almost all states provide services to citizens in Spanish, so even in them you will find support.

Hawaiian

The state of Hawaii has two official languages, English and Hawaiian. The latter is spoken by the smallest proportion of the population, but nevertheless this language is still preserved in the Hawaiian Islands. In addition, on the island of Niihau, it is the main language spoken by the native Polynesians living there.

The Hawaiian language is also taught at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, has important cultural significance, and the most popular phrase "Aloha!" (meaning hello and goodbye) is part of Hawaii's official nickname: "The Aloha State". All major landmarks, neighborhoods and streets are also written in Hawaiian: Waikiki, Kapahulu, Ala Moana, etc.

Chinese

According to some estimates, it is the third most popular language after English and Spanish. It is already spoken by about 2.5 million people in the United States due to the large influx of Chinese immigrants. In addition, in many American states there are Chinese communities ("Chinatowns"), where mostly only Chinese live.

Interesting video. Is it possible to find a job in the USA without knowing the language.

Japanese

Since Japan is quite close to the Hawaiian archipelago, it is in the state of Hawaii that the largest concentration of Japanese in the United States. In the city of Honolulu (the capital, largest city of Hawaii), the Japanese make up about 20% of the total population. In general, Asians in Hawaii are about 40% of the inhabitants of all the islands. There are separate private schools where education is conducted in Japanese.

Indian and Eskimo languages

Recall that the Indians are the indigenous people of America. The languages ​​and dialects of the Indians have survived and are still used today. The most common of them - Navajo - is spoken by almost 180 thousand people. In addition, the Indians living on the Upper Plains use a rather interesting sign language.

The Eskimo language, especially the Yupik dialect, is spoken in the state. It is spoken by 16 thousand people.

The Russian language in the United States is very popular. Such a prevalence of the language is due to large flows of immigrants from Tsarist Russia, then, during the Second World War, Russian-speaking Jews from the regions of the Soviet Union occupied by the Germans. In the era of the thaw, in the 60s, the influx of political emigrants intensified. A huge influx occurred in the late eighties and nineties of the twentieth century.

As a result, a society of Russian-speaking residents was formed, among which only about 25% are actually Russians. Most of the speakers are Jews, Moldovans, Ukrainians, Armenians, Uzbeks. A society of consumers of not only goods and services has formed, there is a need for intellectual development. This contributed to the creation of mass media in Russian, television, radio, newspapers, books and magazines. There is no doubt that English-speaking Americans are also interested in everything Russian - language, theater, literature. Therefore, it was introduced as a full-fledged discipline in major American universities. In terms of importance in the world, the Russian language occupies one of the leading places and claims to be the world language.

Story

Three centuries have passed since the first Russian explorers set foot on the land of Alaska in 1648. On this peninsula, the first language was originally Russian. But in 1867, the Russian government, led by Tsar Alexander II, sold Alaska to America. Part of the Russians left the territory of Alaska, but many remained. If in 1882 the number of those remaining was estimated at 16,918 people, then by 1889 there were already 387,416 Russian speakers.

The second stage of settlers were Russian Jews, who at the beginning of the twentieth century, after the pogroms in Melitopol and Chisinau in 1904, and in Chernigov and Kutaisi at the end of the 19th century, fled from the persecution of the Russian government.

The third wave of immigrants from Russia occurred after the Revolution of 1917, the so-called "white émigrés". For comparison, the census taken during this period in America indicated 392,000 US citizens who were originally from Russia. Statistics from 1907 put the figure at 57,926 Russian-speaking citizens of the United States.

A lull came in the 1930s and 1940s, when the Government of the Soviet Union imposed a ban on leaving the country. However, even at this time, the influx of people from among the "defectors" numbered 14,000 people.

An active wave of new emigration from the USSR was observed in the postwar years from among the prisoners of concentration camps, former prisoners of war. Also in the seventies, the influx of new citizens took place in a roundabout way - through Israel, from where Russian-speaking Jews and not only, got to America. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the nineties, the flow of people became massive, while restrictions were under the control of the US visa services themselves.

Spreading

The largest Russian settlements are currently located in New York, in the famous Brighton Beach area and in Brooklyn. It is assumed that, due to non-participation in the census, the real figure of those living in these areas is 70-80 thousand people, although the actual figures are estimated at 23,000 citizens.

Also, these areas are known for concert halls, restaurants, cultural centers, schools, kindergartens, that is, the widest range of services in Russian.

Education

According to the Demographic Center of America, the number of those who speak Russian is three and a half million people, the number of secondary educational institutions is 100 institutions. Universities in which Russian is studied are determined by the number of 178. There are already 23,000 students in these educational institutions. In May 2012, the Manhattan Department of Education received permission to organize the first Russian-American school.

In 1974, the American Council of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature was formed. The goal was to improve the teaching of the Russian language and strengthen contacts between specialists. The level of education of the Russian-speaking diaspora is generally higher than in the country. For example, 92% have a secondary education, 51% have a higher education.

Among Americans, interest in the Russian language was maintained in waves. At the time of perestroika in the nineties, the relevance of the Russian language increased significantly.

In the United States, television broadcasts in Russian are conducted by several companies: NTV Mir, Channel One, Russkiy Mir, RTR-Planet, STS International, RTVi, Israel +. Broadcasting for the Russian-speaking population of America is run by both radio companies operating throughout North America (Mayak and Radio Baltika) and local radio stations WSNR in New York and New Life Radio in Chicago.

As for newspapers and magazines, here the story begins in 1867-71, when the newspaper "Svoboda" was first published in Russian. In the following years, many short-lived newspapers were opened. During the Cold War, it was just as difficult for Russians in America as it was in the Soviet Union. Any printed publications aroused the suspicions of the authorities as propaganda.

The newspaper "New Russian Word", published since 1910, came out every day. Since 2009, she was transferred to the category of a weekly. And in 2010, it was completely closed. In 2011, a new newspaper "Reporter" appeared. Among the newspapers that are consistently published, one can distinguish such as: "Panorama", "In the New Light", "Jewish World". The most popular newspaper is Russkaya Reklama, which has a circulation of 100,000.

In the traditional university Irkutsk, foreign students are not uncommon. In almost every group of every university or institute there are a couple of foreigners who, for various reasons, decided to study in Russia and chose a Siberian city for this. Students from the USA told The Village why Irkutsk is better than St. Petersburg, what is the most important word for Russians, and why there are dumplings for breakfast.

Faina

State of Indiana

Roads in Indiana are worse than in Irkutsk. It's not so bad here, there is asphalt everywhere

I knew practically nothing about Russia before I came here. As do many in America. There are people who still think that communism is in Russia. The only thing I was familiar with was Russian culture. I listened to classical Russian music a lot. I wanted to know Russian in order to understand songs and sing them. I really like Rachmaninoff. And the most beloved Russian song is "Fly away on the wings of the wind."

I love Russian literature. Especially Gogol and Dostoevsky. Russian literature is more complex and psychological. And overall, it's probably darker. But it is different from just sad books in America. When Americans write something dark, it's just sad. Sadness for the sake of sadness. In Russia, it makes sense. I love dark literature. With it, we can see the best parts of people and humanity.

I have been in Irkutsk for 2 months already. I came here because I am writing a report on Siberian literature for my university. I study the works of Vampilov, Tarkovsky and Rasputin. In addition, when I lived in St. Petersburg, there was too much communication in English. American students know that in St. Petersburg and in Moscow there is always a party. It's hard to get serious there. In the end, I liked Irkutsk more than Peter. People in Irkutsk are more open, but not as much as in my state. In Indiana, strangers talk to each other on the street, and it seems completely normal.

The Russian language is very difficult. When I started learning Russian, I spent 10 minutes saying the word "hello". And then another 10 minutes to say "Tatiana". Words in Russian are very long. For example, sights and mutual understanding. Very hard.

Roads in Indiana, to be honest, are worse than in Irkutsk. It's not so bad here, there is asphalt everywhere. I love that Russia has a transport system. Buses don't run often in Indiana. Sometimes people wait for the bus for two hours.

Isaac

State of Vermont

The landlady often calls me to the TV with the words: “Look what your Trump is doing!”

I live in Vermont, in a small suburb, on a farm. In Russia for a month and a half. Prior to that, he studied Russian for four years, but not seriously, always along with other languages. In addition to Russian, I studied Chinese, Arabic and also French at school. The most difficult one is probably Russian.

I started learning Russian when I was a freshman. I listened to Russian music a lot and so I decided to try it. I have been fond of Russian music since childhood. I listened to a lot of "Leningrad", although I did not understand a word. My dad showed it to me. He is a musician, he has his own small band. Once he even wanted to translate the songs of "Leningrad". Together with his friend, who knew Russian. However, only one song was translated. I didn’t even know before that what the songs of “Leningrad” were about. It was funny. Then I listened to Civil Defense and Russian rap.

When I started studying Russian at the university, I myself tried to translate Russian songs or poems. I translated for my friends and girlfriend. They love poetry. Especially Russian. We do not have such literature as in Russia. There are no major poets and writers. One Russian asked me who our main writers are, the real ones. I couldn't name. We don't have Pushkin.

In Irkutsk, I rent a room from an elderly woman, so I can immerse myself in Russian culture. Eat traditional food and see how ordinary people live in Russia. Watch Russian TV. On the first day, the hostess said that we would not talk about politics, but after an hour she could not stand it. She often calls me to the TV with the words: “Look what your Trump is doing!”

There are many difficulties in Russia. For example, it is not easy for me to cross the road. In America, there is a concept that if the car does not slow down before the transition, then it will not stop. You have to wait until they let you through. Fortunately, you don't have to wait long. It is useless to wait in Russia. To cross the road, you have to try. You just have to go and then you will be let through. This seems like a pretty dangerous undertaking.

Lance

State of Pennsylvania

I have been in Irkutsk for less than two months and have already eaten dumplings more than forty times

I have been living in Irkutsk for two months now. And I have been learning Russian for several years, since the first year of university. I chose Russian because Russia is an important country. Every day I read something about Russia in the news. By learning Russian, I can learn about Russia on my own. This is very important because I can create my own opinion.

Everyone I met here is very kind. Everyone wonders that I'm from America. People often ask: “Oh, you are from America, right? Why Irkutsk? This is the main issue for them. Irkutsk is a very good city, very beautiful, in my opinion. In general, this is my second time in Russia. I lived in St. Petersburg for 5 weeks, was in Moscow and Novgorod. This time I wanted to see another part of Russia, so I chose Siberia. Siberia is very far from what I have seen before. Here is another world. In Siberia people are kind because life doesn't seem to be so fast. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, people always have to go somewhere, do something. Here, except for the minibus, life is generally slower.

Russian language is very different from English. It seems to have more synonyms, for example, to the word "die." I saw 30! It's amazing. “Die”, “die”, “move horses”, “play box”, “die”. They say that the more important a concept is for a country, the more other names it has. But Russian, in principle, is a very rich language.

From Russia, I will bring a pack of Belomorkanal and Armenian cognac. I would like to take real Russian food, but there are many restrictions at customs. I have one favorite dish from Russia - dumplings. I have been in Irkutsk for less than two months and have already eaten dumplings more than forty times. Sometimes I eat dumplings for breakfast. I also love poses and fat. We don't have all that, unfortunately.

There are many myths about Russia. Many in America think that everyone in Russia wants to defeat the US. But I have not yet met anyone in Russia who would like to do more than just go to America and see New York, San Francisco. I have yet to meet anyone who is angry that I am an American. Everyone is just interested in learning something about America. There are many myths about otherwise Russian or American societies. But I think we are all the same. People are like people.

Text and photos: Anna Teresa

Alexander Genis: American Slavic studies are sensitive to political changes. As the director of the Russian School in Vermont told me last summer, “whenever Putin opens his mouth, we have five new students.” And all of them will have to master one of the most difficult languages ​​in the world. Russian language teachers at American universities tell our correspondent Vladimir Abarinov about how this happens.

Vladimir Abarinov: To learn a foreign language means to understand the way of life and the logic of its speakers. It's not easy when there's a cultural barrier. The teacher has to explain things that seem obvious to him and that he himself has never thought about. I talked about this with three of my acquaintances who teach Russian language and literature to American students.

One of them is Yulia Trubikhina. She teaches at New York's Hunter College. To begin with, I asked her what kind of people her students are, why they need the Russian language.

For various reasons, they enroll in Russian courses. We have a huge Russian population in New York. That is, some of them are children from Russian-speaking families. Some of them go to language courses because they still need some foreign language, and at first many of them hope for an easy grade. This almost never works. American non-Russian-speaking students choose Russian... well, I don't know why. Maybe because they always wanted to, maybe because it's interesting, maybe they read something in the news, maybe because Russian friends or a Russian girl or a young man. All the same, they need to take some foreign language. But those who sign up for literary and cultural courses - it happens to them in different ways. An interest in culture or literature may arise while you are studying the language. It depends on the teacher. If you like a teacher, then they go to literature and culture. And some people are really into it. So there are very different motivations.

Vladimir Abarinov: Diana Gratigny began teaching Russian to foreigners in her native Saratov. She currently teaches at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. The question is the same: who are its students, what explains their interest in the Russian language?

This is always a very interesting question, and I asked myself many times: why do they learn the language? Interest and motivation can be anything. But what happens to them in the process of learning a language and comprehending culture is the most interesting thing. All of them are clearly divided into two poles: those who do not accept the culture also experience difficulties in learning the language. Often there is a psychological background here - not some kind of own linguistic obstruction, but psychological difficulties. And there are those who fall in love from the first moment, and no matter what happens to them in Russia, they really like everything. Of course, something happens to everyone, they all get into extreme situations, but this is where their character is tested. Anyway, many are the majority! - have a keen interest in the subject.

Vladimir Abarinov: Elena Reznikova, a teacher at Union College in Schenectady, upstate New York, answers the same question.

Elena Reznikova: What motivates them? Well, in principle, many of them are engaged in either political science, or ecology, or international relations, so the Russian language is relevant and interesting for them. Some come to study Russian because they had some kind of grandparents or more distant ancestors from Russia. Someone is simply interested in Russian culture, the Russian language.

Vladimir Abarinov: The problems start with grammar.

Elena Reznikova: Well, of course, the very first thing that strikes students is grammar. Students in general are not prepared for this level. If they had studied Latin in high school, or even just serious English grammar, then they would certainly be ready for this. But when they have to comprehend all the subtleties of cases, declensions and conjugations, they start to panic a little. After that lesson, when all the secrets of the genitive case were revealed to them, all this many forms, they moaned for a whole week. And, of course, as soon as the cases ended, the perfect and imperfect form began.

Vladimir Abarinov: But English also has a perfect and an imperfect form of the verb.

Elena Reznikova: Yes Yes Yes! They were quite surprised when they learned that there are equivalents in English. When I told them: do you know, for example, that there is a present perfect in English? They said: what are you? Give an example.

Vladimir Abarinov: What is a culture shock, Diana Gratigny understood in Saratov.

The first thing that comes to my mind at the moment is the story of a student from New York. It was an African American. She came to Russia 10 years ago and faced racism. But what kind of racism? People paid attention to her. She studied then in Saratov, and in a provincial city, even a large one, people paid attention to her appearance, she was very pretty and, apparently, in the cafe where they rested, some remarks were made, apparently, and a forbidden word in the USA the letter "n" was pronounced, and she suffered a lot about this. Here she failed. Very often with students, not only from America, we have to explain in the classroom ... We put aside all our materials and explain why people do not smile, or smile, but not in the way they should, or not there, or vice versa - why are they puzzled by your smiles...

Vladimir Abarinov: Well, there are comic cases.

I had an American Mennonite family. Mom and dad learned Russian, and they had three adorable kids. And so they lived in Russia, because there are Mennonites in Russia too, they have a parish, and dad is a priest there. But I was interested: what exactly did they show the children when they arrived in Russia? They went to Moscow, as always, to Red Square and showed the children the mausoleum of Lenin, they were in the mausoleum. And they went to the cosmonautics museum and showed all these, you know, spaceships, vehicles, Gagarin and so on. In my opinion, a very strange choice for Mennonites. It seems to me that the parents remembered something from their childhood and wanted to see it for themselves. So. When my father and mother came to me to study Russian, my daughter entertained the children. She was then 10 years old, and she had a richly illustrated book, which was called "Russian History". And there, for children, in a popular way with many pictures, the whole Russian history was told up to the 60s of the 20th century. And there were Soviet posters dedicated to space. And before that there were posters dedicated to Lenin, the revolution and so on. And after one lesson, the eldest boy, he was about seven years old, approached his parents and said: “We are now watching Russian history. Do you know that Gagarin flew into space and flew to God himself? There was a pause. My parents looked at me, I looked at my parents. My child, of course, did not say anything of the sort, that is, it was the boy's own conclusion. The parents tried to open their mouths and explain that they probably didn’t see it after all, but then the youngest, who was four years old, entered into the conversation, and he declared very solemnly: “And God was Lenin!”

Vladimir Abarinov: And here is what Yulia Trubikhina says about her students.

Both the strength of American students and their weakness is that they do not have a cultural context. This is a big problem. It seems that there is no general context left. Previously, at the very least, mass culture gave at least some general context. It turned out that with an increase in the number of foreign students, there is nothing in common at all, if you are afraid to joke, they will not understand. And the amazing equality is absolutely wonderful, the lack of hierarchy. I remember how, in a course on Russian culture, one girl cheerfully began an essay on Avvakum (and this, of course, is insanely difficult, we read some fragments from Avvakum) in this way: “As we say in Oklahoma ...”

Vladimir Abarinov: When reading literature, students first of all encounter unfamiliar realities.

Elena Reznikova: For example, we read Bulgakov. What concerned all this phantasmagorical reality of Moscow in the 1930s was very difficult to understand. The housing issue, all these communal apartments - I had to explain for a very long time. This whole currency situation...

Vladimir Abarinov: But it is much more difficult to comprehend the way of thinking and the logic of the actions of the characters.

Elena Reznikova: It was very difficult for the students to read Crime and Punishment. Dostoevsky in itself torments the soul even to Russian readers, and such protected American teenagers, of course, have nothing to say. It was very difficult for them to understand all the suffering, all these throwing of the protagonist and the entire galaxy of characters. Katerina Ivanovna, in my opinion, exhausted everyone's soul with her costumed children, dinner parties and so on. Students asked a lot of questions: why are they all doing this? Why do they behave like this?

Vladimir Abarinov: With the understanding of poetry in general trouble.

One boy - it was Tsvetaeva's "Jealous Attempt" ... And so it is very difficult for them, but he does not notice the quotes interpolating the replica "Home for hire", and suggests that maybe Tsvetaeva wanted too much money from lover. House indeed. It was too expensive for her lover - so he did not want to mess with her. Probably so.

Vladimir Abarinov: Another great example of cultural differences.

We had a Korean student. She studied Russian at the Literary Institute for several years, then went to Korea and became a translator. And she translated Russian fairy tales, in particular "Teremok", into Korean. The story was published, and she brought it as a gift. And then we set up an experiment. We gave our Korean students this fairy tale in Korean and asked them to translate it into Russian. Here it is very interesting to see how different cultural codes work. For example, in our fairy tale, the mouse ran across the field without any reason, just ran. They all run: a frog, a bunny - there is nothing to do. But in the Korean translation, they all fled with a purpose. The mouse was looking for grains, the frog was looking for juicy grass, someone was looking for something else - they all had a goal. That is, in Korean culture, no one can just run somewhere, there must be a goal. Further: when a bunny knocked on their door, that is, there were already two animals in the house, and to the request “Let me live with you,” they always answered the same thing: “Now we will consult.” And they began to consult, whether it was possible to let the next beast in or not. And when it came to the bear, the animals were divided. Strong animals - a wolf, a fox - said: "The bear is big, it will crush us." Because they knew. And the small animals believed that he would protect them. And since there were more of them, the mouse, the bunny and the frog won the vote and let the bear in, and then what happened happened. Of course, before us is a completely different tale. Adapted for understanding Koreans.

Vladimir Abarinov: Interestingly, does it happen that students force the teacher to see the situation from a new, unexpected angle?

Elena Reznikova: It seems to me that what foreigners notice is, most likely, the absurdity of what is described in a literary work. A lot of situations, some idiosyncratic features of the characters, are completely insane, absurd, having no meaning in a normal, sane situation. That is, very often they contradict common sense. This is clearly seen in the example of Petrushevskaya's prose - her heroes.

Vladimir Abarinov: Yulia Trubikhina believes that traditional teaching methods do not work with modern students.

In general, modern students, they are just different. They generally don't read much, but they're completely visual. They find it difficult to focus on one thing for a long time. Therefore, the educational process turns out to be like television, with commercial breaks - you have to sing or dance before them. Figuratively speaking.

Vladimir Abarinov: And Diana Gratigny believes that all these torments are not in vain.

And this is the cross of the Russian language. And Russian literature, and Russia. They draw you in and suck you in so much ... It seems: oh well, I stayed here, left and that's it. But no. Here he takes it by the heart and holds it. And then they begin to rush about: we want to come - and they come, and read out, and read out, and become translators, researchers. And it all starts with a completely innocent: I didn’t know anything, I decided to try.

ABARINOV

With us were teachers of Russian language and literature at American colleges Elena Reznikova, Yulia Trubikhina and Diana Gratigny.