Russia Lacks Teachers of and Much Interest in Eastern Languages and So will Use English in Speaking with Asians, Expert Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 29 – Vladimir Putin talks a lot about Russia’s “turn to the east,” but the country isn’t training enough speakers of eastern languages and so will continue to use English with China, India and other Asian countries because people there are more likely to know that language than to know Russian, Dmitry Zhuravlyov says.

            The general director of the Institute of Regional Problems says that despite talk about English being a language of the past, Russians study it far more often than they do other languages given how important English remains as a means of acquiring information in many areas (svpressa.ru/society/article/423987/)

            That needs to change if Russia is to become more influential in Asia, he suggests. If Russians come to countries there speaking English, it will be viewed by many Asians as just another Western state that they have no more reason to treat as an ally or supporter than any of the others.

            Zhuravlyov also calls attention to another shortcoming of Russian foreign language instruction: Russians aren’t studying the languages of their immediate neighbors, including the languages of those in the former Soviet republics. Instead, Russians expect the latter to know Russian, something that deepens the divide between them.