In the Russian Federation, Russian is by far the largest
language of all, spoken as a native language by approximately 80
per cent of the total population.
Besides Russian, there are a number of other languages
spoken in Russia. In some cases, these are specific dialects of
other languages, such as Plautdietsch (a form of Low German spoken
in Siberia) or Yiddish. But others are individual languages of the
diverse ethnic groups found in Russia: Ukrainian and Belorussian,
Polish and Bulgarian (Slavic), Armenian (Armenian), Georgian (Georgian),
Moldavian (Roman), Tajik (Iranian), German (Germanic), Lithuanian
and Latvian (Baltic), Gipsy.
While many of the countries of the former Soviet Union
are now promoting their local languages rather than Russian, Russian
remains widely spoken in these areas and is often used for intercommunication
between these countries.
The basis of modern Russian
is the dialect of Moscow. It is the official language of the
government and administration, but it is also used at length
in business and education.
Written Russian
Russian is written using the Cyrillic alphabet. This
is used to write six Slavic languages (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian,
Serbian, Macedonian, and Bulgarian), as well as several other languages
of Russia and the former Soviet Union, such as Tatar (a Turkic language)
and Udmurt. If a company is contemplating doing business with Russia,
it may be sufficient to use only the English language. Most people
in Russia speak English due among other things to the strong connection
between Russia and the United States. However, business is always
best conducted in the language of the target audience. If the intention
is to reach a broad audience, we advise formulating business correspondence
using the language of Moscow. It is the official language of the
government and administration, but it is also used at length in
business and education. But companies which have a specific target
in mind might consider using a native speaker of that particular
region.
Viewing the Cyrillic Font
Users often encounter problems when viewing the Cyrillic font on
the internet. It is important to ensure that the browser has first
been set up so that the computer can easily read the script. Unless
this is done, the screen is likely to display a jumbled up of boxes
looking like anything but Russian. The reason for this is that most
operating systems have been designed to recognise the Roman alphabet.
In order to remedy this problem, it may be necessary to configure
the computer settings or download a software tailored made for this
function. The first suggested step is to log on directly to the
relevant provider website.
