How useful is Russian?

Question

I like the language a lot, and the literature, but I want to travel and use the languages I learn. My buddy told me that not many countrys speak Russian. Is learning it valuable? Where can I use it?

Thanks so much,

Ryan

Answer 1

Russians not a very useful language...only russia, and maybe some people in czech republic speak it...

but you might as well learn it if your interested?

Answer 2

Russian is valuable if you believe you will ever be dealing with Russians. They speak Russian in Eastern Russia, but once you go west of Moscow most of the general population will speak central Asian languages.

As for where you can use it, you can use Russian wherever you like.

Answer 3

Well, my belief is that knowledge of ANY foreign language is useful. So, yes, I would say Russian is extremely useful, especially today.

I work in finance, and with a lot of investments coming that way (or from there, as many Russian companies are buying into the U.S. businesses), I use Russian a lot, to translate financial documents or do research. It is also quiet useful in chemical, oil and mining industry - the second largest oil reserves are in Russia, so if you ever plan to work in that industry, it'd be helpful if you learned the language.

Additionally, as many people have said already, A LOT of countries use Russian as an official language - all of the former republics of the Soviet Union do (also, it was the second language for most of Eastern Europe untill Soviet Union fell)! And that makes it pretty useful, especially if you're dealing with general population that does not speak much English.

Lastly, you can do freelance translations from/to Russian; it is a language in demand for many companies who are looking to partner with Russian businesses, and they may use your skills to interpret at meetings or to translate correspondence

My suggestion, however, would be, if you decide to learn it - learn it well. I am not saying you should perfect your accent, but congugation, cases, orthography and overall proper sentence structure, especially in writing, are the areas to pay attention to.

Hope this helps!

Answer 4

Apart from the whole of Russia I found my basic russian skills useful in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and a little bit in Mongolia although English is becoming more common in Ub these days.

In Czech I actually found German much more useful.

Answer 5

it is useful because russia and all the old soviet union countries speak it. Trip is wrong because russian is spoken in all of russia not just eastern russia, and in siberia too. There is a large russian community in new york, usa and germany. You will peobably always fing someone who speaks russian plus russia is the biggest country in the world and it is very interesting. It is a lot more useful than french anyway.

Answer 6

well, if you are planning to go to caucasian countries than yes. u can use it in ukraine, moldova, georgia, armenia, belarus, latvia, litvia, serbia, macedonia and of course moscow.

Answer 7

Actually people from all of the old USSR's former republics can generally speak Russian, and with Russia's economy taking off, the language may come in handy more often.  I do have trouble finding a use for it in the Midwestern USA, except for the fact that I speak it at home with my family.  I also do some interpreting and translating.  If you like Russian literature, check out some newly translated (or the original Russian) books here:

http://www.geocities.com/maxmakc/free_sa...

All the very best!