Russian has worldwide status as one of the official languages of the United Nations. \u00a0The number of Russian speakers worldwide is thought to be in the region of 220 million. As a result, 10 percent of the world\u2019s population communicates in Slavonic languages (a group of closely related\u00a0languages\u00a0of the\u00a0Slavic peoples\u00a0and a subgroup of\u00a0Indo-European languages), and of these 60 percent speak Russian.<\/p>\n
\u00a0#2 \u2018O\u2019ut of here!<\/strong><\/h2>\nIn 1969, a novel “La Disparition” was written by Georges Perec. One of the peculiarities of this novel is that it doesn’t have the letter “e”, which makes it odd as it’s the most frequent letter that appears in French! The same principle was used to translate the book into English, German, and Italian. There was no “e” in those translations. As for the Russian version, the novel was translated in 2005 by Valeriy Kislov and it doesn’t have the letter “o” as this is the most frequent letter in Russian.<\/p>\n
#3 Russian is the most widespread language in Eurasia<\/strong><\/h2>\nIn case you were wondering, Eurasia\u00a0is the combined landmass of the continents of Europe and Asia in the northern part of the Earth… With over 170 million native speakers, Russian is the eighth most-spoken language in the world. However, due to Russia\u2019s enormous size, native Russian speakers cover the greatest geographical reach out of all the languages in Eurasia. It even beats out China, which has over seven times as many speakers.<\/p>\n
#4 Common tongue in space<\/strong><\/h2>\n![\"space-1951858_640.png\"](\"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/space-1951858_640.png\")
<\/strong> Due to Russia\u2019s presence in space technology, and especially in the International Space Station, it\u2019s now a requirement for foreign astronauts to have a working knowledge of Russian. Astrophysics alone will not guarantee you a trip to space so it\u2019s better to equip yourself with some Russian before you head for the stars.<\/p>\n#5 Russian surnames vary by gender<\/strong><\/h2>\nRussian names consist of a first name, a family name, and a patronymic name, which is the father\u2019s name plus the ending\u00a0-ovich\u00a0for a son and\u00a0-ovna\u00a0for a daughter. So if a father named Ivan has a son and a daughter, his son\u2019s patronymic name will be Ivanovich and his daughter\u2019s will be Ivanovna.<\/p>\n
#6 Russian speakers outperform English speakers at distinguishing shades of blue<\/strong><\/h2>\n![\"beach-1209229_640.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/beach-1209229_640.jpg\")
<\/strong> Unlike English, in which the line between \u2018light blue\u2019 and \u2018dark blue\u2019 is fuzzy, the Russian language splits the color blue into completely different words for dark shades and\u00a0lighter shades. As a result, it\u2019s been found that Russian speakers can distinguish and categorize different shades of blue more accurately than English speakers.<\/p>\n#<\/strong>7 Animacy<\/strong><\/h2>\nRussian nouns have\u00a0animacy. That means that animate nouns are considered more alive than inanimate ones. So in Russian, a dead man (\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0432\u0435\u0446) is more alive than a corpse (\u0442\u0440\u0443\u043f), because a dead man (\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0432\u0435\u0446) is animated and a corpse is not.<\/p>\n
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In case you were wondering, Eurasia\u00a0is the combined landmass of the continents of Europe and Asia in the northern part of the Earth… With over 170 million native speakers, Russian is the eighth most-spoken language in the world. However, due to Russia\u2019s enormous size, native Russian speakers cover the greatest geographical reach out of all the languages in Eurasia. It even beats out China, which has over seven times as many speakers.<\/p>\n
#4 Common tongue in space<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/strong> Due to Russia\u2019s presence in space technology, and especially in the International Space Station, it\u2019s now a requirement for foreign astronauts to have a working knowledge of Russian. Astrophysics alone will not guarantee you a trip to space so it\u2019s better to equip yourself with some Russian before you head for the stars.<\/p>\n#5 Russian surnames vary by gender<\/strong><\/h2>\nRussian names consist of a first name, a family name, and a patronymic name, which is the father\u2019s name plus the ending\u00a0-ovich\u00a0for a son and\u00a0-ovna\u00a0for a daughter. So if a father named Ivan has a son and a daughter, his son\u2019s patronymic name will be Ivanovich and his daughter\u2019s will be Ivanovna.<\/p>\n
#6 Russian speakers outperform English speakers at distinguishing shades of blue<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/strong> Unlike English, in which the line between \u2018light blue\u2019 and \u2018dark blue\u2019 is fuzzy, the Russian language splits the color blue into completely different words for dark shades and\u00a0lighter shades. As a result, it\u2019s been found that Russian speakers can distinguish and categorize different shades of blue more accurately than English speakers.<\/p>\n#<\/strong>7 Animacy<\/strong><\/h2>\nRussian nouns have\u00a0animacy. That means that animate nouns are considered more alive than inanimate ones. So in Russian, a dead man (\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0432\u0435\u0446) is more alive than a corpse (\u0442\u0440\u0443\u043f), because a dead man (\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0432\u0435\u0446) is animated and a corpse is not.<\/p>\n
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<\/strong> Due to Russia\u2019s presence in space technology, and especially in the International Space Station, it\u2019s now a requirement for foreign astronauts to have a working knowledge of Russian. Astrophysics alone will not guarantee you a trip to space so it\u2019s better to equip yourself with some Russian before you head for the stars.<\/p>\n#5 Russian surnames vary by gender<\/strong><\/h2>\nRussian names consist of a first name, a family name, and a patronymic name, which is the father\u2019s name plus the ending\u00a0-ovich\u00a0for a son and\u00a0-ovna\u00a0for a daughter. So if a father named Ivan has a son and a daughter, his son\u2019s patronymic name will be Ivanovich and his daughter\u2019s will be Ivanovna.<\/p>\n
#6 Russian speakers outperform English speakers at distinguishing shades of blue<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/strong> Unlike English, in which the line between \u2018light blue\u2019 and \u2018dark blue\u2019 is fuzzy, the Russian language splits the color blue into completely different words for dark shades and\u00a0lighter shades. As a result, it\u2019s been found that Russian speakers can distinguish and categorize different shades of blue more accurately than English speakers.<\/p>\n#<\/strong>7 Animacy<\/strong><\/h2>\nRussian nouns have\u00a0animacy. That means that animate nouns are considered more alive than inanimate ones. So in Russian, a dead man (\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0432\u0435\u0446) is more alive than a corpse (\u0442\u0440\u0443\u043f), because a dead man (\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0432\u0435\u0446) is animated and a corpse is not.<\/p>\n
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Russian nouns have\u00a0animacy. That means that animate nouns are considered more alive than inanimate ones. So in Russian, a dead man (\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0432\u0435\u0446) is more alive than a corpse (\u0442\u0440\u0443\u043f), because a dead man (\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0432\u0435\u0446) is animated and a corpse is not.<\/p>\n<\/strong> Unlike English, in which the line between \u2018light blue\u2019 and \u2018dark blue\u2019 is fuzzy, the Russian language splits the color blue into completely different words for dark shades and\u00a0lighter shades. As a result, it\u2019s been found that Russian speakers can distinguish and categorize different shades of blue more accurately than English speakers.<\/p>\n#<\/strong>7 Animacy<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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