In addition to the 144 million Russian speakers living within Russia itself, Russian is also widely used throughout much of the former Soviet Union, including Ukraine and many Eurasian countries such as Kazakhstan. This makes it the largest native language in Europe and the eighth most spoken in the world.
This broad, diverse audience is spread out across a vast region that is home to many different important business sectors, including oil, natural gas, and precious metals.
Major Russian-speaking cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg are home to vibrant, lively cultural scenes. Their residents are cosmopolitan and outward facing, creating an important market for any company looking to cement their reputation as an international brand.
We have been delivering high quality business-to-business translation services in over 250 language combinations for over 10 years. With a wide resource of specialist translators and account managers, we will ensure your translation project is handled with the commitment to quality and accuracy it deserves, no matter the lead time, the format, or the number of languages.
All services are delivered by professional and qualified linguists and experienced UK based account managers so you can be sure your translation project is in safe hands and managed in the best way possible.
Russian Language Facts
- Unlike the Romance languages to the west, the Russian language is distinct in both sound and structure. Whereas many European dialects are based on Latin, Russian is unique and has twice as many vowels and some extra consonants, endowing it with a melody all its own.
- The Cyrillic alphabet has 33 letters; 10 vowels, 21 consonants, and 2 that have no sound. It can be written in capitals, lowercase, and Cyrillic cursive. The vowels have 5 sounds and are written with different letters depending on whether they follow a hard consonant or a soft consonant. Interestingly, the vowel indicates whether the preceding consonant is hard or soft.
- In Russian, where the emphasis falls on the word is important. For example, я плачу – in which emphasis is on the second syllable – means “I’m paying”. However, я плáчу – in which the emphasis is on the first syllable – means “I’m crying”.
- Due to Russia’s presence in space technology, and especially in the International Space Station, it’s now a requirement for foreign astronauts to have a working knowledge of Russian.
- Russian names consist of a first name, a family name, and a patronymic name, which is the father’s name plus the ending -ovich for a son and -ovna for a daughter.