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0 pointskolinko6y ago0 comments

Definitely not - among other things - for social/political reasons. Russia has occupied central/eastern countries for four decades and most people prefer to be as far away from it culturally as possible.

Even though my parents' generation was all forced to learn Russian, the current generation doesn't learn it. Even if it would be practical.

Also, Russian may be easy to learn, but it won't be easier to understand than my native Polish to my Czech and Slovakian friends. Interslavic on the other hand would be understood relatively easily.

I just read a chapter from the little prince that's on the page, and I understood it almost perfectly with no training in Interslavic, just with my knowledge of Polish language.

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DiogenesKynikos6y ago

Yes, there's strong anti-Russian feeling in several countries, but Russian is still, by far, the Slavic language with the most second-language speakers.

According to Ethnologue, there are more than 100 million Russian speakers outside of Russia. It is the primary language in Belarus and half of the Ukraine (and is known by most people in the country). Almost 7 million people in Poland know how to speak it.[1]

English is probably becoming more of the lingua franca of Eastern Europe, but still, if any Slavic language were to serve as the lingua franca, it would be Russian. It's the Slavic language with the largest international presence, and in contrast to constructed languages, it actually has a large speaker base and significant cultural heritage.

1. http://www.ethnologue.com/21/language/rus/

wavefunction6y ago

I think feelings tend to run negative towards the Russian government rather than Russian people. I feel that Russian and American people are more alike than we care to admit at least.

hourislate6y ago

>but Russian is still, by far, the Slavic language with the most second-language speakers

Only because Russia tried to destroy the language and culture of all the nations it occupied. They forced citizens of other countries to speak Russian and not their native languages. It is only the most spoken by older generations while the younger generations of other countries are being raised in their native language.

Given enough time, the Russian language will only be spoken by Russians.

DiogenesKynikos6y ago

What a negative comment! The same could be said of English, which is the dominant international language because of British imperialism.

It's also, historically speaking, simply not true that Russia tried to wipe out the languages of the countries it occupied (also, liberated from the Nazis) after WWII. Russian was taught in school as a second language, but there wasn't any plan to wipe out the Polish language, for example.

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dmurray6y ago

The second-language speakers skew old, though. People under 30 are much more likely to speak English or German. (Not trying to say that English should be the preferred lingua franca here, just that Russian doesn't have the headstart your statistics suggest).

DiogenesKynikos6y ago

We're talking about Slavic languages. I've said repeatedly that English is the international language, but if it comes down to Russian vs. a constructed Slavic language, Russian is obviously more attractive, given its existing speaker base and culture.

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0 pointskolinko6y ago0 comments

Even though my parents' generation was all forced to learn Russian, the current generation doesn't learn it. Even if it would be practical.

Also, Russian may be easy to learn, but it won't be easier to understand than my native Polish to my Czech and Slovakian friends. Interslavic on the other hand would be understood relatively easily.

I just read a chapter from the little prince that's on the page, and I understood it almost perfectly with no training in Interslavic, just with my knowledge of Polish language.

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DiogenesKynikos6y ago

Yes, there's strong anti-Russian feeling in several countries, but Russian is still, by far, the Slavic language with the most second-language speakers.

1. http://www.ethnologue.com/21/language/rus/

wavefunction6y ago

I think feelings tend to run negative towards the Russian government rather than Russian people. I feel that Russian and American people are more alike than we care to admit at least.

hourislate6y ago

>but Russian is still, by far, the Slavic language with the most second-language speakers

Given enough time, the Russian language will only be spoken by Russians.

DiogenesKynikos6y ago

What a negative comment! The same could be said of English, which is the dominant international language because of British imperialism.

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dmurray6y ago

DiogenesKynikos6y ago

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