Thread: Minority language in Russia - how often do you hear them?

This is something that I've often wondered. Living in the U.S, depending on the area in which you live, it is not uncommon for you to hear people speaking in non-English language. Most often, this language is Spanish.

Now, Russia is quite a culturally diverse nation, especially when we consider the Turkic peoples (I've heard that the Tatar population is the dominant minority in Russia), as well as people from the Caucasus/Georgia region. Now, I've heard that most of these people speak Russian, as it is mandatory in school. My friend from Kazakhstan says that overall she speaks Russian more than Kazakh - except in situations where someone starts a conversation with her in Kazakh - in those situations, she continues the conversation in Kazakh out of respect.

My question is, how often do you hear minority languages spoken in Russia - on the street, metro, etc? Now I know that when I say "Russia", that is vague...but I don't mean so much places like Kazan' or Ufa, I mean the places that students typically go to when they study abroad (St. Petersburg, Moscow - the cities that are relatively "Westernized").

Originally Posted by Uvula

how often do you hear minority languages spoken in Russia - on the street, metro, etc?

Я слышу примерно раз в день. Обычно это южане, работающие в мелких магазинах, и цыганки, пристающие к прохожим на Московском вокзале. Между собой для конспирации они предпочитают разговаривать на своём языке, а с нами - на русском.

Originally Posted by Uvula

This is something that I've often wondered. Living in the U.S, depending on the area in which you live, it is not uncommon for you to hear people speaking in non-English language. Most often, this language is Spanish.

Now, Russia is quite a culturally diverse nation, especially when we consider the Turkic peoples (I've heard that the Tatar population is the dominant minority in Russia), as well as people from the Caucasus/Georgia region. Now, I've heard that most of these people speak Russian, as it is mandatory in school. My friend from Kazakhstan says that overall she speaks Russian more than Kazakh - except in situations where someone starts a conversation with her in Kazakh - in those situations, she continues the conversation in Kazakh out of respect.

My question is, how often do you hear minority languages spoken in Russia - on the street, metro, etc? Now I know that when I say "Russia", that is vague...but I don't mean so much places like Kazan' or Ufa, I mean the places that students typically go to when they study abroad (St. Petersburg, Moscow - the cities that are relatively "Westernized").

Kazakhstan isn't in Russia.
St Petersburg and Moscow have large populations of immigrants from all over Russia and the former Soviet Union, so you will see and hear people from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, etc. They are likely to speak in their native languages among themselves. But these people aren't from Russia. Do you want to know about minority languages of the Russian Federation (e.g. Tatar, Chechen, Bashkir..), that's a far more interesting topic.

Also, when students study in Russia, I think they are just as likely to go to a more provincial city than to somewhere like Moscow or SPb, i.e., to see somewhere that isn't so "westernised". (I don't even think they are westernised anyway).

Originally Posted by Юрка

Originally Posted by Uvula

how often do you hear minority languages spoken in Russia - on the street, metro, etc?

Я слышу примерно раз в день. Обычно это южане, работающие в мелких магазинах, и цыганки, пристающие к прохожим на Московском вокзале. Между собой для конспирации они предпочитают разговаривать на своём языке, а с нами - на русском.

хе-хе, "южане", как политкорректно

Originally Posted by tahtamysh

хе-хе, "южане", как политкорректно

Это потому что я не знаю, кто они. Может, азербайджанцы. А может ещё кто. А чего ты ожидал, что я ляпну чего-нибудь шовинистическое?

Originally Posted by Юрка

Originally Posted by Uvula

how often do you hear minority languages spoken in Russia - on the street, metro, etc?

Я слышу примерно раз в день. Обычно это южане, работающие в мелких магазинах...

Тоже слышу периодически... их же). Все они вполне ясно изъясняются на русском, так что никаких проблем во взаимопонимании нет). А остальное не слишком волнует.

Originally Posted by Scrabus

Originally Posted by Юрка

Originally Posted by Uvula

how often do you hear minority languages spoken in Russia - on the street, metro, etc?

Я слышу примерно раз в день. Обычно это южане, работающие в мелких магазинах...

Тоже слышу периодически... их же). Все они вполне ясно изъясняются на русском, так что никаких проблем во взаимопонимании нет). А остальное не слишком волнует.

+ 1, кроме волнения.

Well, my days it was back towards the end of 80s and the begining of 90s I lived in Moscow, I never herd any other language but Russian, and maximum was to hear people from Caucasus talking Russian with their accent. And also rarely here and there Ukrainian was herd, that made you take your poor ears and run from that place. But I never personaly herd other languages, living there. And I believe that it is still pretty much the same.

Originally Posted by Remyisme

Well, my days it was back towards the end of 80s and the begining of 90s I lived in Moscow, I never herd any other language but Russian, and maximum was to hear people from Caucasus talking Russian with their accent. And also rarely here and there Ukrainian was herd, that made you take your poor ears and run from that place. But I never personaly herd other languages, living there. And I believe that it is still pretty much the same.

Yes because nothing's changed in Russia since 1990

Most of the staff of a supermarket near my home are either Uzbeks or Tadjiks. People who are shoveling snow in order keep the sidewalks clean are mostly Tadjiks as well. Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaidjanians have been coming to Moscow in large numbers, and, according to unofficial police data, there are about 1.5 million of them in Moscow.

Just some observations.

When I lived in Saint Petersburg near the school we studied at there was a Produkty around the back and it was run by some Georgians/Armenians/Azerbaijanis. They used to talk to each other and on the phone in their native language. When I lived in Kazan' ALL the builders were Tajiks or Uzbeks or something.

And how do Russians feel about so many immigrants ..... Can they all speak Russian or do they not integrate?

Как относаються русские к этим иммегрантам? Имеют ли они говорть по-рсский?

когда я жил в Челябинске, я всегда слышал татарский язык.

Originally Posted by Scrabus

Originally Posted by Юрка

Originally Posted by Uvula

how often do you hear minority languages spoken in Russia - on the street, metro, etc?

Я слышу примерно раз в день. Обычно это южане, работающие в мелких магазинах...

Тоже слышу периодически... их же). Все они вполне ясно изъясняются на русском, так что никаких проблем во взаимопонимании нет). А остальное не слишком волнует.

Насчёт русского - иногда их понять невозможно, даже когда они предположительно разговаривают по-русски.
Довольно часто такая ситуация возникает с бомбилами - ему скажешь адрес, вроде головой кивает, вроде понял, а потом выясняется, что ни хрена он не понял и везёт в другую сторону.

Originally Posted by Mandy

And how do Russians feel about so many immigrants ..... Can they all speak Russian or do they not integrate?

Как относаються русские к этим иммегрантам? Имеют ли они говорть по-рсский?

It pops up in every similar topic eventially. First of all I want to say that the Russians don't have a common 'Russian' opinion upon everything. Well, quite often, it's the other way around and we even have a saying that 'каждый дворник имеет собственное мнение о внешней политике'.
So the question about how do the Russians feel/say/think/see/smell, etc upon something or someone is quite pointless, because there are 140 millions of feelings/sayings/thoughts/views/smells, etc about this and even then, we should agree upon what exactly the something is and who exactly do you think the someone is.

And, to answer your question: some Russians tolerate immigrants, some don't, some express their views openly, some just think but don't speak about it, some don't care.
And the answer to the second question - some immigrants assimilate, some don't, some begin to speak Russian, some don't. There are very many people here to say something definitely. Better to come here, see it and judge for yourself.

So, could you clarify, whose particular 'Russian' opinion do you prefer to see and about which kind of immigrants?

Ramil. Я хочу, что я сказала - русское государство - то есть как оно относится к нерусским людям, работающим в России. Я понимаю, что русское население огромное, так тут многие разние мнения сушествуют.

I meant to ask what the official attitude is - do the government see any problem with non Russian speakers living in Russia? The reason I ask, is because there has been a great drive to teach migrants English in my country and I wondered how the new phenomonem of mass immigration has affected Russia. I was referring to migrants particularly from the former Soviet Republics - I don't know if they mostly can speak Russian, or not .

Hope that's a bit clearer. Я наверно не знаю много, но я хочу узнать дальше , не только о языке, но тоже о народах.

Originally Posted by Mandy

Ramil.государство - то есть как оно относится к нерусским людям, работающим в России.

Стандартно относится, по закону всё хорошо, но что делать с нелегалами? Их вылавливают и департируют (за счёт налогоплательщиков, между прочим). Но как и всё, что делает государство, это делается спустя рукава.
Если иностранец приехал официально, зарегистрировался и трудоустроился - всё нормально (хотя существуют весьма серьёзные бюрократические препятствия - предприятие-наниматель должен доказать властям, что найм иностранной рабочей силы абсолютно необходим). Но что делать с нелегалами?

Re: illegal immigrants.

Some European countries , (Italy, I think ), are making adverts to publicly advise potential illegal immigrants not to come because there will be no work for them and no better life. This is a big problem - a world problem, I think.

Originally Posted by TATY

Originally Posted by Uvula

This is something that I've often wondered. Living in the U.S, depending on the area in which you live, it is not uncommon for you to hear people speaking in non-English language. Most often, this language is Spanish.

Now, Russia is quite a culturally diverse nation, especially when we consider the Turkic peoples (I've heard that the Tatar population is the dominant minority in Russia), as well as people from the Caucasus/Georgia region. Now, I've heard that most of these people speak Russian, as it is mandatory in school. My friend from Kazakhstan says that overall she speaks Russian more than Kazakh - except in situations where someone starts a conversation with her in Kazakh - in those situations, she continues the conversation in Kazakh out of respect.

My question is, how often do you hear minority languages spoken in Russia - on the street, metro, etc? Now I know that when I say "Russia", that is vague...but I don't mean so much places like Kazan' or Ufa, I mean the places that students typically go to when they study abroad (St. Petersburg, Moscow - the cities that are relatively "Westernized").

Kazakhstan isn't in Russia.
St Petersburg and Moscow have large populations of immigrants from all over Russia and the former Soviet Union, so you will see and hear people from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, etc. They are likely to speak in their native languages among themselves. But these people aren't from Russia. Do you want to know about minority languages of the Russian Federation (e.g. Tatar, Chechen, Bashkir..), that's a far more interesting topic.

Also, when students study in Russia, I think they are just as likely to go to a more provincial city than to somewhere like Moscow or SPb, i.e., to see somewhere that isn't so "westernised". (I don't even think they are westernised anyway).

I used Kazakhstan as an example, since both Kazakh and Russian are the official languages there, and that even though my friend is of Kazakh – not Russian – decent, Russian is the language that is primarily used. That would make me wonder whether Kazakhs who actually are in Russia would speak any Kazakh – if they hardly speak Kazakh in their home country, why would they do so in Russia?

But I am actually quite interested in those minority languages – I think Turkic languages are very interesting from a linguistic perspective and they all (except for Turkish itself) have a Turkic lexical and grammatical base with a substantial amount of loanwords from Russian and Arabic.

When I talk to students who plan to study (or have studied) in Russia, it’s pretty much always Moscow or St. Petersburg. I haven’t heard of anyone going to Ufa or Bugulma or anywhere like that.

Тоже слышу периодически... их же). Все они вполне ясно изъясняются на русском, так что никаких проблем во взаимопонимании нет). А остальное не слишком волнует.

Question – why do you use изъясняться rather than говорить? I think that’s the first time I’ve actually seen that verb.

As far as illegal immigration I’ve heard that officers are less concerned that you are an American foreigner who came into Russia…more concerned that you are from Georgia and you got into Russia illegally. Similar to the Mexican immigrant situation in the U.S, I guess.

Originally Posted by Uvula

Тоже слышу периодически... их же). Все они вполне ясно изъясняются на русском, так что никаких проблем во взаимопонимании нет). А остальное не слишком волнует.

Question – why do you use изъясняться rather than говорить? I think that’s the first time I’ve actually seen that verb.

А, собственно, why not? . Я вообще обычно не думаю какой глагол применить, в данном случае мне "изъясняться" показалось более уместным. Да и сам по себе этот глагол значительно шире по смыслу, чем просто говорить.

Хоть и не люблю словари, но в данном случае думаю это будет max helpful:

Из словаря Даля:

Изъясняться - сообщать ясно, передавать вразумительно словами, письмом или знаками; излагать понятно, толковать.

Да и вообще глагол достаточно нужный, полезно знать