On Sunday, June 6, the United Nations marks its first Russian Language Day. The event is part of UN efforts to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and to ensure that all of its six official languages; Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish, enjoy equal status.
Symbolically, the UN Russian Language Day coincides with the birth date of the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. Tatyana Bokova, the Vice President of the Russian World Foundation, remarks: "This date is very important for Russia, for it is the day when the world-famous Russian poet, who made an enormous contribution to Russian poetry and to the Russian language in general, was born".
In the former Soviet Union, 90% of the country’s population spoke Russian. It was the language of interethnic communications in Soviet republics. Things changed abruptly in the early 90s. The newly-independent post-Soviet states, pushed by their desire to dissociate themselves from Moscow, did all they could to restrict the use of Russian. As a result, you would hardly find anyone younger than 35 in rural districts, for example in Moldova or Uzbekistan, who could speak even a little bit of Russian. However, as economic and trade ties between former Soviet partners grew larger and deeper, it became clear there was no better means of communication than Russian.
Nadezhda Smirnova, Vice Rector for International Relations of the Pushkin Institute of the Russian Language, gives her view: "Though efforts to promote the Russian language and culture abroad are quite often politicized, the language remains popular among foreigners. We hold regular advanced training courses for teachers in the Baltic States, and accept many students from Kazakhstan and other republics of Central Asia. In Ukraine, there are some problems with Russian as a language for business communication, and we are ready to offer our help there as well".
The Russian World Foundation has been working hard to promote the Russian language and culture worldwide. In cooperation with foreign partners, this organization has opened branches and Russian centers abroad.
As of today, there are more than 40 such centers in different countries, says Director of the Russian World Foundation, Vyacheslav Nikonov.
Vyacheslav Nikonov said: "These centers, often launched in cooperation with the world’s most renowned universities, offer great opportunities for those willing to study Russian and learn more about the Russian culture. Our aim is to have more than 100 such centers worldwide by 2011. And I am sure we will!"
On the Russian Language Day, New York hosts various concerts, exhibitions, literary and cinema events. Very likely, the menu at the UN headquarters` restaurant today is featuring some dishes of Russian cuisine.
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