Russian language skills are best practiced in conjunction with other disciplines such as law and business, politics and government, science and technology, engineering and computers.
Russian language graduates pursue exciting careers in such diverse areas as foreign and government service, international business, public relations, news media, tourism, law enforcement, education, and social work.
The growth of US - Russia trade and cultural agreements has opened new areas of employment in banking, manufacturing, sales, technical consultation, contracts, negotiations, office management and translating. The demand in the workforce for bilingual and multilingual individuals is very strong.
Consider some facts and statistics:
Russian is the language of Global Communication
- Russian is spoken by 293 million people. There are more Russian speakers in the world than there are speakers of German and French combined. It is the fifth most widely spoken language in the world (after Chinese, English, Hindi, and Spanish).
- Russian is the native language of 172 million people and the official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is widely spoken in some other former Soviet Republics and in many countries of Eastern Europe.
- Russia is the world’s largest country with rich and diversified natural resources. It covers one-eighth of the earth’s surface and spans eleven time zones.
- Stretching across two continents, Russia belongs to both Europe and Asia.
- Russia owns about 25% of the world’s fresh water. It owns 22% of the world’s forests and is called the “lungs of Europe.”
- Russia contains the world’s largest natural gas reserves (an estimated 40% of the world’s total reserves) and 20% of the world’s known oil reserves (second to Saudi Arabia), the largest diamond reserves, and the second largest coal reserves. Nearly a third of all tin and iron ores are in Russia, as are over 40% of all platinum group minerals and over a third of all nickel reserves.
Russian is the language of World Politics and Security
- Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations along with English, Spanish, French, Chinese, and Arabic.
- Russia is one of only 5 countries that has veto power at the UN and is known for using this power more often than any of the other nations.
- Russia is a nuclear superpower. It possesses one of the two largest stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction in the world (the U.S. possesses the other).
- During the last two decades Russia has undergone an extraordinary political transformation. It is currently building democratic institutions, and strengthening partnership and cooperation with the U.S.
Russian is the language of Science and Engineering
- Russian scientists and mathematicians have been at the cutting edge of research in a variety of scientific pursuits, especially in geology, geophysics, chemistry, engineering, and aeronautics.
- All of the major American oil companies are actively developing previously unexplored oil fields in the Russian Far East, Siberia, and the Caspian Sea Area.
- Over a quarter of world’s scientific literature is published in Russian.
Russian is the language of International Business
- With the end of the cold war and transition to market economy, Russia re-entered into the world economic system and opened up an enormous and largely unexploited market for Western business and U.S. goods and services.
- Many U.S. companies have already opened their businesses in Russia, others are actively exploring Russian market .
- Russia is the world’s largest producer of natural gas, second largest steel producer, third largest producer of oil and fourth largest in the mining of coal.
- Western Europe currently depends on Russia for 28% of its gas supplies; Germany alone depends on Russia for 12% of its natural gas and 18% of its oil. Russia currently supplies the U.S. with 4% of its oil.
- The Russian economy is booming: expect increased trade with the US and investment from US firms in the Russian economy.
Credits and more information:
Paul Richardson. Does Russia Matter? Russian Life. Nov/Dec, 2003 http://www.russianlife.net