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''[[Russia|Russia]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[Russia Languages|Languages]]''
{{CountrySidebar
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|Name=Russia
|Type=Topic
|Topic Type=Background
|Background=Languages
|Rating=Standardized
}}{{breadcrumb
| link1=[[Russia Genealogy|Russia]]
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Most records used in Russian research are written in Russian. You need not be fluent in Russian, but you will need some knowledge of Russian to understand Russian records. Reading Russian script in archived records can be very difficult since the old Russian script is unlike the modern Russian and script is always difficult to decipher.  
==Description==
The languages most spoken in Russia are <ref>Wikipedia contributors, "Russia," in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia#:~:text=Russian%20is%20the%20official%20and%20the%20predominantly%20spoken%20language, accessed 23 May 2023.</ref> <ref>Wikipedia contributors, "Russian language," in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language, accessed 23 May 2023.</ref> <ref>Wikipedia contributors, "Languages of Russia," in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Russia, accessed 23 May 2023.</ref>
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language '''Russian'''] - the only official language of Russia at a national level. It is the most widely spoken language.
** Russian is one of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Slavic_languages East Slavic Languages].
** Russian is one of two official languages aboard the International Space Station.
** It is one of six official languages of the United Nations.
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatar_language '''Tatar'''] - 4.28 million per 2010 census. Spoken by Tatars mainly in Tatarstan and Siberia and is considered official in the Republic of Tatarstan. It belongs to the Turkic language family.
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chechen_language '''Chechen'''] - 1.35 million per 2010 census. Official language in Chechnya and Dagestan. It belongs to the Northeast Caucasian language family.
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashkir_language '''Bashkir'''] - 1.15 million per 2010 census. Official language in Bashkortostan. It belongs to the Turkic language family.
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_language '''Ukrainian'''] - 1.13 million per 2010 census. Official language of the Republic of Crimea. It belongs to the Indo-European language family.
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuvash_language '''Chuvash'''] - 1.04 million per 2010 census. Official language in Chuvashia. It belongs to the Turkic language family.
* '''English''' - 30% of the population in Russia can speak English.


Russian (русский язык (help·info), tr.: russkiy yazyk, [ˈru.skʲɪj jɪˈzɨk]) is the most widely spoken language of Eurasia and the most widespread of the Slavonic languages.  
There are over 100 minority languages spoken across Russia. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Russia#:~:text=several%20other%20officially%20recognized%20languages 35 languages are considered official] in various regions of Russia.


Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages. Within the Slavic branch, Russian is one of three living members of the East Slavic group, the other two being Belarusian and Ukrainian.
[https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Russia_Languages#:~:text=Further%20Information%20on%20Russian%20Language ''Additional Information on the Russian Language'']


Written examples of East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century onwards. While Russian preserves much of East Slavonic synthetic-inflectional structure and a Common Slavonic word base, modern Russian exhibits a large stock of borrowed international vocabulary for politics, science, and technology. A language of great political importance in the 20th century, Russian is one of the official languages of the United Nations.  
Most records used in Russian research are written in Russian. Some knowledge of Russian is useful to understand Russian records. Reading Russian script in archived records can be very difficult since the old Russian script is unlike modern Russian.


Of Russia's estimated 150million population, it is thought that over 81% speak the official language of Russian as their first and only language. Most speakers of a minority language are also bilingual speakers of Russian. There are over 100 minority languages spoken in Russia today, the most popular of which is Tartar, spoken by more than 3% of the country's population.  
==Word List(s)==
* ''Russian phrasebook & dictionary.'' Carlton, Victoria: Lonely Planet Global Limited, 2018. '''''Available at:''''' [https://www.worldcat.org/title/1052782570 WorldCat].
* Fanthorpe, Helen. ''Russian phrase book & dictionary.'' New York: Berlitz Publishing, 2019. '''''Available at:''''' [https://www.worldcat.org/title/1079337911 WorldCat].
* Awde, Nicholas and Muhammad Galaev. ''Chechen-English English-Chechen : dictionary and phrasebook.'' New York: Hippocrene Books, 1997. '''''Available at:''''' [https://www.worldcat.org/title/36456750 WorldCat].
* Pavlyshyn, Marko. ''Ukrainian phrasebook & dictionary.'' Footscray: Lonely Planet, 2014. '''''Available at:''''' [https://www.worldcat.org/title/870426349 WorldCat].
* [https://omniglot.com/language/phrases/russian.php#:~:text=Useful%20Russian%20phrases Useful Russian phrases] - Omniglot
** [https://omniglot.com/language/kinship/russian.htm#:~:text=Family%20words%20in%20Russian Family words in Russian] - Omniglot
* [https://omniglot.com/language/phrases/tatar.php#:~:text=Useful%20phrases%20in%20Tatar Useful phrases in Tatar] - Omniglot
* [https://omniglot.com/language/phrases/chechen.php#:~:text=Useful%20phrases%20in%20Chechen Useful phrases in Chechen] - Omniglot
* [https://omniglot.com/language/phrases/bashkir.htm#:~:text=Useful%20phrases%20in%20Bashkir Useful phrases in Bashkir] - Omniglot
* [https://omniglot.com/language/phrases/ukrainian.php#:~:text=Useful%20Ukrainian%20phrases Useful Ukrainian phrases] - Omniglot
** [https://omniglot.com/language/kinship/ukrainian.htm#:~:text=Family%20words%20in%20Ukrainian Family words in Ukrainian] - Omniglot
* [https://omniglot.com/language/phrases/chuvash.htm#:~:text=Useful%20phrases%20in%20Chuvash Useful phrases in Chuvash] - Omniglot
* [[Russian Genealogical Word List|Russian Genealogical Word List]]
* [[Ukrainian Genealogical Word List|Ukrainian Genealogical Word List]]


Other minority languages include Ukrainian, Chuvash, Bashir, Mordvin and Chechen. Although few of these populations make up even 1% of the Russian population, these languages are prominent in key regional areas.  
==Alphabet and Pronunciation==
'''Alphabet'''
* [https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Russia_Languages#:~:text=Russian%20Language%20Alphabetical%20Order%20and%20Spelling Russian Alphabetical Order and Spelling]
* [https://omniglot.com/writing/russian.htm#:~:text=Russian%20alphabet Russian alphabet] - Omniglot
** [https://omniglot.com/writing/russian.htm#:~:text=Cursive%20Russian%20alphabet Cursive Russian alphabet] - Omniglot
** [https://omniglot.com/writing/russian.htm#:~:text=Older%20versions%20of%20the%20Russian%20alphabet Older versions of the Russian alphabet] - Omniglot
** [https://omniglot.com/writing/russian.htm#:~:text=Russian%20alphabet%20(pre-1750) Russian alphabet (pre-1750)] - Omniglot
* [https://omniglot.com/writing/tatar.htm#:~:text=Arabic%20alphabet%20for%20Tatar Arabic alphabet for Tatar] - Omniglot
** [https://omniglot.com/writing/tatar.htm#:~:text=Cyrillic%20alphabet%20for%20Tatar Cyrillic alphabet for Tatar] - Omniglot
** [https://omniglot.com/writing/tatar.htm#:~:text=Modern%20Alphabet Modern Tatar Alphabet] - Omniglot
* [https://omniglot.com/writing/chechen.htm#:~:text=Arabic%20alphabet%20for%20Chechen Arabic alphabet for Chechen] - Omniglot
** [https://omniglot.com/writing/chechen.htm#:~:text=Latin%20alphabet%20for%20Chechen%20(1925%20version) Latin alphabet for Chechen (1925 version)] - Omniglot
** [https://omniglot.com/writing/chechen.htm#:~:text=Cyrilic%20alphabet%20for%20Chechen Cyrilic alphabet for Chechen] - Omniglot
** [https://omniglot.com/writing/chechen.htm#:~:text=Latin%20alphabet%20for%20Chechen%20(1992%20version) Latin alphabet for Chechen (1992 version)] - Omniglot
* [https://omniglot.com/writing/bashkir.htm#:~:text=Runic%20alphabet%20for%20Bashkir Runic alphabet for Bashkir] - Omniglot
** [https://omniglot.com/writing/bashkir.htm#:~:text=Arabic%20alphabet%20for%20Bashkir Arabic alphabet for Bashkir] - Omniglot
** [https://omniglot.com/writing/bashkir.htm#:~:text=Cyrillic%20alphabet%20for%20Bashkir Cyrillic alphabet for Bashkir] - Omniglot
** [https://omniglot.com/writing/bashkir.htm#:~:text=Latin%20alphabet%20for%20Bashkir Latin alphabet for Bashkir] - Omniglot
* [https://omniglot.com/writing/ukrainian.htm#:~:text=Ukrainian%20alphabet Ukrainian alphabet] - Omniglot
* [https://omniglot.com/writing/chuvash.htm#:~:text=Chuvash%20alphabet%20(%D1%87%D3%91%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%88%20%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%84%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87%D3%97)%20-%20Cyrillic Chuvash alphabet - Cyrillic] - Omniglot
** [https://omniglot.com/writing/chuvash.htm#:~:text=Chuvash%20alphabet%20(Latin) Chuvash alphabet (Latin)] - Omniglot


Although Russian is the only federally official language of the Russian Federation, there are several other officially-recognized languages within Russia's various constituencies. This is a list of languages that are official only in certain parts of Russia.  
'''Pronunciation'''
* [https://omniglot.com/writing/russian.htm#:~:text=Russian%20phonology Russian pronunciation] - Omniglot
* [https://omniglot.com/language/articles/masteringrussianpronunciation.htm#:~:text=8%20Strategies%20to%20Master%20Russian%20Pronunciation%20for%20Beginners 8 Strategies to Master Russian Pronunciation for Beginners] - Omniglot
* [https://forvo.com/languages/ru/ Russian pronunciation dictionary] - Forvo
* [https://forvo.com/languages/tt/ Tatar pronunciation dictionary] - Forvo
* [https://forvo.com/languages/ce/ Chechen pronunciation dictionary] - Forvo
* [https://forvo.com/languages/ba/ Bashkir pronunciation dictionary] - Forvo
* [https://forvo.com/languages/uk/ Ukrainian pronunciation dictionary] - Forvo
* [https://forvo.com/languages/cv/ Chuvash pronunciation dictionary] - Forvo


1. Abaza (in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic)[1]  
==Language Aids and Dictionaries==
'''Dictionaries'''
* Thompson, Della. ''Compact Oxford Russian dictionary.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. '''''Available at:''''' [https://www.worldcat.org/title/824180055 WorldCat].
** ''Oxford essential Russian dictionary : Russian-English, English-Russian.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. '''''Available at:''''' [https://www.worldcat.org/title/502676920 WorldCat].
** ''Russian dictionary.'' Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers, 2018. '''''Available at:''''' [https://www.worldcat.org/title/1063682719 WorldCat].
* Garifullin, S. F. ''English-Tatar dictionary.'' Kazan: Magarif, 2007. '''''Available at:''''' [https://www.worldcat.org/title/232358582 WorldCat].
* Nichols, Johanna and A. D. Vagapov. ''Chechen-English and English-Chechen dictionary.'' London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004. '''''Available at:''''' [https://www.worldcat.org/title/54280016 WorldCat].
* Kaĭbysheva, T. I︠U︡. ''Russian-Bashkir-Turkish-English dictionary.'' Ufa: Bashkirskai︠a︡ ėnt︠s︡iklopedii︠a︡, 2002. '''''Available at:''''' [https://www.worldcat.org/title/58402843 WorldCat].
** Хасанов, М.А. and M.A. Khasanov. ''English-Bashkir-Russian dictionary.'' Ufa: Китап, 2009. '''''Available at:''''' [https://www.worldcat.org/title/373167605 WorldCat].
* Shevchuk, Yuri. ''Ukrainian-English collocation dictionary.'' New York: Hippocrene Books, Inc, 2022. '''''Available at:''''' [https://www.worldcat.org/title/1355541036 WorldCat].
** Parker, Philip M. ''Webster's Ukrainian (Latin script)-English thesaurus dictionary.'' San Diego, CA: ICON, 2008. '''''Available at:''''' [https://www.worldcat.org/title/227183576 WorldCat].
* Mikhaĭlova, Luiza Valentinovna, V. N. Shashkov, and Vladislav Vladimirovich Shashkov. ''Concise English-Russian-Chuvash dictionary.'' Cheboksarskiĭ filial, Cheboxary: Chuvashskiĭ gos. universitet im. I.N. Ulʹi︠a︡nova, 1998. '''''Available at:''''' [https://www.worldcat.org/title/57630967 WorldCat].
** Shashkov, V. N. ''Russian-Chuvash-English dictionary.'' Cheboksary: Chuvashskoe kn. izd-vo, 2006. '''''Available at:''''' [https://www.worldcat.org/title/154310864 WorldCat].


2. Adyghe (in the Republic of Adygea)
'''Online Dictionaries'''
* [https://glosbe.com/en/ru Dictionary English - Russian] - Glosbe
* [https://glosbe.com/en/tt Dictionary English - Tatar] - Glosbe
* [https://glosbe.com/en/ce Dictionary English - Chechen] - Glosbe
* [https://glosbe.com/en/ba Dictionary English - Bashkir] - Glosbe
* [https://glosbe.com/en/uk Dictionary English - Ukrainian] - Glosbe
* [https://glosbe.com/en/cv Dictionary English - Chuvash] - Glosbe


3. Altay (in the Altai Republic)
'''Language Aids'''
* [https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Russia_Languages#:~:text=Russian%20Language%20Characteristics Russian Characteristics]
* Levine, James S. ''Russian grammar.'' New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2018. '''''Available at:''''' [https://worldcat.org/title/1236898646 WorldCat].
* West, Daphne M. ''Essential Russian grammar.'' Blacklick, OH: McGraw-Hill, 2010. '''''Available at:''''' [https://worldcat.org/title/659756381 WorldCat].
* Burbiel, Gustav. ''Tatar grammar.'' Stockholm: Institute for Bible Translation, 2018. '''''Available at:''''' [https://worldcat.org/title/1089694893 WorldCat].
* Mat︠s︡iev, A. G. and Patrick A. O'Sullivan. ''A short grammatical outline of the Chechen language.'' Kensington, Md: Dunwoody Press, 1995. '''''Available at:''''' [https://worldcat.org/title/35220925 WorldCat].
* Poppe, N. N. ''Bashkir manual; descriptive grammar and texts with a Bashkir-English glossary.'' Bloomington: Indiana University, 1964. '''''Available at:''''' [https://worldcat.org/title/5364490 WorldCat].
* Medushevsʹkyĭ, A. P. and R. H. Zi︠a︡tkovsʹka. ''Ukrainian grammar.'' Kiev: Rad. shkola, 1963. '''''Available at:''''' [https://worldcat.org/title/33775 WorldCat].
* Krueger, John Richard. ''Chuvash manual : introduction, grammar, reader and vocabulary.'' Bloomington, The Hague, The Netherlands: Mouton & Co, 1961. '''''Available at:''''' [https://worldcat.org/title/4063591 WorldCat].


4. Bashkir (in the Republic of Bashkortostan)
==Additional Resources==
* [https://omniglot.com/writing/russian.htm Russian Language] - Omniglot
* Mesropova, Olga. ''Faces of contemporary Russia : advanced Russian language and culture.'' Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2019. '''''Available at:''''' [https://worldcat.org/title/1076500851 WorldCat].
* Ståhlberg, Sabira. ''Tatar language presevation strategies and innovative practices.'' Ankara: Grafiker Yayınları, 2021. '''''Available at:''''' [https://worldcat.org/title/1306585767 WorldCat].


5. Buryat (in Agin-Buryat Autonomous 6. Okrug, Buryat Republic, and Ust- Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug)
'''Russian Language Alphabetical Order and Spelling'''<br>
The Russian alphabet consists of 33 Cyrillic letters; 21 consonants, 10 vowels, and two letters without sound. Russian dictionaries and indexes list use the following alphabetical order:<br>
Аа Бб Вв Гг Дд Ee Ёё Жж Зз Ии Йй Kk Лл Mм Нн Oo Пр Pp Сс Тт Уу Фф Хх Цц Чч Шш Щщ Ъъ Ыы Ьь Ээ Юю Яя <br>
However, prior to 1918 when the Russian Academy of Sciences instituted spelling reforms, the alphabet and the spelling rules were different. 


7. Chechen (in the Chechen Republic)
Here is a chart that has the printed and handwritten upper and lowercase letters and their English, Polish, and German transliterations. It also includes the letters before 1918 and where they fit in the alphabet. [[Media:Russian Alphabet Key.pdf|''Russian Alphabet Key'']]<br>


8. Chukchi (in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug)  
The spelling changes you will be most likely to see include:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| style="width:20%" |з
| style="width:60%" |changed to (in certain positions)
| style="width:20%" |c
|-
|i
|changed to
|и
|-
|ъ
|no longer used at the end of masculine words
|Ø
|-
|ѣ
|changed to
|e
|-
|θ
|changed to
|ф
|-
|v
|changed to
|и
|-
|}


9. Chuvash (in the Chuvash Republic)
Other helpful alphabet resources include:
For helpful alphabet resources see
*[http://www.russianforeveryone.com/RufeA/Lessons/Introduction/Alphabet/Alphabet.htm Russian Alphabet with Sounds]
*[http://allbell.tripod.com/cursive/field.html Field Guide to Russian Letters]


10. Dolgan (in Taymyr Autonomous Okrug)
'''Russian Language Characteristics


11. Erzya (in the Republic of Mordovia)
''Variant Forms of Words''<br>
In Russian, the endings of most words vary according to gender, number, and usage in a sentence. Who—Whose—whom, or marry—marries—married are examples of words in English with variant forms. Many sources (word lists, dictionaries, etc.) give only the basic, or nominative masculine form. As you read Russian records be aware that almost all words vary with usage. 


12. Evenk (in Evenk Autonomous Okrug)  
''Gender''<br>
Russian words for persons, places, and things (nouns) are classified as masculine, feminine, or neuter. For example, брат (brother) is a masculine word, дочь (daughter) is a feminine word, and свидетельство (certificate) is a neuter word.<br>
Words that describe persons, places, or things (adjectives) will have either masculine, feminine, or neuter endings depending on what noun they are describing. For example, in Russian you would write старый брат (old brother), старая сестра (old sister), and старое свидетельство (old certificate). In dictionaries and in the “Russian Genealogical Word List” generally only the masculine form is given. 
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|старый, старая, старое
|(old) is listed only as старый
|-
|глухой, глухая
|(deaf) is listed only as глухой
|}


13. Ingush (in the Republic of Ingushetia)
''Plurals''<br>
Plural forms of Russian words usually end in ы, и, а, or я. Thus:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|отец—отцы
|father—fathers
|-
|муж—мужья
|husband—husbands
|-
|жена—жены
|wife—wives
|-
|книга—книги
|book—books
|-
|место—местa
|place—places
|-
|замечание—замечания
|remark—remarks
|}
Again, usually in a dictionary the word is given in the singular, masculine form. 


14. Kabardian (in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic and Karachay-Cherkess Republic[1])  
''Grammatical Use''<br>
The endings of Russian words can also vary depending on the grammatical uses of the words. Russian grammar requires specific endings (called “cases”) on nouns used in the possessive, as the object of a verb, and with a preposition, among others.<br>
Adjectives also must match the nouns they modify in gender, quantity, and grammatical form (case). Russian nouns fall into several classes, each with its own set of grammatical endings. Many dictionaries have grammatical sections which show complete noun and adjective endings. 


15. Kalmyk (in the Republic of Kalmykia)  
The following table shows some examples of changing nouns:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Noun
!Use
!Translation
|-
|город
|это город
|this is the city
|-
|города
|мер города
|mayor of the city
|-
|городе
|Я жил в городе
|I lived in the city
|-
|
|-
|сын
|это сын
|this is the son
|-
|сына
|я крестил сына
|I christened the son
|-
|сыну
|я дал сыну
|I gave to the son
|-
|сыном
|я ушёл с сыном
|I left with the son
|-
|
|-
|жена
|это жена
|this is the wife
|-
|жены
|дом жены
|home of the wife
|-
|жену
|я видел жену
|I saw the wife
|-
|жене
|я дал жене
|I gave to the wife
|-
|женой
|я ушёл c женой
|I left with the wife
|-
|жене
|я думал о жене
|I thought of the wife
|}
The changing of word endings is called “declension” and there are six different cases in Russian. For a more in-depth discussion on Russian cases see [http://learningrussian.net/around_city_cases_grammar.php Grammar -- Russian Cases] (specifically for nouns, though other parts of speech change case depending on their usage as well). 


16. Karachay-Balkar (in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic and Karachay-Cherkess Republic[1])
An important note is that it is essential to recognize when a ''name'' is written in a different form, and to avoid misinterpreting it as another name. For example, “the child of Ivon” would be “ребенок ивана.” That only means that “иван” is in a different case. It does NOT mean that is a feminine form of the name, that his name is different, that he has variant names, or that “ивана” is a different person than “иван.”


17. Khakas (in the Republic of Khakassia)
''Verbs''<br>
Words that show action (verbs) also vary depending on who and how many are doing the action and whether the action is past, present, or future. The variation for verbs is called “conjugation.”


18. Khanty (in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug)  
For example, the Russian word жить (to live) will appear with various endings.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="2" |Present
|-
|я живу
|I live
|-
|ты живёшь
|you live (informal)
|-
|он/она/кто живёт
|he/she/who lives
|-
|мы живём
|we live
|-
|вы живёте
|you live (formal)
|-
|они живут
|they live
|-
! colspan="2" |Past
|-
|жил
|singular masculine
|-
|жила
|singular feminine
|-
|жили
|plural or you formal
|}


19. Komi-Zyrian (in the Komi Republic)
Not all verb conjugations follow the same pattern. See [http://www.russianforeveryone.com/Rufe/Lessons/Course1/Grammar/GramUnit5/GramUnit5_2.htm Russian For Everyone Present Tense of Verbs] for more information.


20. Koryak (in Koryak Autonomous Okrug)
'''Further Information on Russian Language'''<br>
Russian (русский язык tr.: russkiy yazyk, [ˈru.skʲɪj jɪˈzɨk]) is the most widely spoken language of Eurasia and the most widespread of the Slavonic languages.<br>
Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages. Within the Slavic branch, Russian is one of three living members of the East Slavic group, the other two being Belarusian and Ukrainian.<br>
Written examples of East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century onwards. While Russian preserves much of East Slavonic synthetic-inflectional structure and a Common Slavonic word base, modern Russian exhibits a large stock of borrowed international vocabulary for politics, science, and technology. A language of great political importance in the 20th century, Russian is one of the official languages of the United Nations.


21. Mansi (in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug)
Of Russia's estimated 150 million large population, it is thought that over 81% speak the official language of Russian as their first and only language. Most speakers of a minority language are also bilingual speakers of Russian. There are over 100 minority languages spoken in Russia today, the most popular of which is Tartar, spoken by more than 3% of the country's population.<br>
Other minority languages include Ukrainian, Chuvash, Bashir, Mordvin and Chechen. Although few of these populations make up even 1% of the Russian population, these languages are prominent in key regional areas.


22. Mari (in the Mari El Republic)  
Although Russian is the only federally official language of the Russian Federation, there are several other officially-recognized languages within Russia's various constituencies. This is a list of languages that are official only in certain parts of Russia.  
# Abaza (in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic)
# Adyghe (in the Republic of Adygea)
# Altay (in the Altai Republic)
# Bashkir (in the Republic of Bashkortostan)
# Buryat (in Agin-Buryat Autonomous 6. Okrug, Buryat Republic, and Ust- Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug)
# Chechen (in the Chechen Republic)
# Chukchi (in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug)
# Chuvash (in the Chuvash Republic)
# Dolgan (in Taymyr Autonomous Okrug)
# Erzya (in the Republic of Mordovia)
# Evenk (in Evenk Autonomous Okrug)
# Ingush (in the Republic of Ingushetia)
# Kabardian (in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic and Karachay-Cherkess Republic)
# Kalmyk (in the Republic of Kalmykia)
#  Karachay-Balkar (in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic and Karachay-Cherkess Republic)
#  Khakas (in the Republic of Khakassia)
# Khanty (in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug)
# Komi-Zyrian (in the Komi Republic)
# Koryak (in Koryak Autonomous Okrug)
# Mansi (in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug)
# Mari (in the Mari El Republic)
# Moksha (in the Republic of Mordovia)
# Nenets (in Nenets Autonomous Okrug)
# Nogai (in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic)
# Ossetic (in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania)
# Tatar (in the Republic of Tatarstan)
# Tuvin (in the Tuva Republic)
# Udmurt (in the Udmurt Republic)
# Yakut (in the Sakha Republic)
# Yiddish (in Jewish Autonomous Oblast)


23. Moksha (in the Republic of Mordovia)
'''Other Information'''<br>
Russian is the language of the Russian Federation and was the official language of the Soviet Union and of the Russian Empire. It was also used in official records of Poland, Finland, and Alaska.  Russian is one of the Slavic languages, which are divided into three groups.
{|
|-
| style="vertical-align:top; padding-right:50px" |
|East


24. Nenets (in Nenets Autonomous Okrug)
*Russian
*Belorussian
*Ukrainian
| style="vertical-align:top; padding-right:50px" |
|West


25. Nogai (in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic)[1]
*Polish
*Czech
*Slovak
| style="vertical-align:top; padding-right:50px" |
|South


26. Ossetic (in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania)
*Bulgarian
*Serbo-Croatian
*Slovenian
*Macedonian
|}


27. Tatar (in the Republic of Tatarstan)
There are many online resources for Russian grammar and vocabulary. Finding one that works for you should be possible through a simple search engine query.  


28. Tuvin (in the Tuva Republic)  
There are also some printed sources that can be of use. For example, ''In Their Words: A Genealogist's Translation Guide to Polish, German, Latin, and Russian Documents'' (Volume 2) by Jonathan D. Shea and William F. Hoffman is an excellent resource. There is also ''A New Russian-English and English-Russian Dictionary'' by M. Golovinsky. This dictionary is from the 1940s and uses the old spelling rules. Available on microfilm at the FamilySearch Library (Film 1045409 Item 1).


29. Udmurt (in the Udmurt Republic)
*[[Germans from Russia Language and Languages|Germans from Russia Language and Languages]]
 
30. Yakut (in the Sakha Republic)
 
31. Yiddish (in Jewish Autonomous Oblast)
 
The '''Russian alphabet''' consists of 33 Cyrillic letters (21 consonants, 10 vowels, and two letters without sound). For more information see the "[[Russia Handwriting|Handwriting]]" section.
 
*''See the tutorials at the FamilySearch Learning Center for''[https://familysearch.org/learningcenter/results.html?q=*&fq=place%3A%22Russia%22 ''"Reading Russian Handwritten Records"'']
 
=== Russian Word Lists for Genealogical Researchers  ===
 
*http://www.doukhobor.org/Terms-Archival.htm
 
=== FIELD GUIDE TO RUSSIAN LETTERS  ===
 
Here are samples of Russian letters in action. In most cases, the first two letters in each series are printed upper case and lower case letters from a typeface used in the body of the Minsk Vedomosti, an official Russian government newspaper published in Minsk from 1838 to 1917. The third and fourth letters are examples of upper case and lower case italic letters from the Minsk Vedomosti. The remaining letters are examples of upper case and lower case cursive letters written in the 1870 death records for the Jews of Kremenets, Ukraine.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English A, and the Yiddish Aleph. Ordinary printed A's, italic A's and most cursive capital A's are usually easy to read. Lower case cursive A's sometimes look like lower case E's or E's. When the copy is poor or the clerk was careless, there may be a gap on top of a lower case cursive A, and it may end up looking like a Russian I.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English B, and the Yiddish Bet. Ordinary printed B's and italic B's are usually easy to read. A cursive capital B can look like an English S. A lower case cursive B can look a lot like a lower case cursive D. The ascender, or stem, of a lower case D will point to your left. The ascender of the B will point to your right, but it may curl back around to the left. At least it sticks up and waves at you.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English V, and the Yiddish Vet. Ordinary printed and italic V's are easy to read, except that they might drive a native English speaker nuts because they look like our B's. Cursive V's are also pretty easy to read. One issue: just as some English speakers make loopier loops than others, some Russians make loopier loops than others. One Russian might write a lower case cursive V with a stem that practically looks like a circle. Another might write a lower case cursive V with a stem that looks like a stick. Weird Russian V fact: sometimes Russians and other folks use the letter V where English speakers use the vowel U. So, the surname "Auerbach" in English might very well be spelled "Averbakh" in Russian.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English G, and the Yiddish Gimel. Ordinary printed G's and italic capital G's are easy to read. Lower case italic G's are hard to read because they look, basically, like little squiggly worms, or a little bit like backward S's. In Russian cursive, G's seem to be a kind of an ego-driven letter. The same clerk might write a capital G as a big version of a lower case G in one instance, then write it in a form that resembles an English cursive capital T or capital F in another instance. Whenever you see a hard to identify capital cursive Russian letter, think about whether it could be a G. Also, keep in mind that the Russians had no letter H. They often used the letter G in proper names in place of the letter H. The Yiddish given name Hirshs might be written Girsh in Russian.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of an English D, or a Yiddish Dalet. Ordinary printed and italic D's are easy to recognize because they look like triangles. Capital cursive D's are easy because they look like English cursive D's. Lower case cursive D's are confusing, because they can either look like an English lower case cursive D with a stem that curls to the left, *or* they can look like an English lower case cursive G. Of course, human personalities being what they are, the descender that dangles below the rest of the letter might look like a nice fat loop, or it might look like a stick.
 
This is sort of like an Russian equivalent of an E, but it is actually pronounced "ye" in a lot of cases. Russians also have a letter that looks like an E with two dots on top, which is pronounced "yo," but I didn't see any examples in the records I was looking at, so I haven't included that letter here. Printed E's and cursive E's are as easy to recognize in Russian as in English, but you should keep in mind that lower case cursive E's can easily end up looking like little bumps that are part of other letters. They can also end up looking like lower case cursive A's, O's and S's.
 
This is a letter that sounds like the S in the middle of the English word pleasure, or the initial J in the French name "Jean." (As in "Captain Jean-Luc Picard.") The printed letter is easy to recognize. Sometimes, the lower case cursive version looks like a lower case Russian M, T or SH. One clue: a clerk might put a horizontal bar below a lower case cursive M or SH, or above a lower case cursive T, to let you know what letter he meant to write. Clerks don't seem to mark their ZH's with bars.
 
This is the equivalent of the English Z and the Yiddish Zayin. This letter is usually easy to spot in both the printed and the cursive forms. Sometimes, the lower case cursive version looks like a lower case cursive z and has a descender that dangles beneath the rest of the letter.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English I and the Yiddish Yud. The ordinary printed version and the upper case italic versions are easy to spot, but the lower case italic and the cursive versions are a little hard for an English speaker to recognize because they look like U's. In messy handwriting, they may look like A's, L's M's, N's, T's, SH's, and SHCH's.
 
This is an obsolete Russian letter that used to be another equivalent of the English I and the Yiddish Yud. It looks like an English I, in both the printed and the cursive form. The Russian lower case J and the old Russian I are the only dotted Russian cursive letters.
 
This could be considered the Russian equivalent of the English letter J or the English Y and the Yiddish Yud. The printed versions are clear, but the upper case versions, which are rare, may not always have the tildes (squiggles) on top. The lower case versions are fairly easy to spot because of the tildes.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English letter K and the Yiddish letters Kof and Kuf. It looks like an English K, but messy lower case cursive Russian K's may look like lower case cursive Russian N's.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English L and the Yiddish Lamed. It always looks like a mountain, in the printed and the cursive forms. The lower case cursive version is supposed to have a little hook that comes before it, to the left, so that you can tell it apart from the letter that precedes it. Sometimes, clerks make the hook very tall, and their L's look like their I's. When a Russian lower case L looks sort of like an I, that means it also looks very much like five or six other letters. Because of this ambiguity, you may have to locate lower case cursive L's using your psychic powers rather than your eyes.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English M and the Yiddish Mem. This letter looks like a slightly pointier version of the English letter, in both the printed and the cursive forms. One issue: the lower case italic and cursive M's look like the lower case italic and cursive versions of the Russian letter T. Clerks are supposed to put little hooks before the start of their lower case cursive M's, but you may have a hard time spotting the hooks. For this reason, lower case M's may be hard to distinguish from lower case A's, I's, L's, etc.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English N and the Yiddish Nun. The printed versions and the upper case cursive versions of this letter look like the printed upper case English letter H. The lower case cursive version looks like a sort of pointy lower case cursive English N. If a clerk writes stick-like, non-loopy lower case K's, they may look almost exactly like his lower case N's.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English O and the Yiddish Vav, when Vav is turned into a vowel. This letter is usually easy to spot and looks just like the English version. In very messy handwriting, cursive O's might look like S's. Lower case cursive O's might look like A's.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English P and the Yiddish Pay. This letter is usually easy to recognize. One issue: the lower case italic version and the cursive versions look like the lower case cursive English N. You may have a hard time at first remembering that you are looking at a P, rather than an N.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English R and the Yiddish Resh. Both the printed and cursive versions of this letter are usually very easy to spot. Like G, though, capital cursive R can be an ego-driven letter. The clerk may bury it in curlicues.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English S and the Yiddish Samekh, or Sin. It looks like the English C. Both the printed and the cursive versions should be written about the same way, but the upper case cursive versions may look like O's, and the lower case versions may be indistinguishable from lower case E's. Sometimes, the S's look like lower case cursive English F's. I don't know why.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English T and the Yiddish Tet, or Tau. The lower case italic and cursive versions look like the lower case cursive English M, which is pretty darn confusing. Of course, lower case cursive English M's often end up looking like a lot of other letters, and a lower case Russian cursive T can also look like eight other letters. A careful clerk might throw you a lifeline by putting a horizontal bar over his lower case T's, to distinguish them from his M's and SH's.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English U and the Yiddish Vav, when Vav is written as a vowel with an oo sound. This letter looks like an English Y. It's usually easy to spot. A well-designed letter.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English F and the Yiddish Fay. This letter looks like a two-headed lollipop. It's usually very easy to spot. Sometimes a lower case cursive F might look a little like an O followed by an R.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the Yiddish Khet, or Khof. The printed version of this letter looks like an English X. The upper case cursive version may look more like the Greek letter Lambda, and the lower case version may look like a lower case cursive English F. When in doubt, look for the given name Khaim. Once you find a Khaim, or maybe a Nakhman, you will see how the clerk wrote this letter.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the Yiddish Tzadi. Both the printed and cursive versions look about the same, and the cursive versions are fairly easy to spot because of the squiggle dangling down from the lower right corner of the letter.
 
This letter has a Ch sound. The printed versions are very similar to one another. The upper case cursive version looks sort of like a 7 with a curled bottom, and the lower case version looks like a lower case English R. The cursive versions are fairly easy to recognize, but the lower case version might look sort of like a lower case cursive Russian G if the clerk fails to make the corners of the CH sharp.
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the Yiddish Shin. The printed versions are easy to spot because they look like English W's. The lower case cursive version can be tough to spot, because it can end up looking like or blending in with the A's, I's, L's, M's, T's and other letters in a word.
 
This makes the sound at the end of the Russian word "tovarishch" (comrade). It's like a shin with a little tail dangling from the lower right corner.


This is a symbol that lets you know that the consonant that precedes it is hard. It doesn't have a true upper case version, but, when newspapers print words entirely in upper case letters, they use a big version of the lower case letter. In the 1800s, Russian used this sign a lot more than they do today. Transcribers tend to ignore this symbol when transcribing Russian into English characters.
== References ==
 
{{reflist}}
This is the Russian equivalent of the English Y. It's easy to spot because it looks like a B followed by an I.
 
This is the soft sign, which lets you know that the preceding consonant is "soft." To an American, this means the consonant sounds as if it has a "yuh" after it, but Russians hear something different. This sign often follows the L in Jewish names such as Yankel (Jake) and Shovel (Shaul). It doesn't really have an upper case version, but newspapers use a big version of the lower case version when they write words entirely in upper case letters. Transcribers often use an apostrophe to represent this symbol. To be blunt, I have a very hard time distinguishing a soft sign from a hard sign. Please don't base your answers to a Russian spelling or grammar exam on my attempts to tell them apart!
 
This is the Russian equivalent of the English E, without a Y sound before it. Example: "elephant," not "yelephant." This letter is easy to recognize, but I didn't see any lower case examples, so I haven't included any here.
 
This represents the sound Yu, as in the Jewish given name "Yudko." It's easy to recognize in both the printed and the cursive forms, because it looks like an I followed by an O.
 
This represents the sound Ya. It's usually easy to recognize in both the printed and the cursive forms. I think the last example I include here is a cursive version of this letter that comes at the end of words, but maybe it's actually another letter, so please check this with an expert if figuring out exactly what this letter is is really important to you, for some reason.
 
This represents the sound Th. It's no longer used in modern Russian. It seems to be very rare in Jewish names, but it was once used in a lot of Russian Orthodox and Catholic given names.
 
This is an obsolete letter that once seemed to represent the vowel E. The ordinary printed and italic versions look like lower case printed English b's with crossed stems. The cursive versions and lower case italic version look like a lower case English N with a loop on the lower right corner.
 
=== Related Content ===
 
*[[Germans from Russia Language and Languages|Germans from Russia Language and Languages]]


{{Place|Russia}}


[[Category:Russia]]
[[Category:Russia Language and Handwriting]]
[[Category:Language and Handwriting]]

Latest revision as of 20:18, 20 March 2024


Russia Wiki Topics
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Russia Genealogical Word Lists
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Description

The languages most spoken in Russia are [1] [2] [3]

  • Russian - the only official language of Russia at a national level. It is the most widely spoken language.
    • Russian is one of the East Slavic Languages.
    • Russian is one of two official languages aboard the International Space Station.
    • It is one of six official languages of the United Nations.
  • Tatar - 4.28 million per 2010 census. Spoken by Tatars mainly in Tatarstan and Siberia and is considered official in the Republic of Tatarstan. It belongs to the Turkic language family.
  • Chechen - 1.35 million per 2010 census. Official language in Chechnya and Dagestan. It belongs to the Northeast Caucasian language family.
  • Bashkir - 1.15 million per 2010 census. Official language in Bashkortostan. It belongs to the Turkic language family.
  • Ukrainian - 1.13 million per 2010 census. Official language of the Republic of Crimea. It belongs to the Indo-European language family.
  • Chuvash - 1.04 million per 2010 census. Official language in Chuvashia. It belongs to the Turkic language family.
  • English - 30% of the population in Russia can speak English.

There are over 100 minority languages spoken across Russia. 35 languages are considered official in various regions of Russia.

Additional Information on the Russian Language

Most records used in Russian research are written in Russian. Some knowledge of Russian is useful to understand Russian records. Reading Russian script in archived records can be very difficult since the old Russian script is unlike modern Russian.

Word List(s)

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Alphabet

Pronunciation

Language Aids and Dictionaries

Dictionaries

  • Thompson, Della. Compact Oxford Russian dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Available at: WorldCat.
    • Oxford essential Russian dictionary : Russian-English, English-Russian. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Available at: WorldCat.
    • Russian dictionary. Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers, 2018. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Garifullin, S. F. English-Tatar dictionary. Kazan: Magarif, 2007. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Nichols, Johanna and A. D. Vagapov. Chechen-English and English-Chechen dictionary. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Kaĭbysheva, T. I︠U︡. Russian-Bashkir-Turkish-English dictionary. Ufa: Bashkirskai︠a︡ ėnt︠s︡iklopedii︠a︡, 2002. Available at: WorldCat.
    • Хасанов, М.А. and M.A. Khasanov. English-Bashkir-Russian dictionary. Ufa: Китап, 2009. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Shevchuk, Yuri. Ukrainian-English collocation dictionary. New York: Hippocrene Books, Inc, 2022. Available at: WorldCat.
    • Parker, Philip M. Webster's Ukrainian (Latin script)-English thesaurus dictionary. San Diego, CA: ICON, 2008. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Mikhaĭlova, Luiza Valentinovna, V. N. Shashkov, and Vladislav Vladimirovich Shashkov. Concise English-Russian-Chuvash dictionary. Cheboksarskiĭ filial, Cheboxary: Chuvashskiĭ gos. universitet im. I.N. Ulʹi︠a︡nova, 1998. Available at: WorldCat.
    • Shashkov, V. N. Russian-Chuvash-English dictionary. Cheboksary: Chuvashskoe kn. izd-vo, 2006. Available at: WorldCat.

Online Dictionaries

Language Aids

  • Russian Characteristics
  • Levine, James S. Russian grammar. New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2018. Available at: WorldCat.
  • West, Daphne M. Essential Russian grammar. Blacklick, OH: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Burbiel, Gustav. Tatar grammar. Stockholm: Institute for Bible Translation, 2018. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Mat︠s︡iev, A. G. and Patrick A. O'Sullivan. A short grammatical outline of the Chechen language. Kensington, Md: Dunwoody Press, 1995. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Poppe, N. N. Bashkir manual; descriptive grammar and texts with a Bashkir-English glossary. Bloomington: Indiana University, 1964. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Medushevsʹkyĭ, A. P. and R. H. Zi︠a︡tkovsʹka. Ukrainian grammar. Kiev: Rad. shkola, 1963. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Krueger, John Richard. Chuvash manual : introduction, grammar, reader and vocabulary. Bloomington, The Hague, The Netherlands: Mouton & Co, 1961. Available at: WorldCat.

Additional Resources

  • Russian Language - Omniglot
  • Mesropova, Olga. Faces of contemporary Russia : advanced Russian language and culture. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2019. Available at: WorldCat.
  • Ståhlberg, Sabira. Tatar language presevation strategies and innovative practices. Ankara: Grafiker Yayınları, 2021. Available at: WorldCat.

Russian Language Alphabetical Order and Spelling
The Russian alphabet consists of 33 Cyrillic letters; 21 consonants, 10 vowels, and two letters without sound. Russian dictionaries and indexes list use the following alphabetical order:
Аа Бб Вв Гг Дд Ee Ёё Жж Зз Ии Йй Kk Лл Mм Нн Oo Пр Pp Сс Тт Уу Фф Хх Цц Чч Шш Щщ Ъъ Ыы Ьь Ээ Юю Яя
However, prior to 1918 when the Russian Academy of Sciences instituted spelling reforms, the alphabet and the spelling rules were different.

Here is a chart that has the printed and handwritten upper and lowercase letters and their English, Polish, and German transliterations. It also includes the letters before 1918 and where they fit in the alphabet. Russian Alphabet Key

The spelling changes you will be most likely to see include:

з changed to (in certain positions) c
i changed to и
ъ no longer used at the end of masculine words Ø
ѣ changed to e
θ changed to ф
v changed to и

Other helpful alphabet resources include: For helpful alphabet resources see

Russian Language Characteristics

Variant Forms of Words
In Russian, the endings of most words vary according to gender, number, and usage in a sentence. Who—Whose—whom, or marry—marries—married are examples of words in English with variant forms. Many sources (word lists, dictionaries, etc.) give only the basic, or nominative masculine form. As you read Russian records be aware that almost all words vary with usage.

Gender
Russian words for persons, places, and things (nouns) are classified as masculine, feminine, or neuter. For example, брат (brother) is a masculine word, дочь (daughter) is a feminine word, and свидетельство (certificate) is a neuter word.
Words that describe persons, places, or things (adjectives) will have either masculine, feminine, or neuter endings depending on what noun they are describing. For example, in Russian you would write старый брат (old brother), старая сестра (old sister), and старое свидетельство (old certificate). In dictionaries and in the “Russian Genealogical Word List” generally only the masculine form is given.

старый, старая, старое (old) is listed only as старый
глухой, глухая (deaf) is listed only as глухой

Plurals
Plural forms of Russian words usually end in ы, и, а, or я. Thus:

отец—отцы father—fathers
муж—мужья husband—husbands
жена—жены wife—wives
книга—книги book—books
место—местa place—places
замечание—замечания remark—remarks

Again, usually in a dictionary the word is given in the singular, masculine form.

Grammatical Use
The endings of Russian words can also vary depending on the grammatical uses of the words. Russian grammar requires specific endings (called “cases”) on nouns used in the possessive, as the object of a verb, and with a preposition, among others.
Adjectives also must match the nouns they modify in gender, quantity, and grammatical form (case). Russian nouns fall into several classes, each with its own set of grammatical endings. Many dictionaries have grammatical sections which show complete noun and adjective endings.

The following table shows some examples of changing nouns:

Noun Use Translation
город это город this is the city
города мер города mayor of the city
городе Я жил в городе I lived in the city
сын это сын this is the son
сына я крестил сына I christened the son
сыну я дал сыну I gave to the son
сыном я ушёл с сыном I left with the son
жена это жена this is the wife
жены дом жены home of the wife
жену я видел жену I saw the wife
жене я дал жене I gave to the wife
женой я ушёл c женой I left with the wife
жене я думал о жене I thought of the wife

The changing of word endings is called “declension” and there are six different cases in Russian. For a more in-depth discussion on Russian cases see Grammar -- Russian Cases (specifically for nouns, though other parts of speech change case depending on their usage as well).

An important note is that it is essential to recognize when a name is written in a different form, and to avoid misinterpreting it as another name. For example, “the child of Ivon” would be “ребенок ивана.” That only means that “иван” is in a different case. It does NOT mean that is a feminine form of the name, that his name is different, that he has variant names, or that “ивана” is a different person than “иван.”

Verbs
Words that show action (verbs) also vary depending on who and how many are doing the action and whether the action is past, present, or future. The variation for verbs is called “conjugation.”

For example, the Russian word жить (to live) will appear with various endings.

Present
я живу I live
ты живёшь you live (informal)
он/она/кто живёт he/she/who lives
мы живём we live
вы живёте you live (formal)
они живут they live
Past
жил singular masculine
жила singular feminine
жили plural or you formal

Not all verb conjugations follow the same pattern. See Russian For Everyone Present Tense of Verbs for more information.

Further Information on Russian Language
Russian (русский язык tr.: russkiy yazyk, [ˈru.skʲɪj jɪˈzɨk]) is the most widely spoken language of Eurasia and the most widespread of the Slavonic languages.
Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages. Within the Slavic branch, Russian is one of three living members of the East Slavic group, the other two being Belarusian and Ukrainian.
Written examples of East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century onwards. While Russian preserves much of East Slavonic synthetic-inflectional structure and a Common Slavonic word base, modern Russian exhibits a large stock of borrowed international vocabulary for politics, science, and technology. A language of great political importance in the 20th century, Russian is one of the official languages of the United Nations.

Of Russia's estimated 150 million large population, it is thought that over 81% speak the official language of Russian as their first and only language. Most speakers of a minority language are also bilingual speakers of Russian. There are over 100 minority languages spoken in Russia today, the most popular of which is Tartar, spoken by more than 3% of the country's population.
Other minority languages include Ukrainian, Chuvash, Bashir, Mordvin and Chechen. Although few of these populations make up even 1% of the Russian population, these languages are prominent in key regional areas.

Although Russian is the only federally official language of the Russian Federation, there are several other officially-recognized languages within Russia's various constituencies. This is a list of languages that are official only in certain parts of Russia.

  1. Abaza (in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic)
  2. Adyghe (in the Republic of Adygea)
  3. Altay (in the Altai Republic)
  4. Bashkir (in the Republic of Bashkortostan)
  5. Buryat (in Agin-Buryat Autonomous 6. Okrug, Buryat Republic, and Ust- Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug)
  6. Chechen (in the Chechen Republic)
  7. Chukchi (in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug)
  8. Chuvash (in the Chuvash Republic)
  9. Dolgan (in Taymyr Autonomous Okrug)
  10. Erzya (in the Republic of Mordovia)
  11. Evenk (in Evenk Autonomous Okrug)
  12. Ingush (in the Republic of Ingushetia)
  13. Kabardian (in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic and Karachay-Cherkess Republic)
  14. Kalmyk (in the Republic of Kalmykia)
  15. Karachay-Balkar (in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic and Karachay-Cherkess Republic)
  16. Khakas (in the Republic of Khakassia)
  17. Khanty (in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug)
  18. Komi-Zyrian (in the Komi Republic)
  19. Koryak (in Koryak Autonomous Okrug)
  20. Mansi (in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug)
  21. Mari (in the Mari El Republic)
  22. Moksha (in the Republic of Mordovia)
  23. Nenets (in Nenets Autonomous Okrug)
  24. Nogai (in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic)
  25. Ossetic (in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania)
  26. Tatar (in the Republic of Tatarstan)
  27. Tuvin (in the Tuva Republic)
  28. Udmurt (in the Udmurt Republic)
  29. Yakut (in the Sakha Republic)
  30. Yiddish (in Jewish Autonomous Oblast)

Other Information
Russian is the language of the Russian Federation and was the official language of the Soviet Union and of the Russian Empire. It was also used in official records of Poland, Finland, and Alaska. Russian is one of the Slavic languages, which are divided into three groups.

East
  • Russian
  • Belorussian
  • Ukrainian
 West
  • Polish
  • Czech
  • Slovak
 South
  • Bulgarian
  • Serbo-Croatian
  • Slovenian
  • Macedonian

There are many online resources for Russian grammar and vocabulary. Finding one that works for you should be possible through a simple search engine query.

There are also some printed sources that can be of use. For example, In Their Words: A Genealogist's Translation Guide to Polish, German, Latin, and Russian Documents (Volume 2) by Jonathan D. Shea and William F. Hoffman is an excellent resource. There is also A New Russian-English and English-Russian Dictionary by M. Golovinsky. This dictionary is from the 1940s and uses the old spelling rules. Available on microfilm at the FamilySearch Library (Film 1045409 Item 1).

References

  1. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Russia," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia#:~:text=Russian%20is%20the%20official%20and%20the%20predominantly%20spoken%20language, accessed 23 May 2023.
  2. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Russian language," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language, accessed 23 May 2023.
  3. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Languages of Russia," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Russia, accessed 23 May 2023.
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