Russia Business Directory
Russian language is most geographically widespread language in Eurasia. It is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family with Ukranian and Byelorussian as most close relatives.
One of the most difficult aspects of the language for Western nationals – after the Cyrillic alphabet, of course – is the stress which can be placed on any syllable, as well as several vowels and consonants not existing in the most common European languages.
By the end of 1980 more than 350 million people in the world spoke Russian. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, this number has gone down. About 163 million people in the world are presently native Russian speakers, while 144 million (mainly in the former CIS and Baltic countries) speak Russian as second language. That makes Russian world’s fourth most spread language after English, Chinese and Spanish.
However, mostly due to Russian immigration Russian language has spread to virtually every European Country, the States and Canada.According to the study carried out by Demoscope, Germany, the United States and France has the biggest number of inhabitants speaking Russian as native or second (third etc) language (9, 4 and 1,25 accordingly in 2004). Norway has about 10-12 thousands native Russian speakers, while one should add a couple of thousands speakers who either immigrated from the former CIS or learned Russian as a second language.
Did you know… Russians and Norwegians involved in Pomor Trade (1600-1920) used to have their own language called “russenorsk” which had Russian vocabulary and Norwegian grammar. |
General information
Miniguide to Russian language and Phrasebook - interactive introduction to Russian language for beginners (eng)
Books in Russian language in Trondheim public library (nor)
Deichmanske bibliotek probably has the largest number of Russian titles: over 4000 (nor/eng)
Dictionaries – Russian-Norwegian, Norwegian-Russian dictionaries (eng/rus).
English-Russian/Russian-English Free Dictionary
Russian Fonts - downloadable Russian fonts for Windows and Macintosh (eng)
Russian Language - ratings of the Top Language Schools in Russia, Russia: Moscow: Study & Live in your Teacher's Home, Russia: St. Petersburg: Study & Live in your Teacher's Home (eng)
Russian Language - free Info on Russian Language (eng).
Russian Grammar Online - rather comprehensive overview of Russian grammar on the website created by former CEO of YourDictionary.com (eng).
Collection of links on Russian language - website "Russian Legacy.com" (eng)
Russian courses and self-study
Russian Language Software - download software that teaches Russian using audio and animations (eng)
Study Russian in Russia – Russian language courses, including Russian language courses for businesspeople (eng)
Moscow State University (CIE) - study Russian language in the Russian Federation (eng)
Learn Russian Online - Russian Language Software Titles Reviews. Side-by-Side Comparisons (eng)
Norwegian schools and centers in Russia - a possible place to study Russian language in Russia (nor/eng/rus)
The Norwegian Pomor University Centre - information about the centre and their language courses (rus/eng)
Russia.no – Universities in Norway and in Russia there you can study Russian; different courses – for instance short Russian courses, on-line Russian course for beginners; translators in Oslo, Sweden, Moscow; Sprakconsult (nor/eng)
IALC Russian language schools in Russia - learn Russian in Russia at one of the following IALC-accredited language schools. All offer a choice of courses, accommodation and cultural activities (eng)
LANGUAGE COLLEGE FOR BUSINESSMEN OF THE MINISTRY OF TRADE OF THE ...the programme, involving the use of the latest teaching methods, is covered in two or three years (eng).
For advanced Russian learners
Russian language - "official" website sponsored by the Russian government giving most comprehensive overview of language structure, literature, dictionaries etc (rus)
Russian abbreviations – if you are in doubt, what VNIIRO and other Russian abbreviations stand for, check this website containing more than 90.000 records
Dahl's Reference Dictionary Online - good old dictionary made by lexigographer and enthusiast Vladimir Dahl and published in 1861, a treasure for folklore studies (rus)
Ozhegov's Dictionary Online - acknowledged Russian reference dictionary created by lexigographer Sergey Ozhegov in the middle of XX century (rus).
Translation and interpretation
ADENYUR Translation Agency - NRCC Member Company providing all types of translation and interpretation services with focus on banking and legal documentation in Moscow (eng/rus)
Norsk sprakservice – translation bureau with offices in several Norwegian towns (nor/eng)