Russian

ДОБРО ПОЖАЛОВАТЬ! Welcome to the Russian programme. Why Russian? It is the most widely-spread language geographically spanning across Eurasia and the most widely spoken language of Slavic languages. Russian is spoken by 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. In terms of the number of native speakers, it is the eighth most spoken language in the world and the first in Europe. In terms of the total number of speakers, it is the seventh most spoken language in the world. The language is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

Russia is the world’s largest nation sharing the borders of Europe and Asia continents as well as the Pacific and Arctic oceans. Its landscape is greatly diversified, ranging from tundra and forests to subtropical beaches. It is famous for its art and culture. The novels by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky and the Bolshoi and Mariinsky ballet companies are world-acclaimed. The world-renowned St. Petersburg is a historically absorbed city founded by the legendary Russian leader Peter the Great. The city is famous for the Baroque-styled Winter Palace, which is now housing part of the art collection of Hermitage Museum.

Russia has a rich cultural heritage, which is fascinating for students to explore, while students would benefit from learning Russian in the light of the close relationship between Russia and China politically and economically.