December 19, 2022

Hold Your Tongue


Hold Your Tongue
Impeccable Russian penmanship. Speak Russian Now, YouTube

The State Duma began reviewing a new law that would restrict the use of foreign loan words in official Russian communications.

This comes amid a rise in nationalism following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Initially introduced to the Duma on October 26, the law considers the use of Russian to be a matter of state, allowing for its regulation. If the law is passed, officials will be required to abstain from the use of foreign words for which there is an equivalent Russian word. The bill also grants the government control over the production and approval of grammar books and dictionaries, in order to make them compliant with "Russian literary language." Authors of the bill claim it will battle the "overuse of foreign words" and improve the level of literacy and the quality of language resource materials.

In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly suggested to the president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the creation of an organization within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to promote Russian language use.

 

You Might Also Like

Spelling Reform: Who Gets the Credit?
  • October 10, 2018

Spelling Reform: Who Gets the Credit?

In Soviet times the Bolsheviks got all the credit for simplifying Russian spelling in 1918. Who really pushed that simplification through - and what did the Bolsheviks actually do to help?
Studying Russian Outside the Capitals
  • January 01, 1990

Studying Russian Outside the Capitals

Some reasons to consider studying Russian outside Moscow and St. Petersburg, with a listing of schools and their programs in provincial cities.
The Wrong Kind of Patriotism
  • November 30, 2022

The Wrong Kind of Patriotism

A student in Karelia was reportedly disciplined for wearing a sweatshirt with an American flag on it.
A Flag that Rocks
  • August 27, 2022

A Flag that Rocks

The governor of Samara Oblast enlisted the help of students to create a 200-foot-long Russian tricolor out of painted stones for Russian Flag Day.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Driving Down Russia's Spine
June 01, 2016

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

Russian Rules
November 16, 2011

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

93 Untranslatable Russian Words
December 01, 2008

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955