Talk:List of languages of Russia

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I made this page with data from Ethnologue. Feel free to add number of speakers to each language, or to improve the article in any other way.

Punkmorten 12:39, 23 August 2005 (UTC) we need to know the world language so we can travel to other places ya heard me ok well PEACE OUT NATIVES

Why on earth include English and other FOREIGN languages into the same table with native languages of indigenous peoples? There are Koreans in Russia and I can agree that they have lived in the country for several generations - so Korean language can be included into native languages of Russia. But do we have millions of native English speaker citizens of the country? I know two English persons residing for over a decade in Saint Petersburg, but they were not born in a family with roots in Russia, so English does not fit in. As for German, there should be a distinction between modern modern standard German learnt as a foreign language by ethnic non-Germans at school and whatever German dialects of formerly Volga Germans etc that may still hardly be spoken in Russia after their exile to Central Asia. I believe existing Russian Germans and (Ashkenazi) Jews are fully integrated into Russian life and as a first language German or Yiddish could be spoken be very few very elderly. My late grandparents were born in early 20 century in the Pale of Settlement in Ukraine and Belorussia, and after school and revolution moved to continue education and work in Russia. According to my late parents, their parents might speak Yiddish in my parents' childhood only to hide information from the kids, so my parents didn't learn to speak any Yiddish - only Russian everywhere and a bit of English or French at school and college. They knew a word or two of Yiddish, but not precisely. I don't. My parents died being about 80 years of age. Pale of Settlement was outside Russia. Where do you get any native speakers of Yiddish? That's simply improbable. My mother's first cousin from Ukraine could speak Yiddish together with Russian and Ukrainian, but he died two years ago. GregZak (talk) 08:08, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

How many speakers of Tajik and Uzbek languages have permanent residence in Russia, not to mention citizenship? Very few, if any. Again, there should be a list of mother tongues, first languages of CITIZENS of Russia born in Russia. Gerard Depardieu and Stephen Segal are citizens of Russia, but not by birth to natives of Russia, and Gerard's French is not a native language of Russia at all, unlike the years after French Revolution refugees influx deciding to stay, and even then doubtful as a language of Russia proper. GregZak (talk) 08:18, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

English as a foreign language is studied by MAJORITY of schoolchildren since about 1960ies, so beginner's passive knowledge of elementary English is above that figure, but real proficiency can be lower. And again it is a foreign language. GregZak (talk) 08:21, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

But you did a big job - so thank you. GregZak (talk) 08:47, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Is Czech in Russia someone's mother tongue? GregZak (talk) 08:49, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Mandarin Chinese in Russia - any figures?

Ethnologue mentions Mandarin Chinese in Russian but doesn't provide figures. The number of Mandarin speakers in Russia must be substantial - 0.5% or 680,000 people (taking account either legal or illegal Chinese immigrants in Russia), including 30-40 thousand Dungans. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=RUA --Atitarev (talk) 23:33, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

== Chechen?

Why the heck isn't Chechen in that list? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mopcwiki (talk • contribs) 16:38, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

Division between European Russia and Asian Russia

Division of languages as "related to European Russia" and "related to Asian Russia" is artificial. Better use division based on linguistic families, like in article in Russian wikipedia — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.25.228.110 (talk) 21:21, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

Chukchi and Koryak languages

The Chukchi and Koryak languages are not included in this list. Is any information available about the number of speakers of these languages in Russia? Jarble (talk) 07:28, 1 March 2018 (UTC)