The Russian Language

Russian is spoken by about 260 million people. It is the main language of Russia, the biggest country in the world. Russian uses a special alphabet called Cyrillic. This alphabet has 33 letters. Some Russian letters look like English letters but sound different.

The Cyrillic Alphabet

The Cyrillic alphabet was made over 1,000 years ago. Two brothers named Cyril and Methodius helped create it. Some Russian letters look like backward English letters. For example, the letter that looks like a backward R makes a 'ya' sound. Learning Cyrillic is like learning a secret code.

Famous Russian Writers

Russia has many famous writers who wrote in Russian. Leo Tolstoy wrote a huge book called War and Peace. Other writers like Dostoevsky and Chekhov are known around the world. Russian children learn to read these famous books in school. Russian is also an official language of the United Nations.

Fun Facts

• The Russian word for 'hello' is 'privet' for friends.
• Russian has no word for 'the' or 'a.'
• Russian is the language with the most speakers in Europe.

Did You Know?

Astronauts on the International Space Station must learn some Russian to talk to their Russian teammates!