Introduction
The Russian language is an East Slavic language native to the Russians in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of four living East Slavic languages, and also part of the larger Balto-Slavic branch. Russian is an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and is used widely throughout the Caucasus, Central Asia, and to some extent in the Baltic states. Russian is used widely in Ukraine. It was the de facto language of the Soviet Union until its dissolution; and is used in an official capacity or in public life in all the post-Soviet states. The language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
Russian has over 258 million total speakers worldwide and is the most-spoken Slavic language, the most spoken native language in Europe, as well as the most geographically widespread language in Eurasia. Large numbers of Russian speakers are residents of other countries, such as Israel and Mongolia. It is the world’s seventh-most spoken language by a number of native speakers, and the world’s eighth-most spoken language by total number of speakers. Russian is also the second-most widespread language on the Internet, after English.
Let’s take a look at these different factors and see how they impact how fast you learn Russian: