Why is Russian one of the main languages taught in schools?

[notevenat20]

I have always wondered this. Secondary schools always teach French but if they do more languages it will be German , Spanish or Russian.

Why Russian? It has little importance for business and people don't tend to go there for holidays. There are not many Russian people in the UK either relatively speaking. Where has this idea come from?

there's nothing more invigorating that learning tables of declensions and conjugations.

Do you like tables?

Here's one for people learning English (below)

@PigletJohn

Meh, that's nothing, try 64 cases:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsez_language

I always think of the sketch by the great Victoria Wood whereshe is advised to make positive affirmations to help her cope with her body image - to pick out her best parts.
She strips naked and stands in front of the mirror, repeating 'You have Latin O level'.

I could have taken Russian to O level in the 1980s. My DC's school splits the entire year group between French or Spanish in year 7, without offering them a choice. Less than 10% take a MFL to GCSE and there is no opportunity to take a second MFL at any stage, even though the languages staff can teach all teach French, Spanish and German. Not a hope of Russian, Mandarin, Latin or Greek.

No Russian offered round here, even at the language specialist school.
It's Spanish, German, Mandarin, in those order that are offered most as the third language.

I pretty much owe my career to having studied Russian at university (couldn't do it at school though). There are still plenty of opportunities for British people who speak Russian well and (more importantly) understand the Russian mentality and their way of doing things.

Perhaps you're in an area with more Russian immigration?

I've never come across it in the UK. One of the schools we looked at for DS1 in Germany had Russian. A lot of the local Russian speakers sent their kids there.

No Russian in any of the school round here. Yes to mandarin but definitely no Russian

Highgate is the only school I know where Russian is taught (among other languages). As for its importance for business, my whole career had been based on my fluency in Russian and without it, I would just be a middle-of-the-rank lawyer on an average salary. The fact that I spoke Russian opened up a whole world of opportunities for me. Also, there is quite a high proportion of wealthy Russians in London.

I’ve never known of any school teaching Russian.
DDs school does french & Spanish. They do Latin in the high school nearby. Another school does German.

My school had an option for Russian, but only as an additional - from memory I think you had to take French, German or Spanish as standard, and then choose between Russian and Mandarin.

DS wants to learn a language on Duolingo. Might suggest Russian!

Would love dc to learn Russian, such a fascinating culture & I would imagine it will be very useful in years to come. There is a very large Russian community in the UK with most Eastern Europeans here also fluent in Russian, it was a compulsory language in schools during the Communist era.
The Russians I know & also the Eastern European parents I know at dc's school place a massive emphasis on education & I can understand why they would want their dc getting the option. In our area many Eastern European kids go to various Saturday schools every week eg Polish school etc to keep on top of the language, learn about their history, culture, dance & poetry. I think this is fabulous. Dds friend speaks Polish, (father) Russian (mother is from the Ukraine) fluently & English like a native. She's 9 & has the most amazing holidays in her parents birth country every year. She also does Spanish outside school. Her mother tells me this is the norm with many Eastern Europeans to have so many languages. It will be very hard to compete with these kids in years to come after brexit & increased globalisation, languages are so important.

State school here and Russian is offered at GCSE and A-level.

Our school was split in two halves - you chose either French, Russian and Latin or French, German and Japanese. Your choice decided which class you were in - two classes for each choice. This was in the early 00s. My Mom had the same choices when she was at school. We both chose the French, Russian and Latin option.