"The language of facial expressions and gestures is the safest" - Picture of the Day - Kommersant

"The language of facial expressions and gestures is the safest" - Picture of the Day - Kommersant


Kommersant asked translators and linguists which languages ​​would be the most promising in the coming years.

Alexander Livergant, translator, editor-in-chief of the journal "Foreign Literature":

Photo: Svetlana Privalova, Kommersant

- English - now and always. This is the lingua franca, the language of international communication, and it will only save us, although there is not much hope for this either.


Dmitry Petrov, simultaneous interpreter:

Photo: Evgeny Gurko, Kommersant

- Along with English, which will undoubtedly retain its position, I see the potential for the growth of the influence of Spanish. Firstly, the growth in the number of speakers and the expansion of the area of ​​its use: in addition to Spain and Latin America, this is essentially the second language in the United States. Secondly, Spanish-speaking countries, except for Spain itself, maintain geopolitical neutrality, thanks to which their economic and cultural ties are strengthened with almost all countries of the world. Thirdly, the relative structural and phonetic simplicity of Spanish strengthens its role as one of the international languages.


Evgeny Reznichenko, director of the Institute of Translation:

Photo: Valery Sharifulin / TASS

- We develop mainly the language of facial expressions and gestures as the safest.


Maxim Krongauz, linguist:

Photo: Alexander Weinstein, Kommersant

For some reason, this question brought to mind a long-standing episode. In 1990, the Odessa Gentlemen, the best KVN team at that time, paraphrased Mayakovsky on stage: “I would learn Brazilian only because I have to go somewhere ...” The relevance of “Brazilian” always accompanies leaving moods, moving to another country implies minimal command of her language. Such a prospect, of course, does not affect all fellow citizens.

Talking about English is too banal, it is still important. But someone, I'm afraid, has the prospect of not knowing foreign languages ​​at all, if the proposals to reduce these courses at school are accepted.


Veniamin Bakalinsky, director of the Itrex translation agency:

Photo: Archive of Veniamin Bakalinsky

— Trite, but the English language has been and will remain for many years the dominant, universal tool for everyday, business and cultural communication. This is due not only to how all levels of relationships are built, but also to the amount of information that is available at the bilingual level for mastering professional topics.

I would also include Spanish among the languages ​​in demand, due to the fact that ties with Latin America are developing more and more actively. Portuguese, of which there is also a lot, to a lesser extent. Oddly enough, Chinese is in demand, but on a local scale it is not seen as a language for international work.

In terms of development, I would put on the Arabic language, and not only because there are many countries where it is used now. It is gaining momentum in non-Arab countries where the majority of the Muslim population is: Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and others. The Arabic language may become close to English, although not so massively in the next 10-15 years.


Michael Wiesel, literary critic and translator:

Photo: Social networks of Mikhail Wiesel

- I dream that there will be some kind of diversification - the English language has ceased to be a synonym for a foreign language in general, and the answer to the question about "language proficiency" has ceased to mean it.

I would bet on the Asian direction: Chinese, Korean and Japanese. Their influence is increasing, and the literal principle of transmitting information familiar to us is changing to the visual, that is, hieroglyphic. If I had a child of primary school age, I would persistently attract him to study this method of writing.

Hebrew stands separately. With all my admiration for the people who revived spoken Hebrew, if there is no exodus planned for the country, it is difficult to find an incentive to learn. Moreover, as Vysotsky joked back in the 1970s, “there is a quarter of our former people.” Since then, the situation has only "improved". And from a scientific point of view, the study of other “old” languages, for example, ancient Georgian or ancient Armenian, acquires no less importance.


Pavel Palazhchenko, translator who worked with M. S. Gorbachev and E. A. Shevardnadze, political scientist:

Photo: Dmitry Dukhanin, Kommersant

— Demand for languages ​​does not change quickly. There are always one or two dominant and languages ​​that have more regional significance. And there are languages ​​that have more limited uses.

But now the changes will gradually take place. Naturally, the role of the Chinese language will grow, while the positions of French, Arabic and Spanish will remain. The positions of some languages ​​that are not regional will be strengthened, but due to the rapid development of the economies of these countries or their already established economic situation, they will be in demand. In my opinion, these are, in particular, German, Japanese, Korean, Turkish, perhaps some other languages.

As for the Russian, he has strong positions in the organizations of the UN system, and in general we have a large country, 140 million people, but I do not expect his position to strengthen in international communication.


Dmitry Puchkov (Goblin), blogger, writer, translator:

Photo: Dmitry Dukhanin, Kommersant

– I don’t see an alternative to English yet, its dominance is absolute. Chinese is frightening with the complexity of learning and the abundance of hieroglyphs. The fact that Latin America speaks Spanish is of little interest to anyone. Arabic is a big mystery even for Muslims.

Not massively, for work, all languages ​​are interesting: we climb into China - we study the language, into Latin America - too. Vladimir Ilyich wrote and spoke five or six languages, understood a few more, so those who need it in life should strive for this without focusing on English.


Gasan Huseynov, Doctor of Philology:

Photo: Nikita Benzoruk / Higher School of Economics

— For the people of Russia, this is a sensitive issue, because for many decades most people thought of English as the most promising language. This, of course, is correct, but only in the sense that no one can do without English. For a long-term trip or moving to any other country, this is only a necessary, but not a sufficient condition.

Russia is a multinational country, but more and more monolingual. At the very least, almost everyone speaks Russian. But only a minority knows Tatar or Udmurt, Yakut or Chukchi so that they can not only speak, but read, write and, for example, simultaneously translate. For those whose native language is Russian, it is promising to study, in addition to English, some other Slavic language - with the expectation of the country to which you are going. And for speakers of other languages, such as Turkic, it makes sense to raise the knowledge of the language of their ancestors to a higher level, while simultaneously studying, say, Turkish.

In any case, multilingualism is promising.


Mikhail Gorbanevsky, Chairman of the Board of the Guild of Linguists-Experts in Documentation and Information Disputes (GLEDIS):

Photo: Grigory Tambulov, Kommersant

- If you freely express your thoughts in your native language, you can also in a foreign language. In the meantime, we are witnessing the degradation of his teaching at school, when sometimes a graduate is not able to write an autobiography, because he was not taught the basics of simple rhetoric.

Well, any person living in our difficult but interesting world should know English well. Not only in Europe it is considered common knowledge of two or three languages ​​other than the native.

For me, sometimes it’s even easier to formulate something in French. Just like a few years ago, I consider Chinese to be a promising language. Economic and many other interests focus on it.


Alexey Maslov, Director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University, Professor:

Photo: Ivan Vodopyanov, Kommersant

- Traditionally, the most popular are Chinese, Arabic, Turkish, Japanese, and so far worse "hyped" - Amharic and Swahili for Africa, and for Southeast Asia it is Lao, Burmese, as well as some languages ​​of India. The greatest demand in the near future will certainly be for Indonesian and Vietnamese. The promise of the language determines its relevance today and tomorrow, and our economic cooperation is developing in these directions.

But if earlier language proficiency was valuable in itself, today skills and professions are valued, where knowledge of both the literary language and its modern forms, which are used on the Internet and social networks, is necessary.

But you need to understand that it is impossible to learn Chinese or Farsi on your own, even while living in the country. A system and guidance of an experienced methodologist is needed.

Although Western languages ​​will not go anywhere, and first of all, English. But Chinese will always be in demand: due to the huge development of relations and the large volume of special publications in the exact sciences, without knowing the language, this information remains encrypted for us. In my opinion, Chinese will become as commonplace as English. And on the internet, that's pretty much what happened.


Anatoly Torkunov, rector of MGIMO, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences:

Photo: Ivan Vodopyanov, Kommersant

- I do not want to say that the western direction has lost its relevance. We pay great attention to both the western and eastern directions. I would like to point out several innovations in MGIMO programs this year. At the Faculty of Law, we opened language groups with Arabic and Turkish languages, created special courses on the history, economics and cultural and religious traditions of countries, their legal systems. A new language has appeared for the guys studying trade, this is Turkish. For environmental students, there is an opportunity to choose Chinese. The teaching of Burmese and Khmer will resume next year.

Group "Direct speech"



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