[For a more in-depth look at Russian, please see A Russian Primer.]

Russian is a member of the Slavic family of Indo-European languages. It evolved from Ukrainian, a language to which it is quite similar. Aside from technical terms, it has been influenced only a little by Latin; its classical influence was Greek. It has in the past borrowed liberally from French and German, and, like many other languages, now does so from English. Russian is one of the 10 most spoken languages in the world and one of the 5 official languages of the United Nations, and it is spoken by about 250 million people around the world, including 180 million people on the territory of the former USSR. Its closest relatives are the remaining two East Slavic languages, Ukrainian and Byelorussian. Russian is systematic language, like Latin and German, so it is especially appropriate for students who appreciate predictability. Learning the alphabet is surprisingly easy; new students can "read" almost any text by mid-semester because the language is so phonetic and many of the letters are the same as in English. The Russian alphabet (also known as Cyrillic) was adapted from an older version of the Slavonic alphabet used in church texts. Saint Cyril and his brother Methodius first devised an alphabet for Slavic speech in the ninth century when they went as missionaries to Moravia. Their version was later greatly revised into a form similar to what exists today under the name "Cyrillic alphabet." This alphabet is based to a large extent on the Greek alphabet, with additional letters introduced for Slavic sounds unknown in the Greek language. In accepting Christianity (Eastern Orthodox rite) in 988, Russians received this alphabet through religious texts that began to enter the country. The Church Slavonic language, as it was called, became altered over the years as it was used more and more for administrative documents and eventually for secular literature. This language is still used in Russian Orthodox religious services. The alphabet, too, was simplified in form with the latest changes dating from 1918 when the hard sign was omitted at the end of words and one of the vowels was changed to "e."

Russian shares with the Latin and Germanic languages many of the same word roots and even vocabulary, so studying the language contributes to the student's command of English and other modern languages. The scientific, political, and economic importance of knowing Russian in today's world is considerable; in addition, students gain an understanding of the rich cultural heritage of the country and its people. Russian is widely spoken in the former USSR, because of both the need for a lingua franca and the insistence of the former Soviet government. Aside from Russia, at least two republics (Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan) have it as one of their official languages. It is also spoken in countries like Poland, where the previous generation learned it in school, and Finland, where it is still taught. About 165 million people speak the language natively, and 275 million worldwide claim some level of fluency.

With the demise of the Soviet Union and resulting rapid expansion in East-West activity, the ability to communicate in Russian and knowledge of Russian culture have lost none of their importance as the world enters the 21st century. There are more contacts now with Russia and countries of the former Soviet Union than ever before. Not only are American business, science, and technology clamoring for Russian speakers to work in and with the new Russia, but Russian remains the lingua franca for all the former Soviet republics as well.