Russian belongs to the Slavic languages within the Indo-European language family. Together with Ukrainian and Belarussian, Russian forms the East Slavic language group. Outside Russia, Russian is also an official language in Abkhazia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, South Ossetia, and Transnistria (a de facto dwarf state between Moldova and Ukraine that is only recognised by few countries). With its 150 million native speakers, Russian is in the top 10 of the world’s largest languages. In addition, another 100 million people speak Russian as a second language.

Little difference between Russian dialects

Unlike Spanish, Portuguese, and French, Russian isn’t growing. The first three are experiencing huge growth due to the high population growth of South American and African countries, where these languages are spoken; Russian is moving in the other direction. The populations of Russian-speaking countries are not growing fast, if at all. And the young people in those countries prefer learning English as a second language. Even so, Russian is the lingua franca (common communication language) in a vast area in Europe and Asia. And it is doing well in that regard. The difference between the Russian dialects is relatively small if you consider the enormous area in which it is spoken. For instance, people with different dialects within the small country of the Netherlands have more trouble understanding each other than Russians who speak different dialects. In Russia, another 100 languages are spoken that almost all belong to other language groups (Uralic, Altaic, Paleosiberian, Caucasian).

Russian versus Dutch

We know about the long list of Dutch words from shipping that have found their way into Russian by way of Tsar Peter the Great. But beyond that, you’ll also find Dutch loan words in Russian, ranging from stukadoor and brandspuit to korfbal. But one of the latest Dutch words to find its way into Russian is klapschaats, which is kon’ki-klapy (kon’ki is schaats) in Russian. Dutch, in turn, has adopted words from Russian like knoet, doerak, mammoet, steppe and pierewaaien.

In-country translators

Translation is more than just converting words, concepts, and sentences into a different language. The culture for which the translated text is intended is just as important. In the same way as the Dutch ‘je’ and ‘jij’ are not done as soon as you cross the German border, translators also need to take certain Russian cultural influences into account. This is the reason we like to work with so-called in-country translators, in this case, Russian translators who live in Russia and are native speakers of Russian. They are able to optimally connect their translations to the intended target audience.

Guaranteed quality

We are in possession of the highest achievable European quality standards for translation agencies: ISO 9001 and ISO 17100. The entire translation process and the translations are subject to strict requirements and regulations that are continuously monitored. That is why we also offer you a lowest price guarantee and our 100% satisfaction guarantee. This way, you do not run any risk – not in terms of price and not in terms of quality. On this independent website, you can read reviews from our clients.