RUSSIANS LEARNING ENGLISH

I found this article at LewesLinks.com and it has since disappeared. Therefore, I'll reproduce it in its entirety.

Vladimir Putin earned praise by opening his speech at a Buckingham Palace state banquet with a few sentences in flawless English. Some previous Russian and Soviet leaders may have had a smattering of English, but none put it on public display so confidently.

Opening his speech at the royal banquet on 24 June, Putin said in English: "We would like to express to Her Majesty and the people of the United Kingdom our sincere condolences for the loss of the British soldiers in Iraq. It's clear for everyone that in spite of the differences that existed before today, we need to act jointly." He then continued in Russian, but the introduction made a strong impression.

"Gorbachev's English was unusable. Nobody could speak English. Not Khrushchev, Brezhnev nor Andropov. Stalin had no time,'' said Gennady Gerasimov, the former head of the Russian Interior Ministry's information department. Putin is also the first leader able to speak German. He learned German as a KGB agent in East Germany and takes opportunities to show it off. Part of Putin's appeal to Russians is the air of self-discipline that he projects and his efforts to learn English reinforce the image.

He has sometimes opened meetings with foreign leaders including President Bush with a brief chat in English, but the formality of the Buckingham Palace banquet brought it to a higher level.

According to the British Council in Moscow, about 2 million Russians are learning English at any one time.

I write about this because I think it's important to know that Russians are slowly becoming internationalized via the English language. And I received an email from my new Russian acquaintance Alexei at The Russian Dilettante, who stated:

Foreign languages have always been part of Russian school curricula. English began replacing German and French as the foreign language at secondary schools in the 1960s or 1970s. The quality of school education varies enormously across the country, so many students graduate with a vocabulary of 10 words and no grammar. These days, some knowledge of English is required for a wide range of jobs. That is, English skills are a competitive advantage, so no wonder young people rush to acquire them. However, those who were lucky to begin studying languages early -- at a good school or at home -- will always be in a better position.

Alexei has sent a message from Moscow that supports what I've been telling my son. Since he's a high school student, I've told him time and again that his success in life will be greatly determined by his ability to read, write, and speak the English language. The citizens of Russia understand.

Alexei's statement also proves false the contentions that the US should be bilingual. Recently, many teachers in the New York City school system lost their jobs because they couldn't pass basic competency tests. They explained that, had the tests been in Spanish, they would have passed.

It seems simple. Schools in the United States should focus on and emphasize the English language just as the Russians are.