The Status of English and Russian in Uzbekistan Musayev Tohirjon Abstract

The Role of the Russian language

Russian, in its turn, in spite of losing its dominance still remains significant in education, government and commerce. Russian language is included in the curriculum of primary, secondary and higher education and is a compulsory subject unlike the case with other foreign languages where there can be a choice. English, German or French is taught as a foreign language, as a result of which the entrance exams of many HEIs contain any of these three languages. Russian is not included in the exam as a foreign language; it is placed alongside the Uzbek language as mother tongue for those who aim to receive education with Russian as medium of instruction. Having analyzed the state laws about language use and the real language situation with languages in Uzbekistan he concludes that Russian can be called “one of the national languages of the Republic”.

Even though only Uzbek is declared a state language, it can be seen that the government uses Russian equally with the national language and all the documents are issued in two languages. Many local mass media organisations use Russian in broadcasting as well as written press. From my personal observation, it is possible to live in the country the whole life not knowing a word in the Uzbek language and without feeling any inconvenience in terms of communication in any circumstances. This undoubtedly is the consequence of Russian language dominance in all domains during the USSR period.

Usually the Russian language is usually learned by means of communication, as some part of the population uses it on a daily basis and it is not hard to find an atmosphere where one can learn spoken Russian. Therefore, it is hard to call Russian a foreign language, due to its scale of usage and widespread functioning within the country. Most educated people are bilingual in the mother tongue and Russian. Admittedly, the language is mostly used in urban areas, however, it is still understandable for people of rural areas and they can communicate in this language even though it can be on a basic level for some. No other language can be given such a characteristic in terms of functioning in the territory of the republic.