Russian in the United States (Kagan and Dillon) Emma Raykhman - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Russian in the United States (Kagan and Dillon) Emma Raykhman

Introduction: Statistics  Russian is number 8 among the most commonly spoken non- English languages in the USA.  According to the 2007 American Community Survey there were 851,174 home speakers of Russian that yr.  From 1990-2000, the number of Russian speakers increased by 191 percent (greatest increase of all languages in Census)

Statistics (continued)  Immigration to the US was especially prevalent from 1988-1984 when more than 300,000 immigrants arrived from the former Soviet Union  80 percent of these immigrants were Jewish (US Department of Justice)  More relaxed emigration policies in the former Soviet Union and the USA’s acceptance of refugees led to these increases

History: Russian language  Russian belongs to the Slavic branch of the Indo- European language family and is an East Slavic language (along with Belarusian an Ukrainian)  It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken out of all Slavic languages  It was the state language of the Russian Empire (1721) and USSR (1924-1991) and for this reason is spoken in 15 areas that are different ethnically, culturally, and linguistically  Russian is also one of the official languages of the UN

History: Immigration  The first documented Russian settlement in the US was on the Aleutian island Kodiak in Alaska in 1784  The Russian settlers were motivated by profit and most were employees of the Russian-American company and were traders or fur hunters

 Czar Alexander II sold Alaska to the US in 1867 and afterwards most Russians returned to their homelands but many Aleuts and Eskimos converted to Russian Orthodoxy  Also many Russian Orthodox “Old Believers” who emigrated from the USSR have their own villages in Alaska today  In 1882 there were 16,918 Russian-speaking residents in the US and by 1899 there were 387,416  This was the highest total for any yr in the 19 th century

 Shortages of farmland forced farmers and peasants to leave the Russian Empire and over many decades hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, Belarusians, Lithuanians, and Poles emigrated and arrived at Ellis Island in the US.  The imperial Russian government didn’t allow ethnic Russians to emigrate (the 1919 Census identifies less than 60,000 in the USA)  Also many Jews fled the Russian Empire near the turn of the 20 th century because of anti-Semitism that turned into pogroms, or violent acts directed at them

 What is known as “the first wave of Russian immigration to the US in the 20 th century” occurred between 1917-22 during the communist revolution  Around 1 million Russians (most of whom had struggled against the Bolsheviks), fled the country and many came to the US  According to the 1920 US Census there were 392,049 Russian- born US citizens (just 10 yrs earlier there were 57,926)  Most of these Russians were members of the aristocracy and intelligentsia

 In the 1930s and 40’s immigration from the Soviet Union slowed down b/c of restrictions imposed by Stalin’s government (only about 14,016 immigrants from 1930-44)  Then the 2 nd wave of immigration occurred after WWII and many of these people were brought out of the USSR by the German army as forced labor or were POWs and refused to return to their homeland  The 3 rd wave began in the early 1970s when Soviet Jews who were considered political refugees, received almost unlimited immigration by US authorities who pressed the Soviet government to release them

 The 4 th wave began in 1987 when President Gorbachev announced that victims of religious persecution could leave for the first time in 70 yrs  This allowed many Soviet Jews to leave who couldn’t before; they got visas and many emigrated to Israel and the USA  Estimates say that in 1990 one-quarter million Soviet Jews were living in the US  Some of the immigrants in the 3 rd and 4 th waves began in unskilled jobs b/c of limited English skills, but most of them acclimated well to the US lifestyle and found good jobs. The majority were educated and had studied some English.

Demographics  According to the 2000 Census, almost 3 million US residents said they have Russian ancestry (this includes all waves of immigration, from early to late)  In this Census, citizens of the former Soviet Union were asked about their ethnicity and people who defined themselves as “Russians” made up 49%, while those who defined themselves as Russian and another ethnicity made up 51%.  Also Jews form 80% of immigration from the USSR because of the prevalent anti-Semitism

Table 11.1 Russian ethnicity and language Home language Claim Russian ethnicity Claim Russian + other ethnicity Russian 71.8% 0.5% (278,424,674) (7,571) No Russian 28.2% 99.5% (338,663) (1,381,793) Total 100% 100% (278,763,337 ) (1,389,364) This table shows that claiming Russian ethnicity isn’t the same as being a speaker of Russian. It is noted that almost 100% of of those who don’t speak Russian and about 1/3 of those US residents who claim only Russian ancestry don’t speak the language or don’t speak it at home.

Table 11.2 States with the largest Russian-speaking populations Ages 5+ Percentage of all US Russian Speakers New York 232,434 27.94 California 147,312 17.71 New Jersey 45,783 5.50 Washington 44,629 5.36 Pennsylvania 34,887 4.19 Massachusetts 34,869 4.19 Illinois 34,700 4.17 Florida 34,087 4.09 Maryland 21,200 2.54 Oregon 17,581 2.11

Table 11.3 Increase in Russian-speaking population by US state State 1990 2000 Percentage change New York 73,822 212,913 288 California 49,582 116,609 235 Pennsylvania 11,538 39,483 342 Illinois 15,075 37,490 249 New Jersey 18,707 36,354 194 Massachusetts 10,907 32,474 298

 According to table 11.3 there has been a huge increase in the Russian population in many states, with the greatest concentration in the Eastern and Western states which is usually true with US immigrant populations.  NY and LA are home to the greatest concentrations of Russian speakers and in all states concentrations of Russian speakers are found in urban centers  This is b/c the majority of Russian immigrants came from urban centers so they settled in the large US cities and in the USSR urban life had a strong appeal

Socioeconomic and educational status  According to the 2000 Census, Russian speakers are generally well-educated with 51% having at least the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree and 92% having at least a high school diploma  Also 75% of Russian speakers over the age of 5 report speaking English “well” or “very well”  All Russian speakers independent of ethnicity or language are more likely to have jobs requiring a higher level of education when compared to the general US population

 Among Russian speaking immigrants, 18% are in management and 36% are in professional occupations (compared to 13% and 20% of the general population)  They’re also less likely to be in construction and production (5% and 7% vs. 10% and 15% in the whole US)  Russian speakers in the US tend to work in the for-profit sector of the economy and only 10% are self employed

Public presence of Russian  In many US cities especially NY and LA there are Russian immigrant communities that preserve elements of Russian everyday life and culture  But the most prominent public face of Russian in the USA is within academia such as media, business, and education

Media  The 1 st Russian-language newspaper in the US was published from 1868-71 and was called Svoboda (Freedom)  It was a bilingual, semi-monthly periodical known in English as the Alaska Herald  Today, Russian-language print and media resources are easy to find; magazines are available by subscription and in Russian bookstores and grocery stores

 The newspaper that has served the Russian community in the US the longest is Novoe russkoe slovo (The New Russian Word), which has been published since 1910.  These newspapers are published in US cities with high Russian populations  There is also Russian-language radio that broadcasts from Russia and locally, and Russian television networks which broadcast around the world

Business  There are Russian-oriented small businesses like grocery stores, bookstores and beauty salons in areas with large populations of Russian speakers  In large cities there are medical offices that advertise that the doctor or staff speak Russian and there are Russian-American Medical and Dental Associations (RAMA, RADA) that hold annual meetings  Also Russian business associations have been established

Education  In terms of its difficulty, Russian is classified as a Level III language in terms of difficulty for native English speakers  This was decided based on the number of hrs of study that are required for English speakers to reach a certain degree of proficiency  Level I: Spanish and French, Level II: German, Level III: Russian, Level IV: Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Japanese