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>How many native English speakers speak fluent Russian? Less than a few hundred in the entire world

I think this is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read on HN, if not anywhere on the Internet. There are a few hundred native English speakers who are ethnically Russian/Ukrainian who speak fluent Russian in any one small neighborhood in a mid-sized city in the US, and there are dozens of such neighborhoods in the US, and the US is only 5% of the world's population. I personally know about 50 people who meet this description, I was at a Greek Orthodox christening with them last year! Not to mention that you can hire non-native English speakers who can read Russian, not to mention the new world of translation apps




I'm not talking about ethnic Russians/Ukrainians, I used "native English speakers" as a codeword to refer to "real" Americans, i.e. people who are have deep ethnic and historic loyalty to the American cause. You cannot rely on most ethnic Russians/Ukrainians in America to have blind loyalty to an American cause.


There's more than 100 Americans who have been trained in Russian in the Defense Language Institute. Looks like Russian is a 48 week course:

https://www.dliflc.edu/about/languages-at-dliflc/


The number who are actually fluent and culturally embedded is miniscule. I personally know some graduates of this program.




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