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2/3 of Russians consider foreign language borrowing harmful for Russian language - poll

A quarter of respondents (23%) believe that these borrowings enriches the language

© Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS

MOSCOW, March 6. / TASS /. Two thirds of Russians believe that borrowing words and slang from other languages harms the Russian language, say the results of the survey by The All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center, released to TASS on Wednesday.

"Borrowing slang from other languages damages the Russian language, two thirds of respondents (68%) say. A quarter of respondents (23%) believe that these borrowings enriches the language," the study says. And nearly 68% of Russians expressed the opinion that the language should be protected and fought for its purity by all available means. At the same time, more than a quarter (27%) of survey participants believe that the language should develop independently, without interference from anyone, and that it always reflects the real situation in society. Almost half (49%) of the respondents believe that the purity of the Russian language should be monitored by the state (61% in 2008).

According to the survey, Russians have become less likely to use profanity. In 2008, 44% of survey participants responded that they use foul language every week, and in 2019, that number dropped to 37%, including 18% using profanity daily, and 19% several times a week.

Every second respondent is irritated by deliberate distortions of words, among them 25% do not hide their dislike, the rest do not show irritation. Among the respondents, 45% are irritated when others use slang words and phrases. The number of Russians who use professional slang daily in their daily lives has grown (36% compared with 23% in 2008). In 2008, only 4% of respondents noted that they use Internet slang when they speak, and in 2019 - already 23%.

The survey was conducted on March 3, 2019 among respondents aged 18 years and over. The survey was conducted over the phone, sample size was 1600 people.

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