Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned on Monday that some of his younger family members are fluent in Mandarin, but he emphasized to students the ongoing importance of English, despite the rising popularity of Chinese.
Putin, who has two daughters with his ex-wife Lyudmila, stated that they are proficient in multiple languages, including Russian, English, German, and French. Although Putin, who divorced in 2014, rarely discusses his private life, Russian media reports indicate that he has at least three grandchildren.
“Some of my younger family members speak Chinese fluently,” Putin shared with students at Secondary School No. 20 in Kyzyl, Tuva, located about 4,500 kilometers east of Moscow.
As the partnership between China and Russia strengthens, Mandarin is becoming increasingly popular as a foreign language in Russia. Putin attributed this trend to growing interactions in areas such as economics, politics, and culture.
While Putin himself is fluent in German and has been working on improving his English, he urged students not to overlook the significance of English. “English is a great language that has greatly contributed to humanity by uniting people in the fields of knowledge and culture,” he said.
According to the 2022 census, Russian, English, Tatar, German, and Chechen are among the most widely spoken languages in Russia. Although Mandarin is less common, its popularity as a foreign language has been rapidly increasing in recent years.
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In May, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to enter a “new era” of partnership, positioning themselves as leading challengers to the United States, which they portrayed as a destabilizing force in global affairs. The two nations declared a “no limits” partnership in February 2022, just days before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, leading to the most deadly conflict in Europe since World War II.
English remains the most widely spoken language globally, with approximately 1.5 billion speakers, followed by Mandarin with about 1.1 billion speakers, according to Ethnologue, a language research center.
