Remembering a language from your childhood

My mother is almost 80 years old and she spoke Ukrainian as a child. Now she has not used the language for most of her life.  For the last 30 years she claims she has forgotten the Ukrainian language completely. She has repeatedly said she does not even remember a word.

However, I am in the USA visiting her now with my family and when we speak Polish, which is a different language from Ukrainian, she can understand us perfectly.  Not only does she remember everything, but at some level she can interpolate between two related languages, that is Polish and Ukrainian and come up with an understanding of our conversation.

This anecdotally confirms one of my beliefs that most memory problems are a retrieval problem.  That is, memories are formed fairly easy and stay with us a lifetime, however, the issue is to call up the information when we need it in a meaningful way.

This is why again I think that language learning a us a little like riding a bike, once you have learned it you just need to get back in the saddle.

Learning a language as an adult and not forgetting it

I studied French for seven years however, have not used it in twenty. After being in Paris this week, it was not a big deal for me to understand what was being said.  I do not think I could form a perfect French sentence, but with a little time in the country I am confident that I could speak French. Your brain does not forget what you have learned.

If you have been exposed to a language use it

If you have every been exposed to a language as an adult or a child, have the confidence to try to learn it.  Do not be afraid of failing or you have forgotten it, learn it.  What if you lived in say a Spanish area as a child but never spoke Spanish?  Why not try to learn it?  I think subconsciously your brain as picked up a lot. Your memory has almost infinite capacity to store and retrieve. It does not matter if your memory was formed as a child or as an adult. Your memory will be different for a language your learned a child more native, but that does not mean adult exposure is less useful.

If you calculate all the possible connections your memory has formed in your lifetime, you should be how shocked how rich you are in terms of neural connections. So much of your brain is latent just waiting for you to use it.

Many people as me should they use hypnosis to recall experiences or languages they were exposed to once. Sure if you want, but there is not need to.  Just simply, reimmerse yourself again.  If you herd Spanish as a child take a trip to Argentina.  If your parents spoke Polish or Ukrainian or Russian, take a trip to Europe and try it out.

Here is a study that confirms my thesis.

Remembering a language from your childhood

Two researcher did a study of children who were exposed to languages when they were young, yet moved abroad in their childhood.

The results were very enlightening. Here is an external resources that validates the above:

• Remembering childhood languages

Let me me know what you think of this idea or if you have every had a similar experience, I would be interested to hear about your exposure to a language as a child.

Russian as the official language everywhere there are Russians

Basically people should speak whatever language they want to speak at home or work.  I believe in freedom, but to make a foreign language an official language of your country is a huge stretch.

Lets look at some examples:

• If this is the case, Polish should be the official language of the UK.  Why not?
• Why not German the official language of Poland as there are many people in Śląsk with German roots.
• There are Russians that live in Boston, but does that mean this should be the official language of Boston?  There are millions of Chinese that live in Russia, does that mean Chinese should be the official language of Russia?
• Ukrainian needs to be the official language of Ukraine to reverse the forced Russification of Eastern Europe.
• The Russians even had Poland as part of Russia and made it the official language there.  Maybe because there were so many Russian speakers in Poland, Poland should not have made Polish the language of the land of the Poles, and not try to bring back their culture from Russian domination.  And Poles should elect a Russian speaking president that wants out of NATO and EU and look to Moscow for making themselves free.

Ukrainian history and Russian history

It might surprise you that I am very pro Russian. Yes I love the culture and history of this great country and people, including the language.

But the Russia that I am for is a free Russia that supports free press and human rights.  Not the Russia that wants rules over the CIS like it is the old Soviet Union.

I have 1000 years of Russian and Ukrainian history to tell me otherwise, that Russian interests in Ukraine are not to promote humanity.  People wake up. Until I see evidence otherwise like a free press in Russia then I do not trust Russian influence in Ukraine. Lack of free press makes the Russian people suffer as well as the Ukrainians.  Moscow distorts reality.  Look at Gary Kasparov’s ‘theotherrussia.org’.  I think he is a true Russian who love his country not just what the government does for him.

Being loyal to your country is about being loyal to ideal like freedom and liberty and respecting the rights of other people.

If you are Ukrainian and reading this wake up and be real. Kievan Oligarchs rule, not the common Ukrainian from the Ternopil countryside.  These are supported by Moscow.

Russian language in Lviv, than Ukrainian in Moscow

If Russian speaking people want their language as an official language in the land of Lviv and Ternopil then I want Ukrainian and maybe Chinese spoken as the official language in Moscow.

I want Chinese taught in Moscow schools as well as Ukrainian as a required course.  I mean only 70 something percent of Russia is Russian people and the population is falling fast.  So lets get some more official languages in there and have Moscow start leaning towards Peking or Kiev.

He like me is an American that moved to Europe, learned a language and got dual citizenship. Many Americans want to pick up and EU citizenship and learn a language with no work. I tell them you have to know how, and have motivation.

I have a great life now that I did a little bit of work.  I am dual citizen and almost bilingual. I also travel the world.  Anyone can do this.  Just read the interview with a language learner.

After you read this please come back and leave a comment and let me know what you think?  Also let me know your experiences with language learning. Are you just starting or want to learn or have you masters a few languages.

Me personally I think the best way to learn a language can be summarized by:

• Know your motivation.
• Learn about a few thousand words with flashcards.
• Study some grammar, the soul of any language are verbs.
• Practice with native speakers.
• Read books at bedtime.

Once you get a to a good level read book in your target language at bedtime. I love this part because you are already speaking the language and now can enjoy it.

The first part is the hardest part.  However, once you own these words phrases and grammar will come pretty easy and you will already be a the comprehension level.

Go to the interview and let me know. If you want to skip my introduction just go directly to the interview part one: Why and how I learned a language.

If you want to reduce your accent in a foreign language, this is what you have to do.  You have to take a sample of a foreign language native speaker in your target language and listened to it.  The sample should be reasonable in size and word variation.

The next thing you need to do is basically memorize.  I know this sounds hard but you need to learn the language anyway and memorizing some useful passages will not hurt you.

The next step is to record your own voice speaking your target foreign language – not reading this passage.  If you want and you’re really lazy yes you can choose to read and not memorize that passage.

The next one you want to do is take a small phrase or sentence that you think sound different then the native speaker. You not only want to compare with your years for using program like Audacity and compare the sound waves of the way you speak with an accent and the native speakers accent. You are comparing the waves not the sound.

Audacity is a free open source program that can be downloaded from source forge -> program to reduce your accent in a foreign language.  This is a free and open source recording and sound wave program.  What you need to do is really find where your issues are.

to reduce your accent in a foreign language compare two tracks

List of your foreign language words with accents

You want to construct a list of words that there is a variation between you and the native speaker. Really study this program and the sound waves generated from it. Do not be lazy or complain.  If you do not want to do this then just accept your accent in a foreign language.

Why is this effective , on a conceptual level?  Because I often use a voice to text program to write my blog.  That his eyes speaking to a microphone and the text appears on the page.  In order for this program to be affected a need to train the program to understand my voice.  The program is comparing sound waves of the way I speak and the way it understands the words.  This is not much different from what you have to do.  Accept when you want to reduce your accent in a foreign language you’re the one who has to be trained to match what you hear.  In essence you are the software that needs to be programmed.

Your role in eliminating your accent

Many people want an instructor to reduce their Foreign language accent.  This can help.  However, you really need to work on It yourself. It would take work 3 to 5 day a week for an hour a day.  I know I had speaking problems with an accent and it took 1 hour a day everyday for several years to get it right.  And I was a kid.  So if you think you can reduce your accent one hour a week, you are wrong.  It will help but you have to do the work.

Take about six months with work five days a week for about an hour a day and you will effectively remove your accent in a foreign language.  Do you think this sounds hard?  Six months is not a long time to virtually eliminate your accent in a foreign language.  It is all done with you patiently using your computer and the sound program not recommended. What is your personal experience with trying to reduce your accent in a foreign language? What are your thoughts about this disciplined method?

I detailed my productivity breakthrough I achieved with a voice to text program that comes with Windows -> Speech recognition. It is basically an automatic transcription program that comes with Windows that frees you from typing.  You can just speak to your computer.

With Microsoft SAPI I trained it now to 99% accuracy. It takes a little patience because when you start you will be at 80% accuracy. You must train it. Just to not try it and say this does not work. It does work.

I was motivated to use voice to text because I do not like sitting in front of the computer all day typing. I speak faster than I type so why not try something to increase productivity. After all computers are tools rather than an alternative lifestyle, hmm right.

Digital recorder speech to text

Thursday, I bought an Olympus 5500 digital recorder. It was about 39 dollars at Auchens (a French version of Walmart).

I used my Sony microphone and sat on my sofa recording a series of sample sentences. I next played this to my computer. It was about about 95% accurate when it came to transcribing it to text.

I was happy with this as the convenience more than compensated for the few errors. Further, I thought I could train it to understand the digital recorder.

I was elated and thought I had a achieved a real break though in productivity that would allow be to blog with ease, even on hikes in the mountains.  I even boasted about my success on one of the forums I hang out on.  I felt like a scientist.

I went to bed pretty pleased with myself. The next day I did the same, this time in different rooms in the house. I created a few blog post on more complex topics I was thinking about in my head about language learning.

Success with voice to text – failure with digital recorder to text

When I spoke directly to my computer it was about 99% accurate, but with the digital recorder only about 85% on complex subjects. I tested and retested.  I concluded my initial tests the day before, were with sentences that were too simple. Voice to text works, but the quality of the digital recorder playback did not allow for complete victory.

Short of retraining SAPI all over again – I gave up on the idea of a digital voice recorder to text and went back to voice to text via talking directly to my computer.

I returned the digital recorder to the French Walmart and will wait until I can think of a better way. Maybe a direct import from a wave file. I think there are programs that are doing this.

I am testing direct wav file imports with these programs, they are open source:

Sphinx Carnegie Mellon University speech recognition

Julius -  Japanese Voice to text in English

Voxforge -Acoustic model speech recognition

I still think I can do digital recorder to text, however, I think I need to master wave imports to the speech recognition engine.  If I can do this then I will splurge and get a slightly better digital recorder as a reward.  If this is possible, it will be like cold fusion.  I will be in the mountains on some hike and recording blog posts or writing a book.

Mistake number 1 in learning English

There is only really one mistake in learning English, that is studying things that are not important.  People study text book English not real English.  This post will outline some common examples of studying textbook or school English rather than real English.  I will pick on the perfect tense.

The typically student who studied English as a foreign language in school spent many years studying English verb tenses and conditionals.  They study one tense at a time, then move to the next one.

This is the wrong approach, a mistake.  The primary tense in the English language is the simple tense. Sometimes you might use the continuous tense.  However, most Americans including myself don’t know the perfect tense and if they do they use it incorrectly. British English goes overboard with rules.  English is changing and not like that anymore. It is a flexible universal language.

Further, 80% of the world speaks American English, sorry.  All films, music, business comes mostly from the USA. Sorry again but this is a fact.  English is evolving into an international English based on simplified American English without old fashion Cambridge English rules from the last century.

Think about how your own language, has changed from the past? Do people speak the same way they did in the last century? Then why study outdated English?  Studying the wrong things is the biggest mistake in learning English as a foreign language.

In fact, when I first came to Poland, even though I graduated first in my class and have a master’s degree and was an honors English I didn’t know what the ‘perfect tense was.  It was Polish people that told me about the perfect tense.  They told me this is very important, you must know the perfect tense.  I said really why?

My nephew who grew up in London and went to the best private school in London and studied English when he came to Poland he heard there was something called the perfect tense, but did not know what it was.

The mistakes in English is studying textbook grammar not real world English.

The sixteen English tenses are important only in text books and on some stupid Cambridge exam. This type of grammar is not important if you want to speak to a native speaker. If fact if you over use this formal grammar to a native speaker you might sound ridiculous.   The simple tense is the primary tense in the English language.  If I want to sound really elegant or old-fashioned, you could use the perfect tense, I guess.

And what about conditionals. How often do we use conditionals?  Maybe if I say something like ‘if I had been born in England I would have spoken English as a child ‘. But do we really talk like that? To talk that formal is a mistake ESL. Learn the language that is spoken now with people on the street.

Learning English grammar is about prepositions and articles

In my opinion the most important thing after you learn the simple and continuous tense in the English language is to learn propositions and articles.  That is the basis of English grammar.  Not reported speech and the other stuff they teach you in text books or language schools.

Every English sentence has at least one proposition or one noun article. many Polish or Russian people think, because they do not have noun articles in their language, articles are not important.  What I tell them is it is like a foreigner who speaks your language without noun cases. It is all wrong.

Many people learning English think they speak ESL fine, but they make mistakes and in every single sentence with articles and propositions.  English native speakers have learned to tolerate this but it is very intermediate English.

On the other hand, they may be able to tell you about the perfect tense and conditionals and about reported speech, however, what good is that if they can’t speak English.

What about phrasal verbs? They are simple verbs with two words, that is all.
Idioms? They change all the time, learn them with practicing speaking to a native speaker or reading.

Avoid mistakes and learn real English

The therefore if you want to speak real English my recommendation is on the grammar side learn articles and propositions perfectly.  Also learn the simple and continuous tense.

Next, read a lot.  Read a lot of books things that you really love to read. Not the Internet, its not radical enough.  Try not to read children’s books in English unless that’s really what you are into because often times these are too juvenile in fame to keep your attention. Do not read English classics, they are too old-fashioned language. Read Stephen King rather.

Vocabulary learned from lists you will not use, you need to activate them. Or speak with a native speaker. Activate vocabulary with this method of learning English vocabulary.

Next practice with a native speaker. Do not learn with some foreign language teacher that is going to teach you about conditionals and tenses and speak to you in an accent that you will understand. Learning from someone speaking your own language will not teach you real English too well, unless you are a beginner.  In this case, it is very OK to learn from someone from your own country.

Summary of how to learn English

• Learn the simple tense and continuous really well
• Learn prepositions and noun articles perfectly.
• Read books every night in the English language, books you love and speak to native speakers

Because what good is it if you can understand someone from your own country speaking with your accent in English from your own country, but then you go to new York city and you don’t understand anybody?

What do you think of my post about learning English?

Who is Moses McCormick

He is a polyglot that speaks 42 languages (from beginner to Advance, most at an intermediate level). He is 28 years old and goes to University in Ohio.  He is an African American with a very positive relaxed nature.   Is he a genius? It does not matter. He is a normal guy who has a passion for learning languages.

This combination of humility and passion is genius not any degree or attitude.

His first language was Chinese which he learned when in was in college, well not in school but on his own, because he loved to watch old martial arts films. She bought books, started studying and practiced with native speakers on campus.  However, he did not do well in school because he was too busy learning Chinese. he would chat with Chinese speakers anytime he got a chance.

Moses McCormick loves to chat with native speakers to practice his languages

His secrete is that he simply is a relaxed person that loves languages and loves people an loves talking to people. He is not really into impressing people, but rather having fun with languages.  I imagined he was into talking to girls also in these languages, but then I learned he is happily married, therefore, there goes that theory. He used a lot of books and studies alone.

Polyglots use language books

IS there anything else we should know about his self lessons? He does say that it must be fun.  If it is not fun you will not learn it too well.  The more it is relaxed, no big deal and fun the better you will learn it.

Motivation is Moses McCormick’s advice

Combine know how with motivation. But it is really about motivation that determines the rate of progress you will make. He does not believe you need special skills.  It is about taking it seriously. Anyone can do it, its a matter of wanting to do it. If you are not motivated you will not learn.  If you are not motivated it is not going to work. Moses McCormick believes anyone can do it and it is not about having a gift to learn languages.

Moses McCormick says time is important

You need to manage your time to study most efficiently. How to learn a language?  He studies everyday for several 3 hours a day.  He has a goal of four languages a year. 3 hours each language a day. Studying 3 hours a day is better than going to any school.  All study after all is self study.

Can you speak languages like Moses McCormick? Yes, just be relaxed, study 3 hours a day really passionately and do not be afraid to speak to any native speaker you run into.  If you are afraid to talk you will not learn to fast.

He has this site his Moses McCormick blog, and you can also watch him on Youtube speaking all these languages as proof that he can speak the 42 languages he says he can.  For me his humility is as amazing as his ability to learn languages as a polyglot.

Polish is the best language in the world to learn. I write this seriously as a professional  linguist.

CW and the best language to learn

English is both a European language and a universal language.

Conventional wisdom programs most American to think you should learn Spanish for example. In Europe the mantra might be to study the German or French language.

Wrong.  The best language to learn is not German or French or Spanish etc.  Ignore conventional wisdom and the herd mentality.

Best language to learn

The best language to learn is not the answer you might think.  Lets say you are a native English speaker, therefore, lets rule out English.  If you are not a native speaker of English, of course the answer is English, do not waste your time learning French for example.  Great language mind you but not the best language to learn.   To learn German or French it is only useful if you are really into those cultures.

The best language to learn if you live in Europe:

1. The Polish language – You can not even compare languages for both usefulness and uniqueness.
2. Chinese (no explanation necessary, but in 100 years or so everyone will look like future people from south park.)

The best language to learn if you live in the USA:

1. Your ethnic roots, Polish or Italian or Greek, for example.
2. Chinese

This goes against conventional wisdom but is very important to understand my rational.

Why is Polish the best language to learn

Why do I recommend Polish as the most useful language?  The whole world speaks English.  This is the universal language for business.  I have traveled the world to pretty remote place and never had a problem with English.  Thank you MTV and Hollywood.

Therefore, why learn another universal European  language like French or German or even Spanish, if it does not get you anywhere that English can not already do.

People that speak English as a native language and Polish as a second earn 38% more in the UK than those in IT and finance than those who know English alone. This is according to a EU based think tank. The reason are obvious, with the millions of Poles working in the UK there is a great demand on all level for this language.

Further, KPMG has asserted that Poland is one of the best places to develop and invest a business.

John Markman and Jim Jubak from MSN money, two top US investment managers as well as Templeton’’s  Mark Mobius recommends to explore emerging markets as this is where the real opportunities are in the future.

Go to Egypt or Greece for vacation,  everyone is learning Polish or Russian as a foreign language, not Spanish for example. Go to the Austrian Alps skiing and signs are in Polish in the hotels. Forget Croatia in the summer it is a Polish tourist colony.

For there being so few Polish people they have had such a huge impact on history from the beginning in 966 to bringing down communism to disproportional number of Nobel prize winners.  There is not way this nation is not the future. It is a great language to learn if you can get past the crazy grammar.

You say well I will double the number of people I can speak to if I learn Spanish. In my mind it serves no point unless you are passionate about this language. Why? I have traveled through South America and the Caribbeans and never had a problem with English. I am also from the US where large parts of the population is Spanish.

But I have never used Spanish.  I study Spanish now because I like it, but not because it is useful. In fact, I have a Spanish website and really love this language, but it is not my first choice or the best choice if you were going to learn one more language. But to compare it is one of the easiest languages to learn.

Do not learn Spanish because you think it is some golden ticket, it is not.

Here is my rational, Polish is the top language because with Polish you will be an amazingly different. No other language can compare.

Polish is a unique language. It also the hardest language to learn. However, it will make you unique as is Ukrainian, Norwegian or even Romanian.  It is also very useful as Polish people are everywhere, especially the UK, Brazil (1 million) Australia, US Poles are pretty much everywhere.

Polish people love to explore the world, not only for work, but like Wojciech Cejrowski, they are passionate all things cultural.  I have been in the most remote places and met Polish speaking people, from South American jungles to Mississippi (now that is really remote).

Warsaw Opera house 1938 - Best language to learn for literature and rich culture.

Many businesses are outsourcing to Poland.  Investment opportunities are in the new and emerging markets. Poland will be a net recipient of globalization for at least the next 15 years.

Poles are progressive. Do you think you can study French for a few years and be accepted by the French?  No way.  But Poland is a very progressive country and if you learn Polish, Poles will be more open then the French.

The best combination of languages to learn is – one universal language and one unique language

How do I know this and can go against conventional wisdom with confidence? I am an American and have been teaching languages in Europe for many years. My friends that have studied English and French or English and German get yawns from people on their CV when looking for a job or new opportunity. This combination of languages is nothing special. It is a generalist.  However, my friends that know English and Polish or English and Norwegian, have doors open to them. They are experts and specialists.

Indian linguistic map - learn a unique language - this is the best langauge to learn.

One universal language like English and one unique language like Polish makes you stand out and shine if you are an English native speaker.

Language learning  and relationships

Lets be honest and cut through the BS, countries like Sweden, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Romania and Iceland have the most beautiful women.  If you were to learn one of these languages things might happen in terms of relationships.

If you are back in the USA checking your match.com account when you get home from the office hoping something will happen, guess again.  If you are living in some exotic European country and speak their language, you might be surprised.

Best language to learn if you are a guy -A lot of my friends have made this comment: ‘there is no way I would marry a French or German or American woman’ . However, Polish women are the most beautiful women in the world.  Hmm, I am living in Poland and I do not know if I want the rest of the world finding out about Polish women and then moving here, but it is true.

18th century Polish lady - learn Polish the best language to learn if you have an eye for beauty.

Disclaimer, I am also Polish in ancestry of course so perhaps I am partial.

Best language to learn if you are a girl – If you are a women, many women like Italian or Spanish guys, so these languages you might find more exciting.

I met an American girl in South America. She said she was 35 not married, a lawyer living in NYC.  She said scr_w it and moved to South America, learned Spanish and got married.  I do not know if she is still with this Latin musician but at least she had guts and dared to be different.

Should with languages is boring

My point is do not study a language that is common or you think you should.  Have you ever noticed the word should sounds like the word S_ _ t.  Never base your life on shoulds, especially other people’s conceptions.  That is, do not listen to conventional wisdom as to what language you should speak.

Learn the language you have a connection to (ancestral), that is interesting for you.  I think the less spoken languages will make you more unique and more interesting as a person, as a human. This is why I recommend you ignore conventional wisdom about the best language to learn in the world and consider what am conveying.

Best language to learn – I need your feedback

What languages have you studied and how has it affected your life?  That is, what experience has this language brought you. Do you agree with my thesis that Polish (or some linguistically equivalent language) is the best language in the world to learn?

However, most of the Russian speaking Ukrainian are in the Autonomous region republic of Crimea. About 50% of the people in this area are ethnic Russians and about 75% speak Russian.  However, this is only one region.  The rest of Ukraine does not have these percentages.

In New Mexico Spanish speakers are about 50% and in Puerto Rico 95% percent of the people speak Spanish,  does that mean the USA should go Spanish?

Most everyone in Ukraine speaks Ukrainian, not Russian.  A minority speaks Russian, but a large minority of people in the UK speak Arabic, therefore, should the UK have Arabic as the official language?

Ukrainian should remain the official language of Ukraine.  If people want to speak Russian they can, but Ukraine is Ukraine, not a state of Russia. Therefore, The Russian language should not be official in Ukraine.

In Kiev region only 7% of the people speak Russian compared to 90% Ukrainian.

Ukrainian is spoken by 71% percent of Ukrainians in Ukraine.

Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine.  However, Russian is required.  I think for a people, in this case Ukrainians,  to define themselves as a nation it is important to keep the Ukrainian language not Russian as the official language.

In Western Ukraine, like Ternopil oblast (where my family is from) and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast the percentage of Russian language speakers is only about 1%.

Why is the Russian language in Ukraine?

Because Russia is an Empire and always was. This percentage is because Ukraine went under a forced Russification and colonization program by Moscow.  Ukrainian was not a legal language.  Now Ukrainian is the language of Ukraine, however, Moscow is trying to change that and bring Russia back to its official language status.

The whole objective of Moscow is to try to disrupt and weaken Ukraine so it can further extend its empire.

I have studied Russian history and for 1000 years they do nothing but try to exploit and extract wealth for the elite in Moscow. The tragedy is, the Russian people suffer the most.  Russian language speakers and Russians in Ukraine and Russia could be wealthy if they simply voted out these pro-Moscow oligarchs. However, it is not as easy as it seems as Moscow cheats in the Ukrainian elections.

Ukrainian elections

Moscow always tries to buy vote, poison Ukrainian politicians, bribe officials and rig the Ukrainian elections.  Mean while the West is too afraid to say anything. Germany needs gas from Russia, the US needs Russia to support its Oil policies in the Middle East.  This is all foolishness.  Ukraine is a rich country in terms of people and potential and if Ukraine was integrated in the EU and NATO then Russia’s position would be weakened and eventually Russia would be free from it’s Moscow Oligarchs.

Yulia Tymoshenko Russian and Ukrainian

Yulia is a great leader and would support a Ukrainian language, rather than a Russian language Ukraine.  She would help Ukraine bring Kiev into the EU rather than like Belorussia simply a puppet of Moscow.

Yandex is the Russian search that most Russians use.  In the land of Czars Google is not king.

Yandex stand for Yet Another Indexer. It is Moscow based, has millions of users and bloggers love it in Russia for reasons listed below.

Why is Yandex so popular in Russia?

Yandex is popular because it understand the Russian language.  It has a superior understanding of Russian cases and idioms and natural language.  It is linguistically advanced. In its algorithm it can tell the difference between good Russian writing and poor Russian writing.

Therefore, in Yandex has a better user experience.  I know this sounds hard to believe because of Google and Microsoft’s massive resources. But the best chess program in the world is not made by a large American company but a single Czech programmer, and it is called Rybka.  So not every is always about money and monopoly for quality.  In the Russian language Yandex is the best.

Yandex also has a minimilst design and runs fast.

Yandex has a purist design

I have tested it myself and I like its results.

It has a strong local search, which is very good for every city in Russia. Further, it has strong anti-spam features, some say better than the big G.

I wanted to invest in Yandex, I wrote the company and their reply was  they are just a small private company quietly printing Russian rubles.

Here is an excerpt from their reply.  It was from Ekaterina Zhukova in Investor relations.

Thank you very much for your interest in Yandex and sorry to disappoint you Mark but Yandex is a private company currently and we do not offer our shares on any public market.

Please note that if you want to track the company developments and achievements, please go to http://company.yandex.com/

Therefore, I will have to look for other places to invest or wait for the Yandex IPO.  The reply was very personal and professional. I like that in a company.

Yandex like companies in other lands

There are a few other places where Google does not rule. The Czech republic has seznam.cz China has Baidu. Google is mostly and English language search engine, which is ironic as its founder Sergey Brin is Russian.

Russian nationalism and Yandex

The Russians are very nationalistic.  They love mother Russia.  If they have a choice they will use something from Russia rather than their old nemesis.  I mean if the French launched a search in the USA would American go running to use it or an American search? This is why Russians prefer yandex.ru.

However, when all is said and done the reason Yandex is so popular is because it works for the Russian language.  Believe me I study Russian a bit and know Polish.  Slavic languages are very different than English. Even with the Polish Google I get funny results sometimes resulting from it not fully understanding noun cases for example.  The endings are really crazy in the Russian languages.  And this is exactly what Yandex understands. It can change the meaning of a Russian phrases totally.

I would be curious if Yandex will ever become a international search or stay more a country specific. I am also going to continue to watch on the Yandex IPO side. Either way try it out, it is made for Russian but Yandex is not bad in English either for fun.