Commercial and economic relations of Russia and England / Great Britain as the motivational drivers to the Russian language learning

Abstract

The article offers the brief review of the long term English-Russian relations identifying the first target audience of the Russian language learning, the purpose of it, the methods of learning being used and the tools of the Russian language promotion. The attention is focused on the role of commercial and economic relations of Russia and England / Great Britain in promotion of the Russian language on the territory of Great Britain which are regarded as one of leading motivational drivers for the Russian language studying by the British. As the proof to this theory the article offers the analysis of some professionally focused Russian textbooks, created in England / Great Britain, for English-speaking audience since XVI century. The analysis of more than 200 scientific courses (including the Russian language lexicons, dictionaries, manuals, grammars, reading textbooks) reveals the gradually changers in structure and content of the Russian language literature from the XVI century up to the first half of the XX century.