The linguist who taught the whole world the Russian language

Vitaly Kostomarov (1930-2020) was the first to take a scientific approach to the issue of teaching Russian as a foreign language and personally created a series of Russian textbooks for foreigners. But, his main scientific interest was also related to the relationship between language and culture. The scientist insisted that teaching any language should occur in conjunction with the culture of the country.

Kostomarov's book ‘Language and Culture’ gave impetus to a new scientific direction, linguodidactics and cultural studies (called ‘linguoculturology’), that is, the study of language through facts about the country and its culture.

“Those studying a foreign language usually strive primarily to master another way of participating in communication. However, while acquiring a language, a person simultaneously penetrates a new national culture and receives the enormous spiritual wealth stored by the language being studied,” he wrote in his book.

“In particular, a foreign schoolchild or student, while mastering the Russian language, gains a real and highly effective opportunity to become familiar with Russian national culture and history, with the contemporary life of the Russian people and, also, albeit to a much lesser extent, with the cultures of other peoples of the Soviet Union," the linguist adds.

Kostomarov's scientific merits were recognized with numerous prizes and state awards. In addition, he became president of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR (now the Russian Academy of Education), as well as president of the International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature.

On his initiative in the 1960s, the Scientific and Methodological Center of the Russian Language was established at Moscow State University. And, in 1973, the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute “grew” from it and Kostomarov became its first director and, subsequently, rector and president.

Today, the Pushkin Institute is the leading educational and scientific institution for teaching Russian as a foreign language. Over the years of its existence, 500,000 graduates from 90 countries around the world have become teachers of the Russian language and Russian-language scholars.