Although cooperation declined in the years after the collapse of the USSR, Moscow is now returning to the continent, and so is the language

尽管苏联解体后的几年里合作有所下降,但莫斯科现在重新回到了非洲大陆,俄语也随之再度流行起来。

Many Africans learned Russian while studying in Soviet universities, and though cooperation between Moscow and the continent declined in the years after the collapse of the USSR, Russia is now returning, and so is the language.

许多非洲人在苏联大学学习期间学会了俄语。尽管在苏联解体后的几年里,莫斯科和非洲大陆之间的合作有所下降,但现在俄罗斯正在回归,俄语也再度流行起来。

The ideas and values of Russia are close to the hearts of many Africans. This may explain the growing interest in the Russian language, which, according to the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, is spoken by 255 million people worldwide as of 2022, and is the second most frequently used language for web content after English.

俄罗斯的思想和价值观与许多非洲人的心灵相通。这或许可以解释俄语日益受到关注的原因。根据普希金俄语语言学院的数据,截至2022年,全球有2.55亿人会说俄语,且俄语是英语之后在网页内容中使用频率第二高的语言。

The Soviet unx laid a solid foundation for cooperating with African countries – in fact, without this basis, any major partnership would be impossible today. The USSR educated an entire generation of highly-skilled specialists who formed Africa’s new elites. Because of this, Africa has long considered Russia to be a provider of excellent (and inexpensive) higher education.

苏联为与非洲国家的合作打下了坚实的基础,事实上,如果没有这个基础,如今任何重要的合作伙伴关系都将不可能存在。苏联培养了一整代高技能专业人士,他们成为非洲的新精英。由于这个原因,非洲长期以来都认为俄罗斯提供的高等教育质量卓越且价格便宜。
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Soviet solutions to African problems
The decision to train specialists from African countries was part of the Soviet unx’s long-term strategy. To help educate young people from Africa and other world regions, the Peoples’ Friendship University was established in 1960. A year later, the institution was named after Patrice Lumumba – the national hero of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who became a symbol of Africa’s anti-colonial struggle after he was brutally assassinated (with the help of the CIA and the Belgian State Security Service) in 1961.

苏联对非洲问题的解决方案
培养来自非洲国家的专业人才是苏联长期战略的一部分。为了帮助非洲和其他地区的年轻人接受教育,苏联于1960年建立了人民友谊大学。一年后,该机构以刚果民主共和国的民族英雄帕特里斯·卢蒙巴(Patrice Lumumba)的名字命名,他在1961年遭到残酷暗杀(得到了美国中央情报局和比利时国家安全部队的帮助)后成为了非洲反殖民斗争的象征.

The establishment of the People’s Friendship University was part of the Soviet unx’s effort to help its African partners, who had just broken the yoke of colonialism. At the time, there were only 25 universities throughout Africa, and the scientific and pedagogical environment in these institutions was only starting to develop. As a result, representatives of the African elites were mostly educated in Western universities.

人民友谊大学的建立是苏联努力帮助刚摆脱殖民统治的非洲合作伙伴的一部分。当时,整个非洲只有25所大学,这些学府的科学与教育环境才刚刚开始发展。因此,非洲精英的代表大多在西方大学接受教育。

African students went to the USSR to acquire an in-demand profession that would allow them to make a rapid ‘social leap’ when they returned home. This is why the most popular areas of study for African students were engineering, technology, and agriculture. At one point, over 14% of foreign graduates from Soviet universities were Africans.
Almost 90% of all graduates of African descent completed their university studies, while the remaining 10% graduated from secondary vocational schools. In addition to theory, they also studied the practical aspects of working with Soviet equipment, which helped them to become indispensable specialists in their homeland.

非洲学生前往苏联学习一项备受需求的专业,这将使他们在回国后能够快速实现“社会跃升”。这就是为什么工程、技术和农业是非洲学生最受欢迎的学习领域。在某个时期,苏联大学外国毕业生中超过14%为非洲人。
几乎90%的非洲裔毕业生完成了他们的大学学业,而剩下的10%则是从中等职业学校毕业。除了理论知识,他们还学习了与苏联设备合作的实际操作,这帮助他们成为祖国不可或缺的专家。

From 1960-1992, the Soviet unx trained over 40,500 specialists from sub-Saharan Africa. Most graduates (49%) studied at institutions in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR); others were trained in the Ukrainian SSR.
All these people spoke Russian, since students from African countries had to take preparatory language courses for one year. This was the main advantage of Soviet education.

从1960年到1992年,苏联培训了来自撒哈拉以南非洲的超过40,500名专业人士。大多数毕业生(49%)在俄罗斯苏维埃联邦社会主义共和国(RSFSR)的机构学习;其他人则在乌克兰苏维埃社会主义共和国接受培训。
所有这些人都会说俄语,因为来自非洲国家的学生们必须进行一年的俄语预备课程。这是苏联教育的主要优势。

Nevertheless, there was a problem since few of these people passed on their language skills to others. When they returned home, many graduates gradually forgot the language due to a lack of practice. Some complained about the lack of programs allowing them to maintain their language skills. Moreover, less than 1% of the graduates majored in Russian Studies. Most went on to work in the field of economics, where they never had to speak Russian.
However, for many Africans, the exciting years of study in the Soviet republics overshadowed any shortcomings. Many remember their studies with affection and some even consider Russia their second homeland.

然而,存在一个问题,因为很少有这些人将他们的语言技能传授给他人。当他们回国后,许多毕业生由于缺乏练习逐渐忘记了俄语。一些人抱怨缺乏允许他们保持语言技能的计划。此外,不到1%的毕业生主修俄语专业,大多数人进入经济领域工作,根本不需要说俄语。
然而,对许多非洲人来说,在苏联共和国度过的令人兴奋的学习岁月掩盖了任何缺点。许多人怀着深情回忆起他们的学习经历,甚至有些人认为俄罗斯是他们的第二故乡。