Why do we need "look" and "crush"? A Nizhny Novgorod philologist on what is killing the culture of speech

      September 8, 2025, 3:30 PM

      [162]

      Society

      September 8 is observed as International Literacy Day. This holiday is intended to remind people of the importance of education and speech culture, since the ability to write correctly and to formulate one’s thoughts clearly is the foundation of effective communication in modern society. On this occasion, a correspondent from NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" spoke with Evgeny Vasilyev, a senior lecturer in the Department of International Journalism at the Institute of the Russian Language of the N. A. Dobrolyubov Nizhny Novgorod State Linguistic University (NGLU). He talked about students’ typical mistakes, explained why the inability to express a thought is more dangerous than spelling errors, and shared his views on how the Russian language is changing.

      – Evgeny Vadimovich, tell us about the most common mistakes students make.

      – Most often there are agreement errors, especially concerning adverbial participle constructions. In second place are filler words: "well", "like", "you know" and the like.

      – Can we say that today’s youth are less literate than 5–10 years ago?

      – It’s a controversial question. On the one hand, it’s clear that students often find it difficult to formulate their thoughts correctly and clearly, especially in writing. A decline in the culture of reading and in text reception takes its toll, and this directly affects literacy. On the other hand, it would be wrong to speak of universal illiteracy—much depends on the individual student, their family, and many other factors.

      – Which is worse: a spelling mistake or the inability to express a thought clearly?

      – Of course, the inability to express a thought is worse. A mistake can be corrected at the proofreading and editing stage: it spoils the impression but does not make the text incomprehensible. But if a thought is formulated illogically and lacks structure, it is impossible to convey it to an audience or interlocutor. One can learn to be literate, while the skill of expressing thoughts clearly requires much greater effort.

      – Share a practical tip: how is it best to check texts for errors?

      – Tip number one: read more classical literature; it expands your vocabulary. Second: use an orthographic dictionary and don’t be ashamed to consult it. And finally, a life hack: don’t check the text immediately, but an hour or two after writing it. Instant checking is rarely effective.

      – How should we feel about the fact that language is constantly changing? For example, "кофе" used to be considered masculine, but now the neuter is allowed.

      – We should be calm about it. Language is a living organism, and its changes are natural. What scares me is that the most frequently used variants become fixed as the norm. For example, the stress in "звонит" with the emphasis on the first syllable will most likely become the official norm over time. But what worries me most is the abundance of borrowings when there are well-established Russian words. Why say "девайс" when there is "устройство"? Or use "лук" instead of "внешний вид", risking unnecessary homonymy? Yes, such terms come from internet slang, where brevity is valued, but in my view they should not be cemented as normative.

      – Are there filler words that particularly annoy you among zoomers?

      – Filler words are the same through all times: "like", "well", "you know", "basically". If we talk about terms whose use irritates me, I will repeat what I said earlier: inappropriate borrowings—endless "краши", "редфлаги", "чекну" and other "wonderful" terms. These are linguistic faux pas. One would like to believe that over time the Russian language will rid itself of such rubbish.

      Author: Anna Lebedeva

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