Today Russian is primarily spoken in Russia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once part of the USSR, where it was widely taught in school. However, younger generations may not be fluent in it, because Russian is no longer mandatory in the school system. It was also widely taught in Asian countries such as Laos, Vietnam, and Mongolia due to the Soviet influence, and is still used as a lingua franca in Afghanistan by various tribes.
Sizeable Russian-speaking communities also exist in the U.S. (especially in large urban centers such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, and Chicago.) According to the United States 2000 Census, Russian was reported as the language spoken at home by 1.50% of population, or about 4.2 million, placing it at #10 of languages spoken in the United States.
When translating into Russian it is important to know your target audience and where they are located to reach them effectively. For example, when deciding how to communicate with immigrants from the former USSR, Russian should be your first choice because Russian was the official language. However, for many immigrants, Russian is not their native tongue, but rather their second language. This includes Ukrainians, the largest non-Russian ethnic group of the former USSR. Even though both languages are written in the Cyrillic alphabet and are similar, they are not mutually understandable. Belarusian is between the two and is often understood by both Russians and Ukrainians.
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