“A curiosity that I want to discover for myself…”: the Russian language as perceived by the citizens of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea

Importance . The current problem of the Russian language perception by citizens of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea is examined. The familiarity level of Equatorial Guineans with the Russian language and culture, as well as their willingness to study Russian as a foreign language, is ana lyzed. The purpose of the study is to use a questionnaire to analyze the peculiarities of the Russian language perception by residents of Equatorial Guinea, as well as to identify ways to overcome possible difficulties in the study of Russian as a foreign language by Equatorial Guineans at the in itial stage. Materials and Methods . The results of a survey conducted among of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea residents, which made it possible to formulate recommendations for teaching Equatorial Guineans the Russian language and forming a positive image of Russia as a great power in stu dents, are presented. The respondents included 9 men and 17 women aged 19 to 28. Results . The study identified the motives of the Republic of Equatorial Guineacitizens to study Russian. The survey showed a high interest level in learning foreign languages, including Russian, as well as a positive attitude towards the Russian Federation, but at the same time revealed an al most complete absence of associations with Russian culture among the respondents. 100 % of re spondents consider it necessary to study Russian, as it will help in their professional activities. At the same time, 19 % of respondents do not have Russian culture knowledge, which proves the need for its further popularization. Although 69 % of respondents consider Russian difficult to learn, they show a high willingness to learn it. Conclusions . The theoretical value of the obtained results is due to the fact that the study allowed to identify the main perception features of the Russian language by residents of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea who began to study it. Both the questionnaire created by the authors and the recommendations for teaching Russian to Equatoguineans developed on the survey basis is of practical importance.