Stronger attempts: manufacturers ask to add coffee terms to dictionaries
Following the coaches who defended the name of the profession, representatives of the coffee industry addressed the Vinogradov Institute of the Russian Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IRA RAS). The law on the protection of the Russian language in public space, which restricts the use of foreign words, comes into force on March 1. Coffee producers are asking for names such as "drip", "blend" and "monosort" to be included in Russian dictionaries. These terms have become widespread in society, the authors of the letter believe. Izvestia investigated whether it is worth introducing professional slang and jargon into everyday life.
What is suggested to be added to the dictionary
Representatives of the coffee industry asked to add the words "drip", "blend", "specialty", "coffee point", "microlot" and "monosort" to the normative dictionaries of the modern Russian language. In an appeal to the IRA of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Izvestia has it), industry representatives suggested assessing the degree of prevalence of these words, determining their regulatory status and considering the possibility of inclusion in dictionaries and reference publications.
— The coffee market in Russia has not only grown in recent years, but has changed qualitatively: the specialty segment (a commodity category of high-quality coffee) has been formed. — Ed.), a culture of alternative brewing methods has developed, consumers have begun to understand the origin of grain and new formats such as drip bags have appeared for the mass segment," Dmitry Guschin, CEO of Lalibela Coffee, told Izvestia (this company is one of the participants in the appeal).
According to him, the consolidation of the language norm for terms that have already become common will make it possible to unify their spelling, reduce discrepancies in the public space and form understandable guidelines for both producers and consumers.
The reason for the appeal of industry experts was the expected entry into force on March 1, 2026 of the law on the protection of the Russian language in public space, which restricts the use of foreign words and Latin letters on signage, advertising, price tags and websites. Mandatory duplication in Russian is required, and the use of Anglicisms, even in Cyrillic, is allowed only if they are available in special dictionaries.
But some of the professional "coffee" vocabulary is firmly embedded in everyday speech and is actively used on product packaging, the appeal says.
— The issue of packaging remains sensitive in the context of the entry into force of the new law: today it is in the so-called gray zone. It is important for businesses to understand which formulations are considered normative and acceptable," Dmitry Gushchin explained.
The initiative was also supported by Sergey Mitrofanov, Marketing Director of the Svarshchitsa Ekaterina coffee company.
"This is a timely initiative that will be useful for the entire industry against the background of systematic work to replace Anglicisms in domestic advertising and naming," he believes. — The coffee industry is a young phenomenon, especially in the specialty segment, in which we work. We have a lot of new products and tools in use that are named based on words from other languages.
According to him, there are no analogues in the Russian language for many terms, since until quite recently there were no such things as drip coffee or aeropress (a device for making coffee, designed in 2005).
— These words have really become quite firmly established in our everyday life, they are actively used, and most often they are understandable to both manufacturers and users, — Sergey Mitrofanov added. — So it is absolutely natural step to consolidate these words as a new norm of the Russian language.
Ramaz Chanturia, CEO of the Russian Coffee Association, also called the initiative timely.
"Many words have already become part of the culture of consumption, they are spoken by young people, and they are firmly entrenched in the coffee code of the generation," he stressed. — Such terms are actively used in information for buyers of goods and in the media — Yandex alone searched for "drip coffee" 365 thousand times last year.
Any changes in packaging and elements of communication with consumers will require the involvement of resources, Ramaz Chanturia noted. This will put an additional burden on the industry, which is in a difficult position against the background of high prices for raw materials, problems with logistics and foreign trade payments, high credit rates, rising tariffs and the introduction of mandatory labeling.
Izvestia sent a request to the IRYA RAS, whether it is possible to add words to the dictionary that are fixed in the lexicon of Russians, but belong to Anglicisms. The publication also asked for a comment from the Pushkin State Institute of the Russian Language.
Earlier, the Union of Professionals in the field of human Potential Development applied to the Ministry of Education, Rosstandart and the Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences with a request to include the words "coach" and "coaching" in official dictionaries.
How will the new law work?
Any information that the customer receives at the stage of choosing a product, during the purchase process or after it, should now be presented primarily in Russian, said Vladimir Kuznetsov, chairman of the All-Russian Trade Union of Mediators.
"These changes directly affect the interests of businesses, especially in the consumer interaction segment, where foreign terminology is traditionally used to attract attention and create a certain brand image," he said.
According to the lawyer, the use of foreign words is allowed only as a duplicate version. However, there are requirements for visual design: text in another language cannot be more noticeable than Russian.
— Simple transliteration, that is, writing a foreign word in Russian letters, does not replace translation, — said Vladimir Kuznetsov. — For example, using the word "sale" instead of "sale" may be considered a violation if the term "sale" is not included in regulatory dictionaries.
However, changes in legislation provide for a number of exceptions that will allow businesses to retain part of their identity. The requirements do not apply to registered trademarks and trade names if they are listed in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities in a foreign language. Thus, world-renowned brands can continue to use their original names without translation.
— Nevertheless, significant uncertainty remains in the law, creating risks for entrepreneurs, — Vladimir Kuznetsov added. — One of the main problems is the dependence on normative dictionaries. If a foreign word that has become familiar in a professional environment is not yet included in official dictionaries, its use without a Russian equivalent becomes illegal.
Another "gray area" is the subjectivity of the criteria for "visibility" and "comparability" of texts. The lack of clear parameters gives regulatory authorities a wide field for interpretation, the expert believes. It is also not entirely clear how complex neologisms consisting of Russian and foreign parts will be interpreted.
"In the absence of established judicial practice, businesses are advised to take the most conservative approach possible and duplicate any dubious terms in Russian," the expert emphasized.
Is it worth fixing words in dictionaries
Russian Russian borrowings usually live in speech for several years, or even decades, before becoming active units of the Russian literary language, Valeria Ivanova, associate professor of the Department of Russian Language and Teaching Methods at the RUDN University, explained to Izvestia.
"The word should be commonly used, for example, when a granddaughter from Moscow uses it without further explanation in a conversation with her grandfather from a working village in the Sverdlovsk region," the expert said. — So, "radio", "passport", "covid" are used everywhere — they have passed all the stages of adoption into the language: from interspersing when the word is written in Latin or "by ear", to the loss of genre, stylistic and other features. These words ceased to be jargonisms and moved from the category of vernacular to a standardized language.
Dictionaries also have informative functions: interpreting the meaning, explaining the correct spelling or pronunciation. And if the grandfather did not understand the word in a conversation with his granddaughter, he can find out its meaning in the dictionary. Therefore, linguists introduce popular neologisms into dictionaries: "neural network", "jetlag", "hype" and others.
— Coffee-themed words like "drip pack", "monosort", and "blend" have signs of jargon and terms, — Valeria Ivanova noted. — They are used in narrow circles of professionals and broader masses of users. Introducing them into dictionaries will make it possible to design documentation more competently, which requires clarity. And uniformity will appear in the advertising texts.
The expert suggested that in ten years the words "specialty", "coffee point", "microlot" will become ubiquitous and will take their rightful place in a number of borrowings.
Ignoring the requirements of the law from March 1 will entail serious administrative consequences. For violations in the field of advertising, legal entities face fines of up to 500 thousand rubles. If a violation is recorded as part of providing information to the consumer when selling goods or services, the fine may amount to 40 thousand rubles.
In addition to direct financial losses, businesses risk facing orders to dismantle expensive signage, reprint packaging, or urgently recycle website interfaces, Vladimir Kuznetsov believes. And public organizations and activists can inflame the situation — in the context of digitalization and market transparency, any violation can be quickly fixed and referred to the supervisory authorities.
To minimize risks, companies need to conduct a full audit of all public communications in advance, Vladimir Kuznetsov recommended.
"This includes checking not only external signage, but also internal documents available to customers, as well as all digital platforms," the expert said. — In cases where the use of a foreign term is critically important for product positioning, the possibility of registering it as a trademark should be considered.
In other situations, the safest solution would be to provide a high-quality and visually equivalent translation into Russian, without waiting for the first checks and penalties, the lawyer noted.
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