Keyword: «plurolingual competence»

The article focuses on the mediatory role of the Russian language in the process of studying English at Russian universities. It is shown why and how the knowledge of the first foreign language as well as a good command of the mother tongue can help students get a better insight into new cultural realia and language phenomena by means of comparing and contrasting linguistic and cultural concepts of three or more languages. The approach to language learning described in the article facilitates the development of plurolingual competence.