The article analyses the development of Russian “newborn” terminological systems (LSP of economics, business, advertisement, etc.) and offers criteria, which would allow linguists to qualify borrowed terminological units as objectively “useful” or “harmful” for further expansion of modern Russian terminology. The article further classifies the borrowed terms into “conceptual”, “compact” and “equivalent-free” units. This conventional classification represents an attempt to create an assessment instrument, which aims to determine the potential of a borrowed term for assimilation and successful functioning in the new linguistic system.

criteria for “useful” borrowings, “assimilation scale” of terminological units, equivalence of senses, monitoring of a terminological system