Russia: Languages Still Popular Despite Economic Crisis

[Francis Hult]

The St. Petersburg Times

 

Languages Still Popular Despite Economic Crisis

 

Despite the difficult financial situation, many of St. Petersburg's residents have not given up learning foreign languages, though the number of foreign students studying Russian in the city has significantly dropped, according to the directors of some of the city's language schools. 

 

Yelena Mikhalyova, director of the city's International Language Academy (ILA), said the crisis has so far had a minimal impact on her school.

 

"We haven't seen an outflow of our current students, but we have observed a decrease in new students by about 10-15 percent," she said.

 

Mikhalyova said the decrease of new students was most noticeable in January, when people seemed to be seriously worried by media reports about the crisis. However, the situation has already begun to improve this month, she said.

 

Full story:

http://www.times.spb.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=28351

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