From flier at husc.harvard.edu  Sun Oct  1 03:43:54 1995
From: flier at husc.harvard.edu (Michael Flier)
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 1995 23:43:54 -0400
Subject: Job posting---Slavic linguistics, fall 1996,
 Harvard University (fwd)
Message-ID: <SAT.30.SEP.1995.234354.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Date: Sat, 30 Sep 1995 08:30:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: Michael Flier <flier at husc>
To: seelangs at cunyvm.cuny.edu


Asst. Prof. of Slavic linguistics.  Entry-level position to begin Sept.
1996 to teach at undergraduate and graduate levels, four courses per year
and tutorial work.  Prefer specialization in modern generative approaches
to Slavic grammar, but breadth of interest in Slavic studies is
desirable. Ph.D. (or foreign equivalent) and native or near-native
Russian and English are required. Teaching experience is highly
desirable. Five-year ladder appointment, possibly extendible for an
additional 3-year term as associate professor (non-tenured).  Send letter
of application, c.v., and at least 3 confidential recommendations by
November 15 to

                Prof. Michael S. Flier
                Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures
                301 Boylston Hall
                Harvard University
                Cambridge, MA 02138.

Will interview at AATSEEL in Chicago.  Harvard is an AA/EEO employer.
Applications from women and minority candidates are encouraged.


From flier at husc.harvard.edu  Sun Oct  1 03:46:06 1995
From: flier at husc.harvard.edu (Michael Flier)
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 1995 23:46:06 -0400
Subject: No subject
Message-ID: <SAT.30.SEP.1995.234606.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Date: Sat, 30 Sep 1995 08:30:29 -0400
From: Michael Flier <flier at husc>
Subject: Job posting---Slavic linguistics, fall 1996, Harvard University
To: seelangs at cunyvm.cuny.edu
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII


Asst. Prof. of Slavic linguistics.  Entry-level position to begin Sept.
1996 to teach at undergraduate and graduate levels, four courses per year
and tutorial work.  Prefer specialization in modern generative approaches
to Slavic grammar, but breadth of interest in Slavic studies is
desirable. Ph.D. (or foreign equivalent) and native or near-native
Russian and English are required. Teaching experience is highly
desirable. Five-year ladder appointment, possibly extendible for an
additional 3-year term as associate professor (non-tenured).  Send letter
of application, c.v., and at least 3 confidential recommendations by
November 15 to

                Prof. Michael S. Flier
                Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures
                301 Boylston Hall
                Harvard University
                Cambridge, MA 02138.

Will interview at AATSEEL in Chicago.  Harvard is an AA/EEO employer.
Applications from women and minority candidates are encouraged.


From hdbaker at uci.edu  Sun Oct  1 18:23:52 1995
From: hdbaker at uci.edu (Harold D. Baker)
Date: Sun, 1 Oct 1995 11:23:52 -0700
Subject: KOI7 fonts for Russian colleague
Message-ID: <SUN.1.OCT.1995.112352.0700.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I am trying to help a Russian colleague with IBM-type computers set them up
so that they can send and receive e-mail using the koi-7 font (which is
standard for Relcom mailing lists). The purpose of this is for an e-mail
exchange between his students and my upper-level Russian language class. He
is already completely set up for e-mail but does not have the fonts. He
also has access to the World Wide Web (through Lynx) and ftp. Can anyone
suggest the easiest and fastest way for him to obtain the necessary fonts?
Please respond to me individually at hdbaker at uci.edu. Thanks very much!

Harold D. "Biff" Baker
Program in Russian, HH156
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92717-5025 USA
hdbaker at uci.edu
1-714-824-6183/Fax 1-714-824-2379


From douglas at NYUACF.BITNET  Sun Oct  1 21:44:29 1995
From: douglas at NYUACF.BITNET (Charlotte Douglas)
Date: Sun, 1 Oct 1995 16:44:29 -0500
Subject: Cyrillic OCR software
Message-ID: <SUN.1.OCT.1995.164429.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

>Does anyone have any information about Cyrillic OCR software?
>Specifically, what programs are available, who makes them, and how much
>they cost?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Eliot Borenstein
>Assistant Professor
>Russian & Slavic Studies
>New York University
>borenstn at is2.nyu.edu


Aha - here it is.


From borenstn at is2.NYU.EDU  Sun Oct  1 21:59:05 1995
From: borenstn at is2.NYU.EDU (Eliot Borenstein)
Date: Sun, 1 Oct 1995 17:59:05 -0400
Subject: Cyrillic OCR software
Message-ID: <SUN.1.OCT.1995.175905.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Yes, I eventually got the message myself.  So what were you doing in Canada?
                        Eliot


From borenstn at is2.nyu.edu  Sun Oct  1 22:12:33 1995
From: borenstn at is2.nyu.edu (Eliot Borenstein)
Date: Sun, 1 Oct 1995 18:12:33 -0400
Subject: Apologies
Message-ID: <SUN.1.OCT.1995.181233.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

My apologies--I replied to a message that was apparently forwarded to me
from SEELANGS, and it was posted to the whole group.
                                With egg on my face,

                                Eliot Borenstein


From ytsuji at cfi.waseda.ac.jp  Mon Oct  2 02:48:01 1995
From: ytsuji at cfi.waseda.ac.jp (Y.TSUJI)
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 1995 11:48:01 +0900
Subject: KOI7 fonts for Russian colleague
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sun, 01 Oct 1995 11:23:52 MST."
 <ac942ce1000210048d22@[128.200.244.75]>
Message-ID: <MON.2.OCT.1995.114801.0900.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Hello,
koi7 font is exactly the same as your standard ASCII. Just the uppercase/
lowercase are opposite and ^~{}][ etc. are used for non-Latin characters.
Cheers,
Tsuji


From jmelliso at email.unc.edu  Mon Oct  2 11:14:50 1995
From: jmelliso at email.unc.edu (John Ellison)
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 1995 07:14:50 -0400
Subject: non-Russian soviet autobiography
In-Reply-To: <ac94bc11030210041ad7@[128.122.237.136]>
Message-ID: <MON.2.OCT.1995.071450.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Is anyone aware of of an autobiography, other than Aitmatov's White
Steamship, by a non-Russian Soviet-era author that has been translated?
Thanks for any help.

John Ellison
<jmelliso at email.unc.edu>


From bvictor at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu  Mon Oct  2 18:26:22 1995
From: bvictor at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu (Brian Victor)
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 1995 14:26:22 EDT
Subject: 1995 ATTSEEL
Message-ID: <MON.2.OCT.1995.142622.EDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>


Greetings:

        Does anyone have info on the 1995 (Winter) ATTSEEL conference in
Chicago?  Dates, Hotel, registration contact address?

Many thanks,

Brian Victor

 bvictor at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu
----------------------------


From rrobin at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu  Mon Oct  2 18:34:05 1995
From: rrobin at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu (Richard Robin)
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 1995 14:34:05 -0400
Subject: Russian & E. Europe Lit Job
Message-ID: <MON.2.OCT.1995.143405.0400.RROBIN@GWIS2.CIRC.GWU.EDU>

Assistant Professor of Slavic languages and literatures,
tenure-track, beginning Fall 1996. Qualifications: (1)
earned Ph.D.; (2) native or near-native command of
Russian and one other Slavic language; (3) demonstrated
potential for excellence in teaching and research.
Specialization: Literature and culture of Russia and one
other Slavic country with demonstrated ability to teach
broad-based undergraduate courses in English as well as
more specialized courses in Russian. Experience in
proficiency-oriented language teaching is desirable.
Send letter of application, c.v., and three letters of
recommendation to Professor Richard Robin, Gelman 625,
2130 H Street, N.W., The George Washington University,
Washington, DC 20052. Review of applications will begin
on December 1 and continue through February 15. George
Washington University is an AA/EO employer. Women and
minorities are encouraged to apply.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard Robin     <robin at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu>
Dept. of German and Slavic Languages and Literatures
The George Washington University
W A S H I N G T O N,  D. C. 20052


From goscilo+ at pitt.edu  Mon Oct  2 23:17:32 1995
From: goscilo+ at pitt.edu (Helena Goscilo)
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 1995 19:17:32 -0400
Subject: 1995 ATTSEEL
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9510021205.A18051-0100000@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu>
Message-ID: <MON.2.OCT.1995.191732.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

B.V. (without D's):

The dates of AATSEEL are Dec. 27-30.  See October Newsletter for more info.
United Airlines is official carrier, International Tours of Tucson the
official travel agent (tel. 1-800-777-6242).  Place: Palmer House Hilton
Hotel (1-800-HILTONS; ask for AATSEEL, rate is $63 single, $73 double).
The organizer is David Birnbaum from the U. of Pgh., tel. 412-624-5712;
E-mail djbpitt+ at pitt.edu

Helena Goscilo


From rakitya at mail.utexas.edu  Wed Oct  4 07:04:06 1995
From: rakitya at mail.utexas.edu (Anna Rakityanskaya)
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 1995 12:52:06 -1812
Subject: Copyright laws
Message-ID: <TUE.3.OCT.1995.125206.1812.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear colleagues,

I am posting a question that I was asked recently by a colleague from the
Center for Post-Soviet and East European Studies here at the University of
Texas at Austin. We are looking forward to your advice!

Thanks,

Anna Rakityanskaya                         University of Texas
Bibliographer, Center for Post-Soviet      Austin, TX 78712
and East European Studies                  Phone: (512) 495-4188
PCL 2.300; S5453                           Internet: RAKITYA at MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU


>
>I am trying to find out what the copyright laws are for the the film poster
>for 'Kino Glaz' ('Cine Eye').  We would like to use a copy of the poster
>for the cover of one of our brochures.  The poster is from 1929 or 1930 at
>the latest, and a couple of people have suggested that since the poster is
>more than 50 years old, it is now public domain.  I would like to confirm
>this with someone more knowledgable of copyright laws.  Any ideas on how to
>do this, or who to contact?
>
>Thanks,


From goscilo+ at pitt.edu  Tue Oct  3 18:37:25 1995
From: goscilo+ at pitt.edu (Helena Goscilo)
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 1995 14:37:25 -0400
Subject: Copyright laws
In-Reply-To: <199510031747.MAA16261@mail.utexas.edu>
Message-ID: <TUE.3.OCT.1995.143725.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

The Soviet Union joined the international copyright community in May
1973, which makes anything published/printed/spouted in the USSR until
then part of the public domain.  A problem may arise if a work from
pre-1973 was (re)published post-May 1973 and if that is the version in
use (and provably so).  Helena Goscilo


From MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu  Tue Oct  3 19:27:53 1995
From: MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (Emily Tall)
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 1995 15:27:53 -0400
Subject: Copyright laws
Message-ID: <TUE.3.OCT.1995.152753.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

The best advice I've gotton on copyright has been from Peter Maggs at
the University of Illinois. E. Tall mllemily at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu


From FELDSTEI at ucs.indiana.edu  Tue Oct  3 17:02:48 1995
From: FELDSTEI at ucs.indiana.edu (RONALD F. FELDSTEIN (812)-855-2608/339-7452)
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 1995 17:02:48 EWT
Subject: Russian Language Position at Indiana University
Message-ID: <TUE.3.OCT.1995.170248.EWT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

                               POSITION AVAILABLE

                 DEPARTMENT OF SLAVIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES

                               INDIANA UNIVERSITY


Opening, fall 1996, assistant professor, tenure-track, "Assistant Chair for
Language Instruction."  Responsibilities include administration of large
undergraduate and graduate Russian language program (first through fifth
years), training and supervision of teaching assistants, coordination of
Russian language faculty, and possible involvement with intensive summer
program.  Applicant should be an experienced teacher specializing in language
instruction and its associated technologies, thoroughly familiar with current
US language teaching practices and the administrative culture of US universi
ties, with a commitment to Russian language teaching and an established
research agenda in this or allied areas, and near-native or native fluency in
both Russian and English.  Send letters of application (with a curriculum
vitae) by 15 December 1995 to Professor Ronald Feldstein, Acting Chair,
Slavic Languages and Literatures, Ballantine Hall 502, Indiana University,
Bloomington, IN 47405-6616; fax 812-855-2107.  All applications will be
acknowledged by letter.  Indiana University is an AA/EO employer.


From IDBSARC at MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU  Tue Oct  3 22:53:00 1995
From: IDBSARC at MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Andrew Corin)
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 1995 15:53:00 PDT
Subject: Errors in Review
Message-ID: <TUE.3.OCT.1995.155300.PDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear Colleagues,

    Upon returning home from my summer travels last Thursday, I was
appalled to learn that my review of J. Nuorluoto's "Die Bezeichnung der
konsonantischen Palatalita"t im Altkirchenslavischen" had been published in
the fall issue of SEEJ without my having been provided with proofs of the
full text.  The typesetters had sent me the first page of someone else's
review instead of the first page of mine, and had omitted all Glagolitic
characters from the portion of the proofs which I did receive.  Though I
replied that I must see complete proofs before the review is published, I did
not receive them.  As a result, there are two spelling errors (not mine, I
assure you!) already in the title.  More importantly, though, there are three
errors in the Glagolitic characters which distort Nuorluoto's proposals
concerning expression of the vowels "i" "y" "u" beyond recognition.  I must
therefore warn readers that they should form no opinions based on this
portion of the text, and preferably should not read the review, until an
errata sheet can be prepared and published in a subsequent issue of SEEJ.

                            Sincerely,

                            Andrew Corin

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Andrew R. Corin
  Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures 150205
  University of California, Los Angeles, CA  90024-1502
  IDBSARC at MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU
  Office: (310) 825-1208   Department: 825-2676  Fax: 206-5263
  Home: (909) 625-3732
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


From klasson at HUSC.BITNET  Wed Oct  4 20:16:45 1995
From: klasson at HUSC.BITNET (Judy Klasson)
Date: Wed, 4 Oct 1995 16:16:45 EDT
Subject: Job Position
Message-ID: <WED.4.OCT.1995.161645.EDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Professor Todd, the chairman of this department, asks that you please post
the following job position on your bulletin board and confirm with me that
you are able to do this.  Thank you.  Judy Klasson, Department Administrator

Harvard University, Department of Slavic Langs & Lit,  Cambridge MA 02138

Asst.  Prof.  of Russian Literature.  Entry-level position to begin
Sept.  1996, to teach various periods and major genres in 19th-century
and 18th-century Russian literature at the undergraduate and graduate
levels.  Teaching load--4 courses per year and tutori al work.  Ph.D.
(or foreign equivalent) and native or near-native Russian and English
are requir ed.  Teaching experience is highly desirable.  Five-year
ladder appointment, possibly extendib le for an additional 3-year term
as associate professor (non-tenured).  Send letter of app lication,
c.v., and at least 3 confidential recommendations to Prof.  William
Mills Todd III, Chair, Slavic Department, Boylston Hall 301, Harvard
University, Cambridge, MA 02138 by 15 Nov ember.  Will interview at
AATSEEL in Chicago.  Harvard is an AA/EEO employer.  Applicati ons
from women and minorities are strongly encouraged.


From hilpmel at fac.anu.edu.au  Thu Oct  5 20:43:35 1995
From: hilpmel at fac.anu.edu.au (P. Hill)
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 1995 15:43:35 EST
Subject: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
Message-ID: <THU.5.OCT.1995.154335.EST.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

It is important to distinguish sociolinguistic "facts", i.e. standard languages,
 from structural considerations. As Svein Moennesland put it in a recent paper
 at ICCEES V, the answer depends on the criteria.


From dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu  Thu Oct  5 11:46:42 1995
From: dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu (Devin P Browne)
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 1995 07:46:42 -0400
Subject: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
In-Reply-To: <9510050543.AA19238@fac.anu.edu.au>
Message-ID: <THU.5.OCT.1995.074642.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Because I have a background in Russian and East European Studies, people
expect me to know the darndest things.  One thing I would like to know
myself however (and one thing that numerous people have asked me about)
is the differences between the languages of Croation and Serbian--is
there a difference, how much of a difference, is there a Bosnian language
developing....?  Apologies if this is an old subject--I'm rather new to
the list.  Thanks in advance for any insight....

Devin

___________________________________________________________________________
Devin P. Browne                                   Clairton Education Center
Foreign Language Teacher                                 501 Waddell Avenue
dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu                                      Clairton, PA  15025
                                                             (412) 233-4555


From miancu at foxmail.gfc.edu  Thu Oct  5 21:16:41 1995
From: miancu at foxmail.gfc.edu (Martha Iancu)
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 1995 13:16:41 -0800
Subject: Croatian morphophonology
Message-ID: <THU.5.OCT.1995.131641.0800.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

A student is doing research on Croatian morphophonology with the idea of
developing language teaching materials. We would appreciate any references to
Croatian morphophonology or information about any existing language texts that
might provide models.

Thank you.

Martha Iancu
George Fox College
Newberg, OR USA


--


From colacino at violet.berkeley.edu  Fri Oct  6 02:35:44 1995
From: colacino at violet.berkeley.edu (Carmine Colacino)
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 1995 18:35:44 -0800
Subject: "soc.culture.yugoslavia"
Message-ID: <THU.5.OCT.1995.183544.0800.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Berkeley, 5 october 1995

Sorry to bother you all; but I would like to know how can I subscribe to
the list "soc.culture.yugoslavia" as well as to other "soc.culture.**"
(albanian, romanian, etc.) lists.
There is anyone there that knows the server address?
Thanks a lot!
Carmine Colacino

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
    Dott. Carmine Colacino,
    Dipartimento di biologia, difesa e b.a.,
    Universit=F5 della Basilicata,
    I-85100 Potenza, Italy.
    Tel.:+39-971-474172; Fax:+39-971-474256
    Internet: colacino at pzvx85.cisit.unibas.it
____________________________________________________________________
    Temporary address in U.S.A.(to 4 Nov.'95; and from March '96):
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
     Department of Integrative Biology,
     University of California,
     Berkeley, CA 94720-2465, U.S.A.
     Tel.:(510)643-9556; Fax:(510)643-5390
     Internet: colacino at violet.berkeley.edu
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

       "When it is a question of money, everyone is of the same
     religion" - Voltaire

                             :) -=3Do*0*o=3D- (:


From ROBORR at UOTTAWA.BITNET  Fri Oct  6 04:33:24 1995
From: ROBORR at UOTTAWA.BITNET (Robert Orr)
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 1995 23:33:24 EST
Subject: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
In-Reply-To: Message of Thu, 5 Oct 1995 07:46:42 -0400 from
 <dpbrowne+@pitt.edu>
Message-ID: <THU.5.OCT.1995.233324.EST.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

SERBIAN and CROATIAN
I'm not a specialist in this particular area, but my own feeling is that
dialectal differences WITHIN "Serbian" and WITHIN "Croatian" are much more
interesting than differences BETWEEN "Serbian" and "Croatian".   Besides,
common languages were no bar to the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the
American War of Independence, the Thirty Years War, etc., etc.  Perhaps we
won't get a "true" picture in our own lifetimes.  But I digress ...


From rbeard at bucknell.edu  Fri Oct  6 04:09:24 1995
From: rbeard at bucknell.edu (Robert Beard)
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 00:09:24 -0400
Subject: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
Message-ID: <FRI.6.OCT.1995.000924.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Robert Orr recently wrote:

>SERBIAN and CROATIAN
>I'm not a specialist in this particular area, but my own feeling is that
>dialectal differences WITHIN "Serbian" and WITHIN "Croatian" are much more
>interesting than differences BETWEEN "Serbian" and "Croatian".   Besides,
>common languages were no bar to the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the
>American War of Independence, the Thirty Years War, etc., etc.  Perhaps we
>won't get a "true" picture in our own lifetimes.  But I digress ...
>

I don't see this as a digression at all.  The dialectal isoglosses of
Serbo-Croatian coincide neither with the boundaries of Croatian, Serbia, and
Bosnia nor with the Croatian and Serbian dialect areas.  Indeed, as I
originally pointed out, there is no such thing as a Croatian and Serbian
dialect area, let alone language areas.

I remain convinced that the linguistic message is one of unity if not peace
and linguists should not be party to the political motivations urging us to
abandon out science.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Beard                              Bucknell University
Russian & Linguistics Programs            Lewisburg, PA 17837
rbeard at bucknell.edu                              717-524-1336
Russian Program   http://www.bucknell.edu/departments/russian
Morphology on Internet        http://www.bucknell.edu/~rbeard
-------------------------------------------------------------


From jslindst at cc.helsinki.fi  Fri Oct  6 08:06:48 1995
From: jslindst at cc.helsinki.fi (Jouko Lindstedt)
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 10:06:48 +0200
Subject: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
In-Reply-To: <9510060409.AA28157@coral.bucknell.edu>
Message-ID: <FRI.6.OCT.1995.100648.0200.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

On Fri, 6 Oct 1995, Robert Beard wrote:

> I don't see this as a digression at all.  The dialectal isoglosses of
> Serbo-Croatian coincide neither with the boundaries of Croatian, Serbia, and
> Bosnia nor with the Croatian and Serbian dialect areas.  Indeed, as I
> originally pointed out, there is no such thing as a Croatian and Serbian
> dialect area, let alone language areas.

Isn't this the typical situation almost _always_ when we have
neighbouring related languages? The isoglosses do not coincide with the
Dutch/German political boundary, or in fact wiht _any_ of the South Slavic
political boundaries. So, is there only one South Slavic language, from
Slovene to Bulgarian -- no clear isogloss bundles anywhere?

> I remain convinced that the linguistic message is one of unity if not peace
> and linguists should not be party to the political motivations urging us to
> abandon out science.

The linguistics I was taught does not have one single answer to the
question whether, say, Macedonian and Bulgarian, or Swedish and Norwegian,
are one or two languages. What on earth could the criteria be?

Jouko Lindstedt
Department of Slavonic Languages, University of Helsinki
e-mail: Jouko.Lindstedt at Helsinki.Fi or jslindst at cc.helsinki.fi
http://www.helsinki.fi/~jslindst/


From ewb2 at cornell.edu  Fri Oct  6 11:54:17 1995
From: ewb2 at cornell.edu (E Wayles Browne)
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 07:54:17 -0400
Subject: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
In-Reply-To: <Pine.HPP.3.91.951006095954.23026A-100000@karhu.Helsinki.FI>
Message-ID: <FRI.6.OCT.1995.075417.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Certainly there is only one language when we count languages for the
purpose of scientific classification and construction of family trees:
the South Slavic languages are Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian,
and Slovenian.
It would be a mistake to say: that's all there is to it.
As linguists, we should ask our informants and our fellow linguists
what they think of the matter and we should observe how they behave.
1) Native speakers are divided on how to answer the question of how
many languages there are: some observe (rightly) that people from
the various parts of the Serbo-Croatian area communicate with each
other, can read one another's newspapers and watch each other's
television without special training, and from this observation they
conclude "it's all the same language."
Others are conscious of differences in vocabulary, spelling,
sociolinguistics, and (to a slighter extent) grammar, and say "This
is ours, and that is not ours."
As linguists, we ought to be informed of both sorts of reactions.
In the particular case of ekavski-ijekavski reflexes of jat,
we should be aware of the frequently expressed opinion of native
speakers: it's all right to write in ekavski and it's all right
to write ijekavski, but "one shouldn't mix them" - one shouldn't
write mlijeko and mleko in the same piece of writing.

2) Many members of the SEELANGS list are involved in teaching and
organizing language courses. We often have native speakers teach
such courses. We hire a Russian to teach a Russian course, a Pole
to teach Polish, etc. But we cannot hire a Serbo-Croat to teach a
Serbo-Croatian course. Whoever we hire will have an active knowledge
of only one of the variants: of Serbian if he/she went to school
in Serbia, of Croatian if schooled in Croatia, of Bosnian if edu-
cated in Bosnia and Hercegovina. Part of a teacher's duties is
correcting homework papers. A user of Serbian can correct a home-
work paper written by a student attempting to learn the standard
of Serbia, but cannot accurately correct a homework paper submitted
by a student seeking to acquire the standard of Croatia.
And vice versa.
 By an accident of my own history, I am able to
use both ekavski with Serbian lexical items and ijekavski with
Croatian lexical items; and I've been learning to
use ijekavski with Bosnian lexical items; this yields better
communication with Bosnians than if I were to insist on using
my knowledge of the Serbian standard while conversing with them.
Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics
Morrill Hall, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.
ewb2 at cornell.edu


From jslindst at cc.helsinki.fi  Fri Oct  6 12:33:22 1995
From: jslindst at cc.helsinki.fi (Jouko Lindstedt)
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 14:33:22 +0200
Subject: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.07-CIT.9510060713.A20031-c100000@travelers.mail.cornell.edu>
Message-ID: <FRI.6.OCT.1995.143322.0200.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I think Wayles Browne wrote a balanced assessment of the situation. Yet I
would say the the linguistic reality is even more complicated.

> Certainly there is only one language when we count languages for the
> purpose of scientific classification and construction of family trees:
> the South Slavic languages are Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian,
> and Slovenian.
> It would be a mistake to say: that's all there is to it.

I don't see in what sense Serbo-Croatian would be one area _if_ Bulgarian
and Macedonian are two distinct areas, unless all of West Bulgarian is
counted as "Macedonian", and part of Aegean Macedonia as "Bulgarian". But
then it would not be advisable to use the terms "Macedonian" and
"Bulgarian" at all. Notice that I'm not saying "Macedonian is really
Bulgarian", only that I don't see why it would be a clearer case than the
Serbo-Croatian one.

Jouko Lindstedt
Department of Slavonic Languages, University of Helsinki
e-mail: Jouko.Lindstedt at Helsinki.Fi or jslindst at cc.helsinki.fi
http://www.helsinki.fi/~jslindst/


From rbeard at bucknell.edu  Fri Oct  6 13:58:28 1995
From: rbeard at bucknell.edu (Robert Beard)
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 08:58:28 -0500
Subject: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
Message-ID: <FRI.6.OCT.1995.085828.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Jouko Lindstedt  recently wrote:
>
>Isn't this the typical situation almost _always_ when we have
>neighbouring related languages? The isoglosses do not coincide with the
>Dutch/German political boundary, or in fact wiht _any_ of the South Slavic
>political boundaries. So, is there only one South Slavic language, from
>Slovene to Bulgarian -- no clear isogloss bundles anywhere?
>

 There are ways in which this situation is handled but they are not being
applied in Yugoslavia.While the edges of isoglosses may be vague, it is not
the case the people of Amsterdam and those of Berlin or Vienna speak a
single mutually comprehensible language.   The same is true of the folks in
Belgrade and those in Prague, those in Warsaw and those in Moscow.  It is,
however, the case that the people of Zagreb and Belgrade speak one and the
same  mutually comprehensible language, just as the people of Mississippi
and Long Island do.  The problem is not a question of language(s); the
problem is that the people speaking this language cannot decide on a
center, on a capital.  And that is a purely political question.  It has
nothing that I can see to do with linguistics, perhaps not even with
sociolinguistics.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------
Robert Beard
   Telephone: 717-524-1336
Russian & Linguistics Programs
 Fax: 717-524-3760
Bucknell University
     Lewisburg, PA 17817
RUSSIA AND NIS Web Site:         http://www.bucknell.edu/departments/russian
MORPHOLOGY ON THE INTERNET:             http://www.bucknell.edu/~rbeard
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------


From johannes at compling.hu-berlin.de  Fri Oct  6 12:57:56 1995
From: johannes at compling.hu-berlin.de (Johannes Heinecke)
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 13:57:56 +0100
Subject: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
Message-ID: <FRI.6.OCT.1995.135756.0100.>

On Fri Oct  6 13:43:57 1995, E Wayles Browne <ewb2 at cornell.edu> wrote:

...
> 2) Many members of the SEELANGS list are involved in teaching and
> organizing language courses. We often have native speakers teach
> such courses. We hire a Russian to teach a Russian course, a Pole
> to teach Polish, etc. But we cannot hire a Serbo-Croat to teach a
> Serbo-Croatian course. Whoever we hire will have an active knowledge
> of only one of the variants: of Serbian if he/she went to school
> in Serbia, of Croatian if schooled in Croatia, of Bosnian if edu-
> cated in Bosnia and Hercegovina. Part of a teacher's duties is
> correcting homework papers. A user of Serbian can correct a home-
> work paper written by a student attempting to learn the standard
> of Serbia, but cannot accurately correct a homework paper submitted
> by a student seeking to acquire the standard of Croatia.
> And vice versa.
...

Is it therefore right to say that all people grown up and educated
in, say Sarajevo, speak/write Bosnian, and those from Zagreb speak/write
Croatian etc, irrespectable whether they are ethnic Kroats, Serbs or Muslims?

If so, wouldn't it be an idea to restrict terms Bosnian, Croatian
and Serbian to ethnics and label the variants of Serbo-Croat
differently (i.e. ekavski/ijekavski or zagrebski/beogradski)

What language do those people speak who grew up in different places
(maybe due to the fact that parents did work in different places and
had to move every other year)?

Johannes Heinecke
Humboldt Universit"at zu Berlin
<heinecke at compling.hu-berlin.de>


From dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu  Fri Oct  6 13:07:26 1995
From: dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu (Devin P Browne)
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 09:07:26 -0400
Subject: "soc.culture.yugoslavia"
In-Reply-To: <199510060134.SAA10430@violet.berkeley.edu>
Message-ID: <FRI.6.OCT.1995.090726.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I'm NOT a techy, so I could be completely wrong, but I'm under the=20
impression that the soc.culture. groups are only in the form of Usenet=20
newsgroups, which have to be ACCESSED by the user--in other words, the=20
messages are not sent to you; you have to go and read the messages=20
posted.  I don't THINK those soc.culture. groups are set up like=20
SEELangs, which is a listserve and mails the messages directly to you.

Of course, I could be WAY OFF.  If so, someone please clue me in!

Devin

___________________________________________________________________________
Devin P. Browne=09=09 =09=09=09  Clairton Education Center
Foreign Language Teacher=09=09=09         501 Waddell Avenue
dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu=09=09=09=09=09Clairton, PA  15025
=09=09=09=09=09=09=09     (412) 233-4555


On Thu, 5 Oct 1995, Carmine Colacino wrote:

> Berkeley, 5 october 1995
>=20
> Sorry to bother you all; but I would like to know how can I subscribe to
> the list "soc.culture.yugoslavia" as well as to other "soc.culture.**"
> (albanian, romanian, etc.) lists.
> There is anyone there that knows the server address?
> Thanks a lot!
> Carmine Colacino
>=20
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
>     Dott. Carmine Colacino,
>     Dipartimento di biologia, difesa e b.a.,
>     Universit=F5 della Basilicata,
>     I-85100 Potenza, Italy.
>     Tel.:+39-971-474172; Fax:+39-971-474256
>     Internet: colacino at pzvx85.cisit.unibas.it
> ____________________________________________________________________
>     Temporary address in U.S.A.(to 4 Nov.'95; and from March '96):
>     ---------------------------------------------------------------
>      Department of Integrative Biology,
>      University of California,
>      Berkeley, CA 94720-2465, U.S.A.
>      Tel.:(510)643-9556; Fax:(510)643-5390
>      Internet: colacino at violet.berkeley.edu
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
>=20
>        "When it is a question of money, everyone is of the same
>      religion" - Voltaire
>=20
>                              :) -=3Do*0*o=3D- (:


From jslindst at cc.helsinki.fi  Fri Oct  6 13:21:17 1995
From: jslindst at cc.helsinki.fi (Jouko Lindstedt)
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 15:21:17 +0200
Subject: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
In-Reply-To: <9510061258.AA09432@coral.bucknell.edu>
Message-ID: <FRI.6.OCT.1995.152117.0200.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

On Fri, 6 Oct 1995, Robert Beard wrote:

> It is,
> however, the case that the people of Zagreb and Belgrade speak one and the
> same  mutually comprehensible language, just as the people of Mississippi
> and Long Island do.  The problem is not a question of language(s); the
> problem is that the people speaking this language cannot decide on a
> center, on a capital.  And that is a purely political question.  It has
> nothing that I can see to do with linguistics, perhaps not even with
> sociolinguistics.

"It is, however, the case that the people of Stockholm and Oslo speak one
and the same mutually comprehensible language, just as the people of
Mississippi and Long Island do. The Swedes and Norwegians just cannot
agree on the capital. It has nothing to do with linguistics, perhaps not
even with sociolonguistics."

And notice that the schoolchildren in Zagreb and Beograd learn quite
different standard languages nowadays -- this is not the case with
Mississippi and Long Island!

Jouko Lindstedt
Department of Slavonic Languages, University of Helsinki
e-mail: Jouko.Lindstedt at Helsinki.Fi or jslindst at cc.helsinki.fi
http://www.helsinki.fi/~jslindst/


From apollard at umich.edu  Fri Oct  6 16:41:36 1995
From: apollard at umich.edu (alan p. pollard)
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 12:41:36 -0400
Subject: Translation software
Message-ID: <FRI.6.OCT.1995.124136.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

At the risk of raking over old coals, I am soliciting information on
English-Russian/Russian-English translation programs for pc's.  This
subject may have been covered here before, so it would probably be best to
address suggestions directly to me at <apollard at umich.edu>.  I'll be
grateful for your help.  Thanks.

Alan Pollard, Univ. of Michigan


From OKAGAN at humnet.ucla.edu  Sat Oct  7 01:21:37 1995
From: OKAGAN at humnet.ucla.edu (Olga Kagan)
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 17:21:37 PST
Subject: braille
Message-ID: <FRI.6.OCT.1995.172137.PST.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Does anyone know whether there ia a braille version of the "golosa"
textbook and workbook?  Thank you, Olga Kagan


From Jcentner at hamptons.com  Mon Oct  9 00:47:00 1995
From: Jcentner at hamptons.com (Jonathan D Centner)
Date: Sun, 8 Oct 1995 20:47:00 -0400
Subject: A-LM language series
Message-ID: <SUN.8.OCT.1995.204700.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I am looking for sound recordings from the out-of-print High school
textbook series the A-LM (Audio-lingual Materials), published by Harcourt
Brace in two editions from 1961-1965 and 1969-1975

I have collected a significant portion of the printed materials (although I
am missing some stuff and would like to fill in those gaps) but the sound
recordings have been very hard to come by.

I hope to make the materials available for historical review someday.

My name is Jonathan Centner and I can be reached at jcentner at hamptons.com
and at 516-653-9140.

The sound recordings were published in three formats: reel-to-reel in two
speeds, seven and twelve inch 33 1/3 records and audio cassette. I am
interested in acquiring the recordings in all three formats.


Thanks for the help.   Jonathan Centner


From WEINERE at UFCC.BITNET  Mon Oct  9 03:32:13 1995
From: WEINERE at UFCC.BITNET (WEINERE at UFCC.BITNET)
Date: Sun, 8 Oct 1995 23:32:13 EDT
Subject: czech
Message-ID: <SUN.8.OCT.1995.233213.EDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I am trying to find out what american universities offer Czech on a regular
basis beyond the beginner level.  AAASS publishes a listing but they are
out of stock and out of print.  Any assistance would be helpful.  My
e-mail address is WEINERE at ufcc.ufl.edu.
Thank you.
Elaine Weiner, University of Florida, Department of Anthropology


From lcj+ at pitt.edu  Mon Oct  9 03:40:08 1995
From: lcj+ at pitt.edu (L.C.J. Jacobson)
Date: Sun, 8 Oct 1995 23:40:08 -0400
Subject: Bulgarian Language Courses in Summer 1996
Message-ID: <SUN.8.OCT.1995.234008.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Greetings!

Can anyone tell me what universities (other than the University of
Pittsburgh) are planning on offering Bulgarian language courses in
the summer of 1996.

I don't need any real details about the courses right now -- I'd just
like to make a preliminary announcment in some materials I'm
preparing.

Thank you very much in advance.

-jake
________________________________________________________________________
L.C.J. Jacobson         lcj+ at pitt.edu          http://www.pitt.edu/~lcj/


From slbaehr at vt.edu  Mon Oct  9 14:45:20 1995
From: slbaehr at vt.edu (Stephen Baehr)
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 10:45:20 EDT
Subject: braille
Message-ID: <MON.9.OCT.1995.104520.EDT.>

Just last week, I received a note from Mr. P. C. Wood, whose wife is blind
and teaches Russian at Northern Virginia Community College. He mentioned
that at their urging the National Braille Association in Rochester, NY has
put Golosa (and Ben Clark, by the way) into braille.

For more info, contact PCWOOD at intergate.dot.gov

             Steve Baehr
             Professor of Russian
             Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State U.


From goscilo+ at pitt.edu  Mon Oct  9 14:55:51 1995
From: goscilo+ at pitt.edu (Helena Goscilo)
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 10:55:51 -0400
Subject: Bulgarian Language Courses in Summer 1996
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9510082352.A26569-0100000@unixs4.cis.pitt.edu>
Message-ID: <MON.9.OCT.1995.105551.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Jake,

Well, the Univ. of Pittsburgh, for one....
HG


From genevra at u.washington.edu  Mon Oct  9 15:07:49 1995
From: genevra at u.washington.edu (James Gerhart)
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 08:07:49 -0700
Subject: Bulgarian Language Courses in Summer 1996
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9510082352.A26569-0100000@unixs4.cis.pitt.edu>
Message-ID: <MON.9.OCT.1995.080749.0700.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Surely there is a clearinghouse for this sort of information somewhere?
One would expect it to be an obligation of a professional organization.
G. Gerhart


From rrobin at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu  Mon Oct  9 15:20:36 1995
From: rrobin at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu (Richard Robin)
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 11:20:36 -0400
Subject: czech
In-Reply-To: <SEELANGS%95100823321423@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Message-ID: <MON.9.OCT.1995.112036.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

We offer second-year Czech depending on the availability of soft money:
it's come out to about every other year.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard Robin     <robin at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu>
Dept. of German and Slavic Languages and Literatures
The George Washington University
W A S H I N G T O N,  D. C. 20052


From dkoenig at u.washington.edu  Mon Oct  9 15:42:07 1995
From: dkoenig at u.washington.edu (D. Koenig)
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 08:42:07 -0700
Subject: czech
In-Reply-To: <SEELANGS%95100823321423@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Message-ID: <MON.9.OCT.1995.084207.0700.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

University of Wahington has been offering advanced/second year Czech on a
regular basis in the recent years and has it this year.  The future
depends on budget...
Dagmar K. Koenig
TA/Czech at Dept. of Slavic Lang.& Lit.
University of Wahington
Seattle
dkoenig at u.washington.edu


From kramer at epas.utoronto.ca  Mon Oct  9 17:42:43 1995
From: kramer at epas.utoronto.ca (christina kramer)
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 13:42:43 -0400
Subject: Bulgarian Language Courses in Summer 1996
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9510082352.A26569-0100000@unixs4.cis.pitt.edu> from
 "L.C.J. Jacobson" at Oct 8, 95 11:40:08 pm
Message-ID: <MON.9.OCT.1995.134243.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I , too, have recognized the need for a clearing house for information
on the teaching of certain Slavic languages. One of the proposals I
plan to make at various meetings in Washington, D.C. is for the
formation of a consortium of schools which offer instruction in
Macedonian and Bulgarian. If any wishes to be on any future mailing
list, or has information which would be helpful, they should contact
me at the University of Toronto, Dept. of Slavic Langs, 21 Sussex
Avenue, Toronto, Ontario  Canada  M5S 1A1.  Or, respond to me off-list
at Kramer at epas.utoronto.ca    Or, contact me at the meeting of SEESA
(SouthEast European Studies Assoc.) at 8:00 a.m Sat. October 28 at the
Washington meeting of AAASS.  Christina Kramer


From jamison at owlnet.rice.edu  Mon Oct  9 17:29:44 1995
From: jamison at owlnet.rice.edu (John J. Ronald)
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 12:29:44 -0500
Subject: czech
In-Reply-To: <Pine.A32.3.91j.951009084016.83260B-100000@homer23.u.washington.edu>
Message-ID: <MON.9.OCT.1995.122944.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

On Mon, 9 Oct 1995, D. Koenig wrote:

> University of Wahington has been offering advanced/second year Czech on a
> regular basis in the recent years and has it this year.  The future
> depends on budget...

Try the University of Texas at Austin.  They offer a BA in
Czech or Russian, and have advanced interdisciplinary degrees
in Slavic Studies as well.  Great school, great town.

--John Ronald
        Rice University
        Dept. of German & Slavic Studies
        Houston, Texas


From mglevine at email.unc.edu  Mon Oct  9 18:57:58 1995
From: mglevine at email.unc.edu (Madeline G Levine)
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 14:57:58 -0400
Subject: Sources of information on where Slavic languages are taught
In-Reply-To: <199510091742.NAA22758@blues.epas.utoronto.ca>
Message-ID: <MON.9.OCT.1995.145758.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

The MLA, at the request of the East European Language Training Committee
of the ACLS, is conducting a survey this month to collect precisely this
data, plus information on literature and linguistics courses as well.
Department chairs and other appropriate college and university
administrators of foreign languages departments, Slavic departments, and
other units in which these languages are taught have been sent an
extensive questionnaire, with a request that it be returned by October
20.  This is a very important undertaking. If your chair is likely to
toss out such a request for data, please urge him or her to cooperate.

I don't know when the data will be organized and made public.

Madeline G. Levine
(member of the ACLS committee)


From mglevine at email.unc.edu  Mon Oct  9 19:02:27 1995
From: mglevine at email.unc.edu (Madeline G Levine)
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 15:02:27 -0400
Subject: czech
In-Reply-To: <SEELANGS%95100823321423@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Message-ID: <MON.9.OCT.1995.150227.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers up to three years
of Czech language instruction.  Elementary and intermediate Czech are
taught in alternating years (we are offering first-year Czech this year);
advanced Czech is given irregularly depending on student demand and may
be taken as an independent study course.

Contact Professor Laura A. Janda at Dept of Slavic Languages/UNC-CH/
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3165 for more information.


From charlesg at HUMANITIES1.COHUMS.OHIO-STATE.EDU  Mon Oct  9 19:45:19 1995
From: charlesg at HUMANITIES1.COHUMS.OHIO-STATE.EDU (charlesg)
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 14:45:19 -0500
Subject: Czech
Message-ID: <MON.9.OCT.1995.144519.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

          We have been offering first and second year Czech every year
          for the past five years; I hope we will be able to continue.
             Charles Gribble, Ohio State University
          (Gribble.3 at osu.edu)


From jamison at owlnet.rice.edu  Mon Oct  9 21:41:41 1995
From: jamison at owlnet.rice.edu (John J. Ronald)
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 16:41:41 -0500
Subject: Czech
In-Reply-To: <9509098132.AA813275995@HUMANITIES1.COHUMS.OHIO-STATE.EDU>
Message-ID: <MON.9.OCT.1995.164141.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

On Mon, 9 Oct 1995, charlesg wrote:

>           We have been offering first and second year Czech every year
>           for the past five years; I hope we will be able to continue.
>              Charles Gribble, Ohio State University
>           (Gribble.3 at osu.edu)

Aargh....This is the third time I've tried to post
(unsucessfully) to SEELANGS!

All I want to say is that the University of Texas at Austin
offers a BA in Czech and Russian, and advanced
interdisciplinary degrees in Slavic Studies,
as well as basic level Polish, Bulgarian, and
other Slavic languages.

--John Ronald
        Rice University


From zbarlev at MAIL.SDSU.EDU  Tue Oct 10 04:32:28 1995
From: zbarlev at MAIL.SDSU.EDU (Zev bar-Lev)
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 1995 00:32:28 EDT
Subject: czech
Message-ID: <TUE.10.OCT.1995.003228.EDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Louis Janus at U. Minnesota has a running list of LCT language and where
they're taught.  the list can be accessed via internet, gopher, etc.

>I am trying to find out what american universities offer Czech on a regular
>basis beyond the beginner level.  AAASS publishes a listing but they are
>out of stock and out of print.  Any assistance would be helpful.  My
>e-mail address is WEINERE at ufcc.ufl.edu.
>Elaine Weiner, University of Florida, Department of Anthropology

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
          zev bar-Lev (prof.)
          dept. of linguistics & oriental languages,
          san diego state university, san diego CA 92182
          e-mail ZBARLEV at mail.sdsu.edu
          tel. (619)-594-6389
          fax: (619)-594-4877
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


From PCWOOD at intergate.dot.gov  Tue Oct 10 11:23:02 1995
From: PCWOOD at intergate.dot.gov (PC Wood)
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 1995 06:23:02 -0500
Subject: braille -Reply
Message-ID: <TUE.10.OCT.1995.062302.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Golosa in braille  (book 1) is available from the National Braille
Association in Rochester NY. My wife, an instructor in Russian, got it
done last year. Ben Clark is also available. Book 2 to be put into braille
will be requested this fall I think unless someone has already done so.

Pc Wood
pcwood at intergate.dot.gov


From chaput at HUSC.BITNET  Tue Oct 10 12:50:05 1995
From: chaput at HUSC.BITNET (Patricia Chaput)
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 1995 08:50:05 -0400
Subject: czech
In-Reply-To: <SEELANGS%95100823321423@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Message-ID: <TUE.10.OCT.1995.085005.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

        Harvard offers a reading course with some speaking-writing
practice at the intermediate/advanced level, depending on student
interest.  It is not a fixed course, but shapes itself to the needs and
interests of the students, so that the readings change each year, and
students do more work on their own than is typical of standard language
classes.


From vitale at dectlk.ENET.dec.com  Tue Oct 10 17:44:27 1995
From: vitale at dectlk.ENET.dec.com (Tony Vitale)
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 1995 13:44:27 EDT
Subject: Request for ethnic terms
Message-ID: <TUE.10.OCT.1995.134427.EDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>


There is a "linguistics" issue which readers of this discussion group
could probably help me with. I'm writing a dictionary and some papers
on the lexicalization of ethnic expressions. I began working on this
14 years ago. I've been collecting some ethnic expressions such as
Mexican Standoff, Dutch Courage, Chinese Firedrill, French Fries,
Swedish Ivy, etc.

I have a large number of these words and phrases (450pp single-spaced) but the
number of languages is small relative to the number of major languages (approx.
6500) spoken in the world today.

If you or friends and colleagues who are native speakers of or specialists in
various Slavic and Eastern European languages can think of any, I'd appreciate
a list of these.

These are linguistic universals - all languages have scores of them. The
criteria for selecting these entries are as follows:

        1. The expression must be figurative and not literal, e.g.,
           China White 'heroin' is acceptable but China Sea is not.

        2. The entry can be between one word and an entire sentence.

        3. The entry must contain the name of (a) a country or continent
           (cities are not acceptable), (b) an ethnic group or (c) a language.
           Counties and ethnic groups may be older terms (e.g., Persia,
           Siam etc.) and languages may be dead or extinct (e.g., Dalmatian)
           Small (in terms of size or population) geographic areas or speech
           communities also qualify. Former city-states and empires (e.g., Rome)
           qualify as well. Note that flora and fauna are acceptable,
           e.g., Tibetan Mastiff, Norway Maple as well as cuisine and terms
           from mixology (the art of bartendering), e.g., French Toast, White
           Russian, etc.

The following are examples of acceptable entries and the form that is used
in the dictionary. Please send examples in this format to me at the
e-mail address above and below.  For languages which are written in non-Roman
characters or which use syllabaries or ideographs, please just send the
phonetics. I have software which will allow me to type in any language - and
I use that as well as IPA.

        Mexican Standoff (Am. Eng.) - 'an impasse, a stalemate.'

        Dutch Treat (Am. Eng.) - 'a situation in which each person pays
                his own way.'

        Scotch Organ, Play the (Brit. Eng.) - 'put money into a cash register.'

        Chinese Wall (Pol. Chinski Mur) - 'a situation or problem which is
                insurmountable.'

        Spanish Wall (Ger. Spanische Wand) - 'a room-divider.'

        German Work (Heb. Avoda Yekit) - 'very precise, exact work.'

        Chinese Shadows (Fr. Ombres Chinoises) - 'shadow puppets, designs or
                figures made with the shadow of one's hands on a wall.'

        Punic Faith (Lat. Fides Punica) - 'treachery.'

        Swedish, Make Oneself (Spa. Hacerse el Sueco) - 'be indifferent to
                something; see or hear something and then behave as if you
                hadn't.'

        Mongolian Doctor (Chi. Menggu Daifu) - 'a quack, someone who
                is professionally incompetent.'


Note that they are arranged in the following order:

        1. English equivalent beginning with the ethnic term.

        2. language of origin, e.g., (Pol. = Polish, Heb. = Hebrew, etc.)
           followed by the word or phrase (phonetics or Roman alphabet
           for now but eventually I'll put in the orthography itself for
           non-Roman (e.g., Greek, Russian, Hindi, Arabic, Hebrew, etc.) or
           non-alphabetic languages (e.g., Chinese, Japanese, etc.).

        3. meaning of the word or phrase as it is used in the language.

        4. any further information such as etymology of the phrase, whether
           the phrase is still in current use or whether it's obsolete,
           slang, colloquial, medical, nautical, etc.

NB: All such expressions won't necessarily be complimentary. However, one of
the jobs of a linguist or lexicographer, as the readers of this discussion
group well know, is to DESCRIBE various aspects of a language.
Therefore, please ignore the political correctness issues and simply
describe the word or phrase as it is used whether or not it is complimentary or
pejorative.

Please send replies DIRECTLY to me at: vitale at dectlk.enet.dec.com.

Thank you in advance. I appreciate the time and effort.

\tony



****************************************************************************

                                Dr. Anthony J. Vitale
                                Senior Consultant
                                Linguistics & Speech Technology
                                Assistive Technology Group
                                Digital Equipment Corporation


From MLDYER at UMSVM.BITNET  Tue Oct 10 19:33:47 1995
From: MLDYER at UMSVM.BITNET (DDyer)
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 1995 13:33:47 CST
Subject: Czech and Bulgarian Language Offerings
Message-ID: <TUE.10.OCT.1995.133347.CST.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear LIST:

   Although it does not give information concerning level of instruction
or consistency of offering, the <Directory of Programs in Linguistics in the
United States & Canada>, 1994, LSA, Washington, D.C. (1995 edition), lists
the following university offerings in its section, "Uncommonly Taught
Languages": CZECH: Boston C, Brown, UCB, UCLA, UCSD, Chicago, Cornell, George
Washington U, Harvard, IN U, U KS, U MI, U NC, Northwestern, OH SU, U PA,
Stanford, U TX-Austin, Toronto, U VA, U WA, U WI-Madison and Yale. BULGARIAN:
Boston C, Brown, UCSD, Chicago, Cornell, George Washington U. IN U, U KS,
U MS, U NC, OH SU, U PA, SUNY-Albany, U VA, U WA, U WI-Madison.
   Obviously this listing is not exhaustive, but it's worth looking at.
No mention is made either of summer school courses. Some of these schools
may no longer offer the languages, simply choosing not to delete their
offerings from the publication. I offer Bulgarian here at The University of
Mississippi maybe every three years or so, and then only as a "structure"
course. A number of those who responded to SEELANGS saying that they offer
these course are indeed listed, but as you can see, others on the list
have not responded.

Don Dyer, The University of Mississippi


From ewb2 at cornell.edu  Wed Oct 11 01:38:53 1995
From: ewb2 at cornell.edu (E. Wayles Browne)
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 1995 21:38:53 -0400
Subject: Request for ethnic terms
Message-ID: <TUE.10.OCT.1995.213853.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Tony Vitale asks:
>There is a "linguistics" issue which readers of this discussion group
>could probably help me with. I'm writing a dictionary and some papers
>on the lexicalization of ethnic expressions. ...
>
>        1. The expression must be figurative and not literal, e.g.,
>           China White 'heroin' is acceptable but China Sea is not.
>
>        2. The entry can be between one word and an entire sentence.
>
>        3. The entry must contain the name of (a) a country or continent
>           (cities are not acceptable), (b) an ethnic group or (c) a language
....
>
>        Swedish, Make Oneself (Spa. Hacerse el Sueco) - 'be indifferent to
>                something; see or hear something and then behave as if you
>                hadn't.'

I think this last example is remarkable. Consider the correspondences in
two Slavic languages I know: Serbo-Croatian (Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian)
praviti se Englez "make oneself an Englishman", Slovenian delati se Francoza
"make oneself a Frenchman", with the same meaning as given by Tony.

Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics
Morrill Hall, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.
tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h)
e-mail ewb2 at cornell.edu (1989 to 1993 was: jn5j at cornella.bitnet //
jn5j at cornella.cit.cornell.edu)


From jdwest at u.washington.edu  Wed Oct 11 01:49:40 1995
From: jdwest at u.washington.edu (James West)
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 1995 18:49:40 -0700
Subject: Ethnic terms
In-Reply-To: <v02120002aca0cfe9809b@[132.236.102.20]>
Message-ID: <TUE.10.OCT.1995.184940.0700.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

The "fingering" of different nationalities by different nationalities in
expressions of this kind is common, and surely to be expected. In the case
of French and English, mutual pairs abound. Examples: "French letter"
and "capote anglaise" are the same thing, as are "take French leave" and
"filer a l'anglaise." Are there instances of such charming reciprocity to
be found among Slavic languages?

                                                     James West


From ainst+ at pitt.edu  Wed Oct 11 02:18:00 1995
From: ainst+ at pitt.edu (Alla I Nedashkivska-adams)
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 1995 22:18:00 -0400
Subject: Need info re: Ukrainian language policy
Message-ID: <TUE.10.OCT.1995.221800.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Does anyone know where I can find information on
language laws & policies in Ukraine since 1990?

I've already looked in the "Current Digest of the Post-Soviet
Press".

        Thanks!

                Alla Adams


--------------------------------------------------------------
Alla Nedashkivska-Adams          ainst+ at pitt.edu
Slavic Department
1417 Cathedral of Learning
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260


From d-powelstock at UCHICAGO.EDU  Wed Oct 11 03:59:07 1995
From: d-powelstock at UCHICAGO.EDU (David Powelstock)
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 1995 23:59:07 EDT
Subject: czech
Message-ID: <TUE.10.OCT.1995.235907.EDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Seems everyone is advertising their Czech programs in this space.  Lest we
be outdone:

The University of Chicago offers Czech language as a two-year sequence, i.e.
first- and second-year Czech alternate.  This year (1995-6) we are offering
the first-year course, next year (1996-7) the second-year course.
David Powelstock
Assistant Professor
Slavic Langs. & Lits.
University of Chicago
1130 E. 59th Street
Chicago, IL  60637

(O)     312- 702-0035
(Dpt)   312-702-8033 (msg)
(H)     312-324-5842 (msg)


From jflevin at ucrac1.ucr.edu  Wed Oct 11 04:02:13 1995
From: jflevin at ucrac1.ucr.edu (Jules Levin)
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 00:02:13 EDT
Subject: Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
Message-ID: <WED.11.OCT.1995.000213.EDT.>

"You say mleko and I say mlijeko, let's call the whole thing off..."

My sympathies are with Beard.  As linguists, we don't have to accept the
popular idea of what a "language" is, since the criteria are totally
inconsistent around the world.  The man in the street, who has a lot more
influence in determining what is, or becomes, a "language", would rate very
significant the fact that a different alphabet is used, even if that were
the *only* difference.  Semioticians don't argue with shopkeepers about the
meaning of the word "sign", so why should we indulge tinhorn nationalists?
Re Scandinavian, I spent a Fulbright year in Norway, so I have some
familiarity with the "Spragsmal" [put a little circle over the first 'a']
there.  Actually Norway has TWO languages "riksmal and nynorsk".  The latter
is the {are the?} West Coast dialects which apparently really DO offer some
significant distinction from Swedish.  Unfortunately they are spoken by
only 10% of the population.  {All data cited from 30 yr old memory...}
But among the really disgusting manifestations of artificial
differentiation is the continual "updating" of Ibsen's corpus away from his
original language, which was too much like Danish to suit modern Norwegians.
Notice how English, spanning several countries and many varied dialects, has
managed to avoid this kind of schism, in spite of some drastic political
differences at various times.  So has Russian, curiously enough (unless you
count Ukrainian and BR, another can of worms...).  Maybe there is an inverse
correlation between a language's tendency to split into two or more
"languages" and the political, economic, military, and cultural significance
of its speakers.
Jules Levin
Department of Literatures and Languages
University of California
Riverside, CA  92521


From a.mich at loki.trl.OZ.AU  Wed Oct 11 05:13:13 1995
From: a.mich at loki.trl.OZ.AU (Andrew Mich)
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 15:13:13 +1000
Subject: Celebration of the Zoshchenko Centenary?
Message-ID: <WED.11.OCT.1995.151313.1000.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

1995 is the centenary of the birth of the writer Mikhail Zoshchenko
(in Poltava). Does anyone know of any special events that have been
 held to celebrate the event, e.g., a new edition of his works?

Andrew Mich
a.mich at trl.oz.au


From borenstn at is2.NYU.EDU  Wed Oct 11 14:09:54 1995
From: borenstn at is2.NYU.EDU (Eliot Borenstein)
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 10:09:54 -0400
Subject: Zoshchenko Events
Message-ID: <WED.11.OCT.1995.100954.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

The Institute of World Literature (IMLI) held a conference called "The
Phenomenon of M.M. Zoshchenko:  Problems of Contemporary Reception,
Interpretation, and Scholarly Publication" from June 1-3 1994 (a year
early, but who's counting?).  IMLI is preparing a colletion of the
proceedings.  Fifteen of the papers were published in Literaturnoe
obozrenie 1 (1995).  A number of American scholars presented at the
conference, so you might want to ask them about it.

There have also been a number of rather general articles in honor of
Zoshchenko that have appeared in Literaturnaia gazeta, etc.

Hope this helps,

                        Eliot Borenstein
                        borenstn at is2.nyu.edu


From aw6 at mail.evansville.edu  Wed Oct 11 14:39:52 1995
From: aw6 at mail.evansville.edu (Adrian Wanner)
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 09:39:52 -0500
Subject: Panel on utopias and
 dystopias/Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian-Swiss-German
Message-ID: <WED.11.OCT.1995.093952.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear SEELANGers
Is there anybody out there who would be interested in participating in a
panel on utopias/dystopias at the 1996 AAASS conference in Boston?  I am
currently working on a paper on Dostoevsky and Orwell. If you are working
on something similar, or know of a colleague who does, please let me know
(respond to me directly rather than to the list).
On an unrelated note, I have been following with interest the discussion
about Serbo-Croatian-Bosnian. Since I am from Switzerland, I think some
observations about the linguistic situation there might be illuminating.
The language spoken in the German part of Switzerland differs so
significantly from standard German that unprepared German native speakers
do not understand it (i.e., it varies much  more from German than Croatian
does from Serbian). There were in fact some Swiss nationalists, especially
during the 1930s, who proposed that Swiss German should be declared a
separate language and be used as the official idiom.  I can only say,
thank God it never happened! The result would have been the
provincialization and linguistic isolation of Switzerland. We would have
had our own "official" language all right, but few people in the rest of
the world would have bothered to learn it. Not everybody in Switzerland
likes the Germans, but by staying within the orbit of the German
language, we have made sure that our writers are read not just locally,
but also in Germany, Austria, and in the rest of Europe and the world.


From swan+ at pitt.edu  Wed Oct 11 15:55:21 1995
From: swan+ at pitt.edu (Oscar E Swan)
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 11:55:21 -0400
Subject: Request for ethnic terms
In-Reply-To: <v02120002aca0cfe9809b@[132.236.102.20]>
Message-ID: <WED.11.OCT.1995.115521.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Oscar E. Swan   Dept. of Slavic Languages & Literatures
1417 Cathedral of Learning   Univ. of Pittsburgh  15260
412-624-5707      swan+ at pitt.edu
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



> Tony Vitale asks:
> >There is a "linguistics" issue which readers of this discussion group
> >could probably help me with. I'm writing a dictionary and some papers
> >on the lexicalization of ethnic expressions. ...
> >
> >        1. The expression must be figurative and not literal, e.g.,
> >           China White 'heroin' is acceptable but China Sea is not.
> >
> >        2. The entry can be between one word and an entire sentence.
> >
> >        3. The entry must contain the name of (a) a country or continent
> >           (cities are not acceptable), (b) an ethnic group or (c) a language
> ....
> >
> >        Swedish, Make Oneself (Spa. Hacerse el Sueco) - 'be indifferent to
> >                something; see or hear something and then behave as if you
> >                hadn't.'

If I am not mistaken, a crescent-type wrench in Polish is called 'klucz
angielski' (english wrench); a special kind of Polish vise-grip wrench,
which bears down through twisting the handle, is called a 'klucz francuski'
(french wrench). these examples hsould be checked with a native-speaking
hardware expert.


From avi at tovna.co.il  Wed Oct 11 18:27:50 1995
From: avi at tovna.co.il (Avraham Kofman)
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 18:27:50 IST
Subject: Request for ethnic terms
Message-ID: <WED.11.OCT.1995.182750.IST.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Here are some Russian (mostly) ethnic expressions I could recover from my
 memory. You certainly have most of them, but still.

1. American hills (Russian 'amerikanskie gorki') - roller-coaster. As far as I
 know , an obsolete English term for this is 'Russian hills'.

2. Engish way, leave in an (Russian 'ujti po-anglijski') - to leave discretely,
 without saying good-bye.

3. Spanish fly (Russian 'shpanskaja (an old word for 'Spanish') mushka) - an
 artificial beauty-spot on face. Obsolete.

4. Chinese writings (Russian 'kitajskaja gramota') -  something too complicated
 to understand.

5. Swedish table (Russian 'shvedskij stol') - buffet (all you can eat) way of
 catering in a restaurant, etc.

6. Turk (Russian 'turok') - a stupid, slow-witted person.

7. French desease (Russian 'fran^suzskaja bolezn'') - a 19 century euphemism for
 syphilis.

8. Jewish luck (Russian/Yiddish 'evrejskoe schast'e/idisher mazl') - bad luck,
 the one Jews are supposed to have permanently.

9. Spartan upbringing (Russian 'spartanskoe vospitanie') - the meaning is
 self-evident.

10. Italian strike (Russian 'ital'janskaja zabastovka') - ditto.

11. Bengal light (Russian 'bengal'skij ogon'') - ditto.

12. American nut (Russian 'amerikanskij orekh') - Brazil nut.

13. Greek nut (Russian 'gre^skij (a form for 'Greek' used only in this phrase)
 orekh') - walnut.

14. Swedish wrench (Russian 'shvedskij kljuch', Hebrew 'mafteah shvedi') -
 adjustable wrench.

15. French wrench (Russian 'fran^suzskij kljuch') - monkey-wrench.

16. Finnish knife (Russian 'finskij nozh', abbr. 'finka') - a short knife,
 generally with a plexiglas handle, a preferred weapon of underworld and
 hooligans.

17. Siberian ulcer (Russian 'sibirskaja jazva') - malignant anthrax.

18. English salt (Russian 'anglijskaja sol'') - bitter/Epsom salt.

19. Dutch cheese (Russian 'gollandskij syr') - a generic name for all hard
 cheses.

20. Siamese twins (Russian 'siamskie blizne^sy') - the usual meaning.

21. Turkish koffee (Hebrew 'kafe turki') - ground roated koffee.

22. Japanese knife (Hebrew 'sakin japani') - a knife with a sliding blade.

23. Kurd (Hebrew 'kurdi') - a stupid person.

24. Chinese reed (Russian 'kitajskij trostnik') - an obsolete term for bamboo.

25. German humor (Russian 'neme^skij jumor') - a kind of humor when you are
 supposed to laugh when, say, somebody loses his trousers.

Following are the ones the eligibility of which I am not quite sure in:

Maltese cross (Russian 'mal'tijskij krest'); Turkish drum (Russian 'ture^skij
 baraban) - a very big drum; Percian cat (Russian 'persidskij kot'); Finn, it
 gets through to him (you, her, etc) as to a (Russian 'dokhodit kak do finna') -
 gets through very slowly.

I may come up with some more if this is what you are looking for.


From sloman at franklin.com  Wed Oct 11 16:13:37 1995
From: sloman at franklin.com (Peter Slomanson)
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 12:13:37 EDT
Subject: Panel on utopias and
 dystopias/Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian-Swiss-German
In-Reply-To: <Pine.A32.3.91.951011085826.78652A-100000@cedar.evansville.edu>
 (message from Adrian Wanner on Wed, 11 Oct 1995 09:39:52 -0500)
Message-ID: <WED.11.OCT.1995.121337.EDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

   Adrian Wanner <aw6 at mail.evansville.edu> wrote:

   I have been following with interest the discussion about
   Serbo-Croatian-Bosnian. Since I am from Switzerland, I think some
   observations about the linguistic situation there might be
   illuminating.  The language spoken in the German part of Switzerland
   differs so significantly from standard German that unprepared German
   native speakers do not understand it (i.e., it varies much more from
   German than Croatian does from Serbian).

   There were in fact some Swiss nationalists, especially
   during the 1930s, who proposed that Swiss German should be declared a
   separate language and be used as the official idiom.  I can only say,
   thank God it never happened! The result would have been the
   provincialization and linguistic isolation of Switzerland. We would have
   had our own "official" language all right, but few people in the rest of
   the world would have bothered to learn it. Not everybody in Switzerland
   likes the Germans, but by staying within the orbit of the German
   language, we have made sure that our writers are read not just locally,
   but also in Germany, Austria, and in the rest of Europe and the world.


Glad you are satisfied with the turn of events, but I'd say your take
on them is open to discussion.  First of all, in linguistic (that is
technical/structural, as opposed to sociocultural) terms, Swiss German
already _is_ a distinct language (group of languages actually).  By
stating that it is not understood by Germans, you are making that
point yourself.  Its phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon are
distinct from that of German German dialects (including the standard
language).  If what you mean by "declare a separate language" is
"declare an official language," I would say that although it is not
official de jure, it might as well be.  Swiss German, as you know, is
used in every conceivable context in German-speaking Switzerland.  The
contexts in which standard German is used _as a spoken language_ are
severely restricted by cultural convention.  I'm sure that what you
mean to say is that the nationalists in question sought to make Swiss
German the _written_ language of German Switzerland, which it has
indeed never been.  I take issue with your assessment of what this
would mean for the Swiss German people, culture, etc.  Italian
literature is read all over the world _in translation_.  Admittedly,
translated literature is not most people's first choice, but it has a
world-wide audience.  Do all Russian literature enthusiasts learn
Russian?  Unfortunately not, but the number of readers of Russian
literature in translation is nonetheless immeasurably large.  Do
Italians, Czechs, Swedes, etc. feel impoverished and deprived of an
international audience because they write in a "smaller" language?  I
don't think so.  If Swiss Germans decide to continue writing in
German, that is fine, although since it is not their daily vernacular,
I personally feel that something is being sacrificed.  Also, how many
ordinary Swiss Germans who might have become great writers have not
done so as a result of a lack of facility with the standard language
(although they might have extraordinary expressive abilities in their
native language)?  I would not be easily convinced that all Swiss
Germans have equal linguistic facility in the standard language and
that such factors as socioeconomic class do not influence who does and
who does not.  Finally, by your use of the term "provincialization"
you _are_ implying that nations whose writers employ languages other
than the obvious English, French, Spanish, German, possibly Russian,
etc. are in some sense "provincial."  What does this mean really?  How
many of the readers of and contributors to SEELangs would feel
comfortable with this statement (a rhetorical question, obviously)?

Peter Slomanson
Philadelphia, USA


From aw6 at mail.evansville.edu  Wed Oct 11 19:33:09 1995
From: aw6 at mail.evansville.edu (Adrian Wanner)
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 14:33:09 -0500
Subject: Panel on utopias and
 dystopias/Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian-Swiss-German
In-Reply-To: <9510111613.AA00549@ss5mth25.franklin.com>
Message-ID: <WED.11.OCT.1995.143309.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

On Wed, 11 Oct 1995, Peter Slomanson wrote:
>
  Do
> Italians, Czechs, Swedes, etc. feel impoverished and deprived of an
> international audience because they write in a "smaller" language?  I
> don't think so.  If Swiss Germans decide to continue writing in
> German, that is fine, although since it is not their daily vernacular,
> I personally feel that something is being sacrificed.  Also, how many
> ordinary Swiss Germans who might have become great writers have not
> done so as a result of a lack of facility with the standard language
> (although they might have extraordinary expressive abilities in their
> native language)?  I would not be easily convinced that all Swiss
> Germans have equal linguistic facility in the standard language and
> that such factors as socioeconomic class do not influence who does and
> who does not.  Finally, by your use of the term "provincialization"
> you _are_ implying that nations whose writers employ languages other
> than the obvious English, French, Spanish, German, possibly Russian,
> etc. are in some sense "provincial."  What does this mean really?  How
> many of the readers of and contributors to SEELangs would feel
> comfortable with this statement (a rhetorical question, obviously)?
>
> Peter Slomanson
> Philadelphia, USA
>
It was not my intention to insult the smaller nations of Europe by
implying that their cultural achievements are somehow diminished by the
fact that they use a "minor language."  However, whether we like it or
not, it does make a difference whether one uses a language which is
understood by hundreds of millions of people or only by a few million.
True, some books get translated, but most don't!
I don't think that the current diglossia (German for writing/Swiss German
for oral communication) is necessarily a handicap for the Swiss.  There
is no evidence to suggest that the Swiss are more inept in handling
written German than the Germans.  One could even argue that the
elimination of German as a written language would leave the Swiss
linguistically impoverished, since it would deprive them of the
possibility of code-switching and make them boringly monolingual.  Swiss
writers often use the tension between the two languages in a creative
way.  To suggest that they would be better off writing in Swiss German is
like suggesting that Gogol made a mistake when he decided to write in
Russian rather than Ukrainian (I am aware that some people have this
opinion).
Of course, education and by implication, socioeconomic status, have
something to do with how well somebody writes German.  But this is hardly
unique to Switzerland, it probably applies to any society.  Note the
difficulties of Americans from the "inner city" to master the linguistic
code necessary for success in academia and business. Does that mean that
something is wrong with having standard English as a written language?


From colacino at violet.berkeley.edu  Wed Oct 11 12:27:35 1995
From: colacino at violet.berkeley.edu (Carmine Colacino)
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 13:27:35 +0100
Subject: Panel on utopias and
 dystopias/Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian-Swiss-German
Message-ID: <WED.11.OCT.1995.132735.0100.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Adrian Wanner wrote:
>It was not my intention to insult the smaller nations of Europe by
>implying that their cultural achievements are somehow diminished by the
>fact that they use a "minor language."  However, whether we like it or
>not, it does make a difference whether one uses a language which is
>understood by hundreds of millions of people or only by a few million.
>True, some books get translated, but most don't!

I just would like to ask what does it mean "smaller nation", and "minor
language"? I do not think size and/or population numbers qualify any nation
as "smaller" or "minor". This seems to me too much of a "consumistic" view:
i.e.: bigger nations=bigger population=more readers. Even though this is of
course true, in a way, I would not equate it with "provincialism." Sorry if
I misunderstood, but I did not like the terms.

Carmine Colacino

________________________________________________________

         Carmine Colacino
         Dipartimento di biologia, difesa e b.a.
         Universita` della Basilicata
         85100 Potenza, Italy

         Tel.: +39 971 474172; Fax: +39 971 474256
         Internet: colacino at pzvx85.cisit.unibas.it

________________________________________________________
         Temporary address in U.S.A.(to Nov.4, '95):
         -------------------------------------------
         Dept. of Integrative Biology
         University of California
         Berkeley, CA 94720-2465

         Tel.: (510)643-9556; Fax: (510) 643-5390
         Internet: colacino at violet.berkeley.edu

_________________________________________________________

        "When it is a question of money, everyone is of the
   same religion" -  Voltaire


From swan+ at pitt.edu  Wed Oct 11 20:27:38 1995
From: swan+ at pitt.edu (Oscar E Swan)
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 16:27:38 -0400
Subject: Request for ethnic terms
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9510111148.A7026-0100000@unixs5.cis.pitt.edu>
Message-ID: <WED.11.OCT.1995.162738.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

>
> If I am not mistaken, a crescent-type wrench in Polish is called 'klucz
> angielski' (english wrench); a special kind of Polish vise-grip wrench,
> which bears down through twisting the handle, is called a 'klucz francuski'
> (french wrench). these examples should be checked with a native-speaking
> hardware expert. and an 'amerykanski maz' american husband' is one who
is dominated by his wife.


From aw6 at mail.evansville.edu  Wed Oct 11 21:26:06 1995
From: aw6 at mail.evansville.edu (Adrian Wanner)
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 16:26:06 -0500
Subject: Panel on utopias and
 dystopias/Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian-Swiss-German
In-Reply-To: <v02130500aca1637e057f@[128.32.109.6]>
Message-ID: <WED.11.OCT.1995.162606.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

On Wed, 11 Oct 1995, Carmine Colacino wrote:
>
> I just would like to ask what does it mean "smaller nation", and "minor
> language"? I do not think size and/or population numbers qualify any nation
> as "smaller" or "minor". This seems to me too much of a "consumistic" view:
> i.e.: bigger nations=bigger population=more readers. Even though this is of
> course true, in a way, I would not equate it with "provincialism." Sorry if
> I misunderstood, but I did not like the terms.
>
> Carmine Colacino
>
I think you did misunderstand me somewhat.  I put the term "minor
language" in quotation marks to imply that I don't approve of cultural
value judgements based on the number of speakers of a given language.  On
the other hand, it is a fact of life that some languages are understood
by a large number of people, and some aren't. For that reason, it makes
more sense to publish a scholarly book in English or German than, say, in
Albanian. Of course, this does not make the English or German language
inherently "better" than Albanian, it's simply a matter of pragmatics and
a question of the audience you want to reach.


From colacino at violet.berkeley.edu  Wed Oct 11 15:07:47 1995
From: colacino at violet.berkeley.edu (Carmine Colacino)
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 16:07:47 +0100
Subject: Panel on utopias and
 dystopias/Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian-Swiss-German
Message-ID: <WED.11.OCT.1995.160747.0100.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

>On Wed, 11 Oct 1995, Adrian Wanner wrote:
>>
>I think you did misunderstand me somewhat.  I put the term "minor
>language" in quotation marks to imply that I don't approve of cultural
>value judgements based on the number of speakers of a given language.  On
>the other hand, it is a fact of life that some languages are understood
>by a large number of people, and some aren't. For that reason, it makes
>more sense to publish a scholarly book in English or German than, say, in
>Albanian. Of course, this does not make the English or German language
>inherently "better" than Albanian, it's simply a matter of pragmatics and
>a question of the audience you want to reach.

   Yes, you are right. It does make more sense to publish a scholarly book
in English (even though, perhaps, not as much as in German :) , but, of
course this doesn't have anything to do with the size or population of the
nation(s) where that language is spoken.
   There are other reasons (mainly political and/or economical, I'd say),
which make a language "international". For centuries Latin was the language
of scholar communications, then it was French, now it is English, in the
future, probably, some other one.
   The reason behind was military/economical power, nothing directly
related with the number of native speakers. I am generalizing and
simplifying, of course.
   That's why I did not like the terms "smaller" and "minor" and
"provincialism" you used.  That's not the point, I believe. After all, the
numebrs of native German, French, and Italian speakers are roughly
equivalent, still these languages have different "international" "status"
for reasons besides the size of the nation, the number of native speakers,
or any intrinsic characteristic of the language.
    Regards,

Carmine Colacino

________________________________________________________

         Carmine Colacino
         Dipartimento di biologia, difesa e b.a.
         Universita` della Basilicata
         85100 Potenza, Italy

         Tel.: +39 971 474172; Fax: +39 971 474256
         Internet: colacino at pzvx85.cisit.unibas.it

________________________________________________________
         Temporary address in U.S.A.(to Nov.4, '95):
         -------------------------------------------
         Dept. of Integrative Biology
         University of California
         Berkeley, CA 94720-2465

         Tel.: (510)643-9556; Fax: (510) 643-5390
         Internet: colacino at violet.berkeley.edu

_________________________________________________________

        "When it is a question of money, everyone is of the
   same religion" -  Voltaire


From jglomski at sas.ac.uk  Thu Oct 12 02:09:53 1995
From: jglomski at sas.ac.uk (Jacqueline Glomski)
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 22:09:53 EDT
Subject: Warburg Institute -- Mellon Research Fellowships
Message-ID: <WED.11.OCT.1995.220953.EDT.>

The Warburg Institute, London -- Mellon Research Fellowships for Scholars
in the humanities from Eastern Europe, 1996-97

The Warburg Institute
The Warburg Institute is dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of the
classical tradition - in the sense of those elements in European thought,
art and institutions that have evolved out of the cultures of the ancient
world.  Its Library and Photographic Collection are designed and arranged
to encourage research into the processes by which one culture learns from
another, and by which different fields of thought and art act on each
other.  They are particularly concerned with continuities between the
ancient Mediterranean civilizations and the cultural and intellectual
history of post-classical Europe, especially in the period to c. 1800,
and aim to document the tenacity of symbols and images in European art
and architecture, the persistence of motifs and forms in Western
languages and literatures, the gradual transition in Western thought from
magical beliefs to religion, science and philosophy, and the survival and
transformation of ancient patterns in social customs and political
institutions.

The Institute's resources comprise an open-access research library of
about 350,000 volumes, shelved with many thousands of offprints, some
3,000 journal titles and a reference collection of over 300,000
photographs complementing the material in the Library.

The Institute has an active programme of teaching, seminars, lectures and
colloquia, often arranged in collaboration with other institutions or
learned societies, both British and foreign.  Those working at the
Institute, including research fellows and scholars of many different
nationalities, are encouraged to present and discuss their research in
regular term-time seminars.

Mellon Research Fellowships
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has selected the Institute as one of ten
institutes of advanced study in Western Europe to participate in a
Fellowship programme for Eastern European scholars in the humanities.

3 three-month Fellowships are available for tenure in 1996-97 in any area
falling within the interests of the Institute.

Eligibility:
The Fellowships are open to Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Slovak
scholars.  Candidates should not be permanently resident outside the four
countries concerned.

Fellows should have obtained a doctorate or have equivalent experience.
The Fellowships are intended for younger postdoctoral scholars and,
although there is no specific age limit, preference will be given to
those under 40 years of age.

Fellows who have already held an award under this scheme are not eligible
for a second Fellowship at any of the participating institutions.

Value of Fellowships:
The value of the Fellowships will be the sterling equivalent of $10,000
each.  Given fluctuating exchange rates, the exact figure cannot be
predicted.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, in making this grant, intends that it
should cover a stipend including all living and subsistence costs; travel
and shipping costs (including travel to and from England, and other trvel
during the Fellowship); health insurance; post-Fellowship expenses
(including acquisition of materials, subscriptions, hard- and soft-ware,
membership and publications costs).
These funds will be payable to Fellows after arrival at the Institute.

Tenure:
Term dates for 1996-97 are:  30 September - 6 December 1996; 6
January - 14 March 1997; 21 April - 27 June 1997.  At least two of the
three months of the Fellowship must fall within the Institute's terms.

Selection:
No interviews will be held.
Awards will be announced in May 1996.  All candidates will be informed of
the outcome of their application.

General:
Fellows will be expected to participate in the life of the Institute and
to put their knowledge at the disposal of the Institute by presenting
their work in a seminar and by advising the Library and Photographic
Collection.  Fellows may teach elsewhere during tenure of the Fellowship
only with the express permission of the Director.  They will be required
to present a brief written report at the conclusion of their
appointment.  A Fellowship may be terminated if the Apponting Committee
is not satisfied that the conditions fo the award are being met.  All
publications containing results of work done with the aid of a Fellowship
shall include adequate acknowledgement of the fact.

Applications:
Applications should be made by letter to the Director giving the
following information:
1.  A curriculum vitae giving full details of name, date of birth,
nationality, address and present occupation, school and university
education, degrees, teaching and research experience, publications
2.  An outline of proposed research
3.  Particulars of grants received, if any, for the same subject
4.  The names and addresses of two or three persons who have agreed to
write, without further invitation, to the Director in support of the
application.  These letters of reference should reach the Director by 5
April 1996.  It is the responsibility of candidates to ask their referees
to write to the Director by this date.
5.  Copies of published work should be submitted, if possible.
Candidates should indicate whether they wish these publications to be
returned, or whether they may be given to the Institute's Library.

Applications must arrive at the Institute no later than 29 March 1996.

Applications should be made by post.  Please do NOT make applications by
e-mail.  The postal address of the Institute is:

The Warburg Institute
University of London
Woburn Square, London WC1H 0AB
UK

Telephone:  071-580-9663
Fax:  071-436-2852


From ROBORR at UOTTAWA.BITNET  Thu Oct 12 03:48:25 1995
From: ROBORR at UOTTAWA.BITNET (Robert Orr)
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 22:48:25 EST
Subject: Panel on utopias and
 dystopias/Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian-Swiss-German
In-Reply-To: Message of Wed, 11 Oct 1995 09:39:52 -0500 from
 <aw6@mail.evansville.edu>
Message-ID: <WED.11.OCT.1995.224825.EST.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

In response to Adrian Wanner's note on Schwyzertutsch (I'm afraid I can't do
umlauts on this keyboard), I must admit to feeling strong twinges of regret at
the de facto loss of Scots since the seventeenth century ....
Robert Orr


From ROBORR at UOTTAWA.BITNET  Thu Oct 12 03:53:03 1995
From: ROBORR at UOTTAWA.BITNET (Robert Orr)
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 22:53:03 EST
Subject: Request for ethnic terms
In-Reply-To: Message of Wed, 11 Oct 1995 18:27:50 IST from <avi@tovna.co.il>
Message-ID: <WED.11.OCT.1995.225303.EST.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I recently came across "il visio tedesco" ("the German vice"?) for homosexualit
y,
   Robert Orr


From djbpitt+ at pitt.edu  Thu Oct 12 11:24:09 1995
From: djbpitt+ at pitt.edu (David J Birnbaum)
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 1995 07:24:09 -0400
Subject: AATSEEL Conference Program
Message-ID: <THU.12.OCT.1995.072409.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear AATSEEL Members and Fellow Travelers,

Email has been trickling in over the past several days from people
inquiring about the AATSEEL program schedule. This schedule has been
published on the World Wide Web, and can be examined directly at
http://www.pitt.edu/~djbpitt/aatseel/program_schedule.html. This page is
also accessible through my personal home page (URL below). If you have
never used the World Wide Web before, this is a good opportunity to visit
your local computer center to check it out.

The Web version of the program is already more up to date than the version
that will appear in the October newsletter. I have accumulated a few
additional corrections that I will add next week, when I will post an
updated version on the Web. If you notice any errors while browsing the
program, please let me know by email (djbpitt+ at pitt.edu) at your earliest
convenience.

Please address questions about conference registration and AATSEEL
membership to George Gutsche <GJGAATS at CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU>.

See you all in Chicago!

David
==================================================
Professor David J. Birnbaum      djbpitt+ at pitt.edu
The Royal York Apartments, #802  http://www.pitt.edu/~djbpitt/
3955 Bigelow Boulevard           voice: 1-412-624-5712
Pittsburgh, PA  15213  USA       fax:   1-412-624-9714


From ursula.doleschal at WU-WIEN.AC.AT  Thu Oct 12 11:27:32 1995
From: ursula.doleschal at WU-WIEN.AC.AT (ursula.doleschal)
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 1995 12:27:32 +0100
Subject: "Minor" languages
Message-ID: <THU.12.OCT.1995.122732.0100.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Finally, by your use of the term "provincialization"
> you _are_ implying that nations whose writers employ languages other
> than the obvious English, French, Spanish, German, possibly Russian,
> etc. are in some sense "provincial."

 it makes
>>more sense to publish a scholarly book in English or German than, say, in
>>Albanian. Of course, this does not make the English or German language
>>inherently "better" than Albanian, it's simply a matter of pragmatics and
>>a question of the audience you want to reach.

Well,... To my mind there is an underlying problem linguists do not like to
tackle (just as to make the decision of what consitutes a language, by the
way, what is the measure for "mutual intelligibility" of spoken language?
In my personal view, e.g., standard German is mutually intelligible in
different parts of the German speaking territory, say Hannover and Vienna,
only because we have television etc. and therefore are used to different
ways of standard pronounciation, lexicon etc. But the case of Czech and
Slovak up to a very short time back looks very much the same), but back to
the above problem, namely: the degree of elaboration of languages that of
course are not "inherently better" but are chosen simply by a "matter of
pragmatics and a question of the audience you want to reach" to publish a
scholarly book in.

I think it cannot be overlooked that there are languages clearly lacking
certain registers, styles, texttypes (or whatever terminology you prefer)
that other languages have. On a course on language corpora of special
language I learnt that e.g. Danish does not  have a special language of
chemistry in the strict sense because researchers choose to publish in
other languages. Likewise there is no equivalent of magazines as the German
"Spiegel" or "Die Zeit" in Norway, as the market is too small. Therefore
linguists working on comparative stylistics of the two languages have some
difficulty with comparability. Then there is the problem of creating legal
terminology (e.g.) for Ukrainian nowadays, since obviously (I do not know
the details) this layer of language had been occupied by Russian before,
and so forth.

Therefore I contend that from a strictly linguistic point of view, too, one
can discern such differences as "minor" or "provincial", but we should have
other labels for them. Unfortunately  "elaborate", too, has an unfortunate
history (remember Bernstein). In any case the description of the mentioned
differences will always be interpreted as evaluative, so any term will
become unacceptable. Is it therefore better not to discuss such things in
academia?

Ursula Doleschal (ursula.doleschal at wu-wien.ac.at)
Institut f. Slawische Sprachen, Wirtschaftsuniv. Wien
Augasse 9, 1090 Wien, Austria
Tel.: ++43-1-31336 4115, Fax:  ++43-1-31336 744


From colacino at violet.berkeley.edu  Thu Oct 12 20:10:33 1995
From: colacino at violet.berkeley.edu (Carmine Colacino)
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 1995 12:10:33 -0800
Subject: Request for ethnic terms
Message-ID: <THU.12.OCT.1995.121033.0800.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Robert Orr wrote:
>I recently came across "il visio tedesco" ("the German vice"?) for homosexualit
>y,
>   Robert Orr


It sounds Italian, but, if that's the case, should be spelled: "il vizio
tedesco"; but I never heard this expression (I'm Italian); but maybe it is
confined to only some parts of Italy (and that could explain the "s"
instead of "z", i.e., being from a north-eastern Italian dialect.)

Probably, you already know about "chiave inglese" (monkey-wrench, according
to my dictionary), to be a "portoghese" in the sense of getting in (a
stadium, a movie theater, everywhere) without paying the ticket, or anyway
illegally (this, the story goes, started a century or so ago, when the
Portuguese embassy in Rome gave a reception only for Portuguese, and many
people went pretending to be Portuguese to enter).
Dutch treat, in Italian is "alla romana" (Roman way); "fumare come un
turco" to smoke like a Turk, refers to people that smoke a lot of
cigarettes. Parlare arabo, or sometimes Greek (this is somewhat outdated)
to speak Arabici/Greek, refers to someone that speaks in an
incomprehensible way. Alla francese (in the French way) to do a sloppy job.
There are more, but I guess you know them all.
Bye.

Carmine Colacino
12 October 1995


From SCATTONL at SNYCENVM.BITNET  Thu Oct 12 20:51:25 1995
From: SCATTONL at SNYCENVM.BITNET (Linda H. Scatton)
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 1995 15:51:25 EST
Subject: Celebration of the Zoshchenko Centenary?
In-Reply-To: Message of Wed, 11 Oct 1995 15:13:13 +1000 from
 <a.mich@loki.trl.OZ.AU>
Message-ID: <THU.12.OCT.1995.155125.EST.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Re:  Centenary of Mikhail Zoshchenko
    Alas, you are a year too late!  Zoshchenko's birth year is now mostly
accepted as 1894 and the place, St. Petersburg.  (He liked to confuse his
readers on these scores, as others.)  In 1994 we had a series of events and
publications commemorating his life and works, including a Centennial Confer-
ence in Moscow, a panel devoted to him at the December national meeting of the
American Association of Teachers of Slavic & EE Languages, a book of essays
(Litso i maska MZ) and a new, 5-volume edition of his works published in
Russia.  If you're interested in more information and update, please contact
me directly, off list, at ScattonL at ca.sunycentral.edu
    I was delighted to see another Zoshchenko fan materialize and would like to
know more about your interests.
  Sincerely, Linda Scatton, State University of New York System Administration,
             Albany, New York


From charlesg at HUMANITIES1.COHUMS.OHIO-STATE.EDU  Thu Oct 12 21:35:54 1995
From: charlesg at HUMANITIES1.COHUMS.OHIO-STATE.EDU (charlesg)
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 1995 16:35:54 -0500
Subject: ethnic expressions
Message-ID: <THU.12.OCT.1995.163554.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

          Some more ethnic expressions: in Bulgarian, japonska rabota
          means real good work, and bulgarska rabota means the
          opposite (a masochistic view).  In Serbo-Croatian, or at
          least Serbian, I've heard srpski posao for "all fouled up"
          (cf. bulgarska rabota above), and in German I've heard
          polnische Wirtschaft for the same thing.  Needless to say,
          I'm just reporting, not endorsing the views.
               Charles Gribble    (Gribble.3 at osu.edu)


From mojemj at unidhp.uni-c.dk  Thu Oct 12 21:03:07 1995
From: mojemj at unidhp.uni-c.dk (Mogens Jensen)
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 1995 22:03:07 +0100
Subject: word in russian
Message-ID: <THU.12.OCT.1995.220307.0100.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Is it OK to ask this question to the members of this list?:
what is russian for communication programme? Ie the programme you must
have to use your modem to get into contact with other modems.
And one more: what is the russian word for a video card: the device you
put into your PC to be able to see tv on your PC?
(We are producing a paper in russian about our "electronnic clasroom"
where everyone has got a portable. Best regards, Mogens Jensen.


From ROBORR at acadvm1.uottawa.ca  Fri Oct 13 04:41:19 1995
From: ROBORR at acadvm1.uottawa.ca (robert orr)
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 1995 23:41:19 EST
Subject: No subject
Message-ID: <THU.12.OCT.1995.234119.EST.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear  Seelangtsy (?)
HELP!
     Does anybody know the publishing house in Moscow that's putting out
V.B. Krysko's new book on animacy?  I ordered a copy  some months ago, and
haven't heard anything, and I gave in all the information in an expense
claim, so I haven't  got it any more.
      Thnaks in advance, Robert Orr


From ROBORR at UOTTAWA.BITNET  Fri Oct 13 04:47:06 1995
From: ROBORR at UOTTAWA.BITNET (robert orr)
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 1995 23:47:06 EST
Subject: No subject
In-Reply-To: Message of Thu, 12 Oct 1995 23:41:19 EST from
 <ROBORR@acadvm1.uottawa.ca>
Message-ID: <THU.12.OCT.1995.234706.EST.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Does anyone know who rkinnear is?    Based in Britain?   Whenever I send anythi
ng to Seelangs I keep  getting a message saying that my mail could not be
delivered to rkinnear.


From var at icp.ac.ru  Fri Oct 13 12:22:08 1995
From: var at icp.ac.ru (V.Rubtsov)
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 1995 15:22:08 +0300
Subject: word in russian
Message-ID: <FRI.13.OCT.1995.152208.0300.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

>what is russian for communication programme? Ie the programme you must
>have to use your modem to get into contact with other modems.
   I'm using UUPC and DMail of Demos (for E-mail), telnet,ftp of NCSA

>And one more: what is the russian word for a video card: the device you
>put into your PC to be able to see tv on your PC?
   I'm sorry, but I can't see tv on my PC and I don't know russian word
   for it...
                         Best regards,  Vladimir Rubtsov


From SCATTONL at SNYCENVM.BITNET  Fri Oct 13 14:01:44 1995
From: SCATTONL at SNYCENVM.BITNET (Linda H. Scatton)
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 1995 09:01:44 EST
Subject: No subject
In-Reply-To: Message of Thu, 12 Oct 1995 23:47:06 EST from <ROBORR@UOTTAWA>
Message-ID: <FRI.13.OCT.1995.090144.EST.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

About rkinnear:  I got the same message yesterday, i.e., that my posting to
SEELANGS could not be delivered to rkinnear.  Who is this masked man?
  Linda Scatton


From apollard at umich.edu  Fri Oct 13 14:15:14 1995
From: apollard at umich.edu (alan p. pollard)
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 1995 10:15:14 -0400
Subject: Translation software
Message-ID: <FRI.13.OCT.1995.101514.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Thanks to Mila Khayutin, L.C.J. Jacobson, Andrei Shkvorov, Nenad Koncar,
David Powelstock, Cindy Shapiro Tracy and Chris Buck for their advice.

Alan Pollard, U. of Mich., USA


From amitchel at library.berkeley.edu  Fri Oct 13 15:25:05 1995
From: amitchel at library.berkeley.edu (AnnMarie Mitchell)
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 1995 08:25:05 -0700
Subject: your mail
In-Reply-To: <SEELANGS%95101223431336@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Message-ID: <FRI.13.OCT.1995.082505.0700.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I'm citing the full bibliographic citation as Cornell has it.  I hope it
will help.

AnnMarie Mitchell
Librarian for Polish Collections
University of California (Berkeley)
amitchel at library.berkeley.edu


Krys_ko, V. B.
  Razvitie kategorii odushevlennosti v istorii russkogo _i_azyka / V.B.
 Krys_ko. -- Moskva : Izd-vo "Lyceum", 1994.
  221, [3] p. ; 22 cm.

  At head of title: Rossi_iska_i_a akademi_i_a nauk. Institut russkogo
 _i_azyka.
  Includes bibliographical references (p. 208-[222]).

  1. Russian language--Animacy. 2. Russian language--Case. 3. Russian
language--Grammar, Historical. 4. Russian language--Gender. I. Title.


On Thu, 12 Oct 1995, robert orr wrote:

> Dear  Seelangtsy (?)
> HELP!
>      Does anybody know the publishing house in Moscow that's putting out
> V.B. Krysko's new book on animacy?  I ordered a copy  some months ago, and
> haven't heard anything, and I gave in all the information in an expense
> claim, so I haven't  got it any more.
>       Thnaks in advance, Robert Orr
>


From swan+ at pitt.edu  Fri Oct 13 18:10:45 1995
From: swan+ at pitt.edu (Oscar E Swan)
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 1995 14:10:45 -0400
Subject: ethnic expressions
In-Reply-To: <9509128135.AA813541131@HUMANITIES1.COHUMS.OHIO-STATE.EDU>
Message-ID: <FRI.13.OCT.1995.141045.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

and, in the same spirit, in Polish Prusak (Prussian) means bedbug, and (a
favorite of mine) czeski film (a Czech movie) means something totally
incomprehensible.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Oscar E. Swan   Dept. of Slavic Languages & Literatures
1417 Cathedral of Learning   Univ. of Pittsburgh  15260
412-624-5707      swan+ at pitt.edu
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


On Thu, 12 Oct 1995, charlesg wrote:

>           Some more ethnic expressions: in Bulgarian, japonska rabota
>           means real good work, and bulgarska rabota means the
>           opposite (a masochistic view).  In Serbo-Croatian, or at
>           least Serbian, I've heard srpski posao for "all fouled up"
>           (cf. bulgarska rabota above), and in German I've heard
>           polnische Wirtschaft for the same thing.  Needless to say,
>           I'm just reporting, not endorsing the views.
>                Charles Gribble    (Gribble.3 at osu.edu)


From asosnow at cc.UManitoba.CA  Fri Oct 13 18:31:17 1995
From: asosnow at cc.UManitoba.CA (Alexandra Sosnowski)
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 1995 13:31:17 -0500
Subject: ethnic expressions
Message-ID: <FRI.13.OCT.1995.133117.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Hallo, Seelangers!

Continuing Oscar Swan's note on Polish expression "czeski film" as something
totally incomprehensible, there is one more expression for the same namely
"chin'szczyzna," something incomprehensible, difficult to understand.

Alexandra Sosnowski
University of Manitoba (Canada)
asosnow at cc.umanitoba.ca


From KOROPECK at humnet.ucla.edu  Fri Oct 13 19:58:25 1995
From: KOROPECK at humnet.ucla.edu (Roman Koropeckyj)
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 1995 11:58:25 PST
Subject: ethnic expressions
Message-ID: <FRI.13.OCT.1995.115825.PST.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Polish, of course, has yet another wonderful ethnic expression for the
 incomprehensible, namely
"tureckie kazanie" as in "siedziec jak na tureckim kazaniu.


From rafalk at atlas.uga.edu  Fri Oct 13 19:13:20 1995
From: rafalk at atlas.uga.edu (Rafal S. Konopka)
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 1995 15:13:20 -0400
Subject: ethnic expressions
Message-ID: <FRI.13.OCT.1995.151320.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Oscar E Swan wrote:
>
> and, in the same spirit, in Polish Prusak (Prussian) means bedbug, and (a
> favorite of mine) czeski film (a Czech movie) means something totally
> incomprehensible.

It is quite possible that "Prusak" means a bedbug in some dialects of
Polish, but it is not in general use, where it means a roach-like bug.

Bravo for the "czeski film"!  Let me add a few, while I'm at it:

Kanada  (Canada)--mostly of lifestyle or one's job--easy, relaxing,
lavish (affluent), comfortable.
cygan (gypsy)--a cheat, liar
cyganic (v ~= to gypsy)--to cheat, lie
milosc francuska (French love)--oral sex [Sorry, couldn't resist]
angielska flegma (English composure)--stiff-upper-lip, self-control,
slowness
holender (Dutchman)--mild expletive, in fact a euphemism for "cholera"
[functionally equivalent to "shoot".  I have never seen it              written.]
wloska kapusta (Italian cabbage)--a variety of cabbage.
franca [orig. French desease==syphilis]--something very difficult;
nasty, mean person.
chinszczyzna (Chinese)--something incomprehensible (particularly of
someone's writing--bureaucratic/legal language)
wegierka (Hungarian <fem.>)--common kind of plum.
czech (a Czech)--in soccer, a type of a kick where the ball gets a lot
of lateral spin.

If I remember something else, I'll add.

Rafal
--
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
+ Rafal S. Konopka                   Info-Spatialist Extraordinaire +
+ Linguistic Atlas Office                             316 Park Hall +
+ Department of English                            Athens, GA 30602 +
+ University of Georgia                              (706)-542-2246 +
+ email: rafalk at atlas.uga.edu              http://hyde.park.uga.edu +
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=


From jdwest at u.washington.edu  Fri Oct 13 20:25:33 1995
From: jdwest at u.washington.edu (James West)
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 1995 13:25:33 -0700
Subject: ethnic expressions
In-Reply-To: <307EBA50.2992@atlas.uga.edu>
Message-ID: <FRI.13.OCT.1995.132533.0700.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

There's a need for a little care in the collection of ethnic expressions.
"Prusak" in Russian, too, means a 'roach (Blatta orientalis, the "ryzhii
tarakan," or for Dal' the "malyi ili buryi izbnoi tarakan"), and it's a
derivative surely from "prus," which is an item of specialized horse
vocabulary - the same Slavic word as the Polish? "Prussak" with a
double-ss is the Russian for a Prussian.

                                                     James West

On Fri, 13 Oct 1995, Rafal S. Konopka wrote:

> Oscar E Swan wrote:
> >
> > and, in the same spirit, in Polish Prusak (Prussian) means bedbug, and (a
> > favorite of mine) czeski film (a Czech movie) means something totally
> > incomprehensible.
>
> It is quite possible that "Prusak" means a bedbug in some dialects of
> Polish, but it is not in general use, where it means a roach-like bug.
>
> Bravo for the "czeski film"!  Let me add a few, while I'm at it:
>
> Kanada  (Canada)--mostly of lifestyle or one's job--easy, relaxing,
> lavish (affluent), comfortable.
> cygan (gypsy)--a cheat, liar
> cyganic (v ~= to gypsy)--to cheat, lie
> milosc francuska (French love)--oral sex [Sorry, couldn't resist]
> angielska flegma (English composure)--stiff-upper-lip, self-control,
> slowness
> holender (Dutchman)--mild expletive, in fact a euphemism for "cholera"
> [functionally equivalent to "shoot".  I have never seen it
 written.]
> wloska kapusta (Italian cabbage)--a variety of cabbage.
> franca [orig. French desease==syphilis]--something very difficult;
> nasty, mean person.
> chinszczyzna (Chinese)--something incomprehensible (particularly of
> someone's writing--bureaucratic/legal language)
> wegierka (Hungarian <fem.>)--common kind of plum.
> czech (a Czech)--in soccer, a type of a kick where the ball gets a lot
> of lateral spin.
>
> If I remember something else, I'll add.
>
> Rafal
> --
> =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
> + Rafal S. Konopka                   Info-Spatialist Extraordinaire +
> + Linguistic Atlas Office                             316 Park Hall +
> + Department of English                            Athens, GA 30602 +
> + University of Georgia                              (706)-542-2246 +
> + email: rafalk at atlas.uga.edu              http://hyde.park.uga.edu +
> =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
>


From rakitya at mail.utexas.edu  Sat Oct 14 09:56:46 1995
From: rakitya at mail.utexas.edu (Anna Rakityanskaya)
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 1995 15:44:46 -1812
Subject: ethnic expressions
Message-ID: <FRI.13.OCT.1995.154446.1812.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

 >cyganic (v ~= to gypsy)--to cheat, lie

Note the different meaning of "tsyganit'" (and perfective "vytsyganit'") in
Russian: "to beg for something".

Anna Rakityanskaya
University of Texas, Austin
Internet: RAKITYA at MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU


From rar at slavic.umass.edu  Fri Oct 13 20:42:29 1995
From: rar at slavic.umass.edu (ROBERT A ROTHSTEIN)
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 1995 16:42:29 -0400
Subject: ethnic expressions
In-Reply-To: <25B40A74842@113hum1.humnet.ucla.edu>
Message-ID: <FRI.13.OCT.1995.164229.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

>
> Polish, of course, has yet another wonderful ethnic expression for the
>  incomprehensible, namely
> "tureckie kazanie" as in "siedziec jak na tureckim kazaniu.
>
        Also:  "...na niemieckim kazaniu" (...at a German sermon),
supposedly connected with the days when German predominance in
the urban population of Cracow was waning, but the sermons were
still given in German.
                                Bob Rothstein


From ABOGUSLAWSKI at Rollins.Edu  Sat Oct 14 04:10:24 1995
From: ABOGUSLAWSKI at Rollins.Edu (Alexander Boguslawski)
Date: Sat, 14 Oct 1995 00:10:24 -0400
Subject: ethnic expressions
Message-ID: <SAT.14.OCT.1995.001024.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Browsing today through my Greek dictionary, I discovered, quite accidentally,
armeniki episkepsis -- an Armenian visit (that is, unduly prolonged).  If I
find more, I'll send them for the list's enjoyment. Keep sending these notes,
they are amusing and fascinating.  Thanks!

Alex Boguslawski, Rollins College
ABoguslawski at Rollins.edu


From mucha at ruf.rice.edu  Sat Oct 14 07:02:06 1995
From: mucha at ruf.rice.edu (Waclaw Mucha)
Date: Sat, 14 Oct 1995 02:02:06 -0500
Subject: Request for ethnic terms
Message-ID: <SAT.14.OCT.1995.020206.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Oscar E. Swan wrote:
>> If I am not mistaken, a crescent-type wrench in Polish is called 'klucz
>> angielski' (english wrench); a special kind of Polish vise-grip wrench,
>> which bears down through twisting the handle, is called a 'klucz francuski'
>> (french wrench). these examples should be checked with a native-speaking
>> hardware expert.

I do not know of  "klucz angielski", but there is in Polish "klucz szwedzki"
(Swedish wrench), an adjustable flat wrench.

Oscar E. Swan wrote also:

>an 'amerykanski maz' american husband' is one who
>is dominated by his wife.
>

As far as I know, "amerykanski maz" is a boyfriend, a sexual partner for
women coming for moonlighting from Poland to the USA. Obviously, there is
also "amerykanska zona", a girlfriend, a sexual partner for men coming for
moonlighting from Poland to the USA. Since the most common place for this
adventure is Chicago, they call them usualy  "czikagowski maz" and
"czikagowska zona", Chicago husband and Chicago wife.

Let me add something to this discussion.

In Polish - one can do something:
"po zydowsku" (in a Jewish way) - in a wrong way, contrary to everyone. It's
based on the Hebrew way of writing from right to the left, from the "end" to
the "beginning".
"po amerykansku" (in an American way) - very fast and efficient. It's based
on the Polish image of America.

Speaking of ethnic terms involving Czech-related expressions, there is
another one, in Polish:
"czeski blad" (Czech error) - an error of switching the digits in a number
(instead of 458 - 485 etc.).

There are also several others, among them -- international ones. One comes
from the late Eighties, when the Communist propaganda still used to describe
the East European Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) in terms
of great success. In order to explain why such a success was possible the
following ethnic characteristics of countries-COMECON members were called out:
"polska pracowitosc" - Polish laboriousness
"rosyjska organizacja" - Russian organizational abilities
"niemieckie poczucie humoru" - German sense of humor
"czeska odwaga" - Czech courage
"bulgarska inteligencja" - Bulgarian intelligence
"rumunska uczciwosc" - Romanian honesty
"wegierski jezyk" - Hungarian language,
and
"mongolska uroda" - Mongol appearence.

Waclaw Mucha
mucha at ruf.rice.edu


From escatton at cnsvax.albany.edu  Sat Oct 14 13:11:24 1995
From: escatton at cnsvax.albany.edu (Ernest Scatton)
Date: Sat, 14 Oct 1995 09:11:24 -0400
Subject: ethnic expressions
In-Reply-To: <01HWESB1EVN60034MF@Fox.Rollins.Edu>
Message-ID: <SAT.14.OCT.1995.091124.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

********************************************************************
Ernest Scatton                               Germanic & Slavic HU254
518-442-4224 (w)                             UAlbany (SUNY)
518-482-4934 (h)                             Albany NY 12222
**********************************************************************
On Sat, 14 Oct 1995, Alexander Boguslawski wrote:

> Browsing today through my Greek dictionary, I discovered, quite accidentally,
> armeniki episkepsis -- an Armenian visit (that is, unduly prolonged).  If I
> find more, I'll send them for the list's enjoyment. Keep sending these notes,
> they are amusing and fascinating.  Thanks!
>
> Alex Boguslawski, Rollins College
> ABoguslawski at Rollins.edu
>
This reminds me of a Bulgarian expression I heard/was taught years ago:

armjansko proshtavane 'Armenian farewell': long drawn-out leave-taking.
Is this a Balkanism?


From jdwest at u.washington.edu  Sat Oct 14 19:03:07 1995
From: jdwest at u.washington.edu (James West)
Date: Sat, 14 Oct 1995 12:03:07 -0700
Subject: ethnic expressions
In-Reply-To: <01HWESB1EVN60034MF@Fox.Rollins.Edu>
Message-ID: <SAT.14.OCT.1995.120307.0700.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

"Nezvany gost' khuzhe tatarina" ... ?

                                                     James West

On Sat, 14 Oct 1995, Alexander Boguslawski wrote:

> Browsing today through my Greek dictionary, I discovered, quite accidentally,
> armeniki episkepsis -- an Armenian visit (that is, unduly prolonged).  If I
> find more, I'll send them for the list's enjoyment. Keep sending these notes,
> they are amusing and fascinating.  Thanks!
>
> Alex Boguslawski, Rollins College
> ABoguslawski at Rollins.edu
>


From escatton at ALBNYVMS.BITNET  Sun Oct 15 04:25:02 1995
From: escatton at ALBNYVMS.BITNET (Ernest Scatton)
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 1995 00:25:02 -0400
Subject: lugier
Message-ID: <SUN.15.OCT.1995.002502.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

H. Brauer, Slavische Sprachwissenschaft, vol. 1, p. 25, refers to an early
Germanic people with the German term "Lugier". The only English language
sources that I've found that refer to them use "Lugi" or "Lugii". Is
anyone aware of any others and is there anything like a "standard"
reference term for them?

********************************************************************
Ernest Scatton                               Germanic & Slavic HU254
518-442-4224 (w)                             UAlbany (SUNY)
518-482-4934 (h)                             Albany NY 12222


From JPKIRCHNER at aol.com  Sun Oct 15 16:27:35 1995
From: JPKIRCHNER at aol.com (James Kirchner)
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 1995 12:27:35 -0400
Subject: Czech calques
Message-ID: <SUN.15.OCT.1995.122735.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I'm trying to put together a list of Czech words that have been calqued
morpheme by morpheme from Latin or Greek loans that have equivalents in
English, or from German words, much as the German language societies did in
the 19th century with Latinate loanwords in their own language.

The types of words I'm thinking of would be those such as the following:

Cz     soustredovat  (cf. koncentrovat)
Eng   concentrate
     where "sou-" = "con-", "stred-" = "centr-"

Cz     vystrednik
Eng    eccentric
      where "vy-" = "ex-"

Cz     odpad  "garbage"
Ger    Abfall
      where "od-" = "ab-", "pad" = "fall"

Cz     vylet  "excursion"
Ger   Ausflug
     where "vy-" = "aus-", "let" = "flug"

The fact that in teaching Czech as a foreign language no one seems to point
out the existence of such calques, and train students to spot them, in my
opinion needlessly slows vocabulary acquisition and comprehension.  This,
next to the common insistence on teaching only words that are "spisovne" to
the exclusion of foreignisms that are often more common in the spoken
language, have always struck me as an assertion of nationalism over
pragmatism.  Teaching words like "lahev" (bottle) to the exclusion of the
more commonly used Germanism "flaska", for example, cripples the student from
the moment he or she arrives on Czech soil, making it take that much longer
to reach a working degree of comprehension.

If anyone can think of any such calques off the top of their head, or can
suggest lexical threads that would make my search easier, I'd appreciate it.

James Kirchner


From dtpit at u.washington.edu  Sun Oct 15 17:25:35 1995
From: dtpit at u.washington.edu (David Pitkethly)
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 1995 10:25:35 -0700
Subject: Czech calques
In-Reply-To: <951015122734_45073426@emout04.mail.aol.com>
Message-ID: <SUN.15.OCT.1995.102535.0700.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

 i am a Czech student and always hard at work to make some sense
(oxymoron, i think) out of this language. i would be very interested in
your list, when you even compile just a small one! anything would help!
plase send on to me. a grateful student of an impossible language, Mara

On Sun, 15 Oct 1995, James Kirchner wrote:

> I'm trying to put together a list of Czech words that have been calqued
> morpheme by morpheme from Latin or Greek loans that have equivalents in
> English, or from German words, much as the German language societies did in
> the 19th century with Latinate loanwords in their own language.
>
> The types of words I'm thinking of would be those such as the following:
>
> Cz     soustredovat  (cf. koncentrovat)
> Eng   concentrate
>      where "sou-" = "con-", "stred-" = "centr-"
>
> Cz     vystrednik
> Eng    eccentric
>       where "vy-" = "ex-"
>
> Cz     odpad  "garbage"
> Ger    Abfall
>       where "od-" = "ab-", "pad" = "fall"
>
> Cz     vylet  "excursion"
> Ger   Ausflug
>      where "vy-" = "aus-", "let" = "flug"
>
> The fact that in teaching Czech as a foreign language no one seems to point
> out the existence of such calques, and train students to spot them, in my
> opinion needlessly slows vocabulary acquisition and comprehension.  This,
> next to the common insistence on teaching only words that are "spisovne" to
> the exclusion of foreignisms that are often more common in the spoken
> language, have always struck me as an assertion of nationalism over
> pragmatism.  Teaching words like "lahev" (bottle) to the exclusion of the
> more commonly used Germanism "flaska", for example, cripples the student from
> the moment he or she arrives on Czech soil, making it take that much longer
> to reach a working degree of comprehension.
>
> If anyone can think of any such calques off the top of their head, or can
> suggest lexical threads that would make my search easier, I'd appreciate it.
>
> James Kirchner
>


From dmh27 at columbia.edu  Sun Oct 15 19:18:02 1995
From: dmh27 at columbia.edu (Daniel Michael Hendrick)
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 1995 15:18:02 -0400
Subject: Sobornost'
Message-ID: <SUN.15.OCT.1995.151802.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I am researching for a paper on sobornost, trying to consider how it has
been defined by philosophers, theologans, etc., over time.  Does anyone
know by whom and when the term was coined or first used?  Other than
Khomyakov, who might be interesting to consider - ancient or contemporary?

Any ideas would be great.

Thanks and best regards, Daniel


From johannes at compling.hu-berlin.de  Sun Oct 15 22:41:51 1995
From: johannes at compling.hu-berlin.de (Johannes Heinecke)
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 1995 23:41:51 +0100
Subject: No subject
Message-ID: <SUN.15.OCT.1995.234151.0100.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear Seelangers,

Could somebodz please help me translating the following
Russian saying, especially if it contains any ambiguity:

  Ne znayu, net - odno slovo, uznal, uvidel tysyacha slov

Thank you very much
Johannes Heinecke
Computerlinguistik
Humboldt Universit"at zu Berlin
<heinecke at compling.hu-berlin.de>


From billings at mailer.fsu.edu  Mon Oct 16 02:32:43 1995
From: billings at mailer.fsu.edu (Loren A. Billings)
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 1995 22:32:43 EDT
Subject: Czech calques
In-Reply-To: <951015122734_45073426@emout04.mail.aol.com> from "James
 Kirchner" at Oct 15, 95 12:27:35 pm
Message-ID: <SUN.15.OCT.1995.223243.EDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear colleagues:

I'd like to quibble with one thing mentioned in the repeated message
below, which reached me on Sunday.  James writes that "in teaching Czech
as a foreign language no one seems to point out the existence of such
calques, and train students to spot them ..."  In fact, Charles Townsend,
who teaches Czech at Princeton, spends a good while pointing out such
calques.  He is especially qualified to do so, having majored in German
(if I'm not mistaken).  Allow me to quote a more complicated such example
of a more phrasal nature.  In his _Czech through Russian_ (Columbus:
Slavica, 1981), he devotes an entire paragraph to Germanic influence:

     "The West Slavic Czechs, with their Roman Catholic heritage and Latin
alphabet from almost their earliest times, have long belonged
geopolitically and economically to Central Europe, where the dominant
linguistic influence was German.  In spite of the periodic efforts
to purge the language of Germanisms, it is worth remembering that
until the end of World War I the standard literary language and,
often, the primary spoken language of the Czech lands was not Czech
but German, and that a number of times during the 300 years
preceding the formation of the Czechoslovak state the Czech language
came close to extinction.  In any case, it contains a large number
of borrowings from German, both from an earlier stage where they are
phonetically now less obvious; e.g. _r^i's^e_ - _Reich_ 'empire,'
_va'noce_ - _Weihnachten_ 'Christmas,' and more modern words; e.g.
_deka_ - _Decke_ 'blanket,' _ks^eft_ - _Gesch[ae]ft_ 'business.'
Perhaps more important are the more important are the very numerous
loan translations; e.g. _mi't ra'd_ - _gern haben_ 'like,' _pr^iji't
o z^ivot_ - _ums Leben kommen_ 'die.'  The influence of these translations
may even reach a point where fundamental grammatical patterns are
violated; e.g. _vyznat se v c^em_ 'to be well-versed in something' has a
perfective format but is used imperfectively, because it is simply a
calque from German _sich auskennen in etwas_." [p. 7]

I don't have time to leaf through the entire book.  Certainly there are
other such examples there (and in his _A description of Spoken Prague Czech_,
Slavica, 1990).  The point is that someone DOES refer to calques--at least
the ones from German.  I personally recall _vy'let_ (< _Ausflug), mentioned
below, and others during my studies of Czech with Townsend.  As for the
wisdom of doing so, it is certainly helpful for those who have had German.
I had not taken German in any detail at that point and it was not directly
helpful for me.

Finally, Townsend does also concentrate on colloquialisms such as _la'hev_
instead of the more literary _flas^ka_ (_Spoken Prague Czech_, p. 120).

I think this corrects the record sufficiently.  Best,  --Loren Billings

billings at mailer.fsu.edu


From JPKIRCHNER at aol.com  Mon Oct 16 05:08:25 1995
From: JPKIRCHNER at aol.com (James Kirchner)
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 01:08:25 -0400
Subject: Czech calques
Message-ID: <MON.16.OCT.1995.010825.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

On Oct 15, 1995, Loren Billings wrote:

>I'd like to quibble with one thing mentioned in the repeated message
>below, which reached me on Sunday.  James writes that "in teaching Czech
>as a foreign language no one seems to point out the existence of such
>calques, and train students to spot them ..."  In fact, Charles Townsend,
>who teaches Czech at Princeton, spends a good while pointing out such
>calques.  He is especially qualified to do so, having majored in German
>(if I'm not mistaken).

I stand corrected on the fact that NO ONE seems to cover these calques.
 However, I would argue that at least the Latinate ones should definitely be
covered in beginning Czech texts for English speakers who do not know enough
Russian or Czech to make sense of Townsend's two excellent books (or who have
not been accepted to Princeton).  Making students aware early on of the fact
that they will encounter such words would, at least for many people, greatly
ease the acquisition of vocabulary dealing with abstracts, and allow them to
decipher a lot of these words on their own as they go along.  It simply seems
counterproductive to me to wait to discuss such lexical items until after the
students have probably already mastered them in some less mnemonic way.

I don't teach Czech, though, so if someone can tell me why the basics of such
things are handled so late (and in German instruction as well), I'd be
interested to know about it.

James Kirchner


From RALPH at hum.port.ac.uk  Mon Oct 16 15:08:33 1995
From: RALPH at hum.port.ac.uk (Ralph Cleminson)
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 11:08:33 EDT
Subject: ethnic expressions
Message-ID: <MON.16.OCT.1995.110833.EDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

On 13.10.95 James West wrote:
> There's a need for a little care in the collection of ethnic expressions.
> "Prusak" in Russian, too, means a 'roach (Blatta orientalis, the "ryzhii
> tarakan," or for Dal' the "malyi ili buryi izbnoi tarakan"), and it's a
> derivative surely from "prus," which is an item of specialized horse
> vocabulary - the same Slavic word as the Polish? "Prussak" with a
> double-ss is the Russian for a Prussian.
>
On the other hand, "svab" in Hungarian is also a cockroach, which
suggests a similar attitude to the Germans.

Re Pol. "cygan, cyganic" (liar, to lie), Slovak "Cigan, ciganit" have
the same meaning.

And Slovak "Mad'ar" is a spot or boil ( a pun on "uhor").

======================================================================
Ralph Cleminson, Reader in Slavonic Studies, University of Portsmouth
ralph at hum.port.ac.uk
http://www.hum.port.ac.uk/Users/ralph.cleminson/home.htm
======================================================================


From cronk at gac.edu  Mon Oct 16 15:43:42 1995
From: cronk at gac.edu (Denis Crnkovic)
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 10:43:42 -0500
Subject: Averintsev book
Message-ID: <MON.16.OCT.1995.104342.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Colleagues!

Does anyone know if Sergie Averintsev's planned book on the connections
between the Russian reforms and Russian Orthodx faith and culture has
appeared yet? I have seen several oblique mentions of it, but have not seen
it advertised.

Thanks in advance,

Denis C.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Denis Crnkovic'
Russian Language and Area Studies
Gustavus Adolphus College
Saint Peter, Minnesota 56082
cronk at gac.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In paradisum deducant te angeli...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


From KER4 at PSUVM.PSU.EDU  Mon Oct 16 15:52:00 1995
From: KER4 at PSUVM.PSU.EDU (Karen Robblee)
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 11:52:00 EDT
Subject: Assessment of study abroad programs
Message-ID: <MON.16.OCT.1995.115200.EDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear Colleagues,

In order to assess the success of our summer study abroad program in
Russia, our dean has recently asked us to implement pre- and
post-testing of students who participate.  I am familiar with the ACTFL
oral proficiency examination as a means of testing.  It is my
understanding, however, that it can only be conducted by certified
testers in person.  Are there other types of tests available?  What do
other colleges and universities used to assess their language programs
abroad.

Please respond to me personally.  If there is an interest, I will post a
summary of responses to the list.

Sincerely,
Karen Robblee


From TOOPS at TWSUVM.UC.TWSU.EDU  Mon Oct 16 15:48:57 1995
From: TOOPS at TWSUVM.UC.TWSU.EDU (Gary Toops)
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 10:48:57 CDT
Subject: CALQUES IN CZECH
Message-ID: <MON.16.OCT.1995.104857.CDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I guess it's time I put in my two cents' worth.  In the past ten
years I've had various occasions to teach both Czech and Upper
Sorbian.  On no occasion did I find it beneficial to point out
German and Latin calques (whether morphological, semantic, or
phraseological) to my students.  The fact of the matter is that
if students do not have more than a mere smattering of German,
pointing out to them that Czech _vy'let_ is a calque of German
_Ausflug_ is simply going to be meaningless to them.  If, on the
other hand, students do know German fairly well, the connection
between Czech _vy'let_ (or, for that matter, USo _wule~t_) and
German _Ausflug_ is going to be obvious to them, so why bother
to point it out in the first place?

I'll be the first to admit that knowing German *before* beginning
to study Czech, Slovak, Upper Sorbian, or Lower Sorbian, definitely
makes those languages easier to learn than they would be
without a previous knowledge of German.  Indeed, I recall a time
when Slavic departments in this country required that their gradu-
ate students have a (reading?) knowledge of French and/or German
in addition to a familiarity with at least one Slavic language
besides Russian.  But I'm personally acquainted with three American
Slavists who have become quite proficient in Czech and who to
this day barely know a word of German.  This may seem incongruous
to those of us who constantly have recourse to German in our
ongoing study of certain West Slavic languages, but, as they say,
if you've never had it (in this case, German), you don't miss it.
A while back I even surprised myself by writing in an article:

     The fact that the grammar of a particular Slavic language
     exhibits certain syntactico-semantic results of having
     been influenced by German is frequently presumed to mean
     that the Slavic language in question displays features
     resulting from direct imitation.  Often such presumptions
     appear to render unnecessary the pursuit of further lin-
     guistic inquiry along the lines in question.  A predispo-
     sition to attribute various West Slavic grammatical
     phenomena solely to German influence may, in fact, obscure
     both an awareness and an understanding of grammatical
     processes operating *within* a particular Slavic language
     itself.
     (_Germano-Slavica_ 7 (1992):2 + 8 (1993):1, p. 3)


Sorry, I didn't realize this posting had gotten so long!


Gary H. Toops                               TOOPS at TWSUVM.UC.TWSU.EDU
Associate Professor                         Ph (316) 689-3180
Wichita State University                    Fx (316) 689-3293
Wichita, Kansas 67260-0011 USA


From Devin_Asay at byu.edu  Mon Oct 16 16:10:02 1995
From: Devin_Asay at byu.edu (Devin Asay)
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 10:10:02 -0600
Subject: Request for ethnic terms
Message-ID: <MON.16.OCT.1995.101002.0600.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Tony:

I noticed your request sent to the SEELangs list for ethnic terms.  There
has been a good deal of activity and some rather long lists have appeared
on the list.  I noticed that you requested that these terms be mailed
directly to you.  I suspect that most of the contributers missed that
request and simply replied to the list.  If you've not received these
responses, or you haven't monitered the list to see them, I'd be happy to
forward them to you.

Some fascinating stuff, BTW.

Devin


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Devin Asay
Assistant Research Consultant
Humanities Research Center
Brigham Young University
3045A JKHB                                   Tel:  (801) 378-6510
PO Box 26106                           Fax:  (801) 378-4649
Provo, UT  84602-6106                  Internet: Devin_Asay at byu.edu


From Devin_Asay at byu.edu  Mon Oct 16 16:16:37 1995
From: Devin_Asay at byu.edu (Devin Asay)
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 10:16:37 -0600
Subject: Request for ethnic terms
Message-ID: <MON.16.OCT.1995.101637.0600.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

On a message I just sent I said:

>Tony:
>
>I noticed your request sent to the SEELangs list for ethnic terms.  There
>has been a good deal of activity and some rather long lists have appeared
>on the list.  I noticed that you requested that these terms be mailed
>directly to you.  I suspect that most of the contributers missed that
>request and simply replied to the list.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Of course, I, being the techno-whiz that I am, did exactly the same thing.
Please ignore the previous posting.  Sorry for the error.

Devin


From MARTA at vms.cis.pitt.edu  Mon Oct 16 16:30:03 1995
From: MARTA at vms.cis.pitt.edu (MARTHA SNODGRASS, REES)
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 12:30:03 -0400
Subject: Assessment of study abroad programs
Message-ID: <MON.16.OCT.1995.123003.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I am sorry I cannot suggest another testing method or standard.
I would like to remain in this discussion because our university's Center for
International Studies is also investigating pre- and post-study abroad language
testing.

Martha Snodgrass
Center for Russian and East European Studies
University of Pittsburgh


From henry at blue.weeg.uiowa.edu  Mon Oct 16 16:46:10 1995
From: henry at blue.weeg.uiowa.edu (Kathryn Henry)
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 11:46:10 -0500
Subject: Outcomes Assessment
Message-ID: <MON.16.OCT.1995.114610.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I am interested in collecting information on outcomes assessment for
undergraduate Russian majors. I am aware of many possible kinds of
assessment. I am most interested in knowing what specific measures are
currently being used by Russian or Slavic Departments. (I assume some
programs have been asked by administrators to report on outcomes, some
are doing so of their own accord, and some are not doing this at all.)

Thank you,
Kathryn Henry
University of Iowa
kathryn-henry at uiowa.edu


From MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu  Mon Oct 16 19:25:11 1995
From: MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (Emily Tall)
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 15:25:11 -0400
Subject: Outcomes Assessment
Message-ID: <MON.16.OCT.1995.152511.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I think this question is of interest to many of us, so let's keep it on
list. At SUNY Buffalo, the first time we sent students to Tver I was
anxious to see their progress so I got money from my chair (about $120)
to have them take the Educ. Testing Service Russian proficiency exam.
I was satisfied with the results (although I should point out that they
do not score the writing and speaking parts--you have to do it yourself),
and I have not used that test since because of the cost. I should also
point out that there is a separate test for advanced students, so some
students who make a lot of progress might not have that progress show
on the other test. Since then no one has asked me for any formal
measures. This year for the first time we sent a group of students for
2 months in the summer who had two years of Russian previously and they
also made a lot of progress, especially in comprehension and speaking.
Emily Tall SUNY/Buffalo


From beyer at midd-unix.middlebury.edu  Mon Oct 16 20:37:49 1995
From: beyer at midd-unix.middlebury.edu (Thomas R. Jr. Beyer)
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 16:37:49 -0400
Subject: Assessment of study abroad programs
In-Reply-To: <SEELANGS%95101611531427@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Message-ID: <MON.16.OCT.1995.163749.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

It appears that there is considerable interest in this topic of
assessment.  The ACTFL oral proficiency interview is to my knowledge the
only "objective" standard for testing currently available.  The ETS
reading, lsitening and writing exams are no longer available as far as I
know, but I would be eager to hear otherwise.  The OPI has several
disadvantages: time and money.  They require approximately twenty minutes
per testee (if not more) and they are expensive-I believe it now costs
$70 for an exam that has been scored by two testers.
The alternative, however, to do the testing on your own has no validity
or comparability across programs or institutions.  It would be useful if
AATSEEL or individuals in the profession could obtain permission from ETS
to use the existing materials.

On Mon, 16 Oct 1995, Karen Robblee wrote:

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> In order to assess the success of our summer study abroad program in
> Russia, our dean has recently asked us to implement pre- and
> post-testing of students who participate.  I am familiar with the ACTFL
> oral proficiency examination as a means of testing.  It is my
> understanding, however, that it can only be conducted by certified
> testers in person.  Are there other types of tests available?  What do
> other colleges and universities used to assess their language programs
> abroad.
>
> Please respond to me personally.  If there is an interest, I will post a
> summary of responses to the list.
>
> Sincerely,
> Karen Robblee
>


From MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu  Tue Oct 17 00:50:24 1995
From: MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (Emily Tall)
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 20:50:24 -0400
Subject: Assessment of study abroad programs
Message-ID: <MON.16.OCT.1995.205024.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

What happened to the ETS Russian exam? You mean it's no longer available
after they put all that work into it? (This query is directed to Tom
Beyer but I think lots of us are interested in the response.) E. Tall


From THOMASPA at interramp.com  Tue Oct 17 02:26:58 1995
From: THOMASPA at interramp.com (Peter A. Thomas)
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 21:26:58 EST
Subject: Try this
Message-ID: <MON.16.OCT.1995.212658.EST.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

The conclusions and recommendations of the National Foreign Language Center's
study of the teaching of Russian in the US should be of interest to subscribers
to SEELANGS.  See below, past the forwarding messages.
Linda Scatton, State University of New York
----------------------------Original message----------------------------

--condor.ca.sunycentral.edu:813602648:1570177694:1511456809:-1996962318
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII


-------------------------------------
>>From Peter A. Thomas
Director, IDAS
State University of New York
SUNY Plaza
Albany, NY  12246
THOMASPA at INTERRAMP.COM
518 443-5125    465-4992 (Fax)


--condor.ca.sunycentral.edu:813602648:1570177694:1511456809:-1996962318
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; SizeOnDisk=34994; name="RUSSIAN.TXT"; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Description: RUSSIAN.TXT

                     [Academe Today: Document Archive]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted October 12, 1995: the conclusions and recommendations of the
National Foreign Language Center's study of the teaching of Russian in the
United States:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

  RUSSIAN IN THE UNITED STATES: A Case Study of America's Language
  Needs and Capacities

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

  The conclusions reached in this study point to the need for
  intervention strategies which strengthen national capacity in
  Russian as the most effective strategy, from the point of view
  of results and cost, for addressing national needs in the
  language. Accordingly, the recommendations of this report are
  directed at the Russian language field as a whole, specifically
  at strengthening the base structures of the field and the
  academic "flagship" programs. We leave aside discussion of the
  infrastructure elements-not because recommendations cannot be
  made, but for the sake of focusing on the most pivotal aspects
  of a very complex problem.

  Before stating the conclusions and recommendations following
  from the analysis in Parts 1 and 2, we provide the following
  underlying premises upon which they rest:

  First, recommendations must address strategic concerns, not
  necessarily the issues of the day. Any advantage provided by a
  report such as this must be fully exploited for the long term
  because the impetus and energy for reform cannot be of frequent
  occurrence.

  Second, the situation of Russian as a less commonly taught
  language (LCTL), with regard to both demand and supply
  (including student enrollments), most probably will not change
  in the foreseeable future. Even with demand rising, as it
  apparently is doing, the current level of that demand is low
  and will probably remain so in comparison with, say, Spanish.
  Accordingly, strategies are needed to maximize fieldwide
  resources in support of dispersed expertise and marginalized
  programs, particularly within the academic sector.

  Third, there are few additional resources available to foreign
  language in general, and Russian in particular, from either
  public or private sources. Public perceptions will not
  tolerate any major financial commitment to the field unless
  something drastic happens in that area of the world.
  Therefore, the primary strategy must focus on the reallocation
  of resources rather than on the securing of major new funding.

  Fourth, against this background of limited resources, those
  issues must be addressed that offer the greatest return for the
  investment. This means that resources should be directed at
  targets affecting fieldwide, cross-sector capacity. Collective
  action is needed to address problems common to institutions and
  sectors.

  Fifth, measures recommended must be realistic; that is, they
  have to have some chance of being adopted by the field. While
  leadership is needed, reform both at the field and at the
  institutional level must be perceived as addressing vital
  issues in a manner that does not threaten the professionals and
  the good they are presently doing.

  Finally, the future of education in general and language
  training in particular will include much more attention to
  individualized learning environments. Such environments are
  defined by their accessibility when and where the need for
  learning arises and by their direct relevance to the need
  provoking the learning. This type of "just in time, just in
  place, and just in need" learning presumes a heavy reliance on
  distance education and, in particular, on electronic
  networking. The professionalization of this
  distance-language-learning industry will depend on individual
  fields setting the standards and, where feasible, providing the
  centralized facilities that would enable the delivery of
  quality programs, courses, modules, and learning materials.

  With regard to the conclusions and recommendations of this
  report it must also be stated clearly that much more needs to
  be said about our national needs and capacity in Russian than
  the current study attempts. In part these omissions are a
  result of time pressures and resource constraints. However,
  the recognition of omissions is also a result of the
  comprehensive analysis attempted here, for the process of the
  study revealed what more such a study could and should do. For
  example, the model of analysis with which we are operating
  requires much more elaboration concerning national needs and
  demand than was possible to include here. What are our
  national needs with regard to communicating with Russians and
  Russian speakers?  How can we determine them in the near and
  the long term?  What are the exact tasks demanded and the
  domains, skills, levels, and modes required?  We also need to
  understand better the supply system, in particular just what is
  being produced and how it matches the tasks demanded. And how
  can this characterization of supply impact on capacity in
  general and on educational programs in particular?  These and
  similar questions provoke the first recommendation we make
  below.

  CONCLUSIONS

  Before turning to recommendations, it is appropriate to
  summarize the principal conclusions of this study.

  All indications point to a long-term national need for
  linguistically competent users of Russian in the United States.
  The meager actual demand and current low student enrollments
  belie the importance of effective interactions between Russia
  and the United States in the foreseeable future (Chapter 1).

  While the market forces of supply and demand seem to be
  sufficient at the present time, there are clear indications
  that the supply system is not operating efficiently and that
  its ability to respond to projected increases in demand is
  uncertain. The argument for inefficiency derives from the fact
  that the federal and private sectors feel the need to invest
  significant resources in language training facilities on top of
  those already supporting existing language programs in schools,
  colleges, and universities. Questions concerning the ability
  to respond to shifts in demand derive from deficiencies in the
  field architecture that underlies national capacity as well as
  from the failure on the part of the supply sectors to interact
  in a manner to make cumulative their experience, resources, and
  expertise (Chapters 2 and 3).

  The supply system, in particular the academic sector, is not
  producing a sufficient number of program graduates at a high
  enough level of competence in Russian. Enrollments are
  declining at a time when they should be increasing, and the
  levels of student competence produced do not instill sufficient
  confidence in enterprises anxious to hire Russian-proficient
  students directly out of school (Chapter 2).

  Our national capacity in Russian, as defined by fieldwide
  architecture, including flagship programs, can be significantly
  improved. Each aspect of the field architecture can be
  enhanced, while some entirely new elements should be added
  (Chapter 3).

  Undergraduate programs could benefit significantly by
  restructuring and by reallocating resources. Refocusing on the
  applied mission and reallocating resources to the higher levels
  of instruction are legitimate issues for consideration (Chapter
  4).

  High school programs are in need of support, particularly with
  regard to teacher training and the support of flagship
  programs. The marginalized status of Russian teachers and
  programs must be mitigated, while the fate of flagship programs
  cannot be left entirely in the hands of "adolescent market
  forces" (Chapter 5).

  RECOMMENDATIONS

  The recommendations that flow from these conclusions are broken
  down here into the following categories:  (1) those addressing
  the overall system of language needs in the United States; (2)
  those addressing directly national capacity in Russian in the
  form of field development and strengthening; and (3) those
  addressing Russian programs in the schools and the colleges and
  universities.

  The Overall System of Language Needs in the United States

  Recommendation 1:  A national database should be constructed
  and maintained that provides information on current and
  projected supply and demand, needs and capacity for Russian as
  well as for other languages.

  Rationale:  We simply do not have the data on what the national
  demand for Russian is, nor do we have a comprehensive picture
  of the supply that the five sectors are delivering, in terms
  both of numbers and of competency levels. On the strategic
  level, an estimation of current and future needs, let alone
  lost opportunities, is very difficult to make, nor is there an
  accepted definition of capacity. The remedy for this situation
  is data. The nation needs a data collection process that builds
  on what is already being collected by private and public
  associations, agencies, and institutions. This effort might
  take the shape of a "Center for Language Statistics" whose
  purpose would be to bring together electronically all the data
  being collected into one central base, making the data
  compatible, filling in the lacunae, adjusting to changing data
  requirements, comprehensively analyzing the data, and broadly
  disseminating the data and results of analysis. Such a process
  could serve as a guide to policymakers and program designers in
  all five sectors. In addition, it would provide important
  information to students so that they could make informed
  judgments concerning language choice and expectations of
  proficiency as well as employment.

  Recommendation 2:  The United States should initiate a
  long-term language policy planning process aimed at addressing
  the strategic national needs for language in general and in the
  LCTLs and Russian in particular.

  Rationale:  This country has in place, on an ad hoc basis,
  language policy at the national, state, and local levels. The
  problem is that this policy is not explicit, nor are the
  policies at the different levels coordinated. Whether Russian
  or any other LCTL survives in the educational system depends on
  a myriad of local decisions, but the impact is indeed national.
  On the other hand, the major national resource represented by
  the rich diversity of our heritage communities is, for all
  intents and purposes, going to waste as we spend most of our
  effort inducing, for example, English speakers to learn Chinese
  and native-speaking Chinese to learn English. Language policy
  is important to this country and to the survival of Russian,
  and some more explicit process needs to be set in place that
  will begin to address the issues strategically on the national,
  state, regional, and local levels. This "National Language
  Strategy" needs to address the economic, political, and social
  aspects of language policy and begin to come to grips with the
  obstacles to and incentives for this country's having a
  citizenry able to deal with others in a language other than
  their native English.

  Recommendation 3:  A strategy must be devised to enable
  individuals as well as institutions to have "on demand" access
  to expertise, programs, and learning materials, all of which
  are accumulated centrally and answer to fieldwide standards of
  quality.

  Rationale:  The language learning needs called for in today's
  world entail the delivery of learning environments to more
  learners of more languages for more language functions. Given
  this vastly enlarged mandate, no institution or program can be
  expected to have the resources and expertise to provide the
  wide range of learning environments required. Nor is language
  learning any longer conceivable exclusively in terms of
  organized programs for young learners. The "just in time, just
  in place, and just in need" language learning delivery system
  has to be put in place, allowing learning on demand as
  professionals engaged in their careers encounter the need for
  language. Accordingly, each language field should have
  available one or more such "Language Resource Centers" devoted
  explicitly to its own needs (see below). Such centers should
  be sustainable because the services and materials they provide
  are valuable enough to survive on the "market."  However, it
  makes little sense for each field to have to develop its own
  electronic communications system, its own software development
  shop, its own video materials development facilities; nor is it
  reasonable to expect each LCTL field to have on its own the
  expertise needed to support such facilities. Such resources
  and expertise should be provided centrally, presumably in the
  form of a national language systems development and delivery
  shop. Again, in the interest of quality and
  cost-effectiveness, the existence of such a facility would
  greatly assist the establishment of the language-specific
  national resource centers, which in turn would make possible
  the kind of individualized instruction and program reform
  called for throughout this study.(1)

  Aspects of National Capacity: Field Development

  Recommendation 4:  Graduate education in Russian/Slavic should
  be reformed in order to produce more effectively the expertise
  needed to strengthen Russian language learning and teaching in
  the United States.

  Rationale:  The expertise base of the Russian field for all
  four domestic sectors depends on the graduate education
  provided by American institutions of higher learning. Given
  the dearth of professional second language acquisition (SLA)
  expertise in Russian, a special effort must be made to
  establish a set of flagship graduate programs in applied
  linguistics and Russian as a second language. Because of the
  sparseness of SLA expertise in existing faculties around the
  country, graduate programs so designed would have to be
  regional, serving areas of the country and drawing upon faculty
  from different institutions, presumably by means of
  telecommunications. The expertise required for such graduate
  programs would include anthropological, cognitive,
  sociological, and educational as well as linguistic.

  Recommendation 5:  Develop a fieldwide "Language Learning
  Framework."

  Rationale:  Russian programs at all levels of education and in
  all supply sectors are in need of standards by which students
  and policymakers can assess their success or failure. In
  particular, decisions regarding design of curricula, learning
  materials, and teacher training should be made on the basis of
  agreed-upon fieldwide standards defining what learning and what
  outcomes are expected for which goals. Such standards must be
  directed at defining what knowledge is required for what
  communication tasks, and how learners can design and manage
  their own learning under the conditions present in the local
  learning environment. Such a "Language Learning Framework" can
  then serve as a fieldwide guide to the design of language
  training programs, materials, and teacher training programs.
  It cannot dictate what each institution does, but it will allow
  local policymakers to place their program design and results in
  a national perspective.(2)

  Recommendation 6:  Develop and support a National Russian
  Language Resource Center.

  Rationale:  In order for reform to take place at the
  institutional level, as we discuss below, particularly reform
  directed toward a much broader menu of learning options, many
  more resources are needed than any one institution can muster
  on its own. Therefore, a strategy is needed to accumulate the
  resources of a field, particularly one with relatively sparse
  resources like Russian (as compared with French, for example),
  and distribute them to individuals for "just in time" learning
  or to programs that are in need of supplemental resources
  unavailable at the local level. One possible strategy is to
  develop a fieldwide national resource center that, for the most
  part, collects and distributes resources electronically. To
  assure quality, such a fieldwide enterprise should be overseen
  by a national panel of experts drawn from all five sectors. In
  addition, its existence should be validated by the demands made
  on it by programs around the country. In fact, if one center
  is not up to the task, competition from another is to be
  encouraged.

  Recommendation 7:  Develop a fieldwide planning process.

  Rationale:  The Russian field is facing a crisis within the
  academic sector as a result of significant reductions in
  student enrollments; these enrollment reductions threaten
  support for graduate students as well as the very existence of
  school, undergraduate, and graduate programs. (Such enrollment
  cycles have occurred in the past, but the changed status of
  Russia and the real possibility of greatly reduced federal
  funding suggest that merely waiting for the inevitable
  "upswing" may be futile.)  This problem has direct consequences
  far beyond the academic sector. On the one hand, diminished
  student enrollments reduce the pool of Americans knowing
  Russian from which other sectors draw. On the other hand,
  these reductions diminish the support for graduate students and
  put at risk the very existence of graduate programs, a direct
  threat to the future expertise base of the field. Thus, all
  sectors have a stake in addressing these and other issues
  raised in the present report. Unfortunately, though, the
  supply sectors have no experience either in collaboration or in
  strategic planning. Inaction, essentially relying on the
  natural course of events under these uncertain conditions,
  seems foolhardy, particularly when there is little risk in
  attempting such strategic planning and policy formulation.
  Therefore, we propose the establishment of a fieldwide task
  force, with representation from all the sectors and existing
  national organizations, including:  the American Association
  for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, the American Association
  of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages, the American
  Council of Teachers of Russian, the Center for the Advancement
  of Language Learning, the National Council of Organizations of
  Less Commonly Taught Languages, the National Foreign Language
  Center, the Foreign Service Institute, the Defense Language
  Institute, the Interagency Language Roundtable, AT&T Language
  Line Services, and any other interested stakeholder. The
  mandate of this task force is to develop an ongoing strategic
  planning process, based on a coordinated data collection
  system,(3) as well as to serve as a national voice for Russian
  in language policy discussions in the public and private
  sectors.

  This process should result in a mechanism to ensure information
  sharing and collaboration across all supply sectors. Equally
  important as developing a strategic planning and policy
  formulation process are the will and the means to turn
  strategic planning into action. At this point there are no
  mechanisms to enable all five supply sectors to become informed
  about one another, let alone to share valuable resources. This
  task force must develop a permanent venue, perhaps in the form
  of a National Russian Language Coordinating Council, that
  brings together representatives from the academic, heritage,
  private, and public sectors for the purpose at least of
  exploring the issues raised in this report and the possibility
  of concerted effort in their behalf. Effective communication
  of this entire process will require, at the minimum, the
  setting up of a page, or a set of pages, on the World Wide Web,
  thus enabling input and information dissemination nationally
  and worldwide.

  Recommendation 8:  Establish a national initiative to support
  flagship programs.

  Rationale:  As this report is being written, important programs
  in schools and in colleges and universities across the nation
  are coming under threat of reduction or elimination as a result
  of declining enrollments. Accordingly, a mechanism is needed
  to guarantee the continued existence of a critical mass of
  Russian language flagship programs in schools and universities,
  particularly in the current atmosphere of inattention to Russia
  and Russian. The initiative should include a range of
  measures, for example:

  * A national alert network, enabling the field to respond by
    providing testimony to policymakers who are threatening
    important programs.

  * A reform plan outlining a concrete agenda for strengthening
    both the attractiveness and the effectiveness of
    institutional flagship programs. This reform should be
    supported by the field in the form of assistance from the
    National Russian Language Resource Center, contingent upon
    agreement from administrators to leave institutional
    resources in place to implement the reform.

  * Private and public funding efforts aimed at providing some
    sort of temporary subsidy to flagship programs to prevent
    marginal enrollments from eliminating whole courses or
    eliminating entire programs. (On the school level this
    subsidy can take the shape of support for exchanges with
    Russia, which is a proven method for winning support from
    administrators and for drawing students into Russian
    courses.)

  * Electronic links among these flagship programs that would
    enable them to support each other and serve as a collective
    national resource for the field.

  Such an initiative on the national level could properly be
  viewed as maintaining diversity in high school language
  offerings, for without such intervention there is a genuine
  risk that the LCTLs, including Russian, could be eliminated
  from the schools, if not from most colleges and universities.

  The Schools and the Colleges and Universities

  The Schools

  Recommendation 9:  Develop a strong high school component of
  the National Russian Language Resource Center that would be
  capable of providing, through telecommunications and computer
  networks, at least the following:

  * in-service teacher training in pedagogy and, in particular,
    in spoken-Russian skills;

  * high-quality pedagogical materials developed by other
    experienced teachers and by SLA experts;

  * authentic materials in the form of current newspaper
    articles, movies, and television programming;

  * on-line and downloadable courses and modules for students at
    different levels to work on independently after school and
    while in multilevel courses;

  * attractive cultural materials that can be used to strengthen
    the general-education component of beginning and intermediate
    courses, in order to increase retention of students; and

  * on-line telecommunications capability to permit information
    sharing and  networking" among teachers and among learners.

  Rationale:  Measures like these are aimed at addressing the
  "marginalized" status of Russian programs in schools by:

  * providing assistance in drawing students into the program as
    well as retaining students once they are enrolled by
    providing a much richer, more attractive, individualized
    curriculum that addresses student motivations, goals, and
    expectations;

  * providing more time-on-task for students, particularly those
    trapped in large or multilevel classes, through computer and
    telecommunications technology;

  * freeing teachers' time for planning and student consultation
    by providing pedagogical and authentic materials that are
    immediately usable in class;

  * providing convenient, nonthreatening in-service teacher
    training, particularly upgrading of language skills; and

  * providing contact with other Russian teachers, something that
    is sorely lacking in schools, where as a rule the Russian
    program has only one (often part-time) teacher.

  Through a project sponsored by the American Council of Teachers
  of Russian and funded by the Ford Foundation, a network of
  "hub" high school programs has been formed, each hub serving as
  a resource for a cluster of schools located nearby. With
  funding from the Department of Defense, Phillips Academy has
  established an electronic network along the lines suggested
  here but for the moment serving essentially the New England
  area. These initiatives can serve as the basis for the high
  school component of the National Russian Language Resource
  Center.

  Recommendation 10:  Actively promulgate exchange and study
  abroad, seeking support from the field for the design and
  management of such programs and from funding sources to expand
  the possibilities to schools and students whose resources have
  precluded such activities.

  Rationale:  Our questionnaires clearly indicate that exchanges
  and study-abroad programs are perhaps the most effective
  measures for recruiting and retaining students, as well as for
  winning the support of principals and school boards, not to
  mention the value of this experience for increasing cultural
  knowledge and spoken skills. Such programs are expensive, so
  means must be found to provide this valuable learning
  opportunity to all schools and students, regardless of their
  ability to pay. This is a reasonable role for the federal
  government to play, as it does for students of Russian, for
  example, in the Freedom Support Act. With the reduction or
  elimination of many of these federal programs now and in the
  future, support from other sources must be found.

  The Colleges and Universities

  Recommendation 11:  In accord with the "Language Learning
  Framework" and individualized and modularized modes of
  learning, promote the redesign of the language curriculum to
  conform more effectively with explicitly stated institutional
  missions and students goals and motivations, with special
  attention to the general-education, heritage, and,
  particularly, applied missions.

  Rationale:  The numbers of students beginning and continuing
  Russian can be increased by improving program designs aimed at
  general education (in order to attract and hold more students
  with an interest in Russian but whose future plans with regard
  to the language are not yet developed); at the heritage mission
  (for students of Russian heritage, the numbers of whom will be
  growing); and at applied skills (to attract and hold students
  from the science and professional disciplines with clear
  occupational interests in Russian). Such a reform plan is
  beyond the means of most institutions, but the development of
  the National Russian Language Resource Center is intended to
  assist in the design problems as well as to supplement the
  expertise and resources of the local programs.(4)

  Recommendation 12:  Reallocate institutional resources from
  lower- to higher-level courses as well as to study abroad.

  Rationale:  If the goal of a program is to produce students
  having usable skills in Russian, more emphasis must be placed
  on bringing students to higher levels of competency in Russian.
  At the present time, most programs' resources are being
  directed to the lower levels of instruction, where most of the
  students are. However, it is at the higher levels that the
  learning task becomes much more complicated and more demanding
  of resources, particularly if in-country immersion is included
  as an integral part of the program. It is clear that very few
  institutions can undertake the broad educational reform
  advocated here without the fieldwide resources as provided by
  the National Russian Language Resource Center proposed in this
  study. This center can provide courses and modules to
  accommodate all the missions mentioned, adding to the resources
  and strengths of each institution and program.

  Articulation

  Recommendation 13:  Form a national coalition of schools and
  colleges/universities that subscribe to the fieldwide "Russian
  Language Learning Framework"; seek funding for schools and
  colleges/universities to work collectively to revise the
  framework, and develop compatible curricula at both levels.

  Rationale:  School and university language programs are in
  desperate need of improved articulation. As we have seen all
  too often, students with several years of high school Russian
  are forced to begin the language again at the undergraduate
  level. One of the principal reasons for this is the lack of
  understanding on the part of college educators of what goes on
  in the schools as well as a general lack of common goals for
  "basic Russian."  The "Language Learning Framework" is intended
  to eliminate these problems. However, the implementation of
  this framework requires a special effort, one that will
  guarantee the cumulative effect of learning across levels by
  defining missions, improving placements, and specifying
  appropriate remediation. If a National Coalition of Russian
  Language Programs, including schools and universities, would
  adopt the framework (or any other set of common standards),
  they could assure their students that a set of colleges and
  universities were prepared to build upon what they had done in
  school, while on the other hand college programs could be
  confident about a pipeline of students attuned to their program
  goals. Whatever the exact details of the effort, clearly a
  special effort in behalf of school/college articulation, in
  addition to study abroad, is the surest way to improve the
  level of competency of students as well as to increase
  retention rates and reduce student frustration.

  SUMMARY

  We take it as given that Russian is central to the national
  well-being of the United States and will remain so for the
  foreseeable future. However, given the fact that Russian takes
  a great deal of time for native English speakers to master, it
  is probable that Russian will remain an LCTL, with relatively
  low student enrollments. We also understand that this means
  that resources for this and the other LCTLs are limited.
  Therefore, our recommendations, focusing on quality improvement
  with maximum management of resources, are designed to (1)
  maintain and strengthen capacity, by focusing on field
  architecture, particularly the base structure components and
  flagship programs; (2) merge field and institutional resources
  by bringing field capacity to bear directly on local resources
  through electronic communications managed by a new National
  Russian Language Resource Center, which will assist programs to
  become compatible with these resources and modes of delivery;
  and (3) redesign education programs to accommodate all missions
  and to maximize higher-level skills, and to accommodate
  individualized and modularized learning.

  If, as we have argued in Chapters 1 and 2, it is difficult, if
  not impossible, to determine to a sufficient degree of accuracy
  the nation's needs and unrealized opportunities, then the focus
  on building capacity is the only rational approach to the
  problem of language in the United States. In order to meet any
  and all future contingencies involving Russian, policy must be
  directed at ensuring the existence of a strong Russian language
  field in the United States. We feel that the preceding
  recommendations, aimed at strengthening the essential parts of
  the Russian field architecture, can be of immense benefit in
  guaranteeing for all supply sectors the existence and quality
  of the Russian language training programs in our schools,
  colleges, and universities, upon which individual student
  careers and the welfare of the nation as a whole depend.

  Endnotes

  1. Such a system of national language resource centers is
  distinct from the Title VI National Foreign Language Resource
  Centers as presently defined, in that the Title VI centers do
  not have a language-field-specific mission.

  2. As part of the general language frameworks initiative of the
  National Council of Organizations of Less Commonly Taught
  Languages (NCOLCTL), with Ford Foundation support, a draft of a
  "Language Learning Framework" for Russian is presently under
  development under the aegis of the American Association of
  Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages and the American
  Council of Teachers of Russian. See the forthcoming "Russian
  Language Learning Framework" being developed by Peter Merrill
  and Maria D. Lekic, ms.

  3. Such a fieldwide data collection process is already under
  way, initiated by the NCOLCTL with Ford Foundation funding.

  4. A general plan for such reform is given in Brecht and
  Walton, "The Future Shape of Language Learning in the New World
  of Global Communication: Consequences for Higher Education and
  Beyond," Foreign Languae Learning:  The Journey of a Lifetime
  (Lincolnwood, IL:  National Textbook Company, 1995)  pp.
  110-152.

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--condor.ca.sunycentral.edu:813602648:1570177694:1511456809:-1996962318--


From escatton at ALBNYVMS.BITNET  Tue Oct 17 02:03:18 1995
From: escatton at ALBNYVMS.BITNET (Ernest Scatton)
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 22:03:18 -0400
Subject: russian course
Message-ID: <MON.16.OCT.1995.220318.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Can anyone recommend a set of introductory Russian materials including
text and tapes suitable for independent instruction...and easily
obtainable by non-specialist? Please respond off-list to me at
escatton at cnsvax.albany.edu.

Thanks Ernie Scatton

********************************************************************
Ernest Scatton                               Germanic & Slavic HU254
518-442-4224 (w)                             UAlbany (SUNY)
518-482-4934 (h)                             Albany NY 12222


From galiard at let.RUG.NL  Tue Oct 17 05:05:54 1995
From: galiard at let.RUG.NL (Harry Gaylord)
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 1995 06:05:54 +0100
Subject: Try this
In-Reply-To: <Chameleon.4.01.2.951013094408.THOMASPA@condor.ca.sunycentral.edu> from "Peter A. Thomas" at Oct 16,
 95 09:26:58 pm
Message-ID: <TUE.17.OCT.1995.060554.0100.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

>

This arrived incomplete to my reader.
Harry Gaylord


> The conclusions and recommendations of the National Foreign Language Center's
> study of the teaching of Russian in the US should be of interest to subscriber
   s
> to SEELANGS.  See below, past the forwarding messages.
> Linda Scatton, State University of New York
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
> --condor.ca.sunycentral.edu:813602648:1570177694:1511456809:-1996962318
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
>
>
> -------------------------------------
> >From Peter A. Thomas
> Director, IDAS
> State University of New York
> SUNY Plaza
> Albany, NY  12246
> THOMASPA at INTERRAMP.COM
> 518 443-5125    465-4992 (Fax)
>
>
> --condor.ca.sunycentral.edu:813602648:1570177694:1511456809:-1996962318
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; SizeOnDisk=34994; name="RUSSIAN.TXT"; CHARSET=US-ASC
   II
> Content-Description: RUSSIAN.TXT
>
>                      [Academe Today: Document Archive]
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Posted October 12, 1995: the conclusions and recommendations of the
> National Foreign Language Center's study of the teaching of Russian in the
> United States:
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>   RUSSIAN IN THE UNITED STATES: A Case Study of America's Language
>   Needs and Capacities
>
>   CHAPTER SEVEN
>
>   CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
>
>   The conclusions reached in this study point to the need for
>   intervention strategies which strengthen national capacity in
>   Russian as the most effective strategy, from the point of view
>   of results and cost, for addressing national needs in the
>   language. Accordingly, the recommendations of this report are
>   directed at the Russian language field as a whole, specifically
>   at strengthening the base structures of the field and the
>   academic "flagship" programs. We leave aside discussion of the
>   infrastructure elements-not because recommendations cannot be
>   made, but for the sake of focusing on the most pivotal aspects
>   of a very complex problem.
>
>   Before stating the conclusions and recommendations following
>   from the analysis in Parts 1 and 2, we provide the following
>   underlying premises upon which they rest:
>
>   First, recommendations must address strategic concerns, not
>   necessarily the issues of the day. Any advantage provided by a
>   report such as this must be fully exploited for the long term
>   because the impetus and energy for reform cannot be of frequent
>   occurrence.
>
>   Second, the situation of Russian as a less commonly taught
>   language (LCTL), with regard to both demand and supply
>   (including student enrollments), most probably will not change
>   in the foreseeable future. Even with demand rising, as it
>   apparently is doing, the current level of that demand is low
>   and will probably remain so in comparison with, say, Spanish.
>   Accordingly, strategies are needed to maximize fieldwide
>   resources in support of dispersed expertise and marginalized
>   programs, particularly within the academic sector.
>
>   Third, there are few additional resources available to foreign
>   language in general, and Russian in particular, from either
>   public or private sources. Public perceptions will not
>   tolerate any major financial commitment to the field unless
>   something drastic happens in that area of the world.
>   Therefore, the primary strategy must focus on the reallocation
>   of resources rather than on the securing of major new funding.
>
>   Fourth, against this background of limited resources, those
>   issues must be addressed that offer the greatest return for the
>   investment. This means that resources should be directed at
>   targets affecting fieldwide, cross-sector capacity. Collective
>   action is needed to address problems common to institutions and
>   sectors.
>
>   Fifth, measures recommended must be realistic; that is, they
>   have to have some chance of being adopted by the field. While
>   leadership is needed, reform both at the field and at the
>   institutional level must be perceived as addressing vital
>   issues in a manner that does not threaten the professionals and
>   the good they are presently doing.
>
>   Finally, the future of education in general and language
>   training in particular will include much more attention to
>   individualized learning environments. Such environments are
>   defined by their accessibility when and where the need for
>   learning arises and by their direct relevance to the need
>   provoking the learning. This type of "just in time, just in
>   place, and just in need" learning presumes a heavy reliance on
>   distance education and, in particular, on electronic
>   networking. The professionalization of this
>   distance-language-learning industry will depend on individual
>   fields setting the standards and, where feasible, providing the
>   centralized facilities that would enable the delivery of
>   quality programs, courses, modules, and learning materials.
>
>   With regard to the conclusions and recommendations of this
>   report it must also be stated clearly that much more needs to
>   be said about our national needs and capacity in Russian than
>   the current study attempts. In part these omissions are a
>   result of time pressures and resource constraints. However,
>   the recognition of omissions is also a result of the
>   comprehensive analysis attempted here, for the process of the
>   study revealed what more such a study could and should do. For
>   example, the model of analysis with which we are operating
>   requires much more elaboration concerning national needs and
>   demand than was possible to include here. What are our
>   national needs with regard to communicating with Russians and
>   Russian speakers?  How can we determine them in the near and
>   the long term?  What are the exact tasks demanded and the
>   domains, skills, levels, and modes required?  We also need to
>   understand better the supply system, in particular just what is
>   being produced and how it matches the tasks demanded. And how
>   can this characterization of supply impact on capacity in
>   general and on educational programs in particular?  These and
>   similar questions provoke the first recommendation we make
>   below.
>
>   CONCLUSIONS
>
>   Before turning to recommendations, it is appropriate to
>   summarize the principal conclusions of this study.
>
>   All indications point to a long-term national need for
>   linguistically competent users of Russian in the United States.
>   The meager actual demand and current low student enrollments
>   belie the importance of effective interactions between Russia
>   and the United States in the foreseeable future (Chapter 1).
>
>   While the market forces of supply and demand seem to be
>   sufficient at the present time, there are clear indications
>   that the supply system is not operating efficiently and that
>   its ability to respond to projected increases in demand is
>   uncertain. The argument for inefficiency derives from the fact
>   that the federal and private sectors feel the need to invest
>   significant resources in language training facilities on top of
>   those already supporting existing language programs in schools,
>   colleges, and universities. Questions concerning the ability
>   to respond to shifts in demand derive from deficiencies in the
>   field architecture that underlies national capacity as well as
>   from the failure on the part of the supply sectors to interact
>   in a manner to make cumulative their experience, resources, and
>   expertise (Chapters 2 and 3).
>
>   The supply system, in particular the academic sector, is not
>   producing a sufficient number of program graduates at a high
>   enough level of competence in Russian. Enrollments are
>   declining at a time when they should be increasing, and the
>   levels of student competence produced do not instill sufficient
>   confidence in enterprises anxious to hire Russian-proficient
>   students directly out of school (Chapter 2).
>
>   Our national capacity in Russian, as defined by fieldwide
>   architecture, including flagship programs, can be significantly
>   improved. Each aspect of the field architecture can be
>   enhanced, while some entirely new elements should be added
>   (Chapter 3).
>
>   Undergraduate programs could benefit significantly by
>   restructuring and by reallocating resources. Refocusing on the
>   applied mission and reallocating resources to the higher levels
>   of instruction are legitimate issues for consideration (Chapter
>   4).
>
>   High school programs are in need of support, particularly with
>   regard to teacher training and the support of flagship
>   programs. The marginalized status of Russian teachers and
>   programs must be mitigated, while the fate of flagship programs
>   cannot be left entirely in the hands of "adolescent market
>   forces" (Chapter 5).
>
>   RECOMMENDATIONS
>
>   The recommendations that flow from these conclusions are broken
>   down here into the following categories:  (1) those addressing
>   the overall system of language needs in the United States; (2)
>   those addressing directly national capacity in Russian in the
>   form of field development and strengthening; and (3) those
>   addressing Russian programs in the schools and the colleges and
>   universities.
>
>   The Overall System of Language Needs in the United States
>
>   Recommendation 1:  A national database should be constructed
>   and maintained that provides information on current and
>   projected supply and demand, needs and capacity for Russian as
>   well as for other languages.
>
>   Rationale:  We simply do not have the data on what the national
>   demand for Russian is, nor do we have a comprehensive picture
>   of the supply that the five sectors are delivering, in terms
>   both of numbers and of competency levels. On the strategic
>   level, an estimation of current and future needs, let alone
>   lost opportunities, is very difficult to make, nor is there an
>   accepted definition of capacity. The remedy for this situation
>   is data. The nation needs a data collection process that builds
>   on what is already being collected by private and public
>   associations, agencies, and institutions. This effort might
>   take the shape of a "Center for Language Statistics" whose
>   purpose would be to bring together electronically all the data
>   being collected into one central base, making the data
>   compatible, filling in the lacunae, adjusting to changing data
>   requirements, comprehensively analyzing the data, and broadly
>   disseminating the data and results of analysis. Such a process
>   could serve as a guide to policymakers and program designers in
>   all five sectors. In addition, it would provide important
>   information to students so that they could make informed
>   judgments concerning language choice and expectations of
>   proficiency as well as employment.
>
>   Recommendation 2:  The United States should initiate a
>   long-term language policy planning process aimed at addressing
>   the strategic national needs for language in general and in the
>   LCTLs and Russian in particular.
>
>   Rationale:  This country has in place, on an ad hoc basis,
>   language policy at the national, state, and local levels. The
>   problem is that this policy is not explicit, nor are the
>   policies at the different levels coordinated. Whether Russian
>   or any other LCTL survives in the educational system depends on
>   a myriad of local decisions, but the impact is indeed national.
>   On the other hand, the major national resource represented by
>   the rich diversity of our heritage communities is, for all
>   intents and purposes, going to waste as we spend most of our
>   effort inducing, for example, English speakers to learn Chinese
>   and native-speaking Chinese to learn English. Language policy
>   is important to this country and to the survival of Russian,
>   and some more explicit process needs to be set in place that
>   will begin to address the issues strategically on the national,
>   state, regional, and local levels. This "National Language
>   Strategy" needs to address the economic, political, and social
>   aspects of language policy and begin to come to grips with the
>   obstacles to and incentives for this country's having a
>   citizenry able to deal with others in a language other than
>   their native English.
>
>   Recommendation 3:  A strategy must be devised to enable
>   individuals as well as institutions to have "on demand" access
>   to expertise, programs, and learning materials, all of which
>   are accumulated centrally and answer to fieldwide standards of
>   quality.
>
>   Rationale:  The language learning needs called for in today's
>   world entail the delivery of learning environments to more
>   learners of more languages for more language functions. Given
>   this vastly enlarged mandate, no institution or program can be
>   expected to have the resources and expertise to provide the
>   wide range of learning environments required. Nor is language
>   learning any longer conceivable exclusively in terms of
>   organized programs for young learners. The "just in time, just
>   in place, and just in need" language learning delivery system
>   has to be put in place, allowing learning on demand as
>   professionals engaged in their careers encounter the need for
>   language. Accordingly, each language field should have
>   available one or more such "Language Resource Centers" devoted
>   explicitly to its own needs (see below). Such centers should
>   be sustainable because the services and materials they provide
>   are valuable enough to survive on the "market."  However, it
>   makes little sense for each field to have to develop its own
>   electronic communications system, its own software development
>   shop, its own video materials development facilities; nor is it
>   reasonable to expect each LCTL field to have on its own the
>   expertise needed to support such facilities. Such resources
>   and expertise should be provided centrally, presumably in the
>   form of a national language systems development and delivery
>   shop. Again, in the interest of quality and
>   cost-effectiveness, the existence of such a facility would
>   greatly assist the establishment of the language-specific
>   national resource centers, which in turn would make possible
>   the kind of individualized instruction and program reform
>   called for throughout this study.(1)
>
>   Aspects of National Capacity: Field Development
>
>   Recommendation 4:  Graduate education in Russian/Slavic should
>   be reformed in order to produce more effectively the expertise
>   needed to strengthen Russian language learning and teaching in
>   the United States.
>
>   Rationale:  The expertise base of the Russian field for all
>   four domestic sectors depends on the graduate education
>   provided by American institutions of higher learning. Given
>   the dearth of professional second language acquisition (SLA)
>   expertise in Russian, a special effort must be made to
>   establish a set of flagship graduate programs in applied
>   linguistics and Russian as a second language. Because of the
>   sparseness of SLA expertise in existing faculties around the
>   country, graduate programs so designed would have to be
>   regional, serving areas of the country and drawing upon faculty
>   from different institutions, presumably by means of
>   telecommunications. The expertise required for such graduate
>   programs would include anthropological, cognitive,
>   sociological, and educational as well as linguistic.
>
>   Recommendation 5:  Develop a fieldwide "Language Learning
>   Framework."
>
>   Rationale:  Russian programs at all levels of education and in
>   all supply sectors are in need of standards by which students
>   and policymakers can assess their success or failure. In
>   particular, decisions regarding design of curricula, learning
>   materials, and teacher training should be made on the basis of
>   agreed-upon fieldwide standards defining what learning and what
>   outcomes are expected for which goals. Such standards must be
>   directed at defining what knowledge is required for what
>   communication tasks, and how learners can design and manage
>   their own learning under the conditions present in the local
>   learning environment. Such a "Language Learning Framework" can
>   then serve as a fieldwide guide to the design of language
>   training programs, materials, and teacher training programs.
>   It cannot dictate what each institution does, but it will allow
>   local policymakers to place their program design and results in
>   a national perspective.(2)
>
>   Recommendation 6:  Develop and support a National Russian
>   Language Resource Center.
>
>   Rationale:  In order for reform to take place at the
>   institutional level, as we discuss below, particularly reform
>   directed toward a much broader menu of learning options, many
>   more resources are needed than any one institution can muster
>   on its own. Therefore, a strategy is needed to accumulate the
>   resources of a field, particularly one with relatively sparse
>   resources like Russian (as compared with French, for example),
>   and distribute them to individuals for "just in time" learning
>   or to programs that are in need of supplemental resources
>   unavailable at the local level. One possible strategy is to
>   develop a fieldwide national resource center that, for the most
>   part, collects and distributes resources electronically. To
>   assure quality, such a fieldwide enterprise should be overseen
>   by a national panel of experts drawn from all five sectors. In
>   addition, its existence should be validated by the demands made
>   on it by programs around the country. In fact, if one center
>   is not up to the task, competition from another is to be
>   encouraged.
>
>   Recommendation 7:  Develop a fieldwide planning process.
>
>   Rationale:  The Russian field is facing a crisis within the
>   academic sector as a result of significant reductions in
>   student enrollments; these enrollment reductions threaten
>   support for graduate students as well as the very existence of
>   school, undergraduate, and graduate programs. (Such enrollment
>   cycles have occurred in the past, but the changed status of
>   Russia and the real possibility of greatly reduced federal
>   funding suggest that merely waiting for the inevitable
>   "upswing" may be futile.)  This problem has direct consequences
>   far beyond the academic sector. On the one hand, diminished
>   student enrollments reduce the pool of Americans knowing
>   Russian from which other sectors draw. On the other hand,
>   these reductions diminish the support for graduate students and
>   put at risk the very existence of graduate programs, a direct
>   threat to the future expertise base of the field. Thus, all
>   sectors have a stake in addressing these and other issues
>   raised in the present report. Unfortunately, though, the
>   supply sectors have no experience either in collaboration or in
>   strategic planning. Inaction, essentially relying on the
>   natural course of events under these uncertain conditions,
>   seems foolhardy, particularly when there is little risk in
>   attempting such strategic planning and policy formulation.
>   Therefore, we propose the establishment of a fieldwide task
>   force, with representation from all the sectors and existing
>   national organizations, including:  the American Association
>   for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, the American Association
>   of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages, the American
>   Council of Teachers of Russian, the Center for the Advancement
>   of Language Learning, the National Council of Organizations of
>   Less Commonly Taught Languages, the National Foreign Language
>   Center, the Foreign Service Institute, the Defense Language
>   Institute, the Interagency Language Roundtable, AT&T Language
>   Line Services, and any other interested stakeholder. The
>   mandate of this task force is to develop an ongoing strategic
>   planning process, based on a coordinated data collection
>   system,(3) as well as to serve as a national voice for Russian
>   in language policy discussions in the public and private
>   sectors.
>
>   This process should result in a mechanism to ensure information
>   sharing and collaboration across all supply sectors. Equally
>   important as developing a strategic planning and policy
>   formulation process are the will and the means to turn
>   strategic planning into action. At this point there are no
>   mechanisms to enable all five supply sectors to become informed
>   about one another, let alone to share valuable resources. This
>   task force must develop a permanent venue, perhaps in the form
>   of a National Russian Language Coordinating Council, that
>   brings together representatives from the academic, heritage,
>   private, and public sectors for the purpose at least of
>   exploring the issues raised in this report and the possibility
>   of concerted effort in their behalf. Effective communication
>   of this entire process will require, at the minimum, the
>   setting up of a page, or a set of pages, on the World Wide Web,
>   thus enabling input and information dissemination nationally
>   and worldwide.
>
>   Recommendation 8:  Establish a national initiative to support
>   flagship programs.
>
>   Rationale:  As this report is being written, important programs
>   in schools and in colleges and universities across the nation
>   are coming under threat of reduction or elimination as a result
>   of declining enrollments. Accordingly, a mechanism is needed
>   to guarantee the continued existence of a critical mass of
>   Russian language flagship programs in schools and universities,
>   particularly in the current atmosphere of inattention to Russia
>   and Russian. The initiative should include a range of
>   measures, for example:
>
>   * A national alert network, enabling the field to respond by
>     providing testimony to policymakers who are threatening
>     important programs.
>
>   * A reform plan outlining a concrete agenda for strengthening
>     both the attractiveness and the effectiveness of
>     institutional flagship programs. This reform should be
>     supported by the field in the form of assistance from the
>     National Russian Language Resource Center, contingent upon
>     agreement from administrators to leave institutional
>     resources in place to implement the reform.
>
>   * Private and public funding efforts aimed at providing some
>     sort of temporary subsidy to flagship programs to prevent
>     marginal enrollments from eliminating whole courses or
>     eliminating entire programs. (On the school level this
>     subsidy can take the shape of support for exchanges with
>     Russia, which is a proven method for winning support from
>     administrators and for drawing students into Russian
>     courses.)
>
>   * Electronic links among these flagship programs that would
>     enable them to support each other and serve as a collective
>     national resource for the field.
>
>   Such an initiative on the national level could properly be
>   viewed as maintaining diversity in high school language
>   offerings, for without such intervention there is a genuine
>   risk that the LCTLs, including Russian, could be eliminated
>   from the schools, if not from most colleges and universities.
>
>   The Schools and the Colleges and Universities
>
>   The Schools
>
>   Recommendation 9:  Develop a strong high school component of
>   the National Russian Language Resource Center that would be
>   capable of providing, through telecommunications and computer
>   networks, at least the following:
>
>   * in-service teacher training in pedagogy and, in particular,
>     in spoken-Russian skills;
>
>   * high-quality pedagogical materials developed by other
>     experienced teachers and by SLA experts;
>
>   * authentic materials in the form of current newspaper
>     articles, movies, and television programming;
>
>   * on-line and downloadable courses and modules for students at
>     different levels to work on independently after school and
>     while in multilevel courses;
>
>   * attractive cultural materials that can be used to strengthen
>     the general-education component of beginning and intermediate
>     courses, in order to increase retention of students; and
>
>   * on-line telecommunications capability to permit information
>     sharing and  networking" among teachers and among learners.
>
>   Rationale:  Measures like these are aimed at addressing the
>   "marginalized" status of Russian programs in schools by:
>
>   * providing assistance in drawing students into the program as
>     well as retaining students once they are enrolled by
>     providing a much richer, more attractive, individualized
>     curriculum that addresses student motivations, goals, and
>     expectations;
>
>   * providing more time-on-task for students, particularly those
>     trapped in large or multilevel classes, through computer and
>     telecommunications technology;
>
>   * freeing teachers' time for planning and student consultation
>     by providing pedagogical and authentic materials that are
>     immediately usable in class;
>
>   * providing convenient, nonthreatening in-service teacher
>     training, particularly upgrading of language skills; and
>
>   * providing contact with other Russian teachers, something that
>     is sorely lacking in schools, where as a rule the Russian
>     program has only one (often part-time) teacher.
>
>   Through a project sponsored by the American Council of Teachers
>   of Russian and funded by the Ford Foundation, a network of
>   "hub" high school programs has been formed, each hub serving as
>   a resource for a cluster of schools located nearby. With
>   funding from the Department of Defense, Phillips Academy has
>   established an electronic network along the lines suggested
>   here but for the moment serving essentially the New England
>   area. These initiatives can serve as the basis for the high
>   school component of the National Russian Language Resource
>   Center.
>
>   Recommendation 10:  Actively promulgate exchange and study
>   abroad, seeking support from the field for the design and
>   management of such programs and from funding sources to expand
>   the possibilities to schools and students whose resources have
>   precluded such activities.
>
>   Rationale:  Our questionnaires clearly indicate that exchanges
>   and study-abroad programs are perhaps the most effective
>   measures for recruiting and retaining students, as well as for
>   winning the support of principals and school boards, not to
>   mention the value of this experience for increasing cultural
>   knowledge and spoken skills. Such programs are expensive, so
>   means must be found to provide this valuable learning
>   opportunity to all schools and students, regardless of their
>   ability to pay. This is a reasonable role for the federal
>   government to play, as it does for students of Russian, for
>   example, in the Freedom Support Act. With the reduction or
>   elimination of many of these federal programs now and in the
>   future, support from other sources must be found.
>
>   The Colleges and Universities
>
>   Recommendation 11:  In accord with the "Language Learning
>   Framework" and individualized and modularized modes of
>   learning, promote the redesign of the language curriculum to
>   conform more effectively with explicitly stated institutional
>   missions and students goals and motivations, with special
>   attention to the general-education, heritage, and,
>   particularly, applied missions.
>
>   Rationale:  The numbers of students beginning and continuing
>   Russian can be increased by improving program designs aimed at
>   general education (in order to attract and hold more students
>   with an interest in Russian but whose future plans with regard
>   to the language are not yet developed); at the heritage mission
>   (for students of Russian heritage, the numbers of whom will be
>   growing); and at applied skills (to attract and hold students
>   from the science and professional disciplines with clear
>   occupational interests in Russian). Such a reform plan is
>   beyond the means of most institutions, but the development of
>   the National Russian Language Resource Center is intended to
>   assist in the design problems as well as to supplement the
>   expertise and resources of the local programs.(4)
>
>   Recommendation 12:  Reallocate institutional resources from
>   lower- to higher-level courses as well as to study abroad.
>
>   Rationale:  If the goal of a program is to produce students
>   having usable skills in Russian, more emphasis must be placed
>   on bringing students to higher levels of competency in Russian.
>   At the present time, most programs' resources are being
>   directed to the lower levels of instruction, where most of the
>   students are. However, it is at the higher levels that the
>   learning task becomes much more complicated and more demanding
>   of resources, particularly if in-country immersion is included
>   as an integral part of the program. It is clear that very few
>   institutions can undertake the broad educational reform
>   advocated here without the fieldwide resources as provided by
>   the National Russian Language Resource Center proposed in this
>   study. This center can provide courses and modules to
>   accommodate all the missions mentioned, adding to the resources
>   and strengths of each institution and program.
>
>   Articulation
>
>   Recommendation 13:  Form a national coalition of schools and
>   colleges/universities that subscribe to the fieldwide "Russian
>   Language Learning Framework"; seek funding for schools and
>   colleges/universities to work collectively to revise the
>   framework, and develop compatible curricula at both levels.
>
>   Rationale:  School and university language programs are in
>   desperate need of improved articulation. As we have seen all
>   too often, students with several years of high school Russian
>   are forced to begin the language again at the undergraduate
>   level. One of the principal reasons for this is the lack of
>   understanding on the part of college educators of what goes on
>   in the schools as well as a general lack of common goals for
>   "basic Russian."  The "Language Learning Framework" is intended
>   to eliminate these problems. However, the implementation of
>   this framework requires a special effort, one that will
>   guarantee the cumulative effect of learning across levels by
>   defining missions, improving placements, and specifying
>   appropriate remediation. If a National Coalition of Russian
>   Language Programs, including schools and universities, would
>   adopt the framework (or any other set of common standards),
>   they could assure their students that a set of colleges and
>   universities were prepared to build upon what they had done in
>   school, while on the other hand college programs could be
>   confident about a pipeline of students attuned to their program
>   goals. Whatever the exact details of the effort, clearly a
>   special effort in behalf of school/college articulation, in
>   addition to study abroad, is the surest way to improve the
>   level of competency of students as well as to increase
>   retention rates and reduce student frustration.
>
>   SUMMARY
>
>   We take it as given that Russian is central to the national
>   well-being of the United States and will remain so for the
>   foreseeable future. However, given the fact that Russian takes
>   a great deal of time for native English speakers to master, it
>   is probable that Russian will remain an LCTL, with relatively
>   low student enrollments. We also understand that this means
>   that resources for this and the other LCTLs are limited.
>   Therefore, our recommendations, focusing on quality improvement
>   with maximum management of resources, are designed to (1)
>   maintain and strengthen capacity, by focusing on field
>   architecture, particularly the base structure components and
>   flagship programs; (2) merge field and institutional resources
>   by bringing field capacity to bear directly on local resources
>   through electronic communications managed by a new National
>   Russian Language Resource Center, which will assist programs to
>   become compatible with these resources and modes of delivery;
>   and (3) redesign education programs to accommodate all missions
>   and to maximize higher-level skills, and to accommodate
>   individualized and modularized learning.
>
>   If, as we have argued in Chapters 1 and 2, it is difficult, if
>   not impossible, to determine to a sufficient degree of accuracy
>   the nation's needs and unrealized opportunities, then the focus
>   on building capacity is the only rational approach to the
>   problem of language in the United States. In order to meet any
>   and all future contingencies involving Russian, policy must be
>   directed at ensuring the existence of a strong Russian language
>   field in the United States. We feel that the preceding
>   recommendations, aimed at strengthening the essential parts of
>   the Russian field architecture, can be of immense benefit in
>   guaranteeing for all supply sectors the existence and quality
>   of the Russian language training programs in our schools,
>   colleges, and universities, upon which individual student
>   careers and the welfare of the nation as a whole depend.
>
>   Endnotes
>
>   1. Such a system of national language resource centers is
>   distinct from the Title VI National Foreign Language Resource
>   Centers as presently defined, in that the Title VI centers do
>   not have a language-field-specific mission.
>
>   2. As part of the general language frameworks initiative of the
>   National Council of Organizations of Less Commonly Taught
>   Languages (NCOLCTL), with Ford Foundation support, a draft of a
>   "Language Learning Framework" for Russian is presently under
>   development under the aegis of the American Association of
>   Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages and the American
>   Council of Teachers of Russian. See the forthcoming "Russian
>   Language Learning Framework" being developed by Peter Merrill
>   and Maria D. Lekic, ms.
>
>   3. Such a fieldwide data collection process is already under
>   way, initiated by the NCOLCTL with Ford Foundation funding.
>
>   4. A general plan for such reform is given in Brecht and
>   Walton, "The Future Shape of Language Learning in the New World
>   of Global Communication: Consequences for Higher Education and
>   Beyond," Foreign Languae Learning:  The Journey of a Lifetime
>   (Lincolnwood, IL:  National Textbook Company, 1995)  pp.
>   110-152.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>                             Advertisers | Help
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> --condor.ca.sunycentral.edu:813602648:1570177694:1511456809:-1996962318--
>


From henry at blue.weeg.uiowa.edu  Tue Oct 17 05:04:32 1995
From: henry at blue.weeg.uiowa.edu (Kathryn Henry)
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 1995 00:04:32 -0500
Subject: Russian Exams
In-Reply-To: <01HWISC1GS6W8XM961@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu>
Message-ID: <TUE.17.OCT.1995.000432.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I understand the tests were pulled because they require updating.

On Mon, 16 Oct 1995, Emily Tall wrote:

> What happened to the ETS Russian exam? You mean it's no longer available
> after they put all that work into it? (This query is directed to Tom
> Beyer but I think lots of us are interested in the response.) E. Tall
>


From ursula.doleschal at WU-WIEN.AC.AT  Tue Oct 17 10:09:48 1995
From: ursula.doleschal at WU-WIEN.AC.AT (ursula.doleschal)
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 1995 11:09:48 +0100
Subject: ethnic expressions
Message-ID: <TUE.17.OCT.1995.110948.0100.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

>On 13.10.95 James West wrote:
>> There's a need for a little care in the collection of ethnic expressions.
>> "Prusak" in Russian, too, means a 'roach (Blatta orientalis, the "ryzhii
>> tarakan," or for Dal' the "malyi ili buryi izbnoi tarakan"), and it's a
>> derivative surely from "prus," which is an item of specialized horse
>> vocabulary - the same Slavic word as the Polish? "Prussak" with a
>> double-ss is the Russian for a Prussian.
>>
>On the other hand, "svab" in Hungarian is also a cockroach, which
>suggests a similar attitude to the Germans.

In German a cockroach can be named "depending on the little beloved
neighbouring people Preusse (Prussian), Schwab(e) (Swabian) or Russe
(Russian)", as has been mentioned by the famous zoologist Otto Schmeil.

Ursula Doleschal (ursula.doleschal at wu-wien.ac.at)
Institut f. Slawische Sprachen, Wirtschaftsuniv. Wien
Augasse 9, 1090 Wien, Austria
Tel.: ++43-1-31336 4115, Fax:  ++43-1-31336 744


From rcormani at magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu  Tue Oct 17 13:57:28 1995
From: rcormani at magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Rosa-Maria Cormanick)
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 1995 09:57:28 -0400
Subject: Assessment of study abroad programs
In-Reply-To: <01HWISDRAWR695N2UI@phem3.acs.ohio-state.edu> from "Emily Tall"
 at Oct 16, 95 08:50:24 pm
Message-ID: <TUE.17.OCT.1995.095728.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

For The Ohio State-Purdue-Emory Semester Programs at the Pushkin Institute
in Moscow, Russia, since 1986 we have been using Pre & Post Tests developed
and periodically updated by our consortium faculty in conjunction w/ the
Pushkin Institute faculty.  Students are given an oral interview and a
written test by the Resident Director during the orientation in New York and
then again immediately before departing Moscow.  The Pre-Post Test is divided
into 4 sections:  reading comprehension, grammar, composition & stranovedenie.
Students have 3 hours to complete.  Total points = 400.  For the last five
semesters the percentage average improvement in post-test scores weighed
against pre-post scores range from +20.2% to +34.3%.

In addition to this testing, as part of an on-going evaluation of the
participants' progress the program utilizes a Midterm Oral Proficiency Test
(testing phonetics, vocabulary acquisition, and grammar at various levels,
routine or abstract) which is conducted by a consortium faculty member half-way
through the students' stay in Moscow.  This midterm exam follows the ACTFL Oral
Proficiency scale.  Our semester undergraduate students on the average attain
advanced speaking ratings & most graduate students attain an advanced-plus
rating.

Ohio State has a long continuous history of sending programs to the
USSR/Russia - since 1964!

RosaMaria Cormanick         e-mail:  rcormani at magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
Academic Program Coordinator
The Ohio State University
Slavic & East European Langs. & Lits
Columbus, OH   43210
(614)292-6733  Fax: (614)688-3107


From pfandl at balu.kfunigraz.ac.at  Wed Oct 18 19:58:03 1995
From: pfandl at balu.kfunigraz.ac.at (Heinrich Pfandl)
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 1995 20:58:03 +0100
Subject: Which languages have swearwords with oral-genital semantics?
Message-ID: <WED.18.OCT.1995.205803.0100.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

(in Russian)
Kakim narodam, krome russkix, ukraincev i belorusov, svojstvenna brannaya
ugroza, svjazannaya s oral'no-genital'nom seksom (napr. russkoe "e*is' v
rot", "x*j tebe v rot" i t. p.)?
Ya poka znayu tol'ko, chto takaya rugan' neizvestna slovencam, xorvatam,
vengram, chexam, slovakam, polyakam. Nichego ne znayu o polozhenii v
serbskom, makedonskom, bolgarskom, tyurkskom, rumynskom i grecheskom
yazykax, za informaciyu o kotoryx budu blagodaren.

Ob oproverzhenii ili zhe podtverzhdenii moej gipotezy o tyurkskom vlianii
na etot tip maternoj ugrozy ya soobschu v set'.

Dr. Heinrich PFANDL, Institut fuer Slawistik,
University of Graz, Merang.70, A-8010 GRAZ, Austria.
Tel. +43-316-380-2525 oder ...-2520, Fax: +43-316-327036;
E-Mail (Eudora on Mac): pfandl at balu.kfunigraz.ac.at

*       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *
Russian transliteration:
a b v g d e e  zh z i j k l m  n o p r s t u  f x c ch sh shch  " y '  e yu ya


From ursula.doleschal at WU-WIEN.AC.AT  Thu Oct 19 10:19:17 1995
From: ursula.doleschal at WU-WIEN.AC.AT (ursula.doleschal)
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 1995 11:19:17 +0100
Subject: call for papers
Message-ID: <THU.19.OCT.1995.111917.0100.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Symposium to be held within the framework of the
11th World Congress of Applied Linguistics,
August 4-9, 1996, Jyv=E4skyl=E4, Finland

If you are interested, please contact
Eva Lavric, Institut f=FCr Romanische Sprachen,
Wirtschaftsuniversit=E4t Wien, A- 1090 Wien, Augasse 9,
Tel. +43 / 1 / 313 36 / 4731; Fax: 313 36 / 729; E-mail: lavric at wu-wien.ac.a=
t
Please apply by November 1995, indicating the field you work in!


LSP and LGP
in business language teaching
General aspects:
       How should the terms 'LSP' and 'LGP' be understood?
Didactic aspects:
       Language needs analyses
       Presentation and discussion of business-LSP-curricula
        (historical aspects, curricula design, special aspects, skills...)
       Error analysis; tests and examinations
Linguistic aspects:
       Semantics (polysemy, vagueness, standardization of terminology...)
       Morphology, syntax, text linguistics, pragmatics...

Langue de sp=E9cialit=E9 et langage commun
dans l'enseignement du langage =E9conomique
Aspects g=E9n=E9raux:
       Discussion des termes 'langue de sp=E9cialit=E9' et 'langage commun'
Aspects didactiques:
       Analyses des besoins langagiers de diff=E9rents groupes-cibles
       Pr=E9sentation et discussion de l'un ou l'autre curriculum
        (historique, conception curriculaire, aspects sp=E9cifiques,
savoir-faire...)
       Analyse des erreurs; examens et tests
Aspects linguistiques:
       S=E9mantique (polys=E9mie, s=E9mantisme flou, normes terminologiques.=
..)
       Morphologie, syntaxe, linguistique textuelle, pragmatique...

=46achsprache und Allgemeinsprache
in der wirtschaftssprachlichen Ausbildung
Allgemeines:
       Begriffsanalyse: 'Fachsprache' versus 'Allgemeinsprache'
Didaktische Aspekte:
        Bedarfsanalysen
       Pr=E4sentation und Diskussion einzelner Curricula
        (Geschichte, curriculare Entwicklung, Teilaspekte, Fertigkeiten...)
       Fehlerlinguistik, Pr=FCfungswesen
Linguistische Aspekte:
       Semantik (Polysemie, Vagheit, Terminologienormung...)
       Morphologie, Syntax, Textlinguistik, Pragmatik...


PLEASE HELP TO SPREAD THIS INFORMATION!

Ursula Doleschal (ursula.doleschal at wu-wien.ac.at)
Institut f. Slawische Sprachen, Wirtschaftsuniv. Wien
Augasse 9, 1090 Wien, Austria
Tel.: ++43-1-31336 4115, Fax:  ++43-1-31336 744


From sipkadan at hum.amu.edu.pl  Thu Oct 19 12:03:06 1995
From: sipkadan at hum.amu.edu.pl (Danko Sipka)
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 1995 13:03:06 +0100
Subject: Minimal Information Grammar (MIG)
Message-ID: <THU.19.OCT.1995.130306.0100.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

On the www page

http://www.amu.edu.pl/~sipkadan/mig.htm

there is basic information about Minimal Information Grammar (MIG)
an approach in "doing things with words" intended particularly for
the NLP of Slavic Languages. I would be very grateful for your
comments.

There are some other things which might be interesting.

http://www.amu.edu.pl/~sipkadan/vuk1.html (Vuk Kradzic's page)

Anonymous ftp archive

ftp.amu.edu.pl/pub/Serbo-Croat (or math.amu.edu.pl/pub/Serbo-Croat)

with Serbo-Croatian texts, dictionaries, and Polish - Serbo-Croatian
dictionaries. See 00-index.txt for the contents.

Some of you might also be interested to subscribe to the discussion
list about Serbian terminology:

to   listserv at math.amu.edu.pl
send subscribe ST-L Name Surname

Danko Sipka

------------------------------------------------------------
<DANKO SIPKA><SLAVIC DEPARTMENT, ADAM MICKIEWICZ UNIVERSITY
POZNAN, POLAND : INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY AND SOCIOLOGY,
POLISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, WARSAW, POLAND>
------------------------------------------------------------
sipkadan at plpuam11.amu.edu.pl    sipkadan at hum.amu.edu.pl
sipkadan at plearn.edu.pl     (or .bitnet instead of .edu.pl)
------------------------------------------------------------
I think where I am not, therefore I am where I do not think
                                            Jacques Lacan
------------------------------------------------------------


From howsol at falcon.cc.ukans.edu  Thu Oct 19 12:20:40 1995
From: howsol at falcon.cc.ukans.edu (SOLOMON HOWARD TODD)
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 1995 07:20:40 -0500
Subject: shevelov (fwd)
Message-ID: <THU.19.OCT.1995.072040.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 1995 23:07:02 -0500 (CDT)
From: LUNDBERG GRANT H <hermberg at falcon.cc.ukans.edu>
Subject: shevelov

To whom it may concern,

        I am looking for a copy of George Shevelov's book A Prehistory of
Slavic.  Please contact me if you are interested in selling this book.
My e-mail is hermberg at falcon.cc.ukans.edu

Grant Lundberg


From ursula.doleschal at WU-WIEN.AC.AT  Thu Oct 19 14:24:18 1995
From: ursula.doleschal at WU-WIEN.AC.AT (ursula.doleschal)
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 1995 15:24:18 +0100
Subject: German loans in Czech
Message-ID: <THU.19.OCT.1995.152418.0100.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I don't remember the original poster, so I send it to the list. I just came
across the following book in a catalogue:

Reiter, Norbert: Die deutschen Lehnuebersetzungen im Tschechischen.
Wiesbaden: Harassowitz 1953

Ursula Doleschal (ursula.doleschal at wu-wien.ac.at)
Institut f. Slawische Sprachen, Wirtschaftsuniv. Wien
Augasse 9, 1090 Wien, Austria
Tel.: ++43-1-31336 4115, Fax:  ++43-1-31336 744


From sblackwe at utkvx.utk.edu  Thu Oct 19 14:59:41 1995
From: sblackwe at utkvx.utk.edu (Stephen Blackwell)
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 1995 10:59:41 -0400
Subject: Platonov
Message-ID: <THU.19.OCT.1995.105941.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Does anyone know of a list devoted to discussing Platonov or prose of the
20's and 30's in general?  Please reply directly to me.

Thanks in advance

Steve Blackwell


From vakarel at OREGON.UOREGON.EDU  Thu Oct 19 18:55:09 1995
From: vakarel at OREGON.UOREGON.EDU (Vakareliyska)
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 1995 10:55:09 -0800
Subject: Enrollment figures
Message-ID: <THU.19.OCT.1995.105509.0800.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

        The following are the official third-week enrollment figures for
Russian Department language classes at the University of Oregon this year
and last year. Since our academic year starts around October 1, these
figures have just been issued now:


                                1995-96         1994-95
        Russian
           First year              59              66
           Second year             25              27
           Third year              14              18
           Fourth year              6              10

        Bulgarian (first year)      8            (not offered)

        Polish
           First year               1               6 (winter term)
           Second year              3            (not offered)

        Old Church Slavonic       (not offered)    10


        The drop in enrollments in the upper-level Russian courses is
partly a result of the summer language program initiated by the department,
since some of the second- and third-year students in our program last year
took the following year of Russian during summer 1995 instead of during the
1995-96 academic year.
        Interestingly, most of the students enrolled in the biennial
graduate Old Church Slavonic course last year took the course as an
elective: of the ten students enrolled as of the third week of classes,
only four were M.A. students in the department, for whom the course is
required.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cynthia Vakareliyska
vakarel at oregon.uoregon.edu

Assistant Professor of Slavic Linguistics                 tel: (503) 346-4043
Department of Russian                                     fax: (503) 346-1327
University of Oregon
Eugene OR 97403-1262


From rrobin at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu  Fri Oct 20 01:54:14 1995
From: rrobin at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu (Richard Robin)
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 1995 21:54:14 -0400
Subject: Outcomes Assessment
In-Reply-To: <Pine.A32.3.91.951016114002.107456E-100000@red.weeg.uiowa.edu>
Message-ID: <THU.19.OCT.1995.215414.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

We OPI all students after the first 8 credit hours (=2 years none
intensive / 1 year intensive). We then OPI again after third year
(another 3 to 6 hours, depending on the track -- intensive or
non-intensive). Finally, we OPI all 4th-year students both first and
second semesters. Russian majors cannot graduate before attaining 1+. To
be eligible for departmental honors, one must get a 2. (Virtually no one
does this without a semester in Russia). About half our majors graduate
with 2 and on rare occasion 2+.

We send written warnings to students who, in our opinion, are in danger
of not reaching the minimum. These warning go out in the 2nd semester of
3rd year (to Russian majors), sometimes even in the 1st semester of third
year. Several years ago we had an incident in which we found ourselves
forced to graduate someone with less than acceptable Russian because we
had not put in a timely warning.

We do not test for any of the other skills in such an organized way.
However, students in the School of International Affairs in the REES
program must read at the 2 level. We have a 50-item test for that that
covers 15 short passages and uses short open-ended questions in English.
A sample is available on our web page:
http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~slavic/tool.html
To read the Russian you must have a KOI8 font installed.

I hope this helps. -Rich Robin
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard Robin     <robin at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu>
Dept. of German and Slavic Languages and Literatures
The George Washington University
W A S H I N G T O N,  D. C. 20052


From ewb2 at cornell.edu  Fri Oct 20 05:11:16 1995
From: ewb2 at cornell.edu (E. Wayles Browne)
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 01:11:16 -0400
Subject: seeking I.Krzeminski
Message-ID: <FRI.20.OCT.1995.011116.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

The Institute of European Studies at Cornell University would like to
get in touch with Irek Krzeminski, but does not have his address
(somewhere in New York State). Can SEELANGerS help?

Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics
Morrill Hall, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.
tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h)
e-mail ewb2 at cornell.edu (1989 to 1993 was: jn5j at cornella.bitnet //
jn5j at cornella.cit.cornell.edu)


From jslindst at cc.helsinki.fi  Fri Oct 20 16:23:34 1995
From: jslindst at cc.helsinki.fi (Jouko Lindstedt)
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 18:23:34 +0200
Subject: Department name
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9510192100.A20852-0100000@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu>
Message-ID: <FRI.20.OCT.1995.182334.0200.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear Colleagues,

Here at Helsinki we have been discussing whether we should change the
name of our department (which is said to be the biggest of its kind
outside Slavic counries...). In English and Russian it is now

    Department of Slavonic Languages
    Otdelenie slavjanskix jazykov

The problem is, first, that also Baltic languages are taught here (and can
be chosen as a major subject) and, second, at least Russian literature is
equally important in our curriculum as the Russian language.

The alternative we have been considering is

    Department of Slavonic and Baltic Studies
    Otdelenie slavistiki i baltistiki

Please tell your opinion -- how does this (and our old name) sound to
your ear? And what is the official name of _your_ department? It's
perhaps better to answer directly to me, not to the entire list.

Thank you in advance!

Jouko Lindstedt
Department of Slavonic Languages, University of Helsinki
e-mail: Jouko.Lindstedt at Helsinki.Fi or jslindst at cc.helsinki.fi
http://www.helsinki.fi/~jslindst/

PS. A separate problem is Slavonic/Slavic; but since we prefer British
English, I assume we'll retain "Slavonic".


From gfowler at indiana.edu  Fri Oct 20 16:47:08 1995
From: gfowler at indiana.edu (George Fowler)
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 11:47:08 -0500
Subject: Department name
Message-ID: <FRI.20.OCT.1995.114708.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Greetings all!

Jouko Lindstedt writes:

>The alternative we have been considering is
>
>    Department of Slavonic and Baltic Studies
>    Otdelenie slavistiki i baltistiki
>
>Please tell your opinion -- how does this (and our old name) sound to
>your ear?

The new name sounds good enough, but better to my ear in English than in
Russian. Why is this an "otdelenie" instead of a "kafedra"? Does it
correspond to the former in a Russian university? Wouldn't that be an
awfully large department?

Our department at Indiana, like most of the major Slavic Departments in the
U.S., is called "Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures", which
offends the linguists but we're steadfast, we can stand it.

George Fowler

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
George Fowler                    [Email]  gfowler at indiana.edu
Dept. of Slavic Languages        [Home]   1-317-726-1482  **Try here first**
Ballantine 502                   [Dept]   1-812-855-9906/-2624/-2608
Indiana University               [Office] 1-812-855-2829
Bloomington, IN  47405  USA      [Fax]    1-812-855-2107
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


From asosnow at cc.UManitoba.CA  Fri Oct 20 16:43:20 1995
From: asosnow at cc.UManitoba.CA (Alexandra Sosnowski)
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 11:43:20 -0500
Subject: Strike
Message-ID: <FRI.20.OCT.1995.114320.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Hallo, Seelangers!

This is to inform you that our union here at the University of Manitoba
(Canada), i.e. the University of Manitoba Faculty Association is presently on
strike (as of midnight 17 October 1995).  Academic freedom and job secutity
are only some of the issues, yet both of them are related to downsizing of our
university and cutting of smaller programs, among them the Department of
Slavic Studies where three slavic langs are being taught:  Polish, Russian,
and Ukrainian, due to the present economic problems (Canada) and ongoing cuts
to government funding for the university over the last few years.

I still hope we (the Slavic Studies section) will survive.
Alexandra Sosnowski (presently not working, on strike)
asosnow at cc.umanitoba.ca


From apollard at umich.edu  Fri Oct 20 18:25:59 1995
From: apollard at umich.edu (alan p. pollard)
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 14:25:59 -0400
Subject: Department name
In-Reply-To: <Pine.HPP.3.91.951020181544.8226B-100000@karhu.Helsinki.FI>
Message-ID: <FRI.20.OCT.1995.142559.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

It may be relevant that the Slavonic Division of the New York Public
Library changed its name a few years ago to the Slavic and Baltic
Division.  I don't know of any U.S. academic departments that have done
similarly.  -Alan Pollard, U. of Michigan, USA

On Fri, 20 Oct 1995, Jouko Lindstedt wrote:

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> Here at Helsinki we have been discussing whether we should change the
> name of our department (which is said to be the biggest of its kind
> outside Slavic counries...). In English and Russian it is now
>
>     Department of Slavonic Languages
>     Otdelenie slavjanskix jazykov
>
> The problem is, first, that also Baltic languages are taught here (and can
> be chosen as a major subject) and, second, at least Russian literature is
> equally important in our curriculum as the Russian language.
>
> The alternative we have been considering is
>
>     Department of Slavonic and Baltic Studies
>     Otdelenie slavistiki i baltistiki
>
> Please tell your opinion -- how does this (and our old name) sound to
> your ear? And what is the official name of _your_ department? It's
> perhaps better to answer directly to me, not to the entire list.
>
> Thank you in advance!
>
> Jouko Lindstedt
> Department of Slavonic Languages, University of Helsinki
> e-mail: Jouko.Lindstedt at Helsinki.Fi or jslindst at cc.helsinki.fi
> http://www.helsinki.fi/~jslindst/
>
> PS. A separate problem is Slavonic/Slavic; but since we prefer British
> English, I assume we'll retain "Slavonic".
>


From MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu  Fri Oct 20 20:42:53 1995
From: MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (Emily Tall)
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 16:42:53 -0400
Subject: Strike
Message-ID: <FRI.20.OCT.1995.164253.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Hooray for the Manitoba Faculty Association! Here at State University of
New York at Buffalo we are also facing cuts and "restructuring," although
Russian, being so tiny already, does not seem in danger. No one is talking
about a strike. The current climate is so oppressive that everyone just
seems to be in a state of shock. If we wnt on strike, "they" would just
laugh at us, I think...Emily Tall


From iudinnel at martin.luther.edu  Fri Oct 20 21:04:14 1995
From: iudinnel at martin.luther.edu (Laurie Iudin-Nelson)
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 16:04:14 CDT
Subject: job vacancy in Russian
Message-ID: <FRI.20.OCT.1995.160414.CDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

JOB VACANCY IN RUSSIAN

Luther College, Decorah, Iowa.  One semester temporary leave
replacement (February-May 1996). ABD/Ph.D in Russian and demonstrated
teaching experience required.  Background in teaching methodology
preferred.  Native or near-native fluency in Russian and
English required.  Prefer at least one year of
residence/study abroad.  Responsibilities include teaching
two undergraduate courses (First and Second-Year Russian),
three courses is full teaching load.  Review of applications
starts immediately.  Send letter of application, c.v., three
letters of recommendation and offical transcripts to:

        Dr. Norma Hervey, Chair of Russian Studies
        Luther College
        700 College Drive
        Decorah, IA  52101
        Telephone:  319/387-1190
        Fax:  319/387-2158
        e-mail:  herveynj at martin.luther.edu


From andrei at ic.tunis.tver.su  Fri Oct 20 22:27:11 1995
From: andrei at ic.tunis.tver.su (Andrei Shkvorov)
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 18:27:11 -0400
Subject: "Models of Interaction" Survey
Message-ID: <FRI.20.OCT.1995.182711.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear Colleagues:

The Center for International Education and the Institute of
Russian Language and Culture of the Tver InterContact Group,
are requesting your assistance in implementing a research
project on the topic of "Russian Language Study in Russia and
Abroad: Models of Interaction". Tver InterContact Group
publishes several informational newsletters in various
educational fields, among which one focuses on opportunities
for the study of Russian Language and Area Studies in Russia.
This newsletter is brand new, and is privately published by our
group, free from any government influence.

Contributors to this latter newsletter include language
professors, specialists in the methodology of teaching Russian
as a foreign language, linguistic scholars, and international
programs administrators. We ask you to complete the following
questionnaire, which will assist us in determining the
direction of our editorial strategy in future editions of this
newsletter. This will also assist us in the planning of
educational projects, both at our institution and in
cooperation with other educational institutions.

We thank you in advance for your participation in this survey.
Your input is invaluable to the success of this project. Please
respond to our email address (below).

Richard Smith
International Programs Director
Institute of Russian Language and Culture
Tver InterContact Group

email: richard at ic.tunis.tver.su
*******************************

Outline of questions:

I.   College-related information
II.  International contacts and experiences
III. Teaching materials
IV.  Associations and information resources
V.   Curriculum
VI.  Methodological questions and problems
VII. Personal academic background

I. College-related information

1. What is the current enrollment in Russian- and Slavic
Studies-related coursework at your college?
- Undergraduate
- Graduate
- Post graduate
- Interdisciplinary studies related to these areas

2. How has the enrollment in these courses varied over the past
three years at your institution?
- Significant decline in enrollment
- Insignificant decline
- Essentially unchanged
- Insignificant increase
- Significant increase

3. To what do you ascribe any fluctuations in course
enrollment?

4. What status does your department enjoy in the general
structure of the college?
- Very insignificant
- Approximately equal to others
- Significantly important

5. How would you predict the future popularity of enrollment in
your department?

6. What, in your opinion, would serve to attract more students
to study Russian at your college?

7. What influences students at your school in their decision
whether to enroll/ not enroll in courses in your department?
- Factors in favour
- Factors against

8. What courses offered by your department enjoy the most
popularity among students?
- Practical communication
- Literature & history
- Area studies
- Translation and textual analysis

9. Does your department include native Russian speakers within
its faculty?

10. Do you think that it is preferable that the following
courses be taught by native speakers?
- Yes, for language labs
- Yes, for translation-intensive courses
- Yes, for area studies courses
- No, effectiveness of instruction depends entirely on the
capability and knowledgeability of the instructor, rather than
on his/her nationality
- Other responses

II. International contacts and experiences

1. Does either your univeristy in general, or your language
center in particular, have any formal contacts with any higher
educational institutions in Russia? If so, then with what HEIs,
and for what duration has this relationship existed?

2. What foreign cooperative programs are you currently involved
in, and what similar programs are being planned by your school?
- Faculty exchanges
- Student exchanges
- Other (please specify)

3. Do your offer transfer credit for courses taken overseas by
your students? If so, then on what basis do you accept such
coursework for credit?

4. Who administers study abroad and/or transfer of credit from
other institutions, within your college, and/or your
department? Please include the following information as regards
such persons:
- Name
- Postition or title
- Department
- Telephone number
- Fax
- Email
- Snail mail

5. Do you maintain professional contacts with any teachers,
professors, or other scholars within the NIS?

III. Teaching Materials

1. What educational materials do you use in your language labs?
- Title
- Author
- Date of publication
- Publisher

2. List the ten most popular textbooks or other reading
materials used in Russian courses on literature, history,
translation, text analysis, or other courses within your
department.

3. What types of educational materials would you prefer to have
access to in teaching your classes, which you find are
difficult or impossible to come by?
- In language labs
- In courses on theoretical linguistics courses
- In area studies courses

4. Which materials do you personally consult in your research
and class preparation work?

5. What bibliographic and research companies do you turn to in
choosing and ordering your course materials?

IV. Associations and information resources

1. Do you personally, or does your department as a whole,
belong to any professional associations or organizations? If
so, then which?

2. Do you frequently refer to the internet listservers and
email for use in expanding your educational horizons and
meeting and conversing with your colleagues? If so, then which
sources do you most often employ?

3. What professional journals do you refer to in your work?
- Names of periodicals
- Publishers
- Frequency of publication

4. Do you regularly attend any research, continuing
professional education, or similar conferences?
- If yes, then which conferences, and who organizes them?
- If no, then why not?

5. Do you think that it is important and/ or useful to
participate in topical conferences in Russia?
- Yes, in the following ares:
- No (please elaborate)

6. Are you interested in receiving information about upcoming
topical conferences in Russia, related to your work? If yes,
then in what areas?

7. What do you consider to be the most reputable sources of
professional information in your area of work?
- Colleagues
- Periodical publications (specify which)
- Internet resources (specify which)
- Other

V. Curriculum

1. What levels of Russian language study does your department
offer?

2. What coursework (theoretical or practical) does your
department offer at the undergraduate/graduate/postgraduate
levels, aside from language labs?
- Course title
- Level of course
- Hours per semester

VI. Methodological questions and problems

1. What aspects of Russian language study do your students find
to be the most difficult to master?

2. In what areas of Russian language study do you feel that
your department is lacking?
- Variety of theoretical subjects (which?)
- Intensity of language labs
- Internships
- Other

3. How do you rate the quality of instruction at your
department?
- Inadequate
- Adequate
- Excellent

4. What factors most hinder the effectiveness of Russian
language instruction at your institution?

5. What aspects and topics relating to Russian language study
are you most interested in discussing with your colleagues in
Russia?

6. Do you use any textbooks or other teaching or research
materials, published in Russia (or in the Soviet Union)? If
yes, then which?

7. Would you be interested in participating in an on-line
Russian language and culture course for students and teachers
of Russian as a foreign language? If yes, then in what areas of
study would you most like to participate?

VII. Personal academic background

1. In what areas do you hold academic degrees? (Please include
degree, year and place of matriculation).
- Teaching of Russian as a Foreign Language
- General Philology
- Linguistics
- History and/or Area Studies
- Literature
- Other

2. What is your experience (academic or otherwise) in the
teaching of Russian as a foreign language?
- For how long?
- Where?
- To whom?

3. Have you ever worked, interned, or studied in Russia? If
yes, then please state where, when, and briefly describe your
experiences.

4. Have you ever considered continuing your professional
education in the various fields of Russian language study? If
so, then which of the following are you most interested in
pursuing:
- Language practice
- Internships
- Teacher training conferences, seminars, and workshops
- Independent research

5. Please provide the following information on how we might
contact you in the future, regarding the results of this
survey, and pursuing further professional dialogue:
- Name and title
- Institution or organization
- Mailing address
- Phone number
- Fax
- Email


From gfowler at indiana.edu  Mon Oct 23 02:33:45 1995
From: gfowler at indiana.edu (George Fowler)
Date: Sun, 22 Oct 1995 21:33:45 -0500
Subject: Vadim Kozhevnikov
Message-ID: <SUN.22.OCT.1995.213345.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Greetings, all!
     Can anybody authoritative tell me in just a few words if Vadim
Kozhevnikov's large novel Shchit i mech has any literary merit?
Entertainment value? Historical importance?
     Thanks!
     George Fowler

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
George Fowler                    [Email]  gfowler at indiana.edu
Dept. of Slavic Languages        [Home]   1-317-726-1482  **Try here first**
Ballantine 502                   [Dept]   1-812-855-9906/-2624/-2608
Indiana University               [Office] 1-812-855-2829
Bloomington, IN  47405  USA      [Fax]    1-812-855-2107
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


From jslindst at cc.helsinki.fi  Mon Oct 23 08:05:24 1995
From: jslindst at cc.helsinki.fi (Jouko Lindstedt)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 10:05:24 +0200
Subject: Department name
In-Reply-To: <v01530508acad825c6d55@[134.68.249.88]>
Message-ID: <MON.23.OCT.1995.100524.0200.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

On Fri, 20 Oct 1995, George Fowler wrote:

> Jouko Lindstedt writes:
> >The alternative we have been considering is
> >    Department of Slavonic and Baltic Studies
> >    Otdelenie slavistiki i baltistiki
> The new name sounds good enough, but better to my ear in English than in
> Russian. Why is this an "otdelenie" instead of a "kafedra"? Does it
> correspond to the former in a Russian university? Wouldn't that be an
> awfully large department?

Thanks to everybody who answered, mainly by private e-mail. (But I'd still
like to get some answers from Europe, too.) As for George's question, we
are an "Otdelenie" because there have traditionally been _two_ "chairs" or
kafedry, Russian Language and Literature (since 1946, but in some sense
since 1830) and Slavonic Philology (since 1900). That is to say, there is
no full professor that would be scholary responsible for the whole area,
though administratively we of course have a Department Head.

We are not "awfully large", but we have more than 500 students (majors
and minors), and 300 of them are Russian majors.

Jouko Lindstedt
Department of Slavonic Languages, University of Helsinki
e-mail: Jouko.Lindstedt at Helsinki.Fi or jslindst at cc.helsinki.fi
http://www.helsinki.fi/~jslindst/


From hbaran at ios.com  Mon Oct 23 10:23:29 1995
From: hbaran at ios.com (Henryk Baran)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 06:23:29 -0400
Subject: Vadim Kozhevnikov
In-Reply-To: <v01530507acb0af2c9d85@[134.68.249.96]>
Message-ID: <MON.23.OCT.1995.062329.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

On all three questions re: "Shchit i mech'" -- I guess it's all in the eye of
the beholder. Certainly a good example of officially-approved popular
literature.


From armstron at AC.GRIN.EDU  Mon Oct 23 08:15:20 1995
From: armstron at AC.GRIN.EDU (Todd Armstrong)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 11:15:20 +0300
Subject: Americanisms and Anglicisms in Post-perestroika Russian
Message-ID: <MON.23.OCT.1995.111520.0300.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear SEELANGERS,

I have a student who is currently working on a linguistics project, "The
Process of Borrowing in Post-Perestroika Era Russian: Americanisms and
Anglicisms."

He has already compiled a fairly comprehensive bibliography of recent
sources, but is still eager to find more.  Any advice or assistance in
finding more research materials would be much appreciated.

Please respond off-list either to me (armstron at ac.grin.edu) or to my
student, Brett Hodges (hodgesb at ac.grin.edu).

Thanks in advance!

Todd Armstrong
Russian Dept.
Grinnell College


From iudinnel at martin.luther.edu  Mon Oct 23 16:26:19 1995
From: iudinnel at martin.luther.edu (Laurie Iudin-Nelson)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 11:26:19 CDT
Subject: Possible Balalaika Concert
In-Reply-To: <01HWS087DMSI8Y5SDO@AC.GRIN.EDU>; from "Todd Armstrong" at Oct
 23, 95 11:15 am
Message-ID: <MON.23.OCT.1995.112619.CDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Todd,
        I just read your message over SEELANGS, and regretfully
can't help you with any information for your student.
        However, would Grinnel be interested in hosting
a balalaika concert in February?  The Luther College Balalaika
Ensemble is trying to set up its spring concert tour.  The
group is very good, we perform folk and dance music with the
following instruments:  prima domra, alto domra, bass domra,
prima balalaika, secunda balalaika, alto balalaika, bass balalaika,
accordion.  We ask no fees for performing, yet help with transportation
costs is appreciated.
        Would Grinnel be interested in this?  If so, please contact
me at the following address:
        Prof. Laurie Iudin-Nelson
        Dept. of Russian Studies
        Luther College
        Decorah, IA  52101
        Office Telephone:  319/387-1078
        E-MAIL:  iudinnel at martin.luther.edu


Sincerely,

        Laurie Iudin-Nelson


From hia5 at MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU  Mon Oct 23 23:10:14 1995
From: hia5 at MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU (Howard I. Aronson)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 17:10:14 -0600
Subject: Job announcement, University of Chicago
Message-ID: <MON.23.OCT.1995.171014.0600.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

University of Chicago. Assistant Professor in Slavic Literature. The Slavic
Department of the University of Chicago is conducting a search for an
Assistant Professor in a Slavic literature. The first priority will be
demonstrated excellence in scholarship and, if possible, in teaching. The
preference for fields is:

(1) Czech literature
(2) A South Slavic literature
(3) Russian literature

A combination of any of the above will be even more desirable, as would a
combination of Czech literature with Czech linguistics. Ability to teach
undergraduate courses in general humanities will also be advantageous.

Applicants should send, or arrange to have sent, a dossier including a
curriculum vitae, transcripts, three letters of recommendation, and samples
of scholarly writing to the following address.

Literature Search Committee
University of Chicago
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
1130 E. 59th Street
Chicago, IL  60637

The deadline for applications is January 31. Individuals wishing to be
interviewed at the December meeting of AATSEEL should submit applications
by December 1. Since we may not have time to contact interviewees
personally, an interview list will be posted on the message board at the
conference.

The University of Chicago considers employees and potential employees on
the basis of individual merit and without regard to race, color, religion,
sex, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, age, disability or
other factors irrelevant to the participation in the programs of the
University.

For further information via e-mail: slavic-department at uchicago.edu


From djbpitt+ at pitt.edu  Tue Oct 24 00:28:10 1995
From: djbpitt+ at pitt.edu (David J Birnbaum)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 20:28:10 -0400
Subject: AATSEEL Chicago Program Update
Message-ID: <MON.23.OCT.1995.202810.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear AATSEEL Members,

The AATSEEL Conference Program for the Chicago meeting, which you just
received in the October AATSEEL newsletter, is already very much out of
date. I have just (23 October) posted an updated program schedule to the
Word Wide Web; connect to my home page (below) and follow the links
through Slavic and AATSEEL to the HTML version of the program schedule. If
you do not know how to use the World Wide Web, your local computer lab
attendants would be happy to show you.

Any corrections to the program must reach me by the first week in
November, since I send the final program to the printers in the second
week of November, and I need several days to prepare it for publication.
I will be away from email Thursday, 26 October through Sunday, 29
October, in connection with the AAASS meeting.

Looking forward to seeing you all in Chicago,

David J. Birnbaum
Chair, AATSEEL Program Committee
==================================================
Professor David J. Birnbaum      djbpitt+ at pitt.edu
The Royal York Apartments, #802  http://www.pitt.edu/~djbpitt/
3955 Bigelow Boulevard           voice: 1-412-624-5712
Pittsburgh, PA  15213  USA       fax:   1-412-624-9714


From kramer at epas.utoronto.ca  Tue Oct 24 00:53:37 1995
From: kramer at epas.utoronto.ca (christina kramer)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 20:53:37 -0400
Subject: AATSEEL Chicago Program Update
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9510232051.C21036-0100000@stirner.library.pitt.edu>
 from "David J Birnbaum" at Oct 23, 95 08:28:10 pm
Message-ID: <MON.23.OCT.1995.205337.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I appreciate that posting the up-dated programme to the Web is
convenient for many - perhaps most of the readers of SEELANG, however,
the cheery statement that there are people in the computing lab who
would be happy to show me how to access the Web is simply not true.  I
suppose I will eventually be forced into paying a consultant to show
me how to accomplish this task, in the meantime, some other means of
communiction would be appreciated by at least this scholar.  Christina Kramer


From djbpitt+ at pitt.edu  Tue Oct 24 01:55:09 1995
From: djbpitt+ at pitt.edu (David J Birnbaum)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 21:55:09 -0400
Subject: No need to panic ...
Message-ID: <MON.23.OCT.1995.215509.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear Fellow AATSEEL Members,

The flood of messages I have received in the half hour that has elapsed
since my posting about the revised program schedule suggests that my
wording was inadvertently alarmist. So let me try again ...

The program published in the October newsletter went to press in the
middle of September. A lot of program changes have been received since
then, and I have incorporated those changes into the program wherever
possible. I cannot add new panels at this late date, but I have added new
papers and discussants and I have changed paper titles and panelist
affiliations when asked to do so.

I have not changed the times of any panels except when the panel chairs
have requested that I do so, and have notified all panelists personally in
advance. If your panel is listed in the October newsletter and your chair
has not told you about a change in time, your time has not changed.  I
move panels only in exceptional circumstances, and have moved only two so
far (due to conflicts with the MLA).

If you do not have web access but do have ftp access, you may connect by
anonymous ftp to ftp.pitt.edu and enter directory dept/slavic/aatseel,
where you can pick up program_schedule.txt. This is a plain text version
of the current program schedule.

Please note that prior to this year, your October newsletter would have
been just as out of date as it is this year. The difference is that you
would not have known about any changes until you got to the conference.
Since this year I maintain the program electonically, I saw no reason not
to share information with those of you who have web access as I receive
it.

With apologies for any confusion, and still looking forward to seeing you
in Chicago,

David
==================================================
Professor David J. Birnbaum      djbpitt+ at pitt.edu
The Royal York Apartments, #802  http://www.pitt.edu/~djbpitt/
3955 Bigelow Boulevard           voice: 1-412-624-5712
Pittsburgh, PA  15213  USA       fax:   1-412-624-9714


From gfowler at indiana.edu  Tue Oct 24 02:34:52 1995
From: gfowler at indiana.edu (George Fowler)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 21:34:52 -0500
Subject: AATSEEL Chicago Program Update
Message-ID: <MON.23.OCT.1995.213452.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Greetings and merry 1995 to all of you!

Christina Kramer wrote:
>
>I appreciate that posting the up-dated programme to the Web is
>convenient for many - perhaps most of the readers of SEELANG, however,
>the cheery statement that there are people in the computing lab who
>would be happy to show me how to access the Web is simply not true.  I
>suppose I will eventually be forced into paying a consultant to show
>me how to accomplish this task, in the meantime, some other means of
>communiction would be appreciated by at least this scholar.  Christina Kramer

And David Birnbaum responded, laconically:

>If you do not have web access but do have ftp access, you may connect by
>anonymous ftp to ftp.pitt.edu and enter directory dept/slavic/aatseel,
>where you can pick up program_schedule.txt. This is a plain text version
>of the current program schedule.

Here's a slightly more "razvernutoe" exposition of how to do this:

Log into your computer. At the command prompt, type

ftp ftp.pitt.edu

You will be connected to David's mainframe, and prompted to login. Log in
as "anonymous", and give you email address as a password. Hint: it will
take your abbreviated email address: "gfowler@" [fill in your own user name
please!] and will supply the rest by itself. Now type the following:

cd dept/slavic/aatseel

This puts you into his aatseel directory. Type "dir" to see all the files
there. Here's what you see:

200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls.
total 650
-rw-r-----  1 13591    DJB         52533 Oct 23 17:30 call_for_papers.html
-rw-r-----  1 13591    DJB        213751 Oct 23 17:31 call_for_papers.sgml
-rw-r-----  1 13591    DJB         34023 Oct 23 17:31 call_for_papers.txt
-rw-r-----  1 13591    DJB         55790 Oct 23 17:32 call_with_secretaries.txt
-rw-------  1 13591    DJB          2342 May  1 09:29 division_heads.html
-rw-------  1 13591    DJB          1277 Mar  7  1995 division_heads.txt
-rw-------  1 13591    DJB          2602 Mar  7  1995 from_David_Birnbaum.1
-rw-------  1 13591    DJB          1558 Mar  7  1995 from_David_Birnbaum.2
-rw-------  1 13591    DJB           884 Apr 21  1995 index
-rw-------  1 13591    DJB          2791 Jan 30  1995 panel_declaration.txt
-rw-------  1 13591    DJB          1484 Jan 16  1995 panel_roster.txt
-rw-------  1 13591    DJB           741 Jan 16  1995 participant_information.tx
t
-rw-r-----  1 13591    DJB        106662 Oct 23 17:32 program_schedule.html
-rw-r-----  1 13591    DJB         82544 Oct 23 17:33 program_schedule.txt
-rw-r-----  1 13591    DJB         93767 Sep 12 10:39 program_schedule_newslette
r.rtf
-rw-------  1 13591    DJB          4601 Feb 20  1995 to_panel_chairs.txt
226 Transfer complete.

The one you want is program_schedule.txt. So type:

get program_schedule.txt

This will transfer the file to your mainframe account at home. It should
take a few seconds. Some systems will ask for the name of a local file; you
should be able to hit carriage return to give it the same name. Or call it
"aatseel.txt". Or "I_hate_computers.txt"!

I have to say, I completely endorse David's posting of this information to
www/ftp. First, this is the way it's going to be over the next few years:
everything is migrating in that direction. For example, at my university
there is basically no other way to check course enrollments, get grant
information, find a student's phone number, log into the library computer,
any of a thousand different services (I'm not exaggerating: connect to
http://www.indiana.edu and check it out for yourself!). Second, as he
pointed out in his follow-up posting, this is additional information:
nothing has disappeared to be replaced by electrons. Third, this isn't a
difficult thing to do. It was much harder to adjust back when you bought
your first computer, whether that was 1983 or 1992. Third, once you get
used to the on-line world, you'll find that there are miraculous things out
there. (Somebody once likened it to a restaurant with a huge supply of free
food but no menu.) 'Course, it can be a real waste of time to read Calvin
and Hobbes this way...

George Fowler

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
George Fowler                    [Email]  gfowler at indiana.edu
Dept. of Slavic Languages        [Home]   1-317-726-1482  **Try here first**
Ballantine 502                   [Dept]   1-812-855-9906/-2624/-2608
Indiana University               [Office] 1-812-855-2829
Bloomington, IN  47405  USA      [Fax]    1-812-855-2107
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


From genevra at u.washington.edu  Tue Oct 24 02:53:46 1995
From: genevra at u.washington.edu (James Gerhart)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 19:53:46 -0700
Subject: AATSEEL Chicago Program Update
In-Reply-To: <v01530505acb1fee5105e@[134.68.249.52]>
Message-ID: <MON.23.OCT.1995.195346.0700.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Thanks very much George.
It's just that you didn't say what's a command prompt?
G. Gerhart


From d-powelstock at UCHICAGO.EDU  Tue Oct 24 03:27:13 1995
From: d-powelstock at UCHICAGO.EDU (David Powelstock)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 23:27:13 EDT
Subject: AATSEEL Chicago Program Update & the Web
Message-ID: <MON.23.OCT.1995.232713.EDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I'm sure that not all computer lab folk are as user-friendly as we would
like, but in defense of David Birnbaum's efforts to use the Web to
distribute information about the upcoming AATSEEL conference I'd like to say
the following.  Previously the updates of the conference schedule were few
(May [?] and December [?] issues of AATSEEL newsletter) and far between.
The schedule is published no less frequently in hard copy than before.  The
publication of the more frequent updates on the Web adds a great deal and
subtracts nothing from the content and timeliness of conference information
as available in the past.  I have sympathy for those for whom Web access is
not yet easy or automatic.  Nevertheless, David has done nothing to make any
information LESS available.  On the contrary, it seems as if he has been
working very hard to develop the additional lines of communication that we
will all take for granted within, probably, a year, if not sooner.

As for getting on the Web, there is certainly no need to pay a consultant.
One can pick up a software package for Web-Browsing for under US $ 50.
Let's not let understandable frustration dimish either the benefits of the
Web or the voluntary efforts of people like David.

******************************************************************
*       David Powelstock                (O)   312-702-0035              *
*       Slavic Languages & Literatures  (Dpt) 312-702-8033 (msg)        *
*       University of Chicago           (H)   312-324-5842 (msg)        *
*       1130 E. 59th Street                                     *
*       Chicago, IL  60637                                      *
******************************************************************


From Alexander.Boguslawski at Rollins.Edu  Tue Oct 24 04:16:02 1995
From: Alexander.Boguslawski at Rollins.Edu (Alexander Boguslawski)
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 00:16:02 EDT
Subject: Ethnic terms
Message-ID: <TUE.24.OCT.1995.001602.EDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear Seelangers and fans of ethnic terms!  It took me some time (and two tries
to get it posted -- this is my third attempt) to collect a few more expressions
which, I hope, will be of interest not only to Tony, but to all.

Greek expressions:

1. A Vlach (Wallachian?) -- Vlahikos or Vlahos -- bumpkin, simpleton, uncouth
2. Panama -- Panamas -- panama hat
3. Indian pig -- Indikon hoiridion -- guinea pig
4. Indian reed -- Indokalamos -- bamboo
5. Chinese Language -- Kinezika -- anything incomprehensible and unintelligible
6. Chinese gymnastics -- Kineziki gimnastiki -- meaning unclear (possibly
   sleeping or sex:  I found this expression in a modern Greek song;  the
   singer says he is doing Chinese gymnastics behind a piano;  masturbation?)
7. To live like a bey -- Perno mpeika -- to live in luxury
8. To become a Turk (a Muslim) -- Tourkeuo -- to become enraged
9. To become a Turk (a Muslim) -- Ginomai Tourkos -- to become enraged
10. To become a Catholic -- Frankeuo

Polish expressions:

1. Babylonian numbers -- Liczby babilonskie -- predictions and calculations not
   to be trusted
2. The Gypsiy folk -- Cyganeria -- artistic boheme
3. Egyptian wheat -- Pszenica egipska -- abundance, profit, manna
4. Egyptian darkness -- Egipskie ciemnosci -- extreme darkness, lack of light
5. On the day of St. Fryc -- Na swiety Fryc -- never (Fryc is a Polish deroga-
   tory word for a German; it derives from Fritz, Friedrich -- there was no
   saint of that name)
6. Fryc's dues -- Frycowe -- dues paid by new initiates, new members to the
   members of some group;  dues one has to pay to become adept at smthg.
7. Galician term -- Galicyzm -- word, sentence, or construction borrowed from
   French or resembling French
8. Greek nose -- Grecki nos -- classic profile, straight nose
9. Greek knot -- Grecki wezel -- hair pinned in a knot, like in Greek sculpture
10. To pretend to be a Greek -- Udawac Greka -- to pretend not to understand
   something, to have no idea what's going on
11. Greek fidelity -- Grecka wiernosc -- infidelity, trickery,
 untrustworthiness12. On Greek Calends -- Na Greckie Kalendy -- never (there
 were no Greek Ca-
    lends)
13. Flying Dutchman -- Latajacy Holender -- a  globetrotter, traveller, a per-
    son who often changes place
14. A Dutchman -- Holender -- a substitute for "cholera" (darn it, shoot, damn,
    even worse than that...)
15. Italian stuff (things) -- Wloszczyzna -- soup vegetables (celery, leeks,
    parsley root, carrots;  supposedly brought to Poland from Italy)
16. Finnish knife -- Finka -- a strong knife used by Polish boyscouts
17. Turkish coffee -- Kawa po turecku -- coffee made in a pot, with grinds
    remaining on the bottom of every cup
18. Lithuanian attack -- Litewska napasc -- quick, unexpected attack
19. Latin sail -- Zagiel lacinski -- in reality, an Arab sail (the etymology
    of this is:  the sail was called Vela alla trina, a triangular sail;  be-
    cause of pronunciation, it was changed to vela latrina;  only then, to
    avoid this malodorous comparison, it changed to vela latina)
20. Kitchen Latin -- lacina kuchenna
Lacina kuchenna -- incorrect, poor Latin
21. Latin -- Lacina -- obscenities
22. German coffee -- Niemiecka kawa -- coffeee made of ersatz, i.e. chickory
23. A Turkish horse, a man from Mazuria, a Magyar hat, and the Hungarian saber-
    Kon turek, chlop Mazurek, czapka magierka, szabla wegierka -- best things
24. A Cossack -- Kozak -- a daredevil; also a person boasting too much

I will try to send a few more (approximately from M to Z in Polish).  Please
comment and make corrections to my explanations and translations, but first
of all -- enjoy!

Alexander Boguslawski
Professor of Russian Studies
Department of Foreign Languages
Rollins College
Winter Park, Florida 32789


From MLDYER at UMSVM.BITNET  Tue Oct 24 13:20:52 1995
From: MLDYER at UMSVM.BITNET (Don)
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 07:20:52 CST
Subject: AATSEEL Program
Message-ID: <TUE.24.OCT.1995.072052.CST.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear SEELANGS:

   In the spirit of electronic information dissemination, what would
be the problem with posting updated conference programs, such as Chicago's
AATSEEL, to this list? Non-"surfers" will get what they want, and at least
for this conference the electronic welfare of the public good will be
served. The fact remains that in 1995 many people *are* e-mail-able, yet
still not consistent Web-users. This obviously will change. But for the
time being, if the goal of switching AATSEEL's programming to an electronic
base is to more efficiently (and more speedily) communicate important
information to those who need it, why not just plug the program data into
one more place and let it fly?

Donald L. Dyer
Associate Professor of Russian and Linguistics
The University of Mississippi


From gmmst11+ at pitt.edu  Tue Oct 24 13:26:36 1995
From: gmmst11+ at pitt.edu (Gerald McCausland)
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 09:26:36 -0400
Subject: AATSEEL Program
In-Reply-To: <SEELANGS%95102408281943@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Message-ID: <TUE.24.OCT.1995.092636.0400.GMMST11@PITT.EDU>

On Tue, 24 Oct 1995, Don wrote:

> Dear SEELANGS:
>
>    In the spirit of electronic information dissemination, what would
> be the problem with posting updated conference programs, such as Chicago's
> AATSEEL, to this list? Non-"surfers" will get what they want, and at least

George Fowler's earlier posting on this subject included a copy of the
ftp.pitt.edu/dept/slavic/aatseel directory, revealing, among other things,
that the conference program is over 82 Kb. large.  Now, I am no expert,
but I do know that if I were to receive an e-mail message that large, my
computer account would immediately and automatically be shut off by the
computer accounts system for having exceeded my disk quota and I would, at
the very least, have to go through a tedious process of application to get
the account restored.  My understanding is that transmitting files that
large via e-mail has the ability to crash entire systems and is really
tabu on the internet.

As wonderful as e-mail seemed to us all when it was a novelty, it really
is not adequate to access the kind of information now commonly available
electronically.  Christina Kramer's report about her situation amazed me.
Here at the University of Pittsburgh all graduate students must pay over
$200 per academic year in computer fees and a considerable portion of the
university's resources are devoted to computing.  If this is the situation
at most universities, as I assume it must be, surely we have the right to
expect and demand that the support staff of academic computing will indeed
be happy to show us how to access the web, and any other on-line resources
we need.  N'est pas?

Jerry.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jerry McCausland                                       I never make misteaks.
University of Pittsburgh
gmmst11+ at pitt.edu


From djbpitt+ at pitt.edu  Tue Oct 24 14:54:58 1995
From: djbpitt+ at pitt.edu (David J Birnbaum)
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 10:54:58 -0400
Subject: the web
Message-ID: <TUE.24.OCT.1995.105458.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

> In the spirit of electronic information dissemination, what would
> be the problem with posting updated conference programs, such as Chicago's
> AATSEEL, to this list?

It is expensive (we pay for our email, even if we don't see line-item
bills, and this file is over 82k and over 2300 lines). And it is wrong
to mail something to hundreds of subscribers for the convenience of a
few.

The web is standard current technology, and it is the only practical way
to distribute large amounts of unstable information to a wide readership.
By "unstable" I mean that I have updated the program over a dozen times
this year, and I am not willing to ask the entire SEELANGS readership to
pay for frequent email distribution. Current information is always
available, but you have to go to the information, instead of waiting for
it to show up in your mailbox. This is the only viable model; mass
emailing of this type of file is as inefficient and expensive as mass
postal mailings, except that you don't see the expense directly.

If you learned to use email, you can learn to use the web. And as George
Fowler pointed out last night, you are going to need to learn to use the
web, because more and more information will be available only on the web.
My electronic distribution of supplementary AATSEEL program information,
which has never been available in any form before, is not an arcane,
nerds-only attempt to disenfranchise those who are not information science
specialists. And I am not asking you to learn to use technology that is of
no value beyond reading the AATSEEL program. The web is mainstream, it is
here, and it is growing. It is the most significant development in
information distribution since email.

I have no intention of curtailing the amount of print information that is
distributed in the AATSEEL newsletter about the program. But the only area
where I am going to expand information is the web, because that is the
venue best suited to disseminating this type of information. I will
continue to make a plain-text version of the program available at my ftp
site, as well.

Contrary to last night's posting, web access and training is available at
the University of Toronto without hiring a consultant. I wrote last night
to a colleague in their Centre for Computing in the Humanities, and he
offered to provide a free web introduction to our colleagues there.
Finding the computer center at your university may not be easy, and you
may have to hunt around to find someone who can get you started, but that
person probably exists, even if it's just a student running Netscape on a
machine in a university computer lab. And if you do not have Internet
access through your university, you may have to get your web access
through an independent service provider, much as many SEELANGS readers get
their email through CompuServe. This is comparable to subscribing to cable
TV (only less expensive, in most cases). You do not need a degree in
computer science and you do not need to work at a supercomputing center to
get on the web; the web is available to the general public in most
countries.

I understand that there will be a few people who genuinely cannot obtain
web access (I was in this position in Sofia last summer, where the only
Internet-connected machines at my disposal were too slow to use), much as
there are a few people who genuinely cannot obtain email access. This
situation is remedied by asking friends to download and email the
necessary information to you. It is not remedied through large or frequent
mass mailings to the entire SEELANGS subscriber base.

With best electronic wishes,

David
==================================================
Professor David J. Birnbaum      djbpitt+ at pitt.edu
The Royal York Apartments, #802  http://www.pitt.edu/~djbpitt/
3955 Bigelow Boulevard           voice: 1-412-624-5712
Pittsburgh, PA  15213  USA       fax:   1-412-624-9714


From jdwest at u.washington.edu  Tue Oct 24 16:04:18 1995
From: jdwest at u.washington.edu (James West)
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 09:04:18 -0700
Subject: AATSEEL on the Web
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9510241021.B21447-0100000@stirner.library.pitt.edu>
Message-ID: <TUE.24.OCT.1995.090418.0700.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I'm equally puzzled by the complaint of inability to access the WWW and
the suggestion that the AATSEEL file be retrieved by ftp. The vast
majority of universities have, on the same machine as their email server,
a text-only WWW server, usually Lynx. In other words, almost anybody who's
reading David Birnbaum's email messages can do the following:

  1.    Quit the email server.

  2a.   If what you see is a (typically UNIX) system prompt,
        usually the name of the host machine plus % or $, just type
        "lynx" and press Enter.

  2b.   If what you see is a menu offering you various options
        in your universty's information services, look for an option
        that calls itself System or Shell. Take it, and enter "lynx"

  3.    When you see the initial Lynx screen, press g (for "GO"),
        and enter the address that David gave. Follow the on-screen
        prompts to move around in the online AATSEEL program, and to
        get out when you've finished.

All of the above takes a few seconds - either three or four keystrokes plus
the typing of the word "lynx" - and probably almost everybody reading
SEELANGS can do it. Notice that I didn't say "American" universities -
you can do it from virtually anywhere in the world, including Russia.

A Web page is a very good way to get AATSEEL information, as you can make
Lynx search it for you, by pressing / and entering the word(s) or name(s)
you'd like to find. Beats thumbing through a printed program.

                                                     James West


From grapp at mail.utexas.edu  Tue Oct 24 16:05:08 1995
From: grapp at mail.utexas.edu (Gil Rappaport)
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 11:05:08 -0500
Subject: AATSEEL info on the Web
Message-ID: <TUE.24.OCT.1995.110508.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I'd like to add a word of support for David Birnbaum's `Webbification' of
ATTSEEL information, in particular, of the program.

Not only is this inherently efficient (to have a constantly up-dated version
which others access as they wish), but, as George Fowler points out, it is
the ways things are going, whether one likes it or not. But one should like it.

If the computer people at one's home institution are not supportive, put
pressure on them (and their administration) to GET supportive: it is their
job. Tell the head of microcomputer services, instructional computing,
information management, or whatever, that you, a faculty member, need access
to this resource, as your field is relying on it. But it would be surprising
if they weren't helpful.

I am a recent convert to the Web. I went to a workshop that Louis Janus
organized in Minnesota in August, saw Netscape and the WEb for the first
time, was amazed by what was available in our part of the world, and saw
that it was an essential resource, that it should be part of our profession.
When I came back to Texas (Austin), I found out that the resources were
here, a software package was available for free, already `tuned' to our
local network. Within two weeks it was totally natural to use it. I use it
in teaching, but that is another step.

So check out your institution's resources first: they may already be doing
their job. If not, GET them to do their job.

Attaboy, Dave!

Gil Rappaport


From jflevin at ucrac1.ucr.edu  Tue Oct 24 18:03:01 1995
From: jflevin at ucrac1.ucr.edu (Jules Levin)
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 14:03:01 EDT
Subject: Ethnic terms
Message-ID: <TUE.24.OCT.1995.140301.EDT.>

I was happy to see that Alexander Boguslawski again picked up this
delightful genre.  I've been racking my brains trying to compete with all my
polyglot erudite colleagues.  Here are a couple of modest contributions:

>>From my Fulbright student days in Oslo, Norway, I remember

     jodiske priser [with a slash through the 'o', of course] 'Jewish
     prices'.   This refers to prices like '19.95' or '29.99'

I will also share with my non-Jewish friends the Yiddish expression

     goyim-nakhas    This is hard to translate without an explanation.
Nakhas is the pleasure you get from your children's accomplishments that you
can brag about, like getting into Harvard law school.  "Goyim-nakhas",
i.e., Gentile nakhas, refers to accomplishments like leaping over twenty
burning barrels on a motor cycle, or winning first prize in a
beer-chuga-lug contest.

Since Alex has included Proper names, e.g., Frits, in his collection,
although I'm not sure that is part of the original assignment (maybe IF they
are associated with ethnic groups it is okay), let me point out that Russian
'Fon' was army slang (I believe WWI army as well as Red) for a 'German',
derived from the G name prefix 'Von'.  Curiously, Russian Yiddish slang for
an ethnic Russian is 'fonya' derived from 'Vanya'.  I have wondered whether
Jewish soldiers on the Eastern fronts used both 'Fon' and 'Fonya' for their
enemies and comrades-in-arms respectively.
Jules Levin
Department of Literatures and Languages
University of California
Riverside, CA  92521


From billings at mailer.fsu.edu  Tue Oct 24 22:24:37 1995
From: billings at mailer.fsu.edu (Loren A. Billings)
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 18:24:37 -0400
Subject: 6.1463, Qs: "Models of Interaction" Survey (fwd)
Message-ID: <TUE.24.OCT.1995.182437.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dea colleagues:

I saw this on LINGUIST and thought it might be of interest to this list.

--Loren Billings (billings at mailer.fsu.edu)

Forwarded message:
> From owner-linguist%TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU at pucc.PRINCETON.EDU Fri Oct 20 13:34:30
 1995
> Approved-By:  The Linguist List <linguist at TAM2000.TAMU.EDU>
> Message-Id:  <199510201717.MAA28525 at tam2000.tamu.edu>
> Date:         Fri, 20 Oct 1995 12:17:24 -0500
> Reply-To: The Linguist List <linguist at tam2000.tamu.edu>
> Sender: The LINGUIST Discussion List <LINGUIST at TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU>
> From: The Linguist List <linguist at tam2000.tamu.edu>
> Subject:      6.1463, Qs: "Models of Interaction" Survey
> To: Multiple recipients of list LINGUIST <LINGUIST at TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> LINGUIST List:  Vol-6-1463. Fri Oct 20 1995. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines:  325
>
> Subject: 6.1463, Qs: "Models of Interaction" Survey
>
> Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. <aristar at tam2000.tamu.edu>
>             Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. <hdry at emunix.emich.edu>
>
> Associate Editor:  Ljuba Veselinova <lveselin at emunix.emich.edu>
> Assistant Editors: Ron Reck <rreck at emunix.emich.edu>
>                    Ann Dizdar <dizdar at tam2000.tamu.edu>
>                    Annemarie Valdez <avaldez at emunix.emich.edu>
>
> Software development: John H. Remmers <remmers at emunix.emich.edu>
>
> Editor for this issue: lveselin at emunix.emich.edu
>                            REMINDER
> [We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually
> best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is
> then  strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list.   This policy was
> instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we
> would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate.]
>
> ---------------------------------Directory-----------------------------------
> 1)
> Date:  Wed, 18 Oct 1995 02:24:33
> From:  ""<richard at ic.tunis.tver.su>
> Subject:        "Models of Interaction" Survey
>
> ---------------------------------Messages------------------------------------
> 1)
> Date:  Wed, 18 Oct 1995 02:24:33
> From:  ""<richard at ic.tunis.tver.su>
> Subject:        "Models of Interaction" Survey
>
> Dear Colleagues:
>
> The Center for International Education and the Institute of
> Russian Language and Culture of the Tver InterContact Group,
> are requesting your assistance in implementing a research
> project on the topic of "Russian Language Study in Russia and
> Abroad: Models of Interaction". Tver InterContact Group
> publishes several informational newsletters in various
> educational fields, among which one focuses on opportunities
> for the study of Russian Language and Area Studies in Russia.
> This newsletter is brand new, and is privately published by our
> group, free from any government influence.
>
> Contributors to this latter newsletter include language
> professors, specialists in the methodology of teaching Russian
> as a foreign language, linguistic scholars, and international
> programs administrators. We ask you to complete the following
> questionnaire, which will assist us in determining the
> direction of our editorial strategy in future editions of this
> newsletter. This will also assist us in the planning of
> educational projects, both at our institution and in
> cooperation with other educational institutions.
>
> We thank you in advance for your participation in this survey.
> Your input is invaluable to the success of this project. Please
> respond to our email address (below).
>
> Richard Smith
> International Programs Director
> Institute of Russian Language and Culture
> Tver InterContact Group
>
> email: richard at ic.tunis.tver.su
> *******************************
>
> Outline of questions:
>
> I.   College-related information
> II.  International contacts and experiences
> III. Teaching materials
> IV.  Associations and information resources
> V.   Curriculum
> VI.  Methodological questions and problems
> VII. Personal academic background
>
> I. College-related information
>
> 1. What is the current enrollment in Russian- and Slavic
> Studies-related coursework at your college?
> - Undergraduate
> - Graduate
> - Post graduate
> - Interdisciplinary studies related to these areas
>
> 2. How has the enrollment in these courses varied over the past
> three years at your institution?
> - Significant decline in enrollment
> - Insignificant decline
> - Essentially unchanged
> - Insignificant increase
> - Significant increase
>
> 3. To what do you ascribe any fluctuations in course
> enrollment?
>
> 4. What status does your department enjoy in the general
> structure of the college?
> - Very insignificant
> - Approximately equal to others
> - Significantly important
>
> 5. How would you predict the future popularity of enrollment in
> your department?
>
> 6. What, in your opinion, would serve to attract more students
> to study Russian at your college?
>
> 7. What influences students at your school in their decision
> whether to enroll/ not enroll in courses in your department?
> - Factors in favour
> - Factors against
>
> 8. What courses offered by your department enjoy the most
> popularity among students?
> - Practical communication
> - Literature & history
> - Area studies
> - Translation and textual analysis
>
> 9. Does your department include native Russian speakers within
> its faculty?
>
> 10. Do you think that it is preferable that the following
> courses be taught by native speakers?
> - Yes, for language labs
> - Yes, for translation-intensive courses
> - Yes, for area studies courses
> - No, effectiveness of instruction depends entirely on the
> capability and knowledgeability of the instructor, rather than
> on his/her nationality
> - Other responses
>
> II. International contacts and experiences
>
> 1. Does either your univeristy in general, or your language
> center in particular, have any formal contacts with any higher
> educational institutions in Russia? If so, then with what HEIs,
> and for what duration has this relationship existed?
>
> 2. What foreign cooperative programs are you currently involved
> in, and what similar programs are being planned by your school?
> - Faculty exchanges
> - Student exchanges
> - Other (please specify)
>
> 3. Do your offer transfer credit for courses taken overseas by
> your students? If so, then on what basis do you accept such
> coursework for credit?
>
> 4. Who administers study abroad and/or transfer of credit from
> other institutions, within your college, and/or your
> department? Please include the following information as regards
> such persons:
> - Name
> - Postition or title
> - Department
> - Telephone number
> - Fax
> - Email
> - Snail mail
>
> 5. Do you maintain professional contacts with any teachers,
> professors, or other scholars within the NIS?
>
> III. Teaching Materials
>
> 1. What educational materials do you use in your language labs?
> - Title
> - Author
> - Date of publication
> - Publisher
>
> 2. List the ten most popular textbooks or other reading
> materials used in Russian courses on literature, history,
> translation, text analysis, or other courses within your
> department.
>
> 3. What types of educational materials would you prefer to have
> access to in teaching your classes, which you find are
> difficult or impossible to come by?
> - In language labs
> - In courses on theoretical linguistics courses
> - In area studies courses
>
> 4. Which materials do you personally consult in your research
> and class preparation work?
>
> 5. What bibliographic and research companies do you turn to in
> choosing and ordering your course materials?
>
> IV. Associations and information resources
>
> 1. Do you personally, or does your department as a whole,
> belong to any professional associations or organizations? If
> so, then which?
>
> 2. Do you frequently refer to the internet listservers and
> email for use in expanding your educational horizons and
> meeting and conversing with your colleagues? If so, then which
> sources do you most often employ?
>
> 3. What professional journals do you refer to in your work?
> - Names of periodicals
> - Publishers
> - Frequency of publication
>
> 4. Do you regularly attend any research, continuing
> professional education, or similar conferences?
> - If yes, then which conferences, and who organizes them?
> - If no, then why not?
>
> 5. Do you think that it is important and/ or useful to
> participate in topical conferences in Russia?
> - Yes, in the following ares:
> - No (please elaborate)
>
> 6. Are you interested in receiving information about upcoming
> topical conferences in Russia, related to your work? If yes,
> then in what areas?
>
> 7. What do you consider to be the most reputable sources of
> professional information in your area of work?
> - Colleagues
> - Periodical publications (specify which)
> - Internet resources (specify which)
> - Other
>
> V. Curriculum
>
> 1. What levels of Russian language study does your department
> offer?
>
> 2. What coursework (theoretical or practical) does your
> department offer at the undergraduate/graduate/postgraduate
> levels, aside from language labs?
> - Course title
> - Level of course
> - Hours per semester
>
> VI. Methodological questions and problems
>
> 1. What aspects of Russian language study do your students find
> to be the most difficult to master?
>
> 2. In what areas of Russian language study do you feel that
> your department is lacking?
> - Variety of theoretical subjects (which?)
> - Intensity of language labs
> - Internships
> - Other
>
> 3. How do you rate the quality of instruction at your
> department?
> - Inadequate
> - Adequate
> - Excellent
>
> 4. What factors most hinder the effectiveness of Russian
> language instruction at your institution?
>
> 5. What aspects and topics relating to Russian language study
> are you most interested in discussing with your colleagues in
> Russia?
>
> 6. Do you use any textbooks or other teaching or research
> materials, published in Russia (or in the Soviet Union)? If
> yes, then which?
>
> 7. Would you be interested in participating in an on-line
> Russian language and culture course for students and teachers
> of Russian as a foreign language? If yes, then in what areas of
> study would you most like to participate?
>
> VII. Personal academic background
>
> 1. In what areas do you hold academic degrees? (Please include
> degree, year and place of matriculation).
> - Teaching of Russian as a Foreign Language
> - General Philology
> - Linguistics
> - History and/or Area Studies
> - Literature
> - Other
>
> 2. What is your experience (academic or otherwise) in the
> teaching of Russian as a foreign language?
> - For how long?
> - Where?
> - To whom?
>
> 3. Have you ever worked, interned, or studied in Russia? If
> yes, then please state where, when, and briefly describe your
> experiences.
>
> 4. Have you ever considered continuing your professional
> education in the various fields of Russian language study? If
> so, then which of the following are you most interested in
> pursuing:
> - Language practice
> - Internships
> - Teacher training conferences, seminars, and workshops
> - Independent research
>
> 5. Please provide the following information on how we might
> contact you in the future, regarding the results of this
> survey, and pursuing further professional dialogue:
> - Name and title
> - Institution or organization
> - Mailing address
> - Phone number
> - Fax
> - Email
>
> ***********************************
>
> Just a friendly reminder: Please send all replies to our email
> address, (richard at ic.tunis.tver.su), and *not* to the list as a whole.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> LINGUIST List: Vol-6-1463.
>


From ROBORR at acadvm1.uottawa.ca  Wed Oct 25 05:28:04 1995
From: ROBORR at acadvm1.uottawa.ca (Robert Orr)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 00:28:04 EST
Subject: AATSEEL Program
In-Reply-To: Message of Tue, 24 Oct 1995 07:20:52 CST from
 <MLDYER%UMSVM.bitnet@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Message-ID: <WED.25.OCT.1995.002804.EST.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Seconded!


From keg at violet.berkeley.edu  Wed Oct 25 05:15:01 1995
From: keg at violet.berkeley.edu (Keith Goeringer)
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 22:15:01 -0700
Subject: techno stuff
Message-ID: <TUE.24.OCT.1995.221501.0700.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Greetings.

I just thought I'd give my $0.02 worth on the virtues of technology.  I
have only just gained access to the web and other such sites -- partly
because only now is my computer powerful enough to do it (both memory-wise
and CPU-wise), and partly because I only just got the software and a
powerful enough modem to do it.

Maybe Berkeley is unusual in this regard (God knows, it is in many
others...), but they provide what they call the "Berkeley Internet Kit"
(BIK) *for free* to faculty, staff, and students.  This was a revelation to
me, since the kit includes Eudora for e-mail, Netscape (!) for the 'net at
large, and other tools such as Turbo-gopher, Newswatcher, and others (many
of whose functions I have yet to fathom).  My point is this was all free,
and is readily available to anyone who coughs up 6 blank disks.  (I found
out about the BIK from our highly computer-literate graduate assistant.)  I
suspect that many (though certainly not all) universities have such things
available -- or at least, can steer people in the right direction...if we
just ask.  I am no techno-geek, and am still brachiating slowly rather than
running sure-footedly through the electronic jungle, but at least now I
have the tools to get started.


Keith Goeringer
UC Berkeley
Slavic Languages & Literatures
keg at violet.berkeley.edu


From dan_bayer at email.PITZER.EDU  Wed Oct 25 06:28:50 1995
From: dan_bayer at email.PITZER.EDU (Dan Bayer)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 02:28:50 EDT
Subject: techno stuff
Message-ID: <WED.25.OCT.1995.022850.EDT.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

All the applications that Keith G. mentions are freeware. You can buy a
book called the Internet Starter Kit at most any bookstore (for less than
$30; 3rd edition for Mac is current) and the diskette in the back contains
everything you need to get going. You need at least a 14.4 modem, and to
use the Net from home, you need to be able to establish a PPP
(point-to-point protocol) connection with a modem pool at your school.
Alternatively, commercial services like CompuServe also offer dial-up PPP
access.  Not many schools have such options (they are called Livingston
Boxes) due to financial contraints. But some, like mine, do have.

Secondly, if your office is ethernetted, on a TCP/IP connection, you can
run Netscape, pop mail applications (like Eudora), and others Fetch (FTP),
Internews (Newsreader), etc, from your desktop computer. These are
client/server applications.

Lastly, or those of you who are using a VAX for email and the like, you can
use a text browser for the WWW and access even the AATSEEL program at David
Birnbaum's web site by typing the word LYNX (<--links, get it?) at your
system prompt, which is usually a $ or % or something like that. It will
load a menu driven interface with directions at the bottom of the screen.
<G> will prompt you for the URL, which I forget right now
(http://www.pitt.edu/~djbpitt/aatseel/program_schedule.html???).

Happy Net Surfing.




Dan Bayer, Pitzer College, Claremont, CA 91711
dan_bayer at email.pitzer.edu FAX: 909-621-8793
http://www.pitzer.edu/~dbayer


From hbaran at ios.com  Wed Oct 25 09:47:47 1995
From: hbaran at ios.com (Henryk Baran)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 05:47:47 -0400
Subject: connections
In-Reply-To: <v01510100acb3837de983@[134.173.118.16]>
Message-ID: <WED.25.OCT.1995.054747.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

In the discussion on accessing the AATSEEL program the issue of connecting to
the Web has come up; several people have mentioned Compuserve as an alternative
for those whose university computing centers don't offer PPP or a text based
program such as Lynx. Rather than using one of the big commercial services
(Compuserve, AOL, Prodigy, Microsoft Network) I would suggest finding a local
service provider who offers SLIP/PPP on a fixed fee basis (should not exceed
$30/month), does no impose any time limits (no clock ticking in the background
as you surf the increasingly commercialized Web universe), and provides the
Telco connection through a local phone call.


From kramer at epas.utoronto.ca  Wed Oct 25 13:52:27 1995
From: kramer at epas.utoronto.ca (Christina Kramer)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 09:52:27 -0400
Subject: AATSEEL Chicago Program Update
Message-ID: <WED.25.OCT.1995.095227.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Many thanks to all of you who responded to me of list to assure me that I
am not the only nonWeb browser left in the universe.  Also, to the many of
you who wrote to me and to the list to inform me that University of Toronto
has a Computing Centre for the Humanities, I assure you, this is not new
information.  Unfortunately, I am a Mac user in a PC world here, and
computing support has been less than helpful. I did, however, finally
locate a grad student willing to help Mac people like me and with his help
I can even attach text files now - something the computing in the
humanities couldn't explain to me during the last three years.  The Web
will be covered in the next session.  In the meantime, thanks to David
Birnbaum for posting the changes to me on e-mail, and greetings to the rest
of you who are or are not surfing.

Christina E. Kramer
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
University of Toronto
21 Sussex Ave.
Toronto, Ontario
Canada  M5S 1A1


From brifkin at facstaff.wisc.edu  Wed Oct 25 13:53:13 1995
From: brifkin at facstaff.wisc.edu (Benjamin Rifkin)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 08:53:13 -0500
Subject: measures to increase enrollments
Message-ID: <WED.25.OCT.1995.085313.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

We are in the process of making some curricular changes in order to
increase enrollments (and reduce attrition) in our lower-division (through
fourth semester) Russian language program.

1) We have slowed down the pace of the grammar syllabus in all four
semesters in order to increase the amount of time dedicated to student to
each grammatical topic, so that students experience greater success with
each topic.  In addition, this leaves more time for cultural activities in
which our students have expressed great interest.  This measure was
implemented in the second-semester course in Spring 1995, and we did
experience a reduction in attrition from second-third semester this Fall
semester.  The pace was slowed in the first-semester and third-semester
courses this Fall, so we still do not have information on improved
attrition rates as a result of this step.

2) For the first time this fall, we offered two sections of first-semester
Russian which did not have class sessions on Fridays.  Instead, these
sections had a second hour of instruction on Thursdays (which became
"double days").  Students in these 4-day sections (M-Th at 9:55 and Th at
8:50 or 3:30; M-Th at 2:25 and Th at 8:50 or 3:30) thus have the same
number of contact hours (5) as students in the other sections of
first-semester Russian.  On Thursdays, students in these sections could
attend either of the two "second-hour" classes, but most, if not all, have
chosen to attend the second hour offered continguously with the regular
class hour.  The morning section attracted robust enrollment, while the
afternoon section did not.  In a survey of students in all first-semester
sections, the vast majority of students indicated that they would not
prefer such a 4-day option, if offered to them, for the second-semester
course.  Accordingly, we are not offering this option for the
second-semester course in Spring '96, but will offer it again for Fall '96
in first-semester Russian.  (The 4-day class was a very successful strategy
for increasing enrollments in Portuguese at our university.)

3) We have offered one-hour mini-classes entitled "Learn to Read Russian in
an Hour," which were advertised in student newspapers in order to demistify
the cyrillic alphabet.

4) We have reached out to high schools with a one-day outreach program on
campus featuring visits to Russian classes for students with previous
Russian-language instruction (very few in Wisconsin) and mini-classes for
students with no previous Russian-language instruction, as well as short
lectures and presentations on area studies topics by faculty members and
graduate students.

5) Our area studies center sponsors visits by graduate students to area
high schools to talk about area studies and language study.

6) We are in the process of proposing the following new courses, which we
will advertise broadly:

*Introductory Business Russian (parallel to first-year Russian)
*Intermediate Business Russian (parallel to second-year Russian)
*Advanced Business Russian (parallel to third-year Russian)
*Russian Culture (in Russian):  a sequel to the culture course in English,
which feeds the language classes.
*Contemporary Russian Politics in Russian:  team taught by faculty members
in Slavic and Political Science
*Russia's Image in Contemporary Film (taught in English)

7) We have reached out to colleagues in the business school, trying to show
them that there are jobs for students with interests in business and
expertise in Russian.  We have shown them job ads from Russian newspapers
(including the Moscow Times, for example).

8) We have sent mailings out to every incoming freshman describing our
department's offerings, its quality and the high quality of instruction in
our program in general, and the advantages of Russian-language study with
respect to careers related to business, journalism, law, and law
enforcement.

I would be interested in hearing from other SEELANGers as to what, if any,
strategies have proven successful on their campuses.

******************************************************************************
Benjamin Rifkin
Assistant Professor of Russian,
Coordinator of Russian-Language Instruction & Teacher Training
Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1432 Van Hise Hall
1220 Linden Drive
Madison, WI  53706

e-mail:  brifkin at facstaff.wisc.edu
telephone:  608/262-1623, 608/262-3498
fax:  608/265-2814


From brifkin at facstaff.wisc.edu  Wed Oct 25 13:53:22 1995
From: brifkin at facstaff.wisc.edu (Benjamin Rifkin)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 08:53:22 -0500
Subject: enrollments in Russian at UW-Madison
Message-ID: <WED.25.OCT.1995.085322.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Below are the enrollment figures for UW-Madison for Fall 1992-Fall 1995.
In a separate message, I will describe the measures we have taken to
increase enrollments in our language program.

First-Semester Russian*
Fall '92:  107
Fall '93:  82
Fall '94:  68
Fall '95:  70

Third-Semester Russian*
Fall '92:  79
Fall '93:  64
Fall '94:  58
Fall '95:  34

*These courses can fulfill College foreign language requirement (of four
semesters) for BA or BS.

Fifth-Semester Russian**
Fall '92:  46
Fall '93:  45
Fall '94:  44
Fall '95:  25

**Required for students majoring in Russian AND majors in Russian & East
European Studies

Seventh-Semester Russian***
Fall '92:  32
Fall '93:  20
Fall '94:  22
Fall '95:  10

*** Required for majors in Russian only.

******************************************************************************
Benjamin Rifkin
Assistant Professor of Russian,
Coordinator of Russian-Language Instruction & Teacher Training
Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1432 Van Hise Hall
1220 Linden Drive
Madison, WI  53706

e-mail:  brifkin at facstaff.wisc.edu
telephone:  608/262-1623, 608/262-3498
fax:  608/265-2814


From tbyrne at irex.org  Wed Oct 25 14:39:57 1995
From: tbyrne at irex.org (Tony Byrne)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 10:39:57 EDT
Subject: Panel on Int'l Scholarly Collaboration
Message-ID: <WED.25.OCT.1995.103957.EDT.>

For those attending the AAASS conference in Washington later
this week, IREX cordially invites you to a panel discussion:

"International Scholarly Collaboration: Views from the Region"
Friday, October 27, 6:15-8:15 pm
Roosevelt Room, Sheraton Washington Hotel

Four international scholars presently studying in the United
States under IREX-sponsored programs will offer their
perspectives on international academic collaboration.

Martin Fodor (Central and East European Graduate Fellow)
Technical University, Zvolen, Slovakia
US Hosts:  Indiana University / World Bank

Natalia Lakiza-Sachuk (USIA Contemporary Issues Program
Regional Scholar)
National Institute for Strategic Studies, Kyiv,Ukraine
US Host:  Georgetown University

Olga Litvinenko (Social Science Curriculum Development Fellow)
Machine Building Institute, Kurgan, Russia
US Host:  University of Iowa

Margarita Tereseviciene (USIA Regional Scholar)
Vytautus Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
US Host:  Temple University

The panel will be moderated by Dr. Robert Huber, IREX Senior
Vice President.

And please visit IREX at Booth #71.


From mitrege at mail.auburn.edu  Wed Oct 25 18:28:17 1995
From: mitrege at mail.auburn.edu (George Mitrevski)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 13:28:17 -0500
Subject: Web page for intensive summer programs
Message-ID: <WED.25.OCT.1995.132817.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear SEELANGers,

I am in the process of creating a Web page for intensive summer language
programs in Slavic and East European languages, and I would like to ask you
to contribute information about such programs at your own institution.

The page will include programs both in the US and abroad. The listing will
be sorted by language and alphabetically by university.

Initially I will include in the page information that I receive from
advertisements. To make the listing as complete as possible, please send
whatever information you have about your own programs. If you have a
description of such a program on a home page, please send me the URL. If
you have a file in electronic format, please send me a copy through e-mail
or on a disk. If you have a hard copy of the information, please fax it or
mail it to the address below.

Please relay this request to your secretary and/or your program chair if
they are not regular subscribers or readers of SEELANGS.

The purpose of this page is to make it convenient for students and advisers
to find information about summer language programs.

Please fill out and e-mail the form(s) below if you would like to have
information about your summer programs included in the page.

------------------------------ cut here ------------------------
FOR PROGRAMS IN THE US

University:

Language:               Level:
Language:               Level:
Language:               Level:

Description: (include dates, cost, etc.)

Department address:

Contact person:

phone:
fax:
e-mail: (if available)

---------------------------- cut here --------------------------
---------------------------- cut here --------------------------
FOR PROGRAMS ABROAD

University:

Language:               Level:
Language:               Level:
Language:               Level:

Country, city and institution abroad:

Description: (include dates, cost, etc.)

Department address:

Contact person:

phone:
fax:
e-mail: (if available)

---------------------------- cut here --------------------------

**************************************************************************
Dr. George Mitrevski                    office: 334-844-6376
Foreign Languages                          fax: 334-844-6378
8030 Haley Center                       e-mail: mitrege at mail.auburn.edu
Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849-5204

Macedonian Information Almanac: http://www.auburn.edu/~mitrege/macedonia/
**************************************************************************


From acohens at garnet.berkeley.edu  Wed Oct 25 19:04:10 1995
From: acohens at garnet.berkeley.edu (Adam Cohen-Siegel Ucberkeley)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 12:04:10 -0700
Subject: hungarian texts
In-Reply-To: <9510251828.AA16235@mallard.duc.auburn.edu>
Message-ID: <WED.25.OCT.1995.120410.0700.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Dear SEELangers:

Can anyone out there recommend some learning and teaching aids for
Hungarian?  We are using Pontifex's Teach Yourself, which many students find
unsatisfactory.
Thanks in advance.

Adam Cohen-Siegel
Department of Linguistics
UC Berkeley


From bhorowit at unlinfo.unl.edu  Wed Oct 25 19:55:45 1995
From: bhorowit at unlinfo.unl.edu (brian horowitz)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 14:55:45 -0500
Subject: hungarian texts
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9510251211.A16827-0100000@garnet.berkeley.edu>
Message-ID: <WED.25.OCT.1995.145545.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

About Hungarian Texts:
     There are a few of them and while I cannot speak about them all,
I can mention one which I used.
     Learn Hungarian by Z. Banhidi, Z. Jokay and D. Szabo, Budapest:
Kultura, 1965.
    This is a comprehensive grammar with ridiculous Soviet-type texts,
but with all the irregular forms an English student of Hungarian will
ever need.  If you like deductive methods for learning foreign
languages, this is your book.

     Brian Horowitz, U. of Nebraska, Lincoln


From gfowler at indiana.edu  Wed Oct 25 20:57:18 1995
From: gfowler at indiana.edu (George Fowler)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 15:57:18 -0500
Subject: hungarian texts
Message-ID: <WED.25.OCT.1995.155718.0500.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Brian Horowitz wrote:
>
>About Hungarian Texts:
>     There are a few of them and while I cannot speak about them all,
>I can mention one which I used.
>     Learn Hungarian by Z. Banhidi, Z. Jokay and D. Szabo, Budapest:
>Kultura, 1965.
>    This is a comprehensive grammar with ridiculous Soviet-type texts,
>but with all the irregular forms an English student of Hungarian will
>ever need.  If you like deductive methods for learning foreign
>languages, this is your book.
>
I also worked through this book once upon a time. It is, how shall I say,
not terrible. It has a very good, linguistically sound treatment of
epenthetic vowels in stem-final consonant clusters.

If I am not mistaken, Ohio State markets a large set of workbooks designed
to supplement this grammar textbook. I own the set, although I've never
used it for anything; unfortunately, it is packed away and I could not find
it quickly. I believe this is part of their long-distance language teaching
program, and I do not know who is in charge of the effort. Perhaps some
kind SEELanger from Ohio State can step in here.

George Fowler

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
George Fowler                    [Email]  gfowler at indiana.edu
Dept. of Slavic Languages        [Home]   1-317-726-1482  **Try here first**
Ballantine 502                   [Dept]   1-812-855-9906/-2624/-2608
Indiana University               [Office] 1-812-855-2829
Bloomington, IN  47405  USA      [Fax]    1-812-855-2107
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


From rcormani at magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu  Wed Oct 25 22:07:37 1995
From: rcormani at magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Rosa-Maria Cormanick)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 18:07:37 -0400
Subject: hungarian texts
In-Reply-To: <01HWV4E3RW6A95RVBQ@phem3.acs.ohio-state.edu> from "George
 Fowler" at Oct 25, 95 03:57:18 pm
Message-ID: <WED.25.OCT.1995.180737.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Yes, OSU sells the Hungarian workbooks.

The basic text used with the first four levels of materials listed below is
Bahnhidi, Jokay & Szabo, "Learn Hungarian", Budapest, 1965, 5th ed., available
from Julius Nadas, 1425 Grace Ave., Lakewood, OH 44107  (216)226-8866.  The
text for levels 5, 6 and 7 is Karoly Ginter, ed., "Hogy Mondjuk Helye-sen",
Budapest, 1976 (also available from Julius Nadas).

Level 1, 2     Elementary Hungarian I & II (student manual, instructor manual
               & audio cassettes)
Level 3, 4     Intermediate Hungarian I & II (student manual, instructor manual
               & audio cassettes)
Level 5, 6     Advanced Hungarian I & II (student manual, instructor manual &
               audio cassettes)
Level 7, 8     Reading Hungarian I & II (student manual, instructor manual &
               audio cassettes)

These workbooks can be ordered from:

               Foreign Language Publications
               The Ohio State University
               311 Ohio Legal Center
               Columbus, Ohio  43210
               Phone:  (614) 292-3838
               Fax:    (614) 292-2682


From JPKIRCHNER at aol.com  Wed Oct 25 22:34:46 1995
From: JPKIRCHNER at aol.com (James Kirchner)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 18:34:46 -0400
Subject: hungarian texts
Message-ID: <WED.25.OCT.1995.183446.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Besides "Learn Hungarian" there is a newer text, Erdos "Hungarian in Words
and Pictures" (Budapest: Tankonyvkiado), that appears to be pretty
substantial, although I haven't worked all the way through it yet myself.
 The copy I got in Hungary bears the date 1990, but the catalog for
Schoenhof's books in Cambridge, MA, shows a 1988 edition for sale.
 Unfortunately, I don't know if there are any recorded materials to go with
it.  Individual booksellers I checked with in Hungary didn't know about any,
but the text has recorded sections indicated.  Maybe someone wanting to test
it could check with the publisher.

James Kirchner


From amitchel at library.berkeley.edu  Wed Oct 25 23:11:19 1995
From: amitchel at library.berkeley.edu (AnnMarie Mitchell)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 16:11:19 -0700
Subject: hungarian texts
In-Reply-To: <v01530512acb44ebc1a70@[134.68.249.28]>
Message-ID: <WED.25.OCT.1995.161119.0700.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I really liked Banhidi in the 1960's when I was the only person in the
Hungarian class who wasn't born in Hungary.  It was so much better than
"Colloquial Hungarian," which was the only other grammar book available
here at the time.

Most helpful, though, was the Foreign Service Institute book with all the
exercises.  This is the book that actually taught me Hungarian.  Since
it's US GPO, I don't suppose copyright would be a problem, if someone
wanted to use the exercises. (A person really needs an informant to get
much out of it.  It's not a self-help book.) I doubt the book will be for
sale anywhere, unless someone is tremendously lucky in a used book store.
Here's the citation:
 Foreign Service Institute (U.S.)
       Hungarian basic course, units 1-[24, by] Augustus A. Koski [and]
         Ilona Mihalyfy.
       Washington, Dept. of State; [for sale by the Superintendent of
         Documents, U.S. Govt. Print. Off.] 1962 [i.e. 1963]-64. 2 v.
       (Foreign Service Institute basic course series)

I think if a student could have Banhidi to look at and go through the
exercises in the FSI book in class with someone to help and correct the
mistakes, that student would have a real chance to learn to speak Hungarian.

AnnMarie Mitchell
Librarian for Polish Collections
University of California (Berkeley)
amitchel at library.berkeley.edu


From ewb2 at cornell.edu  Thu Oct 26 01:06:33 1995
From: ewb2 at cornell.edu (E Wayles Browne)
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 21:06:33 -0400
Subject: hungarian texts
In-Reply-To: <9510251955.AA13135@unlinfo.unl.edu>
Message-ID: <WED.25.OCT.1995.210633.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

On Wed, 25 Oct 1995, brian horowitz wrote:

> About Hungarian Texts:
>      There are a few of them and while I cannot speak about them all,
> I can mention one which I used.
>      Learn Hungarian by Z. Banhidi, Z. Jokay and D. Szabo, Budapest:
> Kultura, 1965.
>     This is a comprehensive grammar with ridiculous Soviet-type texts,
> but with all the irregular forms an English student of Hungarian will
> ever need.  If you like deductive methods for learning foreign
> languages, this is your book.
>
>      Brian Horowitz, U. of Nebraska, Lincoln
There are recordings to go with the book; additional recordings
and additional written materials for use with it "Individualized
Instruction materials" are available from Ohio State University.
Perhaps someone at OSU could confirm the proper address to contact.
I have been using the book for a long time and find it very
systematic and clear.
Wayles Browne, Cornell University


From JPKIRCHNER at aol.com  Thu Oct 26 07:45:12 1995
From: JPKIRCHNER at aol.com (James Kirchner)
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 03:45:12 -0400
Subject: hungarian texts
Message-ID: <THU.26.OCT.1995.034512.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

On Oct. 25, 1995 AnnMarie Mitchell wrote:

>I doubt the book will be for
>sale anywhere, unless someone is tremendously lucky in a
>used book store.
>Here's the citation:
> Foreign Service Institute (U.S.)
>       Hungarian basic course, units 1-[24, by] Augustus A.
>Koski [and]
>         Ilona Mihalyfy.
>       Washington, Dept. of State; [for sale by the
>Superintendent of
>         Documents, U.S. Govt. Print. Off.] 1962 [i.e. 1963]-64. 2
>v.
>       (Foreign Service Institute basic course series)

This book is still commonly found in larger bookstores (Borders, Barnes &
Noble, et al) in an edition put out by Hippocrene.  The original is still
available from the US Government, along with a complete set of cassettes,
from the National Technical Information Service of the US Department of
Commerce.  I think there's also a second volume with still another set of
cassettes.  Audio-Forum also sells these materials, but with a bit of a
markup.

James Kirchner


From zbarlev at mail.sdsu.edu  Thu Oct 26 18:06:34 1995
From: zbarlev at mail.sdsu.edu (Zev bar-Lev)
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 11:06:34 -0700
Subject: hungarian materials
Message-ID: <THU.26.OCT.1995.110634.0700.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

i have developed a hungarian "nano-course" which gives confident speaking
ability within a very small vocabulary and very basic grammar.  i have
taught with it a few times, and gotten fine results.  it can be followed by
ordinary published textbooks, in which case students build on their
elementary knowledge.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
          zev bar-Lev (prof.)
          dept. of linguistics & oriental languages,
          san diego state university, san diego CA 92182
          e-mail ZBARLEV at mail.sdsu.edu
          tel. (619)-594-6389
          fax: (619)-594-4877
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


From swan+ at pitt.edu  Thu Oct 26 18:42:29 1995
From: swan+ at pitt.edu (Oscar E Swan)
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 14:42:29 -0400
Subject: hungarian texts
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.07-CIT.9510252131.F29765-a100000@travelers.mail.cornell.edu>
Message-ID: <THU.26.OCT.1995.144229.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

I want to second everyone's assessment of Banhidi Jokai Szabo. It is very
competent and clear linguistically. I own a (fairly poor quality) set of
5 cassette tapes that go through lesson 23. I think they were recorded
off a record that used to accompany the book. the other books mentioned
are better for readings and conversations, but next to worthless for
learning the grammar, in my opinion.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Oscar E. Swan   Dept. of Slavic Languages & Literatures
1417 Cathedral of Learning   Univ. of Pittsburgh  15260
412-624-5707      swan+ at pitt.edu
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


On Wed, 25 Oct 1995, E Wayles Browne wrote:

> On Wed, 25 Oct 1995, brian horowitz wrote:
>
> > About Hungarian Texts:
> >      There are a few of them and while I cannot speak about them all,
> > I can mention one which I used.
> >      Learn Hungarian by Z. Banhidi, Z. Jokay and D. Szabo, Budapest:
> > Kultura, 1965.
> >     This is a comprehensive grammar with ridiculous Soviet-type texts,
> > but with all the irregular forms an English student of Hungarian will
> > ever need.  If you like deductive methods for learning foreign
> > languages, this is your book.
> >
> >      Brian Horowitz, U. of Nebraska, Lincoln
> There are recordings to go with the book; additional recordings
> and additional written materials for use with it "Individualized
> Instruction materials" are available from Ohio State University.
> Perhaps someone at OSU could confirm the proper address to contact.
> I have been using the book for a long time and find it very
> systematic and clear.
> Wayles Browne, Cornell University


From dumanis at acsu.buffalo.edu  Fri Oct 27 00:04:52 1995
From: dumanis at acsu.buffalo.edu (Edward M Dumanis)
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 20:04:52 -0400
Subject: Vadim Kozhevnikov
In-Reply-To: <v01530507acb0af2c9d85@[134.68.249.96]>
Message-ID: <THU.26.OCT.1995.200452.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

On Sun, 22 Oct 1995, George Fowler wrote:

> Greetings, all!
>      Can anybody authoritative tell me in just a few words if Vadim
> Kozhevnikov's large novel Shchit i mech has any literary merit?
> Entertainment value? Historical importance?
>      Thanks!
>      George Fowler
>

I cannot be authoritative but I read this novel 20-30 years ago.  I
cannot remember if it has any literary merits (at least exceeding its
size) but it was entertaining and somewhat educational.  I remember from
this novel that when one of the Russian spies was swimming using crawl
stroke, he was warned by the main hero of the novel that it was not
customary in Germany, so he had to change to breast stroke.  Maybe,
there are some other interesting details, like the reason for the
Germans' failure to forge Soviet documents.  Yes, it is funny.
Historical importance? I doubt it. Unless we have to take into account
how it influenced some other spy novels in the USSR.

Edward Dumanis
<dumanis at acsu.buffalo.edu>


From avpst1+ at pitt.edu  Fri Oct 27 04:04:33 1995
From: avpst1+ at pitt.edu (Alexander V Prokhorov)
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 00:04:33 -0400
Subject: Vadim Kozhevnikov
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SOL.3.91.951026200015.1670C-100000@lictor.acsu.buffalo.edu>
Message-ID: <FRI.27.OCT.1995.000433.0400.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Greetings all!

I am not an expert in this area but I have read the novel about 20yrs ago
and saw the film based on this novel.
The film used to be an important part of the stagnation
popular culture.  This film as well as the movies based on Iulian
Semenov's novels became the key texts in the spy-film branch of Soviet
culture industry.

Alexander Prokhorov


> On Sun, 22 Oct 1995, George Fowler wrote:
>
> > Greetings, all!
> >      Can anybody authoritative tell me in just a few words if Vadim
> > Kozhevnikov's large novel Shchit i mech has any literary merit?
> > Entertainment value? Historical importance?
> >      Thanks!
> >      George Fowler
> >
>
> I cannot be authoritative but I read this novel 20-30 years ago.  I
> cannot remember if it has any literary merits (at least exceeding its
> size) but it was entertaining and somewhat educational.  I remember from
> this novel that when one of the Russian spies was swimming using crawl
> stroke, he was warned by the main hero of the novel that it was not
> customary in Germany, so he had to change to breast stroke.  Maybe,
> there are some other interesting details, like the reason for the
> Germans' failure to forge Soviet documents.  Yes, it is funny.
> Historical importance? I doubt it. Unless we have to take into account
> how it influenced some other spy novels in the USSR.
>
> Edward Dumanis
> <dumanis at acsu.buffalo.edu>

=========================================================
Alexander Prokhorov              Email: avpst1+ at pitt.edu
6200 Jackson Street              Voice: 1-412-362-5103
Pittsburgh, PA 15206             Fax:   1-412-624-9714


From MZW4 at PSUADMIN.BITNET  Fri Oct 27 05:25:32 1995
From: MZW4 at PSUADMIN.BITNET (WEAVER.MICHELLE)
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 01:25:32 EDT
Subject: Summer intensive and Study Abroad Programs
Message-ID: <FRI.27.OCT.1995.012532.EDT.>

The URL for the Penn State Slavic and East European Languages Web Site is:

http://rudolph.psu.edu/slavic/welcome

the names of our programs are Volgograd Russia, Kiev Ukraine and the Summer
Intensive Language Institute.

If you would like a disk copy of these files sent to you e-mail me at

mzw4 at psuvm.psu.edu

Thanks, Michelle Weaver


From henry at blue.weeg.uiowa.edu  Sun Oct 29 15:38:28 1995
From: henry at blue.weeg.uiowa.edu (Kathryn Henry)
Date: Sun, 29 Oct 1995 09:38:28 -0600
Subject: translations of 96-chapter version of First Circle
Message-ID: <SUN.29.OCT.1995.093828.0600.SEELANGS@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Does anyone have information about published or in-progress translations
of the 96-chapter version of Solzhenitsyn's _V kruge pervom_? If so, I
would be most grateful for citations or references. Please send them to
me at kathryn-henry at uiowa.edu. Thank you.
-Kathryn Henry, University of Iowa