Simplified Russian Webvasts start a new season

[Richard Robin]

The new season has begun for Simplified Russian Webcasts: 
www.gwu.edu/~slavic/webcast.

Mnbnqrh medekh m` sopny8mmnl psqqjnl g{je delivers a survey of the previous 
week's news in simplified standard Russian. Listeners of Voice of America's 
"Special English" broadcasts will recognize the slightly slower rate of 
speech and textual redundancy which characterize these webcasts.

Why sopny8mm{i psqqjhi? Back in Soviet times, the news was easy to 
understand. The propaganda-laden messages were predictable and the diction 
clear and slow. Post-communist newscasts feature telegraphic speech and 
slurry diction. Our webcasts serve as a stepping stone between the teacher 
talk of the classroom and the "real" Russian of the media.

Authentic news. The news itself is taken from a number of Russian sites, 
including Lenta.Ru, Gazeta.Ru, and ]un Lnqjb{. The accompanying exercises 
pre-listening background information, vocabulary support, and post-listening 
activities. Some of these are open-ended questions. Others are interactive. 
Listeners can check their answers with a mouse click.

Timeframe. The news cycle covered is from Monday to Friday. The news is 
recorded and posted the following Monday. Exercises are available by Tuesday 
morning. In other words, listeners should expect at least a 96-hour delay in 
"timeliness."

Who can listen? The news items, style, and exercise level are aimed at 
students with listening skills at ACTFL Intermediate Mid to Intermediate 
High. In most cases, that corresponds to college Russian at the end of 
second-year.

Copyright information. Users may download both the written and audio 
versions of the exercises, copy them, and redistribute them. The only 
restriction is that the material must be cited: "Novosti nedeli na 
uproshchennom russkom jazyke, a project of the National Capital Language 
Resource Center. www.gwu.edu/~slavic/webcast/."

-Richard Robin 

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