Increased Enrollments article

[Inna Caron]

> Can anyone

>offer up any feedback based on attempts to recruit students and reasons
they

>give for choosing other languages?

 

> Renee

 

Russia is no longer perceived as a major threat to national security and/or
the principle competitor for the world dominance. Russian has never been the
primary language of choice for the business majors, but it used to be
popular among those preparing themselves for military and government
careers. These days, despite some news releases here and there, assuring the
general public that Putin is up to no good, Russia just doesn't have that
formidable status of The Evil Empire. It affected not only the prospective
majors, but even the seasoned professionals. Not that there is no more need
in the international security experts specializing in that region; it's just
that there is a no need for as many of them as it used to be. I once
attended a talk by a CIA officer, who put a great effort into emphasizing
that it would be foolish to assume that Russia is no longer the most
dangerous enemy. Incidentally, the officer was a specialist on the former
Soviet Union, and gave the sad impression of someone fearing for their job
security.

 

A few years ago I gave a talk on Russian hackers and cybercrime in the U.S.
One of the attendees said afterward, "We need more of this type of
publications, because it will assure the funding of the Russian programs,
which we can then use to continue teaching Dostoevsky." 

 

Inna 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Renee Stillings
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 12:58 PM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Increased Enrollments article

 

"But I also suspect Slavic competes for the same limited student pool as

Arabic and Asian languages. Is this merely mild paranoia? Could it be

that instead we bolster one another?"

 

 

I would think this competition is certainly the case. Arabic of course has

gotten the "anti-terrorist" boost and China has apparently been able to

disseminate the message that there are endless business opportunities there

- and students perceive this.

 

I am interested in any other opinions as to why we cannot seem to make any

headway in increasing Russian language study. My personal inclination that

from the aspects of culture, linguistics, literature, and the arts Russian

holds up just fine against the directly competing languages. What it lacks

is the clear and understandable draw of business/career opportunities. Those

opportunities are not as accessible to the average American. I suspect that

a far greater number of Americans can envison some involvement with China -

be it trade, manufacturing, or outsourcing. Such career opportunities are

more apparent to the many business-oriented students. The opportunities in

Russia, outside of the academic and NGO sectors, are narrower. They are

either for the extremely adventurous and thick-skinned entrepreneur, the

risk-attracted financial types, or those in resource-extraction related

industries. These are not opportunities for those right out of college or

the typical mom n' pop business in the US. They tend, in fact, to be for the

non-Russian major.

 

Even the lure of English teaching has always been more elusive in Russia.

There is no outreach really for teachers. It is those who happen to already

be there or are otherwise very determined. This is now going to backslide

even further as the new visa regulations are going to make it nearly

impossible for young people to "hang out" for a year or two teaching and as

such often transition into other positions in the Russian market. Especially

with prices in Russia skyrocketing, it is rapidly become impossible to

self-fund an extended stay there without legal (work-permit based)

employment. 

 

Still, we should expect more growth in the numbers than there is. Can anyone

offer up any feedback based on attempts to recruit students and reasons they

give for choosing other languages?

 

Renee

 

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