Brat ’ ili ne brat’?

[Evelina Mendelevich]

Dear SEELANGers,

I hope you will help me answer the question raised in one of my Russian for
Heritage Speakers classes. We had a long discussion, but we didn't arrive to
a definite conclusion. A tutor corrected one of the students when he used
the expression "В этом семестре я беру физику и статистику."  He instructed
the student to use "изучаю" instead. Although "изучаю" appears to be the
official version, it seems to me that "брать предмет" is not Anglicism but
an appropriate way of reflecting American university system in which the
student indeed "takes," or chooses, his or her "предметы." Since Russian has
the expression "брать уроки," as in "брать уроки по гитаре," the choice of
the verb appears to be dictated by the context (discretionary vs.
mandatory). My question is, do you (or would you) allow students the use of
 "брать" when they talk about their college courses? Somehow, "что вы
изучаете в этом семестре" doesn't sound right for me in this context , while
" какие предметы вы берете" does. Thank you in advance!


-- 
All the Best,
Evelina Mendelevich

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