OUTSIDE COMMENTARY ON RUSSIAN

[Gary Toops]

I thought SEELANGS subscribers might be interested in the following
postings I picked up off the Internet LATIN-List:

>Date:         Thu, 11 May 1995 09:07:23 -0400
>Sender:       Latin and NeoLatin discussions <LATIN-L at PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
>From:         Joseph Farrell <jfarrell at SAS.UPENN.EDU>
>Subject:      Ancient and modern languages
>To:           Multiple recipients of list LATIN-L <LATIN-L at PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
>
>A student of mine picked up on the mention of Russian in this discussion
>and sent me the following note, which she has permitted me to
>forward. The point it makes is simple, but I don't think it has been
>stated so plainly in this thread, and it needs to be acknowledged.
>
>> I noticed you had commented on list about learning Latin as opposed to
>> learning other languages e.g. Russian.  To me, the goals certainly seem
>> to be different.  When I was studying Russian, we only rarely read
>> Russian classics.  I've read a few poems by Pushkin (and even memorized
>> one), but we mostly concentrated on modern/Soviet Russian.  I think the
>> most advanced Russian classed read a little Chekhov.  We did have to take
>> a Russian lit. class in translation.  My senior year three of us did an
>> independent study to improve the speed of our reading in Russian.  We
>> wanted to read Dostoevsky, but were assured that that wouldn't be right
>> for our purposes, so we ended up reading Gorky Park translated into
>> Russian.  Finally, my last semester we did read a novel actually written
>> in Russian, _Heart of a Dog_ by Bulgakov (I think).  Anyway, the whole
>> point of this, is that the goal of the Russian program, at least at
>> [my undergraduate college], seemed to be learning Russian for
>> speaking/modern usage.  As
>> a footnote, I should mention that when I last visited [my college], I was
>> told by various Classics professors that the Russian program was in trouble.
>>
>I might add that I know of other Russian programs that are in trouble,
>and suspect that this may have more to do with the end of the Cold War
>than with their teaching methods.
>
>From:         Sandy Cash <leon at GIBBS.OIT.UNC.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: Ancient and modern languages
>To:           Multiple recipients of list LATIN-L <LATIN-L at PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
>
>On Thu, 11 May 1995, Joseph Farrell wrote:
>
>[The following is actually a quote from a student/associate? of Joseph
>Farrell]
>
>> > I noticed you had commented on list about learning Latin as opposed to
>> > learning other languages e.g. Russian.  To me, the goals certainly seem
>
>[snipped]
>
>> > in Russian, _Heart of a Dog_ by Bulgakov (I think).  Anyway, the whole
>> > point of this, is that the goal of the Russian program, at least at
>> > [my undergraduate college], seemed to be learning Russian for
>> > speaking/modern usage.  As
>> > a footnote, I should mention that when I last visited [my college], I was
>> > told by various Classics professors that the Russian program was in trouble
>> >
>
>[Here begins Joseph Farrell]
>
>> I might add that I know of other Russian programs that are in trouble,
>> and suspect that this may have more to do with the end of the Cold War
>> than with their teaching methods.
>
>I am not a Slavicist, but I think this last point may have more than a
>mere note of truth to it.  A friend of mine here in the Linguistics
>Department, when he was graduating from undergrad at Vandy, inquired
>about jobs with State, CIA, and the military.  He was told that speaking
>Russian was no longer the advantage it had been: Arabic and Spanish were
>now much more in demand.  But Russian may yet see a resurgence,
>especially if one speaks another (South) Slavic language or one of the
>Turkic/Altaic/Caucasian languages indigenous to former Soviet territories.
>
>Sandy
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Sandy Cash
>Dept. of Linguistics, UNC-Chapel Hill
>Office of Information Technology, UNC-Chapel Hill
>leon at gibbs.oit.unc.edu


Cheers,

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