Why students do not study Russian anymore

[katya hokanson]

In regard to the following comment:

>Just look at the amount of time on task that one must devote to reach certain
>proficiency milestones in each language. The State Department has the
>stats. If
>memory serves me (and someone correct me if I am off on the figures), 50% of
>their learners reach ILR S3, R3 (speaking, reading level three - in theory the
>ILR equivalent of ACTFL Superior, but in fact somewhat less)  in Spanish and
>French after something like 400-500 hours of instruction. The figure for
>Russian
>is over 1000 and far more for that in Japanese. I believe that required
>time on
>task is a pretty good measure of difficulty.

I have specialized in Russian literature and also spent about two years
learning Japanese (and one living in Japan) because I married a specialist
of Japanese literature.  I personally found Japanese to be the hardest
language I had ever studied, at least from the point of view of starting
out as a beginner.  Furthermore, learning to speak Japanese is difficult
enough; learning to read and write at a high level is quite time-consuming.
Most Japanese cannot properly read the newspaper until they are in high
school.  The amount of time and energy needed to master the number of
characters necessary to read and write at an educated level is enormous.
For non-native learners of Japanese, this task can be very lengthy and it
tends to take people a very long time to get a Ph.D. in Japanese
literature, for example.  Nonetheless, as Martha and others have pointed
out, Japanese has much higher enrollments than Russian.  I also believe it
has everything to do with economics and, for want of a better word,
fashion.  And in the "fashion" department (and probably also economics),
Chinese may even be edging out Japanese.

I agree also with those of you who have said that better teaching will help
-- certainly.  But I also realize that I began studying Russian in 1981,
when many college students (as I was at the time) were very concerned about
nuclear war and fascinated by the "Evil Empire."  That atmosphere, as we
all know, has changed tremendously, and the focus is now on other countries
and other issues.

Katya Hokanson
Comparative Literature, Univ. of Oregon

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