Major: Russian
The CIA's World Factbook
Most Americans know the great Russian novels only in English. However, Russian majors learn to read such masterpieces as Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment in their original language. Doing so, they peer into a country with a complex history that has only recently opened to Westerners. Now that the Iron Curtain has fallen, foreign students have opportunities like never before to visit, study, and live in the former Soviet Union.
Students of Russian learn how to speak, write, and read Russian. They also study Russian literature.
“To study Russian language and literature in the United States today is to move off the beaten path, and my students are original, personally and intellectually independent, and a lot of fun.”
Melissa Frazier, Professor of Russian Language and Literature, Sarah Lawrence College
Are You Ready To...?
- Watch and discuss Russian films from the 1920s
- Write and perform your own play -- in Russian
- Study Russian history from the czars to the fall of the Berlin wall
- Find new ways to study Russia’s rapidly changing culture
- Live in Russia for a semester, maybe in someone’s home
It Helps to Be...
Interested in learning about a country that, until relatively recently, was considered an enemy of the U.S.
College Checklist
- Will you have a choice of courses at the advanced level?
- Does the department offer intensive language courses?
- Does the program offer a study-abroad program?
- Does the department sponsor cultural activities, such as a Russian club or Russian film screenings?
Did You Know?
- As a Russian major, you might also study the languages and literature of other countries in the region, such as Uzbekistan, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan.
Course Spotlight
During your first two years, you’ll probably spend at least five or six hours a week in language class and lab. Some programs offer intensive language courses, in which you read, write, speak, and breathe Russian for eight to twelve hours a week. Your activities in such a class may include discussions in Russian about films, poetry, and rock music. And the really advanced classes? Even the course descriptions are Russian.
