Russian studies

[Anonymous]

I majored in Russian at Princeton in the mid-90s, at the nadir of Russian influence. We had four people in my class in the department, which had eight tenured professors. I had never taken Russian before I went to Princeton, and I did nothing with it after school. Became a sports journalist and then a lawyer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's the major of a trust fund kid. There is virtually no opportunity for employment in the field.

Slight exaggeration, but not far off.

There are jobs in the government and at government contractors. I do not know for sure, but I hear claims that most such jobs require a painful lifestyle polygraph. Linguist jobs are not usually the top of the pay scale. Russian is much less in demand now than in the 1979s and 1980s.

More in demand languages today are Chinese (Cantonese, Hokkien, and other regional dialects have even less supply than Mandarin), Urdu, Pashto, and Farsi.

This is like somebody who thinks highly of themselves because they read one article or they themselves are from mainland China. You have such a distorted view of the world. Ignorant people don’t even deserve a response.

+1
I laughed because the PP is so clearly out of their depth here.

[Anonymous]

For employment, you compete against native speakers-not necessarily from Russia but other countries (Kazakhstan, Ukraine, etc). Also, linguist jobs may be impacted by AI in the future. For colleges, look at whether their program is focussed more on literature versus political science. Different departments have different focuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I majored in Russian at Princeton in the mid-90s, at the nadir of Russian influence. We had four people in my class in the department, which had eight tenured professors. I had never taken Russian before I went to Princeton, and I did nothing with it after school. Became a sports journalist and then a lawyer.

Someone does not know what 'nadir' means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone’s kid Russian studies major?
What type of activities did they have in high school? Besides obviously taking Russian and being interested in Russian literature. Also Russian geopolitics.

And what college?

DF’s daughter did at Wash U

[Anonymous]

U South Carolina has a fantastic program

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I majored in Russian at Princeton in the mid-90s, at the nadir of Russian influence. We had four people in my class in the department, which had eight tenured professors. I had never taken Russian before I went to Princeton, and I did nothing with it after school. Became a sports journalist and then a lawyer.

Someone does not know what 'nadir' means.

You?

[Anonymous]

Academic here who studied Russian and a few other off-the-beaten-track languages:

Below I've pasted a list of universities that receive federal funds (at least until recently) for Russia and Central/Eastern Europe, including a number of state flagships. Any of them will have serious courses including language training. I'd second the recommendations for Middlebury & Georgetown as well.

But I'd also recommend that your kid consider a double major, or majoring in something else and minoring in Russian studies. On its own, it's pretty limiting. Language skills are useful but AI may erode that some of that utility. And it will be impossible to achieve real fluency without extensive in-country experience, which is going to be tricky for the foreseeable future with Russia.

Title VI-funded National Resource Centers/FLAS-Granting Programs for Eastern Europe and Eurasia

Arizona State University — The Melikian Center: Russian, Eurasian & East European Studies
Harvard University — Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies
Indiana University — Robert F. Byrnes Russian and East European Institute
Indiana University — Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center
Stanford University — Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies
The Ohio State University — Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies
University of California, Berkeley — Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
University of Illinois — Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center
University of Kansas — Center for Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies
University of Michigan — Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — The Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies
University of Pittsburgh — Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies
University of Texas at Austin — Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies
University of Wisconsin-Madison — Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's the major of a trust fund kid. There is virtually no opportunity for employment in the field.

You say in a world dominated by NLP and computational linguistics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Academic here who studied Russian and a few other off-the-beaten-track languages:

Below I've pasted a list of universities that receive federal funds (at least until recently) for Russia and Central/Eastern Europe, including a number of state flagships. Any of them will have serious courses including language training. I'd second the recommendations for Middlebury & Georgetown as well.

But I'd also recommend that your kid consider a double major, or majoring in something else and minoring in Russian studies. On its own, it's pretty limiting. Language skills are useful but AI may erode that some of that utility. And it will be impossible to achieve real fluency without extensive in-country experience, which is going to be tricky for the foreseeable future with Russia.

Title VI-funded National Resource Centers/FLAS-Granting Programs for Eastern Europe and Eurasia

Arizona State University — The Melikian Center: Russian, Eurasian & East European Studies
Harvard University — Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies
Indiana University — Robert F. Byrnes Russian and East European Institute
Indiana University — Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center
Stanford University — Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies
The Ohio State University — Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies
University of California, Berkeley — Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
University of Illinois — Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center
University of Kansas — Center for Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies
University of Michigan — Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — The Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies
University of Pittsburgh — Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies
University of Texas at Austin — Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies
University of Wisconsin-Madison — Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia

Btw Harvard, Stanford and Yale for REA….
Your choice? Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its not feasible in Russia but they can go to Belarus, Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan Ukraine, Moldova, Tajikistan, or Turkmenistan.

💯

Belarus? What are you smoking? The rest are okay-ish but far from ideal for true immersion. Of the list, Kazakhstan is best. Now is not the time for Ukraine - the Russian-speaking regions are closest to frontlines and the rest of the country is leaning heavily into Ukrainian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Academic here who studied Russian and a few other off-the-beaten-track languages:

Below I've pasted a list of universities that receive federal funds (at least until recently) for Russia and Central/Eastern Europe, including a number of state flagships. Any of them will have serious courses including language training. I'd second the recommendations for Middlebury & Georgetown as well.

But I'd also recommend that your kid consider a double major, or majoring in something else and minoring in Russian studies. On its own, it's pretty limiting. Language skills are useful but AI may erode that some of that utility. And it will be impossible to achieve real fluency without extensive in-country experience, which is going to be tricky for the foreseeable future with Russia.

Title VI-funded National Resource Centers/FLAS-Granting Programs for Eastern Europe and Eurasia

Arizona State University — The Melikian Center: Russian, Eurasian & East European Studies
Harvard University — Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies
Indiana University — Robert F. Byrnes Russian and East European Institute
Indiana University — Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center
Stanford University — Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies
The Ohio State University — Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies
University of California, Berkeley — Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
University of Illinois — Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center
University of Kansas — Center for Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies
University of Michigan — Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — The Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies
University of Pittsburgh — Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies
University of Texas at Austin — Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies
University of Wisconsin-Madison — Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia

Btw Harvard, Stanford and Yale for REA….
Your choice? Why?

What is “REA”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For employment, you compete against native speakers-not necessarily from Russia but other countries (Kazakhstan, Ukraine, etc). Also, linguist jobs may be impacted by AI in the future. For colleges, look at whether their program is focussed more on literature versus political science. Different departments have different focuses.

+1

I spent almost 10 years living in Moscow and Kyiv for work. I know a lot of people whose jobs were possible due to their Russian language skills, and they were all fluent. I don't think it is possible to become fluent in Russian just by raking it up in university as a native English speaker. Your child will have a heavy accent, will not be completely fluent, and won't have the cultural mindset or understanding of nuance to really "get" a tense or complicated situation involving native speakers. The people who had the language skills that got them these jobs were Americans with a parent from a Russian-speaking country who had used the langauge with them from childhood or were from an ex-Soviet country with a Slavic-family local language and Russian taught routinely in the local school system, etc. Don't forget that AI advances are going to narrow down the prospects for anybody intending to use their "Russian language skills" to get a job.

I can speak and read Russian at a conversational level. My accent and even my facial expressions/gestures are clearly American. This is after living in Russian speaking countries for 10 years and taking classes. I do not have the matery of the subtleties and cultural-influenced quirks/nuances to the language that would allow full fluency. And I can tell you that I wouldn't have the skills I do have unless I had spent so much time fully immersed in a Russian-speaking country.

Tell your child to take Russian for fun, for his electives/language requirements. He isn't going to be the American version of Phil Jennings.

[Anonymous]

A friend of mine took Russian and Persian at Cambridge in the 90s. MI5 attempted to recruit him. He went into law instead.

[Anonymous]

While a useful major during the Cold War, it is as others have said a trust fund major. Russia will soon be just another impoverished third world country.