Anonymous wrote:This is an excellent list! It pains me how ignorant some of these comments are. My kid received four federally funded scholarships to learn Russian as it is deemed a language essential to our national security. One scholarship included a 7-week immersion study in a Russian speaking country. These programs were started by President Bush as we did have enough U.S. citizen interpreters who spoke Arabic during the Gulf war. Unfortunately, the current administration is gutting these programs. The three universities that still have the Russian Flagship program are Georgia, Wisconsin and Indiana. All three offer amazing programs in Russian. Virginia Tech, UCLA, and UNC lost their Flagship funding last year but are still excellent. Arizona State, Columbia and Chicago are excellent.

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

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It seems more the case that you would benefit from studying the history of this period, particularly that of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and rise of Russian emigrants indeed created a deep need for Russian speakers. How could you possibly not know this?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It seems more the case that you would benefit from studying the history of this period, particularly that of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and rise of Russian emigrants indeed created a deep need for Russian speakers. How could you possibly not know this?

Anonymous wrote:I would imagine that Russian language is important for certain types of intelligence or foreign service jobs. I would also expect that someone interested in going into that field would take classes on Russian culture, such as literature and history, to round out their knowledge of that region and increase their understanding of the people.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It seems more the case that you would benefit from studying the history of this period, particularly that of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

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.

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

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.