Slavistics

[forever--more.livejournal.com]

I'm starting college in Chicago this Fall as a Russian major with a minor in Polish. I made a community for other Slavic language majors because we're a small bunch and a community for networking sounds like a good idea. So if you'd like, join, introduce yourself and where you study.

Comments

[ars-longa.livejournal.com]

Hi, which college are you in? I live in Chicago. :)

Hi!

[kingzgurl.livejournal.com]

I'm going to University of California Riverside or Davis ((haven't decided yet)) in the fall, as a Russian major, with minors in Ukrainian and Serbo-Croat.

Re: Hi!

[nadyezhda.livejournal.com]

I grew up not far from UCR... good luck! :)

[madrumos.livejournal.com]

hey yall

i'm a russian major at University of Wisconsin - Madison. i recently finished my russian language and civilization major, now i'm working on polisci. i studied abroad for all of last year in Moscow. i'm also currently studying polish.

i must say, i'm curious why you guys already know your majors and minors. unless you haven't just graduated from high school and you have some experience, it seems silly, confining and overly planned to already have your majors. unless your schools have different rules than mine or something... i mean, don't get me wrong, slavic majors are wonderful, i encourage it, i'm just curious why you don't want to take some time and check stuff out, see what's out there. you never know what you'll like. i'm also curious about the usefulness of only language majors. it's good for translating work and grad study, i suppose... i dunno.

ok, i'm done. just my two cents.

[forever--more.livejournal.com]

you should post this in the community slavicmajors, not as a comment to my post.
alas i'll respond simply because i'm provoked. my college decision has been based on desiring to do something highly specialized that requires an intensive effort to succeed in (i.e. being a conference intepreter). fiddling about and "checking stuff out" is only a waste of time that could be spent ensuring my language proficiencies are at their peak by the time i graduate (because let's face it, the majority of language majors' fluency upon leaving college... is somewhat pathetic)

[gnomygnomy.livejournal.com]

You won't reach your "peak" by the time you graduate. Unless, that is, you plan on taking about six or seven years to get your bachelor's. Even then you will likely not have mastered the language. Russian actually ranks among the more difficult languages to learn and feel "comfortable" with in everyday usage, Arabic being the only language I remember to take longer than Russian.

There's a study on it, honest. I'll ask my teacher for the details. :)

Of course, I'm just talking about college level training. I know a few people who speak and read Russian well, and they've had no formal instruction--just self-motivation. Of course, they've been studying for upwards of seven years, too.

And you don't need a degree to be a good interpreter. 12-year-olds do it all the time. :)

[forever--more.livejournal.com]

"And you don't need a degree to be a good interpreter. 12-year-olds do it all the time"

No, that's really incorrect. I suggest you check out the AIIC's website to distinguish the difference between interpretation as a career and what a 12 year-old does.

You can't really speculate on how well someone's knowledge of any subject will be after they complete their degree. It's completely dependent on the individual, and to a lesser extent the quality of their instruction.

[gnomygnomy.livejournal.com]

You can't really speculate on how well someone's knowledge of any subject will be after they complete their degree.

Yeah, but... isn't that what you did? With the whole "the majority of language majors' fluency upon leaving college..." remark?

And the part about "It's completely dependent on the individual," didn't I... you know, already say something like that?

I see what you mean about your little association for career interpreters. No, a child probably couldn't do that (or really have an interest in it). I just got the impression you were saying that to BE an interpreter, you had to get all this intense, formal training. Guess I read it funny.

[forever--more.livejournal.com]

I used a generality yes, but it didn't come down to using the personal pronoun "you", and saying your language fluency upon leaving college will be pathetic.

I just don't understand the reason for your comment to begin with. Why does on who studies Russian have to speculate about the reasons why others choose to study Russian? And I've never thought it was a bad thing to actually know what you want to do when you start college.

[gnomygnomy.livejournal.com]

Okay, let's back up.

1) I think we actually agreed on the point about "Graduates are not as profficient as they could be." You said it was because they didn't take it seriously enough (or, at least, that's the gist of your post over in the slavic majors community). I said it's just because Russian is naturally hard. Nothing wrong with having different opinions.

2) I never asked you to make speculations about other Russian majors. That's not something I care about, personally. Plus, I'm also a Russian major, and that would force me to explain my own decision. I just like telling people when they ask me, "I took Russian because Spanish was full, and then fell in love," and leave it at that. I don't have a clearly defined career goal like you, I just know what interests me. Nothing wrong with that either.

3) I DO wish I'd known what I wanted to do when I first entered college. I stumbled through a few different majors for the first year and half. Tons of wasted time, and right now I'm going to SQUEEZE through to an on-time graduation. Glad you won't have that problem.

I'm clearing this up because you sound kinda defensive. And sensitive. But are we good, now?

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

What does it mean "a major in somthing"?

[forever--more.livejournal.com]

To major in something means to select a subject in university that will be the subject that you recieve your degree in (chemistry, physics, linguistics, etc.)

[madrumos.livejournal.com]

forever_more is right. in russian it ends up being approximately:

специальность чего-то или на каком факультете вы учитесь

so someone with a russian major учится на факультете русского языка или имеет специальность русского языка.

also, a minor is like a major, except you study it less intensely and the major remains your main area of concentration. depending on the university, you can have multiple majors and minors, and many people choose to do this.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

You cannot say "имеет специальность русского языка" - only "его специальность - русский язык" or, more preferably, "он специализируется на русском языке".

Funny how different are the higher education systems (actually, the WHOLE education systems) in Russia and the States. When you enter a higher education institution in Russia (an institute or an academy, if it's something specialized - architecture, road construction, aviation, finance etc. - or a university, in case it's something fundamental, like history, pfysics, or phililogy) - you already know what you're majoring in, because the higher education in Russia is not intended to help you decide what you're going to study, it is, quite the contrary, the study itself, whuch means you're expected to decide BEFORE you enter.)

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

Does it mean you decide what to major in after having entered the high-school or before?
And this "minors" - do they have to be close to your major or it may be anything you like? (for example, may a russian major study physics as a "minor" subject?)

[madrumos.livejournal.com]

A major is something in universities and colleges, first of all, not high schools, I think maybe you just got a little mixed up there. You can theoretically decide what you want your major/minors to be as early as you want, but you can't declare it (officially tell the university that that is what you want your degree to be in) until you're at the university. Different schools have different rules, some require you to declare a major by a certain time, such as by your third year, others don't. You can generally add, change, or drop majors/minors at any time until you officially graduate.

Majors and minors can generally be in any subjects you want, including (or especially!) unrelated ones. Note that you can not only have a major and a minor, but you can also have, say, two majors and no minors. Or two majors and a minor. Majors just will take more work and be more intensive than your minors. A friend of mine has a Physics major, a Mathematics major, and a Theater minor. My university doesn't have minors (for some reason), and I have a major in Russian and a major in Political Science. Combining majors/minors, such as Russian and Business, or Political Science and Psychology can definitely make you more attractive for careers after graduation. Someone who has education in multiple fields can bring something new, unique and attractive to each field. This is the basis for the concept of 'liberal arts' education, where someone has a major/minors, but takes science, literature, history, math, languages, etc. anyway, in order to have a well-rounded education.

Hope this helps!

[oncelosthorizon.livejournal.com]

I really, really want to major in Russian, but I want to go to a school in Massachusetts that isn't too expensive. I was planning on transfering to UMASS at Amherst, which offered a program for Russian, but a couple years ago, they dropped it. Now they only offer a minor in Polish. This is horrible, because I don't know of any schools in my area that offer Russian. I still might join your community, though :)