Study Abroad

[smerdyakovich.livejournal.com]

Privet vsem,
I'm currently a sophomore in college, planning to study in Russia next year, most likely for a semester. My college is the partner of Smolny College in St. Petersburg, where I have studied over the summer. I was wondering if anybody could recommend programs for studying abroad, either in St. Petersburg or Moscow, whether it makes sense to go about it all by myself or go through another school's program. I'm not so much looking to learn the language, but to be rather self-sufficient and take actual academic classes on Russian Literature as well as Philosophy. I would be grateful for any comments, suggestions, (or experiences with Smolny College itself). (If this has recently been discussed, feel free to just paste the link to the thread in the comment.)

Comments

Re: maybe, smth like this?

[kragoth.livejournal.com]

ß áóäó. Ñïàñèáî. À òû ãîâîðèøü ïî-àíãëèéñêèé ëó÷øå, ÷åì ÿ ãîâîðþ ïî-ðóññêèé. Åø¸ íîâè÷îê ÿ. :-(

Re: maybe, smth like this?

[i-s-a-n.livejournal.com]

there are again a lot of unreadable signs..

Re: maybe, smth like this?

[kragoth.livejournal.com]

Oops. I forgot. You can't view my russian. I said ,"I will. thanks. And you speak english better than I do russian. I'm still a novice though. :-(

Re: maybe, smth like this?

[i-s-a-n.livejournal.com]

Certainly! A'm learning it, sway back and forth [can i say it in a such way?], already for nine years and sometimes, very rare, practice :)

Re: maybe, smth like this?

[kragoth.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of the word "A'm", but I'm guessing it means "I am". Though, I tend to not use colloquial speech like ,"Sup', hoe?". To sway back and forth is correct, it would mean to switch constantly between the usage of two or (possibly, though two would be implied) more things. How often do you speak it?

Re: maybe, smth like this?

[i-s-a-n.livejournal.com]

Yeah, i made a misteke :)
About "back and forth" - I meant not this, my dictionary doodled me :) I wanted to cay, that i did it with varied success

oh, speak.. about two times a month and only for 3-4 minutes with occasional clients (

Re: maybe, smth like this?

[kragoth.livejournal.com]

Varied success. Hmm...ups and downs? Wow...the word "doodle" sounds like something my mom would say. Heh...it makes me laugh. To doodle could also mean to draw, but it's not like a good drawing. It's like sketching in a way.

Wow..that's not very much. I speak russian about 8 times a weak for about 4 or 5 minutes a week. I write a host (Great number) of things in russian randomly.Much like "doodling" sentences.

Re: maybe, smth like this?

[i-s-a-n.livejournal.com]

Blah.. you made me laugh too.. and colour :))
How can i replace word "doodle".. to express.. like my dictionary promised me trunk full of gold but gave one coin? :)

Where do you study it? Is it difficult for you? And how long?

Re: maybe, smth like this?

[kragoth.livejournal.com]

Heh. And I see you've learned the "british" way of things. Id est, you spell things in english differently thank us americans. You spell the word Color colour, and behavior behaviour. That's ok though, because I find it to be quite amazing, and it makes one look more intelligent. Sometimes I ponder why we americans don't do the british way of things. Tis' a shame.

I'm not sure what you mean. Are you trying to ask me how you can replace the word "doodle" in the sentence where you said ,"My dictionary doodled me"? Or a way to put the word doodle into the sentence "My dictionary promised me a trunk full of gold, but game me one coin"?

If it was the first one, where your dictionary "doodled" you, you could also say ,"My dictionary lied to me" or "My dictionary gave me false information".

If it was the second one, where your dictionary promised you a trunk full of gold, but gave you one coin, you could say ,"My trunk doodled me when I was given one coin out of a promised full trunk". But that sentence construction is pretty complex. That construction sounds much more intelligent though.

I study russian on my own. I'm self-taught. I speak it with a ukrainian lady a lot, so it's like practice. And I learn more vocab, and I'm kind of fluent depending on what I am trying to say. My cases usually are off a bit, but I try to take more time and consider what ending(s) to use while I talk...so I might sound hindered. Is it difficult for me? Well, it was at first. You see, I am taking latin at my school right now, where adjectives in general share the same endings for adjectives in nouns unless the noun and adjective are different declensions (In some cases they can be different declensions, and still have the same ending). Going from Latin into Russian is difficult because where latin would use one case, russian would use another and vice versa. But I've almost been studying russian for a year, as of May this year. The case system isn't so intimidating as it was when I began, I've gotten a lot better at it. Complex sentence construction, wording, and vocab usually get me. I've not quite breached 900 words, I'm assuming, and some things in english are worded differently in russian. For example,
If you were to say "The sky was full of fire" in russian (I'll transliterate), you'd say ,"Nebo byl vsyo v ogan'." Literally, it means "The sky was all in fire". Sorry for writing a lot.

How would you say ,"He sounds like a complete dumb-ass" in russian?