Thread: Russian courses in Ukraine?

I'm considering taking an intensive Russian course in a Russian speaking country.
Ukraine may not be strictly speaking such a country, but it's close enough.
Living in Europe, it's probably the cheapest and simplest option for me.

Does anyone have recommendations as regards schools or even cities where I could
find a good 1-2 week course? It could be a group course or even individual lessons.

The locations that first come to mind are Kiev, Odessa, Sebastopol, Simferopol, Yalta,
or even Evpatorija.

Originally Posted by kurtmagnus

The locations that first come to mind are Kiev, Odessa, Sebastopol, Simferopol, Yalta,
or even Evpatorija.

All these cities, exept Kiev are lmost 100% Russian-speaking. Kiev is about 50% Russian-speaking.

Originally Posted by Basil77

All these cities, exept Kiev are lmost 100% Russian-speaking. Kiev is about 50% Russian-speaking.

Do you know if the street signs etc are in Russian or Ukrainian or bilingual? I was planning to travel through some of these places.
A friend of mine was in Kiev a couple of years ago. She can understand very basic Russian but was surprised to find that all signs around town were in Ukrainian (which she could not understand at all), and street names had been changed from what was on the actual map she had, which was more or less new. She had some troubles getting around town as a result of this - and she had no luck asking for help in English. Her Russian was not good enough to understand complex explanations.

There is a risk I might end up having similar problems. I've had to put my Russian studies on ice since new years, work's been so hectic.

Hi all, I just joined the forum and am also interested in studying Russian in Ukraine, but more specifically in Odessa. So I'm reiterating kurtmagnus's question in case someone might have a flash of inspiration. I've found several schools on the Web, but it's impossible to evaluate them purely on the basis of their Web sites. Does anyone have special insight regarding good language schools in Odessa?

People I've talked to and posts I've seen on the Web often suggest not looking for a school at all (though I would personally prefer the structured experience that a school offers). They say that it might be cheaper to simply draw on the apparently large pool of potential private language tutors available in the city. How would one go about finding a competent tutor?

Finally, I've vaguely heard that the university in Odessa might offer language courses to foreigners, but haven't found any solid info on that point. Any ideas?

Thanks!

There are multiple language schools in any town, also any university that has international students usually has courses of Russian for foreigners.
Sorry, I did not have time to do an extensive search, but a quick search gave me this (prices from December 2010):

Odessa language school “Yeni Dunya”

For foreigners: a course of studying Russian and Ukrainian languages. Knowledge is presented with the qualified experts who have knowledge of English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Persian, Arabian and Chinese languages, which allows you to study the language quickly.

Prices
Small groups (up to 5 students) – 1 lesson (1.5 hours) – 75 UAH
Intensive course lessons suggest studying three times a week at the most appropriate time for you.
Private lessons - 100-150 UAH.

Special offer for corporate clients!
You can study Russian in the comfort of your office, as well as in our language centre “Yeni Dunya”-“New World”.
Our clients are: "Turkish Airlines", "Mugla Odessa", "Astra Grain" and international holding "Arkas".

I'm sure there are many more options.