Thread: When to Study Abroad?

I'm an American university student who's studied only about a half a semester of Russian...I listen to Russian music all the time, I read a learner's dictionary before bed - I have a fragmentary knowledge of Russian grammar at best and probably a passive vocabulary of 200 or so Russian words and an active vocabulary of much less.

That said, I'm thinking about studying in Moscow for a year.... The kicker is, it'll cost me a *pretty* penny (more than should be considered humanly possible).

I'm wondering whether, my knowledge being so limited, I'll actually come away from a year with any speaking fluency whatsoever, whether the money will have been essentially wasted, whether I'm getting any bang for my buck.

I'm also an advanced learner of Arabic - they tell us to log two years of study before we consider traveling in the region to maximize the benefit of travel. I'm quite quick at languages, Arabic has caused me to realize...but I don't want to travel in the ME right now.

Long story short, I'm wondering if that's the best idea in the case of Russian - wait until I'm intermediate-advanced.

I'm also running out of time. If I wait another year I'll have graduated from college and I'll have to start paying my loans back...which means this might be my last opportunity.

The question is: What would you do? I'm at a crossroads and deadlines are fast approaching.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Why not simply take a trip there for a week or two?? Instead of travel to Russia, try the Ukraine. Take a train to Sevastopol, travel around the Crimea, or travel by boat along the Black Sea coast. http://sevastopol.russian-women.net/ You will find it more than interesting, affordable, and you can "immerse" yourself into the language for a short period of time, instead of being completly overwhelmed trying to live there.

Where has everybody gone? Seem a lot of the regular English speakers have disappeared.

The forum's dying.

no way!

Пока МЫ здесь, он будет жить.

да!

DDT........ "Where has everybody gone?" you probably scared them off waving around your pistol!

The advice my professor gave me is you can expect to learn everything you already know to a solid point, conversation skills and vocab will increase by a few thousand words, and that is about it.
Russian is a hard language. I would strongly advice you to wait till the end of the 4th semester (second year), the end of the 3rd year would be even better.
Why go to Moscow? Saint Petersburg is way cheaper and people speak a more pure form of the language. After a visit to Moscow, I found myself telling Russians to speak Russian correctly. They like to say че (chyo) instead of что. Don't get stuck with this accent.

I'd actually be really happy to gain a few thousand words! My Russian is essentially non-existent...

As for why Moscow, it's where my Uni offers an excellent program: http://www.azrussianabroad.com/

I'm shooting for an academic year, although...i don't know.

Ack! I don't know what to do!!!!

Why are you even thinking twice about this? From the website it looks like a great program! You should choose the home stay option because your language skills will improve much quicker than staying in a dorm with English speakers. Also the culture experience will be invaluable.
When I first went to Moscow I found that even though I studied 2 years of college Russian I was in the same place as those with only one year or less. Immersion is the only way to really learn a language well.

Originally Posted by Jamie25

Why go to Moscow? Saint Petersburg is way cheaper and people speak a more pure form of the language. After a visit to Moscow, I found myself telling Russians to speak Russian correctly. They like to say че (chyo) instead of что. Don't get stuck with this accent.

Actually "чё" is not an accent. It's colloquial (or should I say "street talk"?). That's not a word you use talking to your boss, but it's fine when among your peers or friends. So I wouldn't call it "wrong", it's just very informal, and that's it.
Probably in St.P. you've met more cultural (or just plain old) people.

Why don't you ask your Professor what he thinks? If I had the money I would do it. Even if you went to Russia for a year without actually studying in a University course you could learn the language. I know a guy from Ukraine that had no knowledge of English before he came to the US and within 6 months i was have an almost normal conversation with him in English. I had been studying Russian for a year and a half at the time and he did not want to speak Russian with me because it was easier for him in English.

Originally Posted by DDT

Where has everybody gone? Seem a lot of the regular English speakers have disappeared.

Они все просто уже выучили русский язык! А смена еще не пришла

Originally Posted by Оля

Originally Posted by DDT

Where has everybody gone? Seem a lot of the regular English speakers have disappeared.

Они все просто уже выучили русский язык! А смена еще не пришла

Так оно и было уже один раз.

Originally Posted by Rtyom

Originally Posted by Оля

Originally Posted by DDT

Where has everybody gone? Seem a lot of the regular English speakers have disappeared.

Они все просто уже выучили русский язык! А смена еще не пришла

Так оно и было уже один раз.

Интересно, растёт или падает популярность русского языка в мире?

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Actually "чё" is not an accent. It's colloquial (or should I say "street talk"?). That's not a word you use talking to your boss, but it's fine when among your peers or friends. So I wouldn't call it "wrong", it's just very informal, and that's it.
Probably in St.P. you've met more cultural (or just plain old) people.

gRomoZeka, right. I meant about how people from Moscow super inflect their 'r' and reduction of some vowels in certain words. I mainly noticed in the words rain, and ok.
Here in SPB we speak a very clean version of Russian. As far as I understand it, the cleanest of all forms in Russia.
Is 25-30 old? I hope not that is the average age of my friends.

Are you in Moscow?

I love how the SP crowd defines their accent as the "cleanest form" of the Russian language!

Originally Posted by Lampada

Originally Posted by Rtyom

Originally Posted by Оля

Originally Posted by DDT

Where has everybody gone? Seem a lot of the regular English speakers have disappeared.

Они все просто уже выучили русский язык! А смена еще не пришла

Так оно и было уже один раз.

Интересно, растёт или падает популярность русского языка в мире?

Местами растёт. У него уже давно появился конкурент в виде китайского.