До того, как вы учитесь в России (или в другой стране...)

Привет всем! Я интересуюсь вашим мнением о тех, о которых всем надо подумать до того, как они учатся в другой стране (особенно в России). Я никогда не путеществовал за границей, но я собираюсь учиться в России через два года (когда я учусь на третьем курсе в моём университете). Я также поступал в несколько программ в Казахстане и на Ближнем Востоке (я также изучаю арабский язык, и интересуюсь тюркскими языками...я люблю лингвистику :))

Я написал немножко по-русски об этом, но это не только о путеществии в России. Мой учитель русского языка нам показал статью о приключении студента в Чехии. Его приключение не было хорошим, но он только знал три или четыре слова чехского языка.

Вот эта статья (на английском языке)


До того, как вы учитесь за рубежом, вам необходимо исследовать программу как можно больше. Студенты могут узнать о приключениях студентов, которые учились в такой программе в прошлом. С этим знанием, будет намного легче знать то, чего вы должны ожидать. Если в Интернете страницы, на которых можно узнать где находятся самые важные здания, необходимо вам их печатать. Конечно, существуют интернет-кафе, но если вы прежде всего не знаете где найти такое кафе, будет очень неполезным!

Если вы не свободно говорить на таком языком, хорошая идея - это принести разговорник для аварийных ситуацией. Если туалет не работает, но вы не знаете как это сказать на таком языке, будет трудно решить проблему. В этом примере, Натану надо было послать фотографию проблему, чтобы объяснять то, что случилось.

Так как вы изображаете свой университет и свою культуру, важно вести себя правильно. Также, вам необходимо следовать законы такой страны. Поскольку использование Интернете дешевле, чем сообщение по телефону, хорошая идея - это часто использовать Интернет, чтобы говорить с своей семьёй. Когда вы на улице, старайтесь сочетатся с другими - то есть, не носите очень видимую одежду или дорогие драгоценности.

Ну, какой дополнителный совет вы бы давали тем, кто собираются учиться за границей, особенно в России или Казахстане?

I lived for a year in Russia, studying Russian. You don't need to read anything or think about anything, just decide what clothes and stuff you need. It's Russia, not the moon.

Reading about other students' time abroad is NOT a good idea. You will end up reading lots of horror stories that will either put you off going, or make you feel vunerable when you are there. People like complaining and will pick holes in any course, any city, any country and make it seem terrible.

Indeed, when I read some stories about Moscow my hairs stand up in horror. It appears that it's safer to go to Kabul :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TATY

I lived for a year in Russia, studying Russian. You don't need to read anything or think about anything, just decide what clothes and stuff you need. It's Russia, not the moon.

Reading about other students' time abroad is NOT a good idea. You will end up reading lots of horror stories that will either put you off going, or make you feel vunerable when you are there. People like complaining and will pick holes in any course, any city, any country and make it seem terrible.

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Hmm, I've rather held the belief that when going to a foreign country, or any new and different place for that matter, it's a better idea to go in there informed about what to expect than to be relatively ignorant. I know that most of us who have been seriously studying Russian wouldn't be considered "ignorant", since through our studies and other courses we've gotten a decent knowledge of Russian culture, history, politics, etc...however there is a clear difference between reading such things in books and hearing first-hand experiences from students who travelled there.

There is also a clear difference between people's experiences in the course of study, and their experience with the country itself. I have two friends who have told me about their experiences abroad, and it reflects my statement.

The first student had studied Russian for 2 years, and during the fall semester of the following year she studied abroad in St. Petersburg. Now, she loved everything about the city, had a great time with her host family, etc. Although she said that her Russian did not improve as much as she had hoped. There were two reasons -- the first was that she did not make that much effort to communicate with other Russians -- she made closer friends with fellow Americans in the program, with whom she spoke English. The second, and more important reason, was that she decided to take her courses in English. She found that the Russian grammar that she had learned were things that she had already learned from her classes, so it wasn't much of an improvement for her. When she returned from the program, both she and her teacher agreed that applying for a program where the courses were taught in Russian would have been better for her (and she intends to do so when/if she studies abroad in Russia again).

The second student studied Arabic in a Middle Eastern country in an intensive Arabic program. She loved it there, she thought the natives were a fascinating bunch to talk to, but she did not like the program at all. It was not organized well, the Arabic class she was in was below her level, and there were other issues as well. I'm being vague on purpose about the country, since she doesn't want this information about the program to be leaked to others. But the main point of it is that her experience with the country was great, but the academic program was not good at all. Now, it could be argued that this was just one girl's particular opinion, but she is well-versed in different programs and recommends other ones for studying Arabic. She enrolled in that particular program because the description on the site presented it in a good light, and she had no idea that it would be so bad.