Russian summer courses

I'm trying to find an affordable (for my budget anyway!) Russian course I can do when I go over in July. I'm fairly sure I'm going to go with one from russian-in-russia.com, but I don't know where. The ones I can afford are in:
Novosibirsk
Perm
Nizhny Novgorod
Taurida National University (but I can't find out where it is!)
Petrozavodsk
Odessa

Anyone have any experience of these courses/cities? Petrozavodsk is a bit north for my plans, and Novosibirsk possibly too far east. I'm leaning towards Odessa, just so I don't need to sort a Ukrainian visa, butthe thought of being taught Russian in the Ukraine is rather wrong.

Gahh, any ideas?

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I'm leaning towards Odessa, just so I don't need to sort a Ukrainian visa, butthe thought of being taught Russian in the Ukraine is rather wrong.

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I'd think Ukrainians can speak Russian just as good as the rest of them. I've been corresponding with a Ukrainian(whose family is originally from Russia) for over a year and haven't picked up any oddities. At any rate, if you are going to be learning Russian in some university over there, you can be sure they won't teach you anything weird.

BTW, maybe I understood you wrong, but if you want to go to Odessa, I'd think you would have to sort out a Ukrainian visa. I mean, it IS in the Ukraine and all...

The Russian language is very steady and doesn't have critical diversities in regions and even countries. You can learn this one in Russia, in others USSR republics, or even in Europe. Just ask for Russian language native speakers. Actually, not only Russians could be native speakers. For example, it's very very hard to find Belarus who knows Russian language poor. Perhaps, you could discover new words in some regions. For example, "хлопец" is originally Ukrainian word but every Russian knows the meaning. On the other hand, the word "ринда" is not originally Russian and Russian-Russians have no idea what does it mean.

What does it mean?
:D
I know only "рында"...
:(

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Originally Posted by Pravit

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I'm leaning towards Odessa, just so I don't need to sort a Ukrainian visa, butthe thought of being taught Russian in the Ukraine is rather wrong.

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I'd think Ukrainians can speak Russian just as good as the rest of them. I've been corresponding with a Ukrainian(whose family is originally from Russia) for over a year and haven't picked up any oddities. At any rate, if you are going to be learning Russian in some university over there, you can be sure they won't teach you anything weird.

BTW, maybe I understood you wrong, but if you want to go to Odessa, I'd think you would have to sort out a Ukrainian visa. I mean, it IS in the Ukraine and all...

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Yes, it just seems wrong being taught Russian instead of Ukrainian proper - I'm not questioning Ukrainians' knowlegde of Russian, but it still just doesn't seem....*right*. I mean, I'd be quite offended if someone expected me to teach them American English (a complete bastardisation of English, icky!!!)

And yes, I would still need to get a visa, but they sort out the invitation, which is apparently harder to get than one for Russia.

Yes, but I don't think Russian as spoken by Ukrainians could be described as a "complete bastardisation of Russian." Wouldn't it be much cheaper to study in Ukraine? Of course, it's your choice. I'd pick Ukraine because I'd like to visit that person, but if I didn't know them, then I'd defintely choose Moscow or St. Petersburg.

Personally I think it is much more elegant when people trying to learn English speak with English accents :D But that's just me...

It's not just you. :) That's why it's a shame people in Holland learn English with an American accent. Why can't they be more like the Scandinavians? Nice hurdy-gurdy accents with a couple of '

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Originally Posted by Lou_la

I mean, I'd be quite offended if someone expected me to teach them American English (a complete bastardisation of English, icky!!!)

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I've no desire to get in a silly debate over this here, but I believe most linguists will tell you that American English and British English have both drifted significantly, to similar degrees. I actually read a study last year that asserted that the American south's speech was the closest living dialect to that spoken in the 1700s. That particular study could be complete bollocks, but the fact remains that neither British nor American English has any stong claim on continuity, consistency or "purity". And in any case, English is a bastard language to begin with.

I do think, personally, that certain British accents sound a bit prettier. But let's not get all RAH RAH ANGLO-SAXON PRIDE about it, eh?

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Originally Posted by Propp

What does it mean?
:D
I know only "рында"...
:(

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ринда is simply the ukranian spelling of what is known in russian as рында (remember the ukranian и is the russian ы) - a bell aboard a ship - a word known by everyone in russia.

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Originally Posted by Propp

What does it mean?
:D
I know only "рында"...
:(

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VendingMachine is not right because "ринда" is not a Ukrainian word. Originally, the spelling is "rinda", and it has the meaning "очередь".

For example:
Ну и ринда в этот магазин!

Btw, I read (Лев Успенский "Слово о словах") that "рында" comes from the English "ring the bell" that was percieved by Russian sailors as "рынду бей".