Thread: University of Tartu, University of Latvia

My university's got exchange programs with various universities. For Russian the only ones they've got are the University of Tartu and the University of Latvia. I might consider going, because all I have to do is pay for the air tickets and room and board. Anyone know something about these universities? I'm going to be majoring in electrical engineering, somebody know if I could take EE classes at these schools? It's too bad there aren't any Russian universities in ISEP...Is Russian still widely spoken in the Baltic nations? What language do you think the classes would be in?

Of course, there's Technische Universit

I know Latvia just passed a bill that all education courses be taught in Latvian, however im not sure if that extended to the uiversity level. It might just be for public schools. It definately pissed off a lot of Russians who still live in latvia.

When I was in Riga, seemed like a good number of people spoke english so who knows, maybe you would get lucky.

Also, you dont have to necessarily go on a school program. Look at what your school accepts for transferring credit. A number of colleges dont have a program, but will be affiliated with another university or program and it is very easy to transfer credits.

Thanks for your response. I looked into it more and found that it's not really a school program. It's something called ISEP(international student exchange program, and for those wanting to know how to pronounce the acronym, I'd say "eye-sep" ) and I think people from any university can apply for it. I'll look more into programs dealing specifically with Russian schools, although I'll most likely just go to Germany. As for Latvians speaking English, that's nice, but I was hoping that more of them would speak Russian I want to immerse myself in a Russian-speaking environment.

Originally Posted by Pravit

As for Latvians speaking English, that's nice, but I was hoping that more of them would speak Russian

As I know there are about 35% of Russian-speaking natives in Latvia and most of them are "non-citizens", and now officials make everything for genocide all "non-citizens" - whos relatives didn't live in Latvia before 1940.
BTW, I guess Latvia is the only one country where is an annual parade of latvians SS-veterans.

I would not recommend going there for a "Russian immersion". It might be compared with going to India to learn English, only it is much worse in Latvia: the Indians got rid of the English long time ago and English is the international language; the Latvians got rid of the Russian big brother just a few years ago, and Russian is not all that important in that region (as they trying to integrate with the EU, not Russia).

Originally Posted by bad manners

I would not recommend going there for a "Russian immersion". It might be compared with going to India to learn English, only it is much worse in Latvia: the Indians got rid of the English long time ago and English is the international language; the Latvians got rid of the Russian big brother just a few years ago, and Russian is not all that important in that region (as they trying to integrate with the EU, not Russia).

Yes, I heard as much. Actually I was recently considering a job in Georgia. Amongst other reasons (insecurity), I decided against it because it might not be much fun trying to learn Russian there. They have a rather incredible language of their own, and whilst there is a lot of Russian spoken there, they might not be keen on teaching you about what they consider as their 'past'.
Could we make a list of how much Russian is spoken, and how it's perceived, in each of the ex-Soviet states?
Clearly it's still important, massively so, in all of those countries (consider TV for example). But which would be good for a Russian learner?

I'd guess Belarus would be the best one from the point of view of Russian language. Ukraine might not be too bad. Clearly Latvia is not a good one.

Originally Posted by waxwing

Could we make a list of how much Russian is spoken, and how it's perceived, in each of the ex-Soviet states?

As I know Ukrainians and Belarussians wide use Russian language - about Ukraine I know it from my friend, his cousin from Kiev came in my city last summer, I didn't notice any accent, his prononcation was close to moscow's pronouncation. About Belarus - my wife's friend's relatives came in my city a couple of years ago, they're living in Minsk and as I remember my wife didn't tell me about their accent. My friend's wife is from Tajikistan, she is half-tajic and half-korean and she speak perfect russian and Tajick languages. Her relatives - her sister, a sister's little son and thier nephew came from Dushanbeh 2 years ago - all of them speak russian absolutely normal.
There are a lot of kazakh here on the markets. They are not well educated people so they speak with accent but one of my friend went to Kazakhstan last year and she didn't tell me about some special Kazakh pronouncation - they all speak good russian in the cities.

BTW, there is a programm on TV like "Candid camera" they make it in Ukraine, so I've never heard in this program that people in the streets speak another language than Russian.

Originally Posted by JJ

BTW, there is a programm on TV like "Candid camera" they make it in Ukraine, so I've never heard in this program that people in the streets speak another language than Russian.

It could be they delete non-Russian content because they obviously want to trade that in Russia. Just like the RTL channels broadcasted in Germany have no French content, even though the L in RTL stands for Luxembourg.

Originally Posted by bad manners

It could be they delete non-Russian content because they obviously want to trade that in Russia.

I'm not sure about that. I've read some articles (in Ukrainian too) where the authors say the problem is that even people who called theirselves Ukrainian can not speak in рiдна мова more than 5 minutes...

I suppose Estonia would also not be a very good choice. Germany then, unless I find a better program. I might go one one of those summer language courses hosted by MGU or one of those St. Petersburg universities.

Кстати, а говорит ли твой друг "суржик"? Я переписываюсь с одной девченкой с Украины. Она считает себя русской и дома общается на русском, но иногда она говорит слова как "матерь" и т.д. Она сказала, что когда она говорит на украинском, говорят, что это неправильно звучит. Но она пишет на украинском свободно.

Правит, он не мой друг, он двоюродный брат моего друга, я общался с ним всего пару раз - поэтому не знаю.

с другой стороны, правит, мне кажется, что Эстония или Латвиа были бы гораздо интереснее чем Германия. But chacun a son gout..

Well, the thing is, I speak German fairly well(and after a couple years studying it I'll speak it even better) but I don't know any Estonian or Latvian. Also, sadly enough, I speak German a bit better than I do Russian. And I've read the courses at those unis will be mainly in English. Of course, it would be a more convenient distance to Russia...

but youll still need a visa to get in

Originally Posted by Pravit

For Russian the only ones they've got are the University of Tartu and the University of Latvia. I might consider going, because all I have to do is pay for the air tickets and room and board. Anyone know something about these universities?

Two of my friends were being studied in University of Latvia. You can find a lot of information about this one at Latvijas Universitaate. The University of Tartu you can find here Tartu Ulikool.

Originally Posted by Pravit

I'm going to be majoring in electrical engineering, somebody know if I could take EE classes at these schools?

The University of Latvia has a great experience in mathematics, chemistry, languages and law, but for EE you should look at Riigas Tehniskaa Universitaate or Transporta un sakaru instituuts. The first one certainly has electrical engineering studies, and the second one perhaps too but I'm not sure. (actually, TSI is the best in electronic engineering)

Originally Posted by Pravit

Is Russian still widely spoken in the Baltic nations? What language do you think the classes would be in?

The Baltic States are different. The Russian language is popular in Latvia, has the local popularity in Estonia, and are rarely using in Lithuania. You can live in Latvia (especially in Riga and Daugavpils) and don't know Latvian (most of Russian-speakers do so). Grievously, but the language question are rising now. When you will have more information I could ask friends for details. Just let me know. But anyway, you could not found Latvian professor who doesn't know Russian language, and the most of them know English.

Originally Posted by bad manners

I would not recommend going there for a "Russian immersion". It might be compared with going to India to learn English, only it is much worse in Latvia: the Indians got rid of the English long time ago and English is the international language; the Latvians got rid of the Russian big brother just a few years ago, and Russian is not all that important in that region (as they trying to integrate with the EU, not Russia).

It might not! First of all, because too many Russians live in Latvia. The Russian-speakers can and do teach Russian language, and in India Englishman is a rareness. The second one, Russian language is still popular in Latvia, and Latvian-Russians are keeping their language and culture and I respect them for this.

Originally Posted by drew881

but youll still need a visa to get in

Nope! (if Pravit is an American citizen)

Originally Posted by ВЕТЕР

Originally Posted by drew881

but youll still need a visa to get in

Nope! (if Pravit is an American citizen)

drew was referring to the possibility of visiting Russia while in Latvia, and of course he was correct.

yeah sorry for not being specific. When I went to Latvia, i was reading this book on the train ride over that i borrowed from my teacher. I think it said that only 60 percent of Riga's citizens speak Latvian. The rest i think was german, russian and other languages.

Originally Posted by BETEP

It might not! First of all, because too many Russians live in Latvia. The Russian-speakers can and do teach Russian language, and in India Englishman is a rareness. The second one, Russian language is still popular in Latvia, and Latvian-Russians are keeping their language and culture and I respect them for this.

In India, almost 100% of the population speak English. In India, the English language is not considered "the white trash" language. 'nuff said.

I think he was saying not many british people live there?