Hi. I'm Leslie and my professor was Ben T. Clark at UCSC
Russian for Americans was updated as Russian, 3rd. Edition, by Ben T. Clark.. I was his student in 1981-82 and it is a good book. He tested it out on me and a dozen other students. We were only given one chapater at a time so we couldn't study ahead and that was irritating, but the finished book, "Russian" is very good. I purched it as soon as it was in print.
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I was his student at UCSC in 1981 and 1982. You might get them from the library, or audio library at UCSC. It would be odd for them to not be there of all places.
University of California, Santa Cruz, California. We were very lucky to have him as our professor. He was very upbeat and funny for our good.
Such an odd thing, but so help me, the final exam of each quarter had that question. How to write, "Have you stopped smoking? or Have you stopped smoking yet?". Gah. It would be the only mistake every goshdarn final exam. So, explain it to me please so I can laugh about it.
The professor asked my how many hours it took me to study each chapter. I could swear that "Russian for Americans" was more formal that the chapters he handed out each week. That's right, a chapter each week. And the exams were for 1 1/2 hours long including time in the hall answering his questions verbally It was two classes in one but with only a dozen students. It was great getting that kind of attention. I'm terrible at languages but I totally aced every class..except for "Have you stopped smoking yet?"
He was one of only 2 russian language professors at the Universily of California, Santa Cruz. He lived in the most beautiful victorian home in the city. When I read in the newspaper he had died, I cried.
I went on to become the International Exchange specialist at The University of Washington, Seattle. The Slavic, East European, Central Asian, Baltic, and now Scandinavian studies. I'm long since gone on to get higher pay, they didn't pay well back in 1990-1999 but it was an honor.
The best job I could have hoped for was to be a docent on tours where my russian would get a good workout. At a travel agency in the wine country of California would be great. Yes, there is good work for those that master russian, and it doesn't hurt to learn a less popular language like Estonan or Romanian or Czech while you're at it. You become one of the only people fluent in those languages and that's valuable. City hospitals need you. The courts need you.
I think the most fun job would be a docent where ever it was the most fun. At museums for instance, or bus tours of Beverly Hills or the magic kingdom. Tours to plays in NYC. On the down side the army has soldiers that do nothing but translate newspapers all day long. The army school where you learn russian is in Monterey, California. Sweet. But the airplane hangar in California where the translation is done is not pleasant at all. You have to enter by the age of 26.
If you go to a larger university and apply yourself, a TA-ship can pay quite well. Some students go on to work at consulates and embassies, especially if they learn Polish or Latvian or Ukrainian or Kazakh as well. There are embassies in the little countries too, and Bulgaria looks pleasant.
