Russian

Why Middlebury? Courses & Requirements Faculty & Office Hours Alumni Careers in Russian Student Life Study Abroad Contact Us

Why Russian? The Cold War is over, and Russia is no longer the "Evil Empire." The Russian Federation is now the largest country in the world, and the changes since the breakup of the Soviet Union have made it one of the most exciting places in which to live and work. Russian is the lingua franca not only in Russia proper, but throughout the former Soviet Union and much of Eastern Europe. There are more Russian speakers in the world than there are speakers of German and French combined.

Things aren't what they used to be...
Russia has changed. Even in the days when Russia was forbidding and forbidden, students who traveled to the Soviet Union found the Russian people warm and hospitable. While the American press now reports stories of crime and mafia activities, Moscow is in fact safer than US cities of comparable size, and in Russia Middlebury students live and study in safe neighborhoods.

Supply and demand?
Fifteen years ago there was a boom in Russian study, yet it was then still very difficult to travel or work in Russia. The only job possibilities during the Cold War era were in academia, espionage, or diplomacy. Travel beyond Moscow and Leningrad (St. Petersburg) was virtually impossible for Americans. Now, though the number of Americans studying Russian has decreased dramatically, the possibility to use Russian after graduation has increased ten- to twenty-fold. There has never been a greater need for good Russian speakers in such a wide range of professions.

What do Russian and REES majors do after graduation?

They go on to careers in government, education, and law as well as international banking, journalism, broadcasting, business, and trade. And they work all over Russia, the former Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe: Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Bosnia. Middlebury Russian graduates have issued visas in Estonia, established the first private hard-currency stores in St. Petersburg, made oil deals in Baku, established environmental law programs, helped AIDS sufferers in St. Petersburg, set up phone systems in the Russian Far East, created this website, privatized agriculture in Nizhni Novgorod and Donetsk, worked for the democratic opposition in Kazakhstan, and the list goes on and on. See our alumni pages to learn firsthand what our graduates are doing with their Russian, and our job pages to see the kinds of opportunities currently available.

Russian Culture
Russian culture has always been prominent on the world stage. From the 19th Century novels of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy to Chekhov's plays and Bulgakov's satires, Russian literature has been read by millions, and nothing compares to reading it in the original original. Russian ballet is world renowned, as are Russian composers from Tchaikovsky to Shostakovich. The history of film begins with early Russians like Sergei Eisenstein.

How hard is Russian?

While not as easy for English speakers to learn as the Western European languages, Russian is still easier than Chinese, Japanese, or Arabic. The alphabet, which may initially seem intimidating, can be mastered in under a week. Russian is in fact distantly related to the other Western languages, and part of the fun of learning it can be finding familiar words. The Russian Department prides itself on shepherding students through the intricacies of grammar, and Middlebury has generations of students who have mastered Russian and can use it in their lives and work.