Before coming to Dickinson, I couldn’t read or write in Russian; it was soley conversational. I’ve always gotten away with slurring endings and mixing and matching them to my nouns and adjectives with my family and native speakers. (I never really thought much about grammar, I just spoke the way I heard words and phrases my whole life)
When I came to Dickinson and declared my International Business and Management major, I learned that I had to complete three courses beyond intermediate in a foreign language. First, I thought Spanish. I’ve always loved Spanish, and not going to lie, I’ve always been really good at it since learning the language in 1st grade. But as I thought more about it, I started drifting away from the idea of sitting through more Spanish classes. I’ve already taken them for 10 plus years and seem to be comfortable enough with the language. So, next on my list was Russian. At first I thought, “Man, that’s going to be so easy, I’ll probably place out of the language requirement after taking the test.” I was totally wrong. When I signed in to take the exam I realized I couldn’t read anything on the screen. I emailed my professor and told her the situation and instead of taking a written exam, I had a phone interview (which I nailed). Unfortunately, she told me that I would struggle starting in anything above 101 because I couldn’t read or write. After thinking about it, I decided taking Russian would be the best decision for me. I realized that I wanted to learn more about the language, how to use proper grammar, and learn traditional things like movies/songs/poems/books that I could talk to my grandparents about.
My first day of Russian class at Dickinson is something I will never forget. I remember trying to get away with being just like everyone else and learning Russian for the first time. But, that ship sailed as soon as I said “Hello, my name is Alexa” in Russian; the professor immediately knew through my accent and pronunciation that I was a native speaker. (My cover was blown.) Throughout the semester my class started to get really annoyed with me because in class I would usually be the only one who really knew what the professor was saying, volunteered when no one else would, and would always be called on for demonstrations. They also would get annoyed with me when I would study for Russian exams. They would always say, “Alexa, are you seriously studying for Russian? Isn’t this your first langauge? Why are you in 101, thats so not fair.” It’s always been hard to explain to my classmates that I also have to study for Russian exams. To this day, I still have to put in as much work as them; but in a different way. Yes, in class, I would always be on the ball and know what to say and how to say it. But when it came to grammar and understanding how to read and write the language with proper endings and conjugations, I was totally lost. Overtime, my classmates understood that even though I was fluent in Russian, that didn’t mean that I knew grammar and knew why words are conjugated the way they are.
I’m really happy that I decided to go with Russian at Dickinson because I now am able to read and write letters to my grandparents, read my families favorite stories/poems, text my parents and family in Russian, and most of all, appreciate and learn more about my culture and language. I encourage you (whoever you may be) to take chances even if there’s a chance of failure. I was scared to take Russian in an academic setting because I was scared of failing in something I thought I was so comfortable in. But, by taking Russian and facing my fears and failing a couple times, it has been a great learning experience and has taught me more about myself than I ever thought I could.
I dedicate this post to a really catchy alphabet song that I learned in Russian 101. Give it a listen and maybe you’ll nail the Russian alphabet song 🙂
Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIKX9RYOX5w
