Why Russian?

• The Russian language is used by at least 300 million people and is the fifth most widely spoken language in the world (behind Chinese, English, Hindustani and Spanish)
• Russia is the largest country on the planet, and the seventh largest country ranked by population (behind China, India, the US, Indonesia, Brazil and Pakistan)
• Learn Russian to read some of the world's greatest, most creative writers (like Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Nabokov)
• Learn Russian to discover a very different yet exciting culture that has helped to shape the modern world
• Learn Russian to understand the turbulent socio-political transformations taking place in the new Russia 

Russian is is the key to accessing one of the globe's largest economies. The language is the basis for a lively literary tradition that has produced many classics of world literature. At the same time, it is also the language in which much of the world's scientific literature has been published. The U.S. State Department considers Russian a critical language.

Given the demands of globalization and the development of a western-style economy in Russia, the need for good knowledge of Russian language and culture is ever increasing. 

Knowing Russian opens up one of the richest cultural traditions in the Western world. The novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, Chekov's plays, the operas of Tchaikovsky, and Chagall's paintings are just a few of the treasures Russia has bequeathed to the world. Courses devoted to the classics of Russian literature and the culture that engendered them provide an opportunity to discuss the most important political, social, philosophical, theological, and artistic questions of our time. 

The Russian Federation is 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 travelled 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 

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. 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. Russian is in fact distantly related to the other Western languages, and part of the fun of learning it can be finding familiar words.

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