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Russian immersion | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Immersion, Schools & Certificates |  | |
| jamesharris Diglot Newbie Germany myspace.com/james_b_ Joined 5789 days ago 22 posts - 25 votes Speaks: English*, GermanC2 Studies: French, Russian, Dutch | Message 1 of 36 12 July 2008 at 5:19pm | IP Logged |
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My name is James Harris and I am a 25 year old British citizen resident in Germany for the last four years. I speak fluent German, intermediate French, and basic Russian and Dutch.
I am currently working as a copy-editor and translator (German to Engllish) in Freiburg in South Germany. I have been studying linguistics at the University here, but have decided I want to go more in the direction of language teaching and translation. Next year, I am looking to do some serious work on my Russian. I am currently saving up money to go to Russia for 4-6 months of 2009. I want to take a super intensive Russian course, and would prefer to do it outside of the big cities, where I am less likely to meet English speakers. I have a basic level in Russian already, but would study the grammar intensely before going to try and boost myself up to at least Intermediate. I would also welcome any tips to improve my rather lacklustre French. Answers gratefully received! With best, James Harris Edited by jamesharris on 12 July 2008 at 5:20pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jimbo baby! Senior Member United States Joined 5787 days ago 202 posts - 208 votes  2 sounds Speaks: English* | Message 2 of 36 17 August 2008 at 6:12pm | IP Logged |
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There's a good language school at Omsk. I think their language program is only offered for the summer but check and make sure. The tuition costs and room and board are very affordable. http://www.omgpu.ru/en/russian-language/
There's another good language school in Novosibirsk and this one offers classes year round but I wouldn't recommend going there in winter unless you are ready to experience a real Siberian winter. http://www.languageschoolsguide.com/listingsp3.cfm/listing/4 2259 These are good cities to study Russian in because even though they are big cities there are less distractions and less tourists that will speak English. So it's much better for a student than studying in Moscow, and also probably much cheaper. There are probably other language schools in these cities so check and see if you find better prices. Yekaterinburg also has a good language school but their site was down last I checked. http://www.ekaterinburg.tv/languageschool.htm EDIT: One more thing. If you don't mind teaching English in Russia then there's a good work study program you can enroll in at Krasnoyarsk. You can work as a language teacher while studying Russian as a foreign language. You don't even need any experience teaching English. http://www.jobs.languagelink.ru/jobs/application/. I was trying to find a language school in Krasnoyarsk but couldn't find any online until I stumbled across this program. Here is another student's impression of Krasnoyarsk. http://www.jobs.languagelink.ru/jobs/locations/krasnoyarsk.p hp. The only thing that's not so good about it is the cold winter, everything else seems fine and it's one of the best places to learn Russian and not encounter many tourists. Edited by jimbo baby! on 20 August 2008 at 11:17am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Siberiano Tetraglot Senior Member Russian Federation one-giant-leap.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6303 days ago 465 posts - 696 votes Speaks: Russian*, English, ItalianC1, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Serbian | Message 3 of 36 11 November 2008 at 9:03am | IP Logged |
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Jimbo, I'm in Novosibirsk, let me surprise you that there are 3-4 months of summer here as well. :) I also would like to assure you that no foreigner, who came here to stay in winter, has suffered :) Here's the story of an English guy who spent a year in Chita, which is further to the east
http://www.siberia.eclipse.co.uk/ As for the winter, if you don't come for summer, the only thing you have to deal with is that you can't stay long outdoors. Some guys do ski walks, even visited a cave not far from here, but you have to do something in order not to stay alone at home. Climate in Yekaterinburg is quite the same, a bit wetter and cuple degrees warmer. Here is another immersion school: http://ciep.nsu.ru/ (edit: this one is located in Akademgorodok (see wikipedia), a scientific city with a totally different crowd. The school indicated by Jimbo, is in an industrial block near the centre of Nsk). Let me tell you pro's and con's of all the places. Omsk is 600 km to the West from here, which though doesn't mean it's a more western city :) (Some precise info are in Wikipedia and climate graphs) + a bit (1-2 deg. C) warmer climate + the centre has nice architecture + quiet life = no foreigners - 1 km from the centre, and you're among grey soviet blocks - not many cultural things going on, might be boring Novosibirsk: + the real capital of siberia, with many things going on (neibours from Omsk and Krk envy us :-D) + few foreigners around, whom you can talk to, yet 99% of the time you'll be among Russians = the school that I linked above is in Akademgorodok, a place of a lot of nice and smart people :) Still you can end in a "foreign students ghetto" if you chose the easiest way (not good for your language and mind expansion) - not a good city for sightseeing, no historical centre - big distances might be inconvenient Krasnoyarsk: + nice historical centre + little ski resort, Stolby reserve, hills around, lot of sightseeing = almost no foreigners - colder - more workers and hard labour people, not quite tolerant, salesmen are definitely less polite (Of course, I'm biased towards my city, and can add that it's in the south-centre of Siberia, and one can visit Omsk, Krk and even Tomsk, if this name tells you anything, for a weekend, which is harder to do from Oms/Krk) Moscow is a completely different story. It's like Russian New York, hard to compare. Basically, you get more westerners around, more haste in the streets and in life, more cultural events, higher prices, still you'll see all our bad stuff - like impolite people. Edited by Siberiano on 12 November 2008 at 8:33am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jimbo baby! Senior Member United States Joined 5787 days ago 202 posts - 208 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* | Message 4 of 36 12 November 2008 at 2:59pm | IP Logged |
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Siberiano, you are right. That was silly of me to assume that Siberia is a cold and barren wasteland in the winter. When I was doing my research on schools in Russia I found out that the coldest temperature ever recorded in the northern hemisphere was in Novosibirsk. I did not bother to do more research on the climate after I saw that statistic and I just assumed that winter in Novosibirsk would be torture for someone that's not from there. Novosibirsk is a very lively city. If anyone has the opportunity to go study there then they should go. Moscow and St. Petersburg offer a lot but I think the eastern cities are better for students that want true immersion.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Siberiano Tetraglot Senior Member Russian Federation one-giant-leap.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6303 days ago 465 posts - 696 votes Speaks: Russian*, English, ItalianC1, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Serbian | Message 5 of 36 12 November 2008 at 4:15pm | IP Logged |
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No, definitely, the coldest temperature in Northern hemisphere was recorder in Yakutia republic, which is 3000 km to the North-East from Novosibirsk. Here is the easiest way to check this. That climate is a lot colder than here. You can further check the locations of my place and that place in Google Earth or Google Maps. Hope this calms your worries :)
I just want to make clear some facts, I can't decide for others or say "come here, my place is the best in everything". Anyway, it's far not the worst :) Edited by Siberiano on 12 November 2008 at 4:26pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jimbo baby! Senior Member United States Joined 5787 days ago 202 posts - 208 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* | Message 6 of 36 12 November 2008 at 10:22pm | IP Logged |
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Ok then my source was wrong, or I probably read it wrong. Either way that's good news for anyone that wants to go to Novosibirsk. Maybe not so good for anyone that wants to go to Yakutia.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| andrewm Diglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5823 days ago 40 posts - 41 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian | Message 7 of 36 09 January 2009 at 4:11pm | IP Logged |
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Siberiano, Novosibirsk is on my list of cities to visit. I'm in St.Petersburg in March and I'm wanting to do a bit of exploring for a few weeks. Do you have any idea how long it would take to get the train to Novosibirsk? Thanks.
Andrew 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Skandinav Hexaglot Senior Member Denmark Joined 6697 days ago 139 posts - 145 votes Speaks: Danish*, English, German, Russian, Swedish, Norwegian | Message 8 of 36 11 January 2009 at 6:34am | IP Logged |
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Some interesting insights. I'm currently looking for an intensive Russian language course of 4 weeks duration, preferably in the predominantly Russian speaking regions in Ukraine (Eastern, Crimea or Odessa). Novosibirsk could also be an interesting alternative. Any suggestions? Edited by Skandinav on 11 January 2009 at 8:36am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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