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Italian or Russian?

Hi everyone!

I recently firmed my offer to study French, German, and Italian at St. Andrews, and I'm very excited to go :smile:. However, I've been thinking about switching from Italian to Russian. Since I already know French, Italian would be very easy to pick up (I already know a tiiiiny bit of the basics), and I love Italian culture (especially opera) and history. However, the difficulty of Russian intrigues me (although I know the Cyrillic alphabet, so that part wouldn't be a problem), and I am also very interested in Russian literature, which it seems I would have a lot of opportunity to study in my Honours years. Russian might also be more ""useful"" than Italian if I decide to go into translation or linguistics (although I hate ranking languages by how ""useful"" they are). Another thing to consider is that both are available to learn through night classes, so I wouldn't have to give up whichever one I didn't choose. So... opinions?

Also, if any current St. Andrews students are reading this: If you have any experience with the Italian and/or Russian departments, what has your experience with the professors/classes been like?
Reply 1
Avatar for Estreth
Estreth
11
As someone who studied Russian at university and Italian in my spare time, I say do Russian. You are absolutely right that Italian is very easy if you already have French. And it's easy anyway. You are also right that having a Slavic language alongside a Romance language would be a much better base for subsequent work in linguistics.
Reply 2
Avatar for Denka
Denka
1
Russian is a great choice, it may just be me, but I wouldn't think that it's that difficult, and it is a popular language. Would be good to have another kind of language to know. )
Reply 3
Avatar for M14B
M14B
18
Original post by nervousfish
Hi everyone!

I recently firmed my offer to study French, German, and Italian at St. Andrews, and I'm very excited to go :smile:. However, I've been thinking about switching from Italian to Russian. Since I already know French, Italian would be very easy to pick up (I already know a tiiiiny bit of the basics), and I love Italian culture (especially opera) and history. However, the difficulty of Russian intrigues me (although I know the Cyrillic alphabet, so that part wouldn't be a problem), and I am also very interested in Russian literature, which it seems I would have a lot of opportunity to study in my Honours years. Russian might also be more ""useful"" than Italian if I decide to go into translation or linguistics (although I hate ranking languages by how ""useful"" they are). Another thing to consider is that both are available to learn through night classes, so I wouldn't have to give up whichever one I didn't choose. So... opinions?

Also, if any current St. Andrews students are reading this: If you have any experience with the Italian and/or Russian departments, what has your experience with the professors/classes been like?


Russian has more prospects and it is cooler
:biggrin:
Reply 4
Avatar for simon_g
simon_g
16
Original post by nervousfish
Hi everyone!
(although I know the Cyrillic alphabet, so that part wouldn't be a problem), and I


Printed cyrillic is a very easy to master, italics is a major pain in the beside.
As long as you grasp the idea of grammar cases and verb aspects, everything will be (sort of) fine.
Original post by nervousfish
Hi everyone!

I recently firmed my offer to study French, German, and Italian at St. Andrews, and I'm very excited to go :smile:. However, I've been thinking about switching from Italian to Russian. Since I already know French, Italian would be very easy to pick up (I already know a tiiiiny bit of the basics), and I love Italian culture (especially opera) and history. However, the difficulty of Russian intrigues me (although I know the Cyrillic alphabet, so that part wouldn't be a problem), and I am also very interested in Russian literature, which it seems I would have a lot of opportunity to study in my Honours years. Russian might also be more ""useful"" than Italian if I decide to go into translation or linguistics (although I hate ranking languages by how ""useful"" they are). Another thing to consider is that both are available to learn through night classes, so I wouldn't have to give up whichever one I didn't choose. So... opinions?

Also, if any current St. Andrews students are reading this: If you have any experience with the Italian and/or Russian departments, what has your experience with the professors/classes been like?


Congratulations on your offer!!!
I love both Italian and Russian I have the same dilemma as you!! I'm in Year 11 still so obviously not worrying too much about it yet... I would like to do Spanish and another language, I hope to do Russian also!

With regards to usefulness, any language is useful depending on what you want to do. For example if you were going to go work in Italy italian would be useful, and if you're doing french it's relatively easy to pick up, what with the similarities. That's what I've found anyway. In terms of number of people that speak it Russian is more useful in terms of translation, however it is much harder! I can read and write in Russian and I love Russian literature although I think it will take a lot of hard work and determination for me to eventually get to a good level.

Overall I would say russian but just go with your gut instint. It is such a hard decision as they are both wonderful, but i suppose you could still study the other language by some means like through the internet or evening classes etc.

What are the A level requirements for St. Andrews double honours languages by the way?

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