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Studying French and Russian at uni? Please help!

Hi all,

I have applied to study French and Russian at uni (Russian at beginner level) and I wanted to find out a little more about the course from anybody who has done the same or similar.

I am currently living in Paris on my gap year so I am pretty confident in my French level, however I am a complete beginner in Russian - have just taught myself the alphabet but that is it!

I obviously know studying a completely new and different language from scratch is going to be hard, but from your experiences:

1.) Is everyone around the same level of beginner or will I really struggle compared to the rest of the group?
2.) Can you give me any advice for teaching myself? What should I focus on?
3.) How is the course split between Russian and your other subject (e.g. am I likely to have more Russian lessons than French to start with?)
4.) Do the lecturers speak in Russian to you from the get go or is it a gradual process?
5.) How long has it taken you to feel confident in your ability?

P.S Universities I have applied to are: Nottingham, Birmingham, Exeter, Leeds and Queen Mary University of London

Thanks in advance for any help!

Reply 1

Puddles the Monkey

Hi - sorry you haven't had a response to this yet. I'm just going to bump the thread in the hope that someone sees this and can help :h:

Reply 2

Simbess

Hi! I do BAML (3 languages) - two of which are French (post A level) and Russian (form scratch) however I'm not at any of the uni's which you've applied for. Hopefully my review will help a bit though?

1.) Is everyone around the same level of beginner or will I really struggle compared to the rest of the group?

What happens at my uni is that they put all of the beginners and all of the post-A levels separately for the first year (so just classes of beginners and classes of post-A level students) which is so nice and reassuring; in second year the language classes are still split (even though they say that your ability is nearly similar to those of post-A level by then) and your module choices / culture classes can be mixed with post-A level students. I haven't struggled with my group - we're all at the same level. It is also different learning a language from scratch - so naturally it is more intensive and we get tested regularly.

2.) Can you give me any advice for teaching myself? What should I focus on?

Hmm... over the summer I pretty much did what you've already done, which is to look at the alphabet! Something which we've covered this year which I had no knowledge of beforehand (and my german-studying counterparts did) was cases. I probably would have found it useful just to look over what cases are in English for a bit before going into Russian - although they probably wont come up until the middle of first semester, it's reassuring to have grips on it. Don't worry if you don't look at it though - I didn't and I'm fine with them now.

3.) How is the course split between Russian and your other subject (e.g. am I likely to have more Russian lessons than French to start with?)

Depends on how each uni does it. For people doing French and Russian at my uni, it tends to be equally split in terms of modules. To start with, you will probably have more contact hours in Russian than French (as it's a beginner's language) but I find it necessary :P Usually, Russian and French should be equal in terms of how much they're worth in your degree, however I can't comment on the flexibility of the course structure at your chosen universities.

4.) Do the lecturers speak in Russian to you from the get go or is it a gradual process?

First year for Russian: Nope, tis all in English (for both Language and any culture modules). Again though that's needed, since you'll be tackling grammar which you haven't come across before, and even a new alphabet! I don't know how it'll work for your other universities in second year and beyond.

5.) How long has it taken you to feel confident in your ability?

Not as long as I thought actually! As I've said, the course is quite intensive, and can be a steep learning curve, but with enough practice, studying and more practice, you'll feel confident. I've found that it really helps to practice the speaking of the new language whilst at uni (since I hated A level speaking exams) and it's really helped!

All of that said, hopefully none of it has scared you! I love studying languages and especially with the Russian, as it's so different to the other languages I study. I'd definitely recommend it! Hope this helps :smile: