TOMSK, Aug 30 – RIA Tomsk, Elena Taylasheva. More than 20 students from Italy, Austria, Germany, France, Great Britain and Luxembourg came to summer school of Russian language at Tomsk State University (TSU). "Beautiful" is perhaps the main word in their impressions of the language and of Tomsk. Why foreigners choose Siberia and how much time a European needs to speak – in material RIA Tomsk.
Language subtleties
"It 's potatoes. And it is potatoes", – the teacher of the Faculty of Philology of TSU Anna Dolganine shows students two photos - popular cakeand the most "folk" Russian vegetable.
- They are similar in shape and color. It 's not just called sprouts, though it will grow from there. These are eyes. What word do you know?
- Eyes! – the students understand.
"It is interesting to me!"
Maurice Grosbush is a student from Luxembourg. He studied Russian at the university for a total of about three years with breaks.
"I came to Tomsk because I wanted to learn Russian in a student city, small, old and beautiful - I love old cities. Found out about Tomsk when I was looking for a summer school in Russia on the Internet. I am a geographer student and interested in other cities (except capitals). I thought, maybe, in Tomsk I will better know Russian culture", – he told RIA Tomsk.
And he added: "Russian is interesting to me, for me it is the most beautiful language!"
"I want to study abroad and I want to do it in Tomsk. I am very interested in Russia. <…> I want to feel winter in Tomsk, I think it 's very cool! I want to meet people. <…> There are a lot of stereotypes about Siberia, so I want to understand what is right and what is not", – the girl says.
She adds that she really liked Tomsk: "Maybe it 's the most beautiful city I 've been to. I like to walk. Lots of parks, all green, old houses".
The main thing is to communicate
Summer schools of intensive Russian language education have been held in TSU since 2008. There are no problems with those who want to learn Russian: there are both single students and entire groups from partner universities.
There were two streams this year in the summer. The first, July, turned out to be "Eastern" - students from Vietnam and Singapore came to Tomsk. The current, August set is "Western": children from Italy, Austria, Germany, France, Great Britain and Luxembourg are in the group. The largest group is from London: students came for an internship at the Faculty of Psychology and additionally chose the program of study of Russian language and culture.
"The cultural program includes iconic educational places. We already showed them the university, our library, went on a tour of wooden architecture, were at the Axe Holiday. They really liked it! Tomsk prison is on the turn. We want to show Tomsk as a multinational, multi-religious, university old city", – the manager of the school Valeria Kashpur says.
But in any case, the teacher says, the secret of learning Russian is absolutely the same as any foreign language:
"You need to listen, watch movies, communicate (at least on the Internet). The most important thing is to use language in any type of speech activity. To understand very difficult grammar and to learn a few textbooks is not enough. Communication is needed, and Russian is very good in communication. Therefore, the mechanism of summer schools is very effective: a three-week immersion in environment gives a very strong impetus in development".