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.
Students nod with a smile. Their level of Russian is enough to go into such
subtleties. In this subgroup each learn it for several years – in school, at
university electives. But for a breakthrough they came to summer school in
Tomsk. Nothing works better than immersion in a foreign language environment.
© предоставлено пресс-службой ТГУ
Thesummer school lasts three weeks. Students are engaged with teachers of the Faculty of Literature of TSU every day for four hours , and then get acquainted with the city and culture.
"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!"
Maurice Gross chan why he chose Tomsk
For non-capital diversity biologist student Andrea Nebel from Berlin came
to Tomsk. According to her, Moscow is very similar to Europe, and Tomsk is
something distant, unknown, exotic...
"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".
Andrea Nebel about Tomsk
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.
© Таисия Воронцова
"For many students, Russian is a challenge: it is difficult but very beautiful. Some learn it simply because of interest: knowledge opens borders wider. Others need language in professional activity (for example, objects of research are somehow connected with Russia)", – Dolganina says.
According to Dolganina 's experience, Europeans need 2-3 years to learn to
communicate in Russian well. Six months may be enough for Europeans from Slavic
countries in general. But it is much more difficult for students from Asia -
completely different language systems.
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".