As a way to engage more of our students with language programs at Reed, we will be starting a series of interviews with our dear language tutors. Miriam (or Masha!) has a lot to share about her experience!
There is always a backstory to every language journey. Tell me more about your background and what inspired you to undertake a not-so-easy language like Russian.
Learning languages is my thing,especially being a linguistics major. I started with Hebrew, French, some Spanish and moved on to German. And coming to college I wanted something totally different which was Russian – I loved it, it’s my absolute favorite.
What would you recommend to those thinking about studying Russian? Or those who just started?
Definitely listen to Russian outside of class, listen to Russian TV shows and music. And practice phonetics because a lot of people get obsessed with writing and reading but throw the speaking aspect out the window.
Just to clarify for our students – what is the exact difference between phonetics and pronunciation?
Phonetics is all about nailing down specific sounds. You know how Russian changes depending on different context and different words. Ударения (stresses) are also crucial, they fall into the same category of significance.
I wanna know more about the Summer Program you did this summer! How was it and how can prospective students benefit from it ?
I went to Middlebury language school in Vermont – known as the best language school in the world – for 8 weeks and took a pledge to only use Russian. It was definitely pushing my limits, you know, putting yourself in a harder situation linguistically and working around it. We had weekly phonetic classes as well.
Were you sitting there pronouncing different sounds?
Yes! It was that advanced. We also had clubs like a cooking club and choir. I learnt how to play “spoons” (ложки). Oh and, of course, the swearing club.
Blitz!
Fav Russian book?
Anna Karenina
Funny moment from class!?
We were learning глагол “любить” (the verb “to love”) but one of my classmates had troubles with it so they kept saying “I love Masha!”.
Fav Russian word/idiom/phrase?
“Достопримечательности” (Attractions/sightseeings) – particularly hard to spell. Also “жизнь – это боль” (life is pain). Yep, pretty cliche but can’t argue with it *laughs in russian 101*
If you wish to know more about Masha or(and!) Russian at Reed – we would be more than happy to welcome you in the Language Lab!