I interviewed Miriam, a Russian tutor here at Reed. You can visit her drop-in tutoring hours on Thursdaysfrom 6-8 PM in the Language Lab.
Could you introduce yourself?
My name is Miriam, otherwise known as Masha (in Russian); that name was given to me on my first day at Reed. I’m a senior Russian major, and I’m the Russian House HA (I’ve lived in the Russian house for three years (including this year)). I came in as a linguistics major, but I switched to Russian when I fell in love with it.
Shokan was famously “besties” with Dostoevsky sparking rumors about their homoertoic relationships.
Shokan Valikhanov the father of modern Kazakh history and ethnography and simultaneously the most-known Kazakh scholar, ethnographer, historian. As a Russian Imperial officer, he explored Central Asia, mapping regions like Kashgar and recording significant cultural, geographic, and historical data while advocating for his people which didn’t save him from being a target of post-colonial criticism. Lang Labbies are starting our weekly rubric of “not-so-Russian-Russian literature” focusing on literature written in Russian by not necessarily Russian personas.
Shokan Valikhanov was born in Kostanay, Eastern Kazakhstan and spent his youth in his father’s traditional nomadic yurt. Shokan’s family was very respected by the government of the Russian Empire, and Walikhanov’s father was awarded, during his life, six appointments as senior Sultan of Kushmurun region. Born into privelege, Shokan raveled extensively in Central Asia in the late 1850s after having graduated from the military academy in Omsk.
Walikhanov collected materials on Kazakh judicial practices in 1863. This was part of a government-backed project given by Duhamel, and led to the 1864 Memorandum on Judicial Reform. In 1864, Shoqan was assigned to help with Colonel Cherniaev’s continued conquest of Central Asia. Cherniaev’s forces marched west from the fortress of Vernoe (modern-day Almaty). Chernaiev advanced towards the Khanate of Kokand, planning to attack the fort at Aulie-Ata (modern-day Taraz). Shoqan unsuccessfully pushed for a negotiated result without violence.
Young Valikhanov was a big proponent of Westernization although was critiqued by his fellow ethnographers for “playing the double game” due to his primarily russian education and deep friendship with writers such as Fyedor Dostoevsky.
In spite of it, Shokan remained the face of Kazakh intelligentsia — his early death at just 29 years old left a large hole in the history of Kazakh ethnography written in Russian. One of Shokan works (in both Russian and English) I would recommend to our readers is “Chinese Turkestan and Dzungaria: Walikhanov and other Russian travellers”, The Russians in Central Asia, London, Edward Stanford, 1865.
In honor of осення хандра (fall melancholy), me and my language scholar had a quick yet inspiring discussion on the aforementioned word. You see, the word “хандра” is quite unique in its translation simply for the fact that there’s none.
Historical interaction and close proximity added to the diversity of Russian lexicon
Russian – the strong and mighty language – has an estimated range of 150.000 to 500.000 words (depending on what is counted). And many of them sound challenging, some might sound “harsh” while others don’t sound like Russian at all.
Soviet Winnie the Pooh is a core childhood memory of mine
It’s never been a secret — Russian is notoriously challenging, filled with confusing conjugations and challenging slang that leaves even the most experienced learners crying, screaming and pulling their hair.
But you don’t have to jump straight into banging your head with a thick Oxford dictionary — there are multiple easy – perhaps even childish – ways to upgrade your Russian skills.
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.
Hi and привет! My name is Miriam, and I am a sophomore linguistics major.
I took Russ 111 in the fall of ’23 with Zhenya. As a recent first-year Russian student, I know what is expected and will happily help with homework, practicing conversation, or checking grammar. I look forward to working with you!
LangLabbie note: Drop by the Language Lab to see Miriam’s hours!
Hi there! My name is Nina (she/her), and I am a senior comparative literature major. Learning the Russian language has been the highlight of my Reed experience, but I understand that learning a new language can be a long and difficult process. I am available to help make that process a little easier! I am always happy to practice grammar, writing, and speaking with you. If my schedule doesn’t work for you, please shoot me an email! We can find time outside my available hours.
Привет! Меня зовут Нина (она/её), и я — студентка четвертого курса. Моя специальность — сравнительная литература. Изучение русского языка было самой яркой частью моего опыта в Риде, но я также понимаю что изучение нового языка может быть долгим и трудном процессом. Я готова помочь с трудностями процесса. Я всегда рада практиковать грамматику, письмо, и разговорную речь с вами! Если мое расписание вам не подходит, напишите мне на имейл, и мы найдём другое время встретиться.
Note from a Labbie: Nina tutors for Russian 111, 112, 120 as well as 220. So if you’re thinking about studying Russian or currently in the process – don’t miss out on practicing with Nina and learn from her vast experience!
One thing I’ve learned in my year learning Russian is that the Russian-speaking world is very much massive. With speakers of the language spanning across the entirety of the Post-Soviet Union and its allies, it’s almost impossible to find Russian language books, shows, movies, and music without finding some that are decidedly not of Russian origin. So for your consideration, dear reader, I have compiled a list of some singers and bands from outside of Russia that you can add to your Russian language playlist. Keep in mind that while none of these songs are obscene by any means, you may want to find translated lyrics before playing them in public.
For a semester project here in the language lab, I chose to investigate narrative levels and how they interact and change in stories. To do this, I attempted to replicate a project published in The Journal of Cultural Analytics, a journal focusing on the intersection of data and human action. The project aimed to understand how narrative levels work, as well as how uniformly standard definitions of them could be identified by different scholars in different places. The project lays out three main types of narrative that deviate from the main speaker, narrator, or story:
Uninterrupted narrative: this is just a narrative by itself. It has the same speaker, the same time period, and the same point of view.
Embedded narrative: A story within the original narrative. The original narrative will always signal a reason for an embedded narrative. These typically take place in dialogue, when a character is prompted to tell a story.
Interruptive narrative: a structural separate narrative in the midst of the original narrative. It is usually signaled by some sort of stopping point in the original narrative, such as a chapter end or a section break, and often changes narrator or time period. Unlike the embedded narrative, there is nothing within the original narrative that prompts an interruptive narrative.
