RUSS10001: Russian 1

5 written assignments (roughly 6-10 pages depending on the chapter), one per fortnight. Assignments are a hurdle.

General:
This subject is highly underrated, particularly as breadth. From what I understand, it is far less overwhelming than other languages at the uni. If you are interested in learning the Russian language (and strictly the Russian language), look no further. By the end of first semester you will have the basic skills to take on further independent learning of the Russian language, or you will fall in love with the language and continue on. Contrary to the previous reviewer, I believe it is necessary for you to have some language learning experience prior to this subject because the grammar lectures routinely contain linguistic terminology which might be inaccessible to first time learners.

I must admit I felt like the subject was a bit disorganised to begin with due to the structure of the textbook. The topics covered in the textbook (which the class follows very closely) are varied and range in difficulty. Perhaps the most difficult thing for you to grasp will be the different situations and constructs which make use of 'cases' (not if you've done German or Latin though). There is only a moderate amount of vocabulary– by no means will you be overwhelmed.

The textbook has many flaws which you will learn of in the first semester – primarily that it jumps between topics randomly and never gives you a complete grammar table under the guise of 'introducing concepts slowly' (i.e. not informing you that the neuter gender exists until well into the first few chapters, and ALWAYS waiting to give you the plural endings to things after you've finished everything else and moved on).

You get used to this though, at least I have now (at the end of S2), and you learn to write your own grammar notes which come in handy in exam time.

Assignments:
The assignments are a bit of a time sink - I am not the brightest crayon in the box, and it took me 2 - 4 hours to complete each depending on the length. They are take home and open book. They are marked generously, but due to their rather large weighting (50% combined) they could bring your mark down significantly if you perform averagely in 2 or 3 of them. I highly doubt the assignments will cause you any pain, just make sure you pay attention to the small details.

Note:
I recommend that you take BOTH Russian 1 and Russian 2 as a block, and don't consider them single subjects. You really on scratch the tip of the iceberg in semester 1.
PS: Google translate is *often* wrong, so I recommend you stick to what you know in the first semester.

No

Robert Lagerberg and Larissa Andreeva

No, but they do give you a “mock” exam which is virtually identical to the real thing.

4 Out of 5

Buy the textbook Тройка: A Communicative Approach to Russian Language, Life and Culture by Marita Nummikoski! I bought the digital version – don't make the same mistake I did.
See why:

2 x 2h Seminars

Seminars are like a tutorial cross lecture format:
1 x 2h grammar class
1 x 2h culture / conversation / verbal class

There is a 75% attendance minimum.

2016 (S1)

Would rather not disclose

10 weekly assignments commencing 2 weeks in comprising 50% (5% each), and an end of semester 2 hour examination worth 50%

It's hard to make up my mind about this subject. The way the subject was taught was fundamentally flawed. As grammar comprises such a large part of Russian, they obviously had to only introduce to us sentences with the accompanying grammar studies. At the end of Russian 1, we still can't say or understand anything in the future tense. That, on it's own, is ok, because Russian is an incredibly complex language. However, considering that such an effort was put into teaching us correct grammar for the sentences that we DO know how to construct, it is absurd that they just taught us disconnected "chunks" of grammar without clearly linking them together.

Without a knowledge of "cases" which are a fundamental component of many languages (not English, however), then it might be hard to understand what I'm about to say. The lecturers taught us the individual cases we were expected to know without contextualising them. In a bizzare turn of events, all the students could speak, read, and interpret most of what was expected, but without understanding how any of it fundamentally worked. The best way I can describe it was that it was taught halfway between wrote-learning sentences, and learning how to construct the sentences.

The high achievers in this subject would have already studied other languages and understood what wasn't explained grammar-wise, or like myself would have anguished themselves actually looking it up and connecting the dots between what was and wasn't explained. Now that I actually KNOW what they were trying to teach because I figured it out using the net, I can appreciate how well the subject is constructed. It's just that there was a massive disparity in the majority of the students collectively misunderstanding how the grammar worked and saying things certain ways "just because", and the logical way that they attempted to teach the subject

However, the native speaker made coming to class worthwhile. She's FOB as all hell, and she embraces it and clowns around makes everyone laugh. My lecturer had some major pedagogy issues too; he couldn't use a whiteboard in any coherent form and he didn't explain things sequentially.

Do this subject if you want to learn Russian and you can afford some time to decrypt the way this subject is taught. What they're trying to teach is fantastic - it is really a great way to learn such a complicated language. They just fall a few miles short of it.
PS No matter how bad you are at learning languages, this subject is a guaranteed pass for anyone because the assignments are piss-easy and make up 50% of the mark. You don't even need to sit the exam (which is also very easy) to get a pass. I always thought languages were hard until I bothered myself with learning this one.

No

Dr. Robert Largerberg, Ms Larisa Andreeva, and Dr Jonathan Clarke

No sample exam, just the assignments and a revision sheet. Nonetheless, it was more than sufficient.

4 out of 5

Ruslan 1 Textbook and Workbook at compulsory, but I got by just fine without them. You can get more off the net in an easier to understand format than these cruddy books. Don't buy them, it's a massive waste of cash.

Semester 1 2012

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