First-Year Russian Courses
Enroll in Russian Language and Culture Classes!
Добрó пожáловать на курсы рýсского языкá!
- The WLC Department is now offering Russian Language and Culture courses.
- Russian I is offered in Fall, Russian II in Winter, Russian III in Spring (currently under WLC 290; in Academic Year 2023-24, WLC 101-102-103).
- Upon successful completion of the first-year Russian courses, students will:
- Develop their beginning proficiency equivalent to A1/A2 (CEFR) in listening, speaking, reading and writing through the study of Russian texts, songs, cartoons, films and popular culture.
- Gain cultural understanding of a region which has nearly 200 different ethnic groups and nationalities.
- Explore Russia’s current crisis and complex history which has made major contributions to world culture across literature, visual art, music, theater, film, the sciences, philosophy and other areas.
- For questions, please contact: Dr. Angelica Browne: anbrowne@calpoly.edu
- For Further Study of Russian: apply for a Department of State Critical Language scholarship in Russian or participate in a Russian Language and Area Studies Program (RLASP) offered by American Councils for International Education.
Dr. Angelica Browne's First-Year Russian Student Projects
Russian Student Animation: Inspired by Russian Animation
Computer Science Major and Russian Language and Culture student, Savannah Bosley, composed a final creative project titled "An Animation inspired by 'Toska'," a Russian Concept that Encompasses an Innate Melancholy, Longing, Despair and a Sense of Incompleteness" as shown bellow!
"During this quarter, I became fascinated by the rich history of Russian animation, particularly the exquisite works of Andrei Khrjanovsky's captivating visuals and Yuri Norstein's masterpiece, "The Hedgehog in the Fog." While meeting with my exchange partners from MISiS, including Veronica (WLC 290), Sergei, and Kirill (WLC 310), we quickly bonded over our shared love of Russian and American cartoons. As part of my final creative project, I was inspired to create my own animation after drawing inspiration from Week 1 of WLC310, where we explored Russian words that are difficult to translate. I decided to focus on the word "Toska," which captivated my interest due to its emotional depth and cultural significance. Throughout the quarter, I collaborated closely with my Russian exchange partners, particularly Veronica, who helped me to better understand the nuances and context of Toska. She took inspiration from our discussion, and continued to research foreigner interpretations of Toska into a research study that won first place at MISiS and will be turned into a larger study! Her personal experience with the word inspired me to seek narratives. In my final animation, Sergei generously shares his own story of Toska, which is backed by Kirill's original acoustic song that conveys his own interpretation."
- Savannah Bosley
San Luis Obispo News: Parody [Пародия на новости Сан-Луис-Обиспо]
"Breaking New is San Luis Obispo! For our Russian I final project, we practice our quarter's vocabulary in a creative news reel. We discuss today's погода (weather), the upcoming выборы президента (presidential election), and the creation of Cal Poly's new курс русского язика (Russian course). And with the help of our whole class, we include some advertisements and a местный скандал (local scandal)! "
-Anna, Sanjay, Savannah and Stefany