Breaking the Language Barrier
Before beginning my Dialogue of Civilization program in Russia, I had taken three semesters of Russian courses at Northeastern and independently studied during co-op and vacations. As such, I anticipated having very few issues when talking to servers at restaurants or to my host mother. Despite my intense studying and confidence, I quickly discovered that this was not the case. As you make expect, Russian is not an easy language to learn, especially as a native English speaker. The four other students in my Dialogue group came to this program without any Russian skills, so I have been deemed the group translator since day one. After the first three weeks of my trip, I am confident that I can order my own food and drinks at a restaurant… as long as they don’t follow up with questions about size, additions, specials, etc.
When studying Russian at Northeastern University, my teacher spent a large amount of time on grammar, as it is arguably the most crucial aspect of the language. In order to comprehend what another is saying, Russian speakers don’t rely on syntax, but rather look at the conjugation of a word. While I have few issues in a class setting and reading Russian, speaking it has been quite a struggle. During the second week, I had to explain to a waitress that my classmate wanted a hamburger without cucumber (yes, that is normal in Russia) and tomatoes. It took about 5 minutes to explain this to her, only to find cucumber and tomato on the burger. Even as the “group translator,” I often find myself lost in translation.
As I am wrapping up the Moscow portion of my DOC program, I have become much more confident in my comprehension skills and vocabulary. We have two more weeks left and I believe that my Russian will improve vastly by the time I return to the United States. Although it was taught in Elementary Russian, the word “Хорошо” (pronounced “Hah-rah-sho”) has become my favorite word. It is a great word to use and applies to many things. It can be used as “good” when referring to the quality of something, or simply “ok” to let someone know you understood and agree with what they said. I look forward to gaining more Russian “survival terms” to teach my classmates and friends at Northeastern!
