Russian isn’t as hard as you think. In a standard college course you will master the alphabet in just one week. (In fact, try a quick reading lesson.) Russian is an Indo-European language. The first 30 Russian words you learn won't even require a dictionary to understand, they will be so close to their English counterparts.
Russian is big. Russian is one of the five official languages of the United Nations. It is spoken by more people in the world than any other language except English, Mandarin, Hindi and Spanish.
Russian is beautiful. Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Malevich, Bulgakov, Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova...
Russian is everywhere. Russian is still the lingua franca of the former Soviet republics, an indispensable tool for communication in areas of immense strategic importance—the Caucasus and Central Asia. A quarter of the world's scientific literature is published in Russian. It is an increasingly important language for business and trade as Russian institutions integrate with their American and European counterparts. Thousands of Russians travel to the United States for business and pleasure each year. Hundreds of Russian émigrés have settled in Richmond, Virginia. You will meet native Russian speakers in the grocery store, in alternative rock bands and on our campus. And when you graduate with Russian on your resume, you’ll have an edge over other job applicants.
Russia is a trip. A trip to Russia will change your life. You will see yourself and the world in a new way. Studying Russian language and culture will give you the kind of cross-cultural, interpretive skills that are crucial to success in any professional endeavor.
