Russian: a minority language?

It might sound ridiculous, taking into account the vast territory belonging to Russia and the approximate number of 170,000,000 speakers around the world , but Russian is a minority language in several countries including the country where I come from- Latvia (Www2.ignatius.edu, 2015). As described in my first post, the language problem in Latvia is a very big issue which creates a lot of strikes and nationalistic struggles and the media is one of the major platforms where these issues have been initiated… Continue reading Russian: a minority language?

BLOG ASSIGNMENT 2: MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH ENGLISH MEDIUM INSTRUCTION

Hello to you! How is your day going so far?! How are your thoughts about English as a medium instruction? Want to know mine? Come check it out!

Continue reading BLOG ASSIGNMENT 2: MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH ENGLISH MEDIUM INSTRUCTION

From Russia to Germany. From England to the Netherlands.

The tongues I speak…

Hi my name is Ilja, I was born in St. Petersburg, grew up in Germany, spent a year in England, currently study in Maastricht and lived half a year in Turkey during my Ersamus. I already came into contact with many different cultures and their languages and do not intend to stop anytime soon.

Russian to GermanWhen I was little me and my parents lived in an area in Hanover (Germany) with a higher amount of immigrants. Therefore, I had a couple of other Russian speaking friends which I saw practically everyday at the local playground. Our families became friends and thus an environment was created for all of us to learn and practice our mother tongue in a foreign country. In kindergarden and primary school I simultaneously learned the German language and German values that were communicated advancing in this language much faster then my parents did. When I entered high school we were already living in another area of the town and the new friends I made were more or less all German. Speaking Russian was now bound to the setting at home and even conversations with my Russian peers were held in German as this language simply occupied more of our personal life. Now that I moved out and do not even have Russian conversations on a regular basis I myself observe the demise of my Russian vocabulary and even an accent that is continously getting worse to my pitty.

Collecting languages and cultural impressions around the world…

The year after my graduation I spent in London doing an European Voluntary Service (EVS). There I was working at the West London YMCA, which is a on-profit organisation that offers social housing to homeless young people. During that time I could practice my English language skills as I spoke English everydBritish-flag-hand_smallay in my workplace and with my very British host family. I realised for the first time how different cultures can be expressed through their languages. As opposed to the Germans I found that people in England were much more indirect. If somebody wants something from you it is almost never asked in a direct way, almost hidden. Therefore, you have to be accustomed to identify what your conversation partner really wants from you. Confrontations, how I found them, were also tried to be avoided.

All in all I can say that knowing 3 languages and a bit of French only brought advantages to me. Even the bits of Turish I learned during my stay in Ankara are already a good tool to start communication with Turkish people. At the last exebition for example where I worked as a barkeeper, I could make use of some Turkish words making myself very prominent amongst the Turkish visitors, which then were returning more often. From this couse I expect to learn more abut the impact of language on the different cultures and how these define themselves over their languages. I want to explore the history of certain languages and understand in what way these have changed overtime.

 

Они и мы (We and they)

There are many opinions about the powerfulness of the Russian language: some say that it is the language of love (maybe you have read the love poems by Pushkin for instance), whereas some say that it is the language of harshness and thread. I believe in the former, although there is a lot of anger coming from the Latvians against the Russian language or the Russian people, I consider knowing the Russian language as a great advantage. Not only I have several great Russian friends, but I also admire their culture and the fact that I can, when speaking the language, feel like ‘them’.

Continue reading Они и мы (We and they)