Русский?!
Why Russian?!

There are almost 120 ethnic groups in the U.S., seven of which—Mexican, Russian, Chinese, Indian, Philippine, Vietnamese, and Cuban—account for more than 55% of the total ethnicities. Did you know that, according to recent census data, there are almost 15,000 Russian speakers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area? This number continues to grow! Texas now has two Russian language newspapers, Russian Dallas and the Houston-based Our Texas, which claims to serve an estimated readership of 90,000!

In fact, on a national scale, of the 20 non-English languages spoken most widely at home, the largest proportional increase in the last 10 years was Russian. The U.S. Russian-speaking population surged 254 percent from 1990 to 1998, currently totaling over 4 million Russian-speakers in the U.S.! These numbers translate into increased employment opportunities here and abroad for Americans with a knowledge of Russian. Additionally, there are large numbers of job applicants who have studied Spanish or French or German, but very few who have studied Russian (which has an exaggerated air of difficulty about it), so it stands out on a transcript or resume. (Russian is still taught at most major universities across the country... Click here to see a list of them compiled by U.S. News & World Report magazine.)

Russia is the largest country in the world, offering a potentially huge market and a knowledge of Russian is valuable for those working in international diplomacy, trade, environmental issues, and many other fields. Because fewer Americans speak Russian than other European languages, those who do have a competitive edge on the job market. And, since the end of the Cold War, the number of people studying Russian has declined, meaning less competition in the job market for those who do study it, especially as the Russian economy continues to improve over time.

Here at home, the growth of Russian-speakers is not going to slow anytime soon; there will be continue to be new opportunities for Americans who speak Russian. From social services to private industry, Russian will remain a language necessary to reach an already large and growing community with the same needs of every other American. Advertisers already know this. So do we here at Mansfield High School...

So. What are you waiting for? Go talk to your counselor and get into a Russian class-- you won't regret it!

The Russian Language

A Russian Primer

Top Ten Reasons
for learning Russian at MHS!

Interesting Links

The Story of Eric
A short, entertaining story to give you a taste of Russian!

View/print a map of Russia

Prompt Online Translator
ENGLISH>RUSSIAN, RUSSIAN>ENGLISH

Latest news from Russia
in Russian and English!

Mr. Holschuh visited Russia in the summer of 2004. Here are some pictures.

Mr. Holschuh and the first MHS Russian class in 2004

• to provide the students with a working vocabulary of about 500 words (adequate for the presentation of the grammar), not including the many western cognates now a part of contemporary Russian;
• student participation in practical conversations taken from ordinary situations of daily life;
• student mastery of the writing system as quickly as possible (including how to type on a phonetic Russian keyboard);
• to give the students the confidence and ability to continue with Russian (reading, in particular) after course completion;
• and to provide the students with an overview of Russian history, culture, and geography.

Russian has a standardized print alphabet of 33 letters, or 32 if you don't count 'yo' (ё) as a separate character. This alphabet closely resembles the Greek one, with some additions and changes of sound value. There is also a script alphabet, which is not standardized. Several letters in script can be written in two or three different ways, often by the same person. This is also Greek-based, but not so clearly. The letters of the Russian alphabet don't have names like their Greek counterparts; they are named for how they sound in a word, with the exception of two letters that have no sound of their own. These are known as hard sign and soft sign. The former is now used only for the sake of spelling the words correctly, having no real value, while the latter functions like a silent 'e', and can fall anywhere in a word. The Russian alphabet is known as Cyrillic, and is traditionally said to have been designed by Saint Cyril.

Grammar

Russian is a highly structured language. It has 6 cases (as opposed to 3 in English), which are as follows:

Nominative indicates the subject:
"John buys the newspaper."

Genitive indicates possession:
"John's newspaper is cheap."

Dative indicates the indirect object:
"John writes to the newspaper."

Accusative indicates the direct object:
"John buys the newspaper."

Instrumental has the sense of 'with' or 'by means of':
"John swats a fly with the newspaper."

Prepositional indicates location or topic of conversation and
is governed by the prepositions 'in', 'on', 'about', and 'in the presence of':
"John talks about the newspaper."

Russian also has three genders of noun (masculine, feminine, and neuter). Each gender has several different types, which are declined slightly differently. The adjective must agree with the noun, so it has to be declined, too, along with the pronoun.

The verb has an imperfective and a perfective aspect, the difference being whether you are initiating an action or describing it in general ("I want to drink coffee."), or completing it ("I want to drink my entire cup of coffee."). It sounds a bit sloppy in English, but it works in Russian. The transitions from imperfective to perfective vary among the verbs; some change aspect by gaining a prefix, like the verb "to read." In this example, chitat becomes prochitat. In other verbs, such as "to go/walk," the root or suffix changes, in this example from hodit to idti. There are six conjugations for each type in the future tense. The same goes for the present imperfective - you can't have a present perfective. There are two classes, which are conjugated differently. Past and conditional tenses are arranged somewhat more simply.

Another thing to be noted about Russian verbs is that "to be" is seldom used in the present tense, and hardly ever in conversation. That is why you will often hear a native Russian speaker who is learning English say things like "I mechanic." Because everything is laid out so carefully through declined noun and adjective and thoroughly conjugated verb, Russian does not feel the need for articles (a, an, the). "I mechanic" is a complete sentence.

Learning Issues

Due mainly to its radically different alphabet and complex grammatical structure, English speakers may not always find Russian easy to learn. It can also be difficult to distinguish between three different soft "i" sounds, and to master the gently rolling "r." Syllables are combined in ways unheard of in English, as in vsyeobshchee ("universal"). However, it is well worth the effort. It's a beautiful language.

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The Top 10 Reasons For learning Russian at MHS!

10. Learn how to correctly pronounce babushka.
9 . Russian is unique. Everyone studies Spanish or French.
8. You’ll be able to impress your friends by writing their names in another alphabet.
7. Russian is the perfect gateway to other Slavic languages, such as Bulgarian, Czech, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, and Ukrainian.
6. Learning Russian will help you better understand English grammar; you'll finally learn when to use "whom" and "who"!
5. Russian will look good on your transcript and your resume! (It will tell prospective colleges and employers that you are smart and adventurous!)
4. Backwards Rs -- enough said!
3. There are growing job opportunities in the Russian market.
2. When people wish you luck, it's customary to respond with "Go to h***!" (Similar in some ways to telling an actor "to break a leg.")
1. Everyone thinks it’s so hard, but it’s really much easier than it looks! (And, besides, Mr. Holschuh teaches it!)

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INTERESTING LINKS

Colleges & Universities that offer Russian

"Taste of Europe" store in south Arlington

U. of Texas at Arlington Russian Dept.

Texas Tech Russian Dept.

"Our Texas" (Russian) newspaper published in Houston

RusUSA.com

Russian Spelling Reforms

Online Russian>English, English>Russian Translator

WorldLanguages.com

Hourly Changing Webcam Views From Moscow
Red Square, St. Basil Cathedral,
Hotel Rossiya, Rossiya Concert Hall,
St. Anna Cathedral, and
the Zaryadie movie theater

Current Weather in Moscow

Current Weather in St. Petersburg

Эрик Кац was born in Даллас in the штат of Техас, but after high школа, he became a студент in a small колледж in Нью-Йорк. His main интерес was Russian area studies, and he was fascinated by everything having to do with Россия: as a freshman, he signed up for курсы in русская литература, история, политология, география, философия, музыка, and культура. He read all the Russian классики: Пушкин, Достоевский, Толстой, and Чехов. Эрик also took courses in русский язык. To practice his русский язык, Эрик visited all sorts of русские вебсайты on the Интернет. There he read русские журналы and газеты, listened to русское радио and watched русское телевидение. He also rented lots of русские видеофильмы.

Эрик was especially interested in русская история, from the time of the all-powerful цари, like Пётр I through the период of коммунизм under Soviet rulers such as Ленин, Сталин, Хрущёв, and Брежнев to those under whom Россия moved towards the West: Горбачёв, Ельцин, and Путин.

In his senior year, Эрик traveled to Россия and spent the семестр in Москва, Санкт-Петербург, Волгоград, and Воронеж. After the spring семестр ended in май, Эрик left Россия and spent all summer - all июнь, июль, and август traveling around Центральная Азия. In countries as remote as Казахстан, Узбекистан, Таджикистан, and even far-off Кыргызстан, Эрик found that he could communicate with just about everyone using his русский язык.

Before leaving Россия, Эрик invited his new friend Анна to visit him in Америка. Эрик wanted Анна to see Даллас, where his мама, папа, and сестра lived. And of course, Анна wanted to travel all around the США: from Бостон to Вашингтон, from Чикаго to Атланта and Майами, and then on to Хьюстон, Лос-Анджелес, Сан-Франциско, and Сиэтл.

After returning to Америка, and after Анна came to visit, Эрик finished his studies and considered a future карьера, perhaps as a журналист or a профессор or as a бизнес-консультант for firms dealing with Россия and Центральная Азия. With his solid knowledge of русский язык and русская культура, Эрик knew that he would find many opportunities.

Thanks to the George Washington University German & Slavic Dept. Story used by permission.

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Check out the latest news in Russian or English!

• Голос Америки (Rus)
• Газета.ru (Rus)
• RussiaNews.net (Eng)
• Moscow Times (Eng)
• St. Petersburg Times (Eng)

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ABOUT MR. HOLSCHUH... Mr. Holschuh joined Mansfield High School as an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher in the 2001-02 school year and currently teaches English 3 in addition to Russian. He grew up in Grand Prairie (not too far from Mansfield), enlisted in the U.S. Navy upon graduation from South Grand Prairie High School in 1980, and completed 20 years as a military linguist and Russian language instructor in January, 2001. Mr. Holschuh is a member of the American Council of Teachers of Russian, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, and the Central Association of Russian Teachers of America. He began teaching Russian for the U.S. government in 1991 and has 68 upper and lower level hours of Russian in his bachelor's degree, earned in 1993 from the University of the State of New York. Mr. Holschuh was awarded a Fulbright-Hays educator grant and spent 6 weeks studying advanced Russian and teaching methodologies at Moscow State University in the summer of 2004. In the summer of 2005, Mr. Holschuh spent 4 weeks in Minnesota teaching credit Russian to high school students in a near-immersion camp environment through Concordia Language Villages (sponsored by Concordia College in Moorhead, MN).

Most of Mr. Holschuh's Russian training came through attending the accelerated Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced Russian Language Courses at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, as well as a summer semester of immersion instruction at Norwich University in Northfield, VT. His military Russian studies have included: Russian history, literature, culture, economics, politics, and geography. Mr. Holschuh tries to maintain his language proficiency through correspondence and conversations with native speakers (here and in Russia via the Internet), television and radio broadcasts, and as a free-lance translator through the Metroplex Interpreters and Translators Association.

You can email Mr. Holschuh at holsed@mansfieldisd.org.