Learning Russian??

[sonlypuppyfat]

DD is going into year 7 in September and at the school meeting we had last week, all the yr7 parents, we were told they would be learning Russian do you think that this is an odd choice of language to learn or am I being unreasonable?

[TheWoollybacksWife]

I was taught Russian at secondary school 37 years ago. It didn't do me any harm . It is a really good language. The grammar structure is easy and words are read phonetically so even though I can't remember too much of it now (lack of practice) I can still read words as I can remember the alphabet.

[FenellaFerranti]

I did a Russian degree. It's helped me understand how languages work and it's a fascinating country to visit. If my DC were offered the chance I'd advise them to go for it!

[krazipan]

I learned Russian when I was at secondary school 20 years ago. I also learned French. I enjoyed languages though.

[OutToGetYou]

Learning any Ianguage is great, opens the mind. Maybe they just have a really good Russian teacher? I do know of kids who have done it at school. Wish I had, we host Belarusian kids and interpreters in the summer and it would be great to be able to talk to them!

[sonlypuppyfat]

Seems like I am being unreasonable then, I just thought it was an odd choice. It's even got a different alphabet hasn't it!

[ShatterResistant]

I think it's an odd choice, and I did a Russian degree! If my DCs were going to learn a language that wasn't the obvious French, I'd want it to be Chinese. The Russian economy is down the pan and won't pick up anytime soon. But the history, literature, music is amazing, so I guess that's a plus. I agree that any language is better than no language, but I'd be asking the school why they'd chosen it, certainly.

[AnnieOnnieMouse]

My mother learned Russian when she was in her 60s. She said it was a lot easier to learn than English had been in her 20s. I think it's a fantastic idea to get children used to the idea of a totally different language, with different symbols.

[DotForShort]

I admit to a strong personal bias, but I think it's a wonderful language!

Learning any language is worthwhile in its own right for many reasons. I don't think we should look at only practical reasons to justify any subject matter. For instance, most children won't become professional musicians, but they should still have the opportunity to learn music. Similarly, language learning is of positive benefit no matter the language. But having said that, given the current state of relations between Russia and the West (and the sad likelihood that these relations will worsen) Russian might be a very useful language to know in years to come.

[homeownerdream]

Russian is an amazing language, many of the sounds are similar to English, as is the tone. An added advantage is that most adults from countries in Eastern Europe understand and speak Russian, albeit not for good reasons.

[29redshoes]

I'm clearly in the minority here but I also think it's a odd choice! There's no doubt it is more difficult than the standard French or German so it's much harder to see progress in a relatively short period of time, which I think is quite demotivating. Maybe it depends on the school though, if the students are all very bright and enthusiastic it might work.

[BeardMinge]

I did a year of Russian at school 26 years ago, wish I'd kept it up, wonderful language.

[ShelaghTurner]

I would have loved to have learnt Russian at school instead of rotten dull French (sorry French people!). I taught myself some Russian in adulthood but would have been far better in school.

[ilovesooty]

I did it at school . I did study several languages though.

[Mommyneedsgin]

I went to a selective single sex school that became a specialist language college. Russian was always on the curriculum and opened up lots of opportunities for me! It's a great language to learn.

[VulcanWoman]

My son would have loved that. He's in six form now, trying to learn a bit in his spare time. When my son started secondary school they did three different languages French, Italian and Spanish I think.
If your son enjoys it and keeps it up, he might get a trip to Russia out of it!

[NoCakeLeft]

Odd would be Estonian IMO, as it's a dying language. Russian is the language that can help to understand Polish, Ukrainian and other similar languages. It's quite difficult though. Learning new alphabet is a PITA.
My native language is Russian, btw, so I know.

[JustWantHappiness]

I learned Russian and French at school and loved them both. Can't remember any of it now though but can still read the alphabet

[NoCakeLeft]

Oh yeah, pronunciation of letter Ы is hilarious, when English person first tries. My DH still can't do it properly.

[JustWantHappiness]

Some schools round here teach Cantonese as a MFL

[FruitCider]

Why is Estonian a dying language? What an odd comment to make!

[NoCakeLeft]

Because it is. It's my second language and every year there's less people learning it. Not just in other countries, in Estonia itself as well. According to quite few Estonian language historians (not sure what they're called) in less than 150 years it will be gone.

[Mrsbadger77]

Id love to know where the school is getting all the Russian teachers from. It's hard enough to recruit French and Spanish teachers.

[Rach168]

I don't think it's a particularly difficult langauge to study to GCSE level although I think the grammar is more difficult than some other languages. It can feel daunting before you start because of the different alphabet but it's not actually that difficult to learn the alphabet - I think it would be appealing to kids (of maybe just geeky ones like I was!) to learn a new alphabet, see what your name would look like in it etc

I would think Chinese is a hell of a lot more difficult - even if it might be a useful language to learn - because of all the thousands of different characters.

Is Russian the only language offered at the school?

[sonlypuppyfat]

Now I thought it was an odd choice, I thought a language that was perhaps spoke in different countries like french which would be more useful

[spanky2]

I learnt Russian at school. Got a better grade than French! It's about grades meaning point for uni?