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Let's Learn to Speak Russian

Let's Learn to Speak Russian

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A growing number of HSE University’s international students are actively learning Russian, even if their degree programme is taught entirely in English. To help them build fluency, the HSE University Preparatory Programme launched a Russian Speaking Club for its students in March 2021. Now, all HSE University's students, regardless of the programme they are in, can take part in the meetings.

Members of the Russian Speaking Club meet online to discuss interesting issues, practice the Russian language, learn new vocabulary and get the hang of spoken phrases. Meetings are held once a month in Russian, and are divided into groups for A1, A2 and B1 and above. Anyone interested is welcome to attend.


Zhanna Nikitushkina, Visiting Lecturer at the HSE School of Linguistics; host of the Russian Speaking Club

We focus on three goals. The first is to give international students the opportunity to practice Russian. The second is to give them more knowledge about Russian culture. The third is to help them find friends. Some of the club’s members can't come to Russia at the moment, but some of them are already here. When you come to a new country, it can be difficult to find friends at first. We hope that our speaking club can help.

We discuss various topics at the club: holidays, student life, love, women and men, humour, and travel. Other teachers also work with me at the club: Anastasia Zinchenko, Polina Veselova, Marina Mikhalchenko and Ekaterina Kornakova.

Students currently living in different countries take part in our speaking club. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage of online meetings. On the one hand, it’s an amazing experience when people from different parts of the world meet. On the other hand, different time zones can make it difficult to choose a time that suits everyone.

We welcome anyone who can join us, despite all the difficulties. You can join our club at any time


Vijin Rajan (India), Master’s in Applied Social Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences at HSE Moscow

Currently, I am in India and hoping to join offline classes in Moscow soon. I joined the club on 10th November and I see it as an opportunity to learn more Russian. I chose Russia for higher studies because of my interest in the Russian language and culture. So the most useful part of the club is that I am getting an opportunity to have conversations with native Russian speakers and other members of the club. So far, I’ve been to one meeting. I have tried out my basic Russian speaking skills, and this way of interacting seems really helpful as I’m not in Russia right now. I’m looking forward to learning and experiencing more. 

I learned words and expressions such as ‘День народного единства’, ‘единство’, ‘встреча’, ‘численность населения,’ and more.


Ben Alexander (Scotland, United Kingdom), Master’s in Business and Politics in Modern Asia at HSE University Saint Petersburg

I am currently doing my exchange semester abroad at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey. I will hopefully be returning to Saint Petersburg next February. 

The most useful part of the Russian speaking club was the chance to have a conversation in Russian—not just learning about Russian culture, but being able to articulate things from my own culture in Russian and listen to others do the same. So, for me, I really enjoyed the speaking and listening to others. 

I joined the club on November 13th. In that session, we learned about Russian holidays and some facts about the country. I already knew these facts, but I was able to learn some new vocabulary, which I liked.

My plan for studying Russian in the future is to either take classes at HSE or find a private tutor, as I would like to further develop all aspects of my Russian language skills, especially listening and speaking.

Follow Prep Year on Instagram not to miss Russian Speaking Club announcements

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