[Phoenix]

Hello!
I was looking at the various courses involving Russian offered at TCD,Has anyone here first hand experience on how its taught at the university?
I am particularly interested in Russian and Business studies course. thank you

[Phareon]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Hello!
I was looking at the various courses involving Russian offered at TCD,Has anyone here first hand experience on how its taught at the university?
I am particularly interested in Russian and Business studies course. thank you

Hi, Aquila.

While I don't have first hand experience of Russian at Trinity, I do have 3 friends who study it. One does it along with History, while the other two are Business. As far as I know, the Russian/Business class is generally small, I think there are 4 people in total in first year this year. Also, since Russian is a rather small choice, a lot of the TSM, Business, European Studies, Law etc. combinations have certain classes together, ie all the grammar modules, culture modules and others are taken by every Russian student. It might be that every class is taken together by every student, but I think the different combinations don't allow for this.
I've heard nothing but nice things about the Area Studies lecturer, I think her name is Connie, she's apparently some crazy Slavic woman, but she seems fine.

I know what I've said isn't quite easy to understand, since I don't honestly know firsthand what I'm talking about. I'll try and see if I can get one of my Russian/Business friends to explain some stuff to you. Hope I was some help at least!

[polka dot]

I am here! (Me being one of the previously mentioned Business Studies and Russian friends of Phareon. Hello.)

Firstly, yes, Business Studies and Russian is always going to be a small group. I think the limit is 7 per year but I'd be surprised if there was much competition for it. There are 4 in my course just finished first year.

In first year you will never be in a class with just the BSL (Business and a Language) Russian guys, you'll always be with TSM Russian, European Studies Russian, I think BESS have the option of doing a Russian module, same with sociology. Tops, in the Russian department this year there was abouuuut... 22? I may be overestimating and counting in the Polish group. You would do Central and Eastern European and Russian Area Studies (it can seem boring at times, but the lecturer is great) with people doing Polish.

If you did BSL you would have the option of doing Russian Cultural Studies, Law, Political Science or (... I don't remember the last option but I suspect it's Sociology). I picked Cultural Studies. IT IS GREAT. I highly recommend it. Class of about 8, completely continuous assessment, very friendly lecturer and the topics are so much fun. You'll basically pick the topics as a class throughout the year, depending on what interests you. Very broad.

On top of that (phew!) you'll obviously do Russian classes (if you're a beginner, intermediate, or fluent... they're different classes.) Then you'll go to an oral language class. All of the people in the Russian department are lovely so if you ever need a hand it's absolutely no problem

On the business side of things, (blah) you'll do Maths and Stats (this isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be, it is passable even if you're bad at maths. Like me. Lots of opportunity to gain marks throughout the year), Economic Policy, and Organisation and Management. Pretty big classes especially compared to Russian!

Roughly you'll have about 20 hours a week anyway. Workload is grand if you keep on top of it. Do not leave the Russian work until the day before it is due in because I have tried that and it really never ends well. Very tiring.

Uhhh I'm not sure what else to say! You can DM me if you have any other questions. My internet's awful at the moment so I apologise for a lot of information, I have no idea when it is going to work again.

[phoenix0250]

A lot of the things I wanted to say, Polka dot already mentioned haha.

I just came back from my year abroad in St. Petersburg (Graduate School of Management...the place you are mandated to go) and going into 4th year.

All that Polka dot has mentioned was the first year stuff, second year you learn more applicable things in business and especially Russian (Area Studies for example is focused not just on history as in first year, but on customs, way of life, how russians act, what offends them, what should you do when visiting etc.)
The year abroad is one hell of an experience, believe me!

Yes, the Russian classes are small, but your are always with BESS and BSL groups for business so it really doesnt matter, as you will meet a plethora of fantastic people one way or another (if this is one of your concerns)
Honestly, choosing this course was one of my best decisions!
Be warned though, you need to be good at languages as Russian lets face it, aint the easiest

If you have any specific questions just pm me

Alex.

[Phoenix]

How did you both cope with the work loads from your courses?generally how many hours a week are the classes?

[polka dot]

Originally Posted by Aquila

How did you both cope with the work loads from your courses?generally how many hours a week are the classes?

There's really not that much work for business. Weekly exercises for maths and stats and maybe some preparation for tutorials. There was a weekly quiz for maths and stats also that lasted an hour. [Edit: By 'not that much work' I mean there was usually an assignment or essay each term, and then preparation for tutorials.]

Personally I thought there was a lot of Russian language work but I did tend to leave it all a bit late so maybe that was just me. Still manageable if you keep on top of it. Not fun to manage when you do not keep on top of it. Usually just exercises to hand up weekly as well.

The other Russian modules didn't really have much regular work (area studies has a 'quiz' every two weeks...).

I had about 20/21 hours in each term. Seemed like most of it was Russian.

[Phoenix]

What kind of careers do graduates tend to gravitate to on completion?has anyone in your class thought of continuing on with a masters?

[Complicated Simplicity]

Have question aswell.
Im really considering to do this course as it is on top of my cao list. i like russian language in general but i have problems with my grammar ..
Russian alphabet is absolute disaster for me , i kinda know letters but im really unsure about writing skills as i dont have them.
So im interested is there some extra classes or just general classes provided by this course where you could practice more on russian -spelling/grammar ?

[DanDan6592]

Originally Posted by Complicated Simplicity

Have question aswell.
Im really considering to do this course as it is on top of my cao list. i like russian language in general but i have problems with my grammar ..
Russian alphabet is absolute disaster for me , i kinda know letters but im really unsure about writing skills as i dont have them.
So im interested is there some extra classes or just general classes provided by this course where you could practice more on russian -spelling/grammar ?

Hey, I used to do BSL with Russian ( I left however). If you have experience with the Russian language you will go into an intermediate class. If not you will go into a beginners class (like I did). My lecturer was Sarah Smith and she was excellent (as are all the Russian department). In my experience it was probably the nicest department in the college and was relatively laid back. All the lecturers were very good.

The only thing I disliked was area studies in first year as it was really boring but it was a lot more interesting in 2nd semester.

[Complicated Simplicity]

Originally Posted by DanDan6592

Hey, I used to do BSL with Russian ( I left however). If you have experience with the Russian language you will go into an intermediate class. If not you will go into a beginners class (like I did). My lecturer was Sarah Smith and she was excellent (as are all the Russian department). In my experience it was probably the nicest department in the college and was relatively laid back. All the lecturers were very good.

The only thing I disliked was area studies in first year as it was really boring but it was a lot more interesting in 2nd semester.

Oh Okey thanks '; ]

[Cardozo]

i'm really considering business with russian next year what are the career prospects like? i really dont want a full time "desk job". And is there much craic in trinity?

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Cardozo

i'm really considering business with russian next year what are the career prospects like? i really dont want a full time "desk job". And is there much craic in trinity?

slight bump,any of the Russian BSL students still posting?generally what do graduates of this study as a masters?