Our Program It is fast becoming apparent that the United States and Russia are likely to develop an unprecedentedly intense relationship. To deal with Russia intelligently, the United States needs a growing pool of people capable of communicating with Russians in their own language. The current situation, where almost no American can conduct business in Russian, is increasingly unacceptable. It is an obstacle to meaningful U.S.-Russian interaction, and it puts Americans engaged in various activities with Russians at a disadvantage compared to their Russian counterparts. The Russian Program at SAIS features a professionally oriented program for graduate students of Russian anf Eurasian international and domestic politics, socio-economics, and national security at four level of instruction: Beginning, Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2 and Advanced. The program was created especially for future generalists and practitioners engaged in international relations, foreign trade, energy issues and social development in the former republics of the Soviet Union. It is aimed at the development of three basic types of skills: reading, speaking, and listening. Beginning Russian - course 909.101-909.102 - introduces basic Russian grammar, survival need vocabulary; and introduces elements of reading newspapers.
Intermediate 1 - course 909.201-909.202 - strengthens the grammar on the basis of political vocabulary and introduces elements of speaking, listening, and reading of different political/economic/security issues found in the news.
Intermediate 2 - course 909.203-909.204 - reviews the grammar and expands the required specialized vocabulary. Speaking, listening and reading develop in length and substance with elements of paragraphed speech.
At the Advanced level - course 909.301 - which is offered at the post-proficiency level, students focus on mechanisms of paragraphed speech, listening and reading involve longer articles based on supported opinion and hypotheses. Instruction in formal grammar is minimal.
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