Russian Language Section

The Russian program at Lewis & Clark College offers a Russian minor and coursework for the Foreign Languages major, in which Russian can be a primary or secondary language. We teach Russian language courses from the beginning to advanced level, as well as courses in translation on Russian literature and culture. Students are encouraged to study abroad in Saint Petersburg (one of the most western cities in Russia) or Vladivostok (the Russian Far East). Both sites offer the Language Intensive Program for which two years of Russian language study is the prerequisite. In addition, the Saint Petersburg Overseas Program offers the Russian Area Program for which one year of college Russian is required.

Why study Russian? Because it is the language of a great nation that has made significant contributions to world culture in literature, theatre, music, cinema and the visual arts, as well as in the sciences. It is the language of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, Chekhov and Tchaikovsky, Kandinsky and Eisenstein. Russian is also important in the geopolitical sense, not only because it is spoken by some 150 million citizens of the Russian Federation and declared one of the five official languages of the UN, but also because it is the lingua franca in most republics of the former Soviet Union and much of Eastern Europe. Russian is also on the US government's list of "strategic" languages, due to a shortage of US specialists in this language and geographic area. With a strong grounding in Russian, our graduates go on to work in government, law, international relations, business, teaching and journalism.

L&C Catalog: Russian