A former UCLA undergraduate who majored in Russian Language and Literature and then lived for several years in Moscow, writes:
My knowledge of Russian was crucial for my success at every job (and in some cases being chosen over other candidates) I held while living there. I often acted as a liaison between foreign employees, who had limited knowledge of Russian, and Russian colleagues who lacked fluency in English. I also found myself often conducting impromptu translations. By being fluent in Russian, I was able to interact more freely with my Russian colleagues and thus conduct my business and tasks more efficiently. Outside of work, I found it much easier to get things done and make friends than if I had not previously studied the language and culture. I was able to make close friendships with wonderful people who I otherwise would never have known. I feel that, having studied Russian at UCLAž, new horizons were opened to me that I never before imagined existed. Without a doubt, my life and future prospects changed immensely as a result, and much for the better.
George Sullivan, Class of 1996
A recent UCLA graduate with a major in Geophysics writes:
"When oil and oil service companies come to recruit, they all are very intrigued that I have Russian language skills. Every company has made me an offer of one form or another and I feel it is not necessarily my research, school I attend, etc., it is my Russian language skills."
Ernie Hull, Class of 1995
From Megan Miller, B.A. 1999:
I grew up with many Russians, Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Romanians, and Greeks whom my mother had met in college as a Slavic Studies major, and I was fascinated by the sounds of their languages. When I was 14, I had an opportunity to study ballet and folk dance in Russia, but my parents thought I was too young for such a radical change in my life. Disappointed with my loss of a chance of a lifetime, I vowed to get to Russia another way. I started Russian my very first quarter at UCLA, and it took me on a journey to Moscow that I will never forget. I learned street Russian, studied with a premier folk and modern dance company, visited Petersburg three times, and learned to drive "porusskii," still I berate myself for the opportunities I missed while living in Moscow for a year. I didn't keep up correspondence with the son of Russia's most famous filmscore composer, who lived in the most beautifully adorned apartment I have ever seen (and yes, there was a piano). I didn't spend enough time with my ESL students outside of the classroom. I lived near the historical last General Secretary of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachov, and, walking past his home, would compose letter after letter to him about how grateful I was for his catalytic role in the creation of a freer Russia, but never slipped one through the gate. Maybe it moved too fast for me to register that it would end. I didn't think about what I would lose in leaving the quiet birch forest across the street from my apartment, the Bulgarian embassy restaurant that turned into a disco when the embassy Romanians from next door came over, the weekends at the spectacular dacha of a former Secretary of Defense. [...] Now I miss the Russian way of life: the fruit and vegetables that taste less like plastic and more like real sweetness (I learned to like tomatos in Russia), the fresh bread baked right under my apartment, the affordable ballet and opera tickets, the assumed marriage of city and nature, as manifested in weekly shashliki (barbeques) and outings on the lake (pick a lake), the selection of not one, not two, not three, but four modes of municipal transportation...and of course I miss the opportunity to use and improve my Russian, a language that has enchanted me my whole life, and, then, for one very full year, fulfilled my expectation of a fairy language that would transport me to another world, a world which is constantly changing, and, as I have learned through subsequent trips, is never the same twice.
Also:
I started studying Russian because it just seemed exotic and would be interesting on a resume. After the first two years, however, I found that there was a world of opportunity across the Former Soviet Union (FSU) for Americans and other non-Russians. The job market is extremely lucrative, especially for anyone with both Russian language and a professional skills such as accounting, law, etc. As the Russian Federation moves closer to Europe and integrates into the world community, I have absolutely no fear that my skills and experience in Russia will prove extremely marketable at a heafty salary. Oh, and spending time in great places like Kamchatka, Georgia, and Tallin has been one of the most remarkable perks of starting a career in the FSU.
Chris Cavanaugh, B.A. Slavic Languages, 1993
Chief of Party Promoting and Strengthening
Russian NGO Development Program
IREX/Moscow
and:
I first started studying Russian because I fell in love with the Russian alphabet. I thought the letters were beautiful! However, when I started at UCLA, I never dreamed that I would be a Russian Studies major. But after I took the Dostoevsky literature course, I came across a flyer advertising Russian 15A and 15B (three quarters of first year Russian in two quarters) and that was it! No one can stop me from studying Russian now! [...]
My goal in Russia is to become fluent in Russian. I hope to return to California someday and earn my doctorate in Russian language (or Slavic languages) with the UCLA Slavic Languages Department! And you can quote me on that.
Patricia Garcia