<p>I have to take two language classes to fulfill a requirement for my major. I was thinking I would take Russian because my parents speak the language at home and they've taught me some of it so I have a head start. The problem is... I can speak Russian pretty well, but I can barely read it and my spelling is ridiculously bad if I try to write it. I think I'm too advanced for the intro to Russian class at my college, but not good enough at reading/writing for the advanced Russian class. Should I try to test out of the intro class and go straight into advanced, or should I take the intro class first just to make sure I have a good foundation in reading and writing? </p>
<p>Can you go talk to the professors for it? They know what the courses are like, and they’ll be a better judge than us on whether or not you should be skipping a class.</p>
<p>Are there any classes designed for native speakers? They usually only exist if there’s a large enough population of students who are native speakers of a language to support it, but it’s worth looking into. They usually take into account that native speakers typically have high speaking and comprehension but low literacy skills in the language.</p>
<p>Other than that, I’d recommend just taking a placement test. See if there’s some sort of placement test you can take either through the department website or in person with someone in the department. They’ll give you the best answer of which class you should be in. If you can’t read or write, then I wouldn’t recommend skipping straight ahead into the advanced classes, but if you know some of the basics, you may be able to skip the very first course and take the next one. Ask the department–they’ll give the best recommendations.</p>
<p>Check to see if a “Russian for heritage speakers” course is offered.</p>
<p>If not, ask the Russian language department directly what the best course placement for you is.</p>
<p>Russian is a relatively hard language to learn. It’s equivalent to learning Latin; VERY GRAMMAR HEAVY. Because of this, if you try taking the placement test without memorizing the written rules (e.g. Declinations) you’ll find it difficult/confusing. </p>
<p>Buy either V Puti (with student activities manual) or Russian for Russians (although Russian for Russians is very hard without a Russian teacher) and self-study the material. V Puti is equivalent to 2nd year college level Russian. So if you can finish it, you’ll test out of the foreign language requirement / place directly into advanced russian. </p>
<p>As someone who is learning Russian right now I can tell you that your assessment is correct. You’ll be too advanced verbally for the lower level courses but too deficient textually for the advanced courses. Personally I am bored out of my mind in the lower-level courses, it’s especially horrible being in a room with foreign language learners who can barely speak the language; I know for a fact it stifles my improvement. Sure you’ll get the foundation but the cost (time + sheet boredom) will be far to high (unless you can take the course at a CC with a lot of native -immigrant- speakers)</p>