<p>I just transfered to UNC-Chapel Hill and am looking forward to applying to grad schools for Russian history at the end of 5 semesters (2 1/2 years).</p>
<p>I'm starting from scratch in foreign languages (I came from community college that offered virtually nothing) and am obviously working very hard to become proficient in Russian (to make up for lost time).</p>
<p>What other (if any) languages should I consider taking, and what level classes in those secondary languages would be sufficient to take to get into a top school?</p>
<p>I do plan on spending a couple of summers (at least 1) between now and then in Moscow.</p>
<p>Any other suggestions on what I can do now to realistically play in the field once the grad school app time comes would be great.</p>
<p>I strongly recommend French. You might want to find out if your university offers a one-semester (or summer) course in French for Reading. Such a course is different from the conversational French one would learn in a regular French class in that it focuses solely on translation, particularly of historical documents and scholarly articles.</p>
<p>I agree. You must definitely do French! I've taken Russian and some of the vocab is borrowed from French so you should be okay. My prof's in Russian history and is definitely fluent in both Russian and French. She also had to take reading exam in German and has some knowledge of Ukrainian and Turkish.</p>
<p>I would say it after French and Russian, it depends on the topic that will decide your other languages. My advisor did the last two because she's doing a lot of research in southeastern part of Russia where the Turks came to fight. Remember, Russia's a big country! :)</p>
<p>Not to mention that you could consider taking a little time off and get those "critical" language grants from the Department of State and you'll study it for 3 or 6 months... of course, the only catch is that you might need to do some service afterwards...</p>
<p>Ide say the best are probably French and German. French and German are complimentary to nearly all liberal arts subjects and most european languages.</p>
<p>Japanese would be an interesting pairing with it. You could likely learn alot from Japanese views of Russia, considering they do have a long history together.</p>
<p>It depends to some extent on what the focus of your PhD will be. French will definitely be needed, and German is another likely candidate. Depending on your regional/era focus, Polish might be useful as well.</p>
<p>I would strongly encourage you to ONLY study Russian for some time (1-2 years) before starting with any others. You can probably get by with a reading comprehension of other languages, but you will need fluency in Russian, which takes a great deal of uninterrupted effort. It's not an easy language, particularly if you don't have any background with an inflected language (eg Latin). Trust me, after Russian those other languages will be much easier!</p>
<p>I second Mikko about prioritizing. You need to be fluent in Russian to continue your studies, so that should absolutely be your priority. </p>
<p>Your ability in other modern languages is relevant only in that you need them to read critical papers from other scholars in those languages. As such, you usually only need to prove reading proficiency in them, and you can often earn that by taking a summer course (even in graduate school) and passing a reading-with-dictionary exam.</p>
<p>As for which language you will want to earn that proficiency in, well, it depends on your field. As previous posters mention, French and German are common throughout the humanities as the languages of choice. Which of them would be more beneficial to YOU depends on your program and where you want to study, so some scanning of scholarly articles -- on JSTOR, for example -- should shed some light on that. It might be something you want to ask your professors or department about.</p>
<p>Some of you French-or-German guys are not picking up on the fact that French was a universal language of educated Russians for a couple of centuries, and they often wrote, spoke, and read it. It has a privileged position w/re 18th and 19th century Russian culture, much more so than German. Of course, German can be important, too -- there's plenty of, um, history between the two language groups, and lots of scholarship in German in almost any field -- but it would be secondary to French for Russian history.</p>
<p>Then that would definitely be a case of "it depends on your field," wouldn't it? As a pre-1400 British literature student, I'm not too well versed on what the universal language of educated Russians might have been, and I think it's unnecessarily condescending to say that I'm "not picking up on it" as if it's common or expected knowledge. </p>
<p>If that is indeed the case, then yes, you would want French, and you'd want it at a much greater level of proficiency than just the standard reading-level of the modern version which is what PhD programs in the humanities -- IN THE GENERAL CASE -- expect. Even that has great variation depending on your program, as some want 2 modern languages at reading level, some want 1 at fluency and another at reading level, some let you take a language related to your studies as one of the 2 other languages they want you to know (such as with medieval literature students, who get Latin for one language and pick a modern for the other), etc.</p>
<p>JHS is right. As I mentioned, French is essential after Russian. Even though Catherine II standardized Russian in late 18th century (though her best friend Princess Dashkova did the bulk of work), French was still considered more elite than Russian. Yiddish, Polish, Ukrainian, et cetera are considered even less than Russian by Russians- the languages of psuedo Russians (which was fine with them anyway). The other reason why French is so important is because right up until WWII, all means of diplomatic communication was in French. English certainly wasn't the universal language even though Great Britian had the largest empire.</p>
<p>I wouldn't even actually consider German unless there's a good reason such as Prussian/Austro-Hungarian- Russian diplomacy and warfares as in the Crimean War and WWI/II. Instead of fretting over other languages, for now, just work on these two. :) Then when you do more research and begin focusing on your topic, you can then apply for language grants.</p>
<p>thanks all. I think I'll spend Fall and Spring (08, 09) taking just Russian (to get a good foundation) and when I get back from Moscow that summer start in on French I and continue on until graduation.</p>
<p>I find it interesting that you point out the need to find a Reading only class. That's precisely what I would like to do with French, because classes tend to focus on the speaking and aural comprehension side of things. But I've never seen language courses that focus solely on reading comprehension (though I have seen some that are based entirely on conversation). Would it be worth doing say, a private reading with a French professor based entirely on reading, in order to gain as much knowledge as possible of that, leaving out conversation?</p>
<p>I've noticed (here at UNC-CH) they offer a "selected readings in Russian" course available to take after the third level class. Maybe it's just not offered every semester. Check previous semesters to see if it was ever offered.</p>
<p>^^ Actually, it's more of providing the students with texts in Russian instead of English. It's not one of those "reading for knowledge" courses. Any "reading for knowledge" should be placed right near Elementary/Introductory level in a course catalogue, not near Advanced.</p>
<p>But doesn't matter- this student wants to study Russian history and s/he's going to be going to conferences with researchers from all over, including Russia, and s/he will be spending a LOT of time in Russia... so might as well learn to speak Russian.</p>
<p>Fanatic517- I tried that with German with one of the German tutors. It was okay. It almost found that it was easier to study German on my own and just bring in my translations to my tutor for double-checking. Also almost every major university has a special reading for knowledge sections in French and German departments specifically designed to pass the exam. But it's worth checking with a prof if there's no such course available. You might end up with a tutor anyway. Also, I will tell you upfront that it can be frustrating not to get started on materials directly related to your field because you do need build up vocabulary at the same time, which can take a while.</p>
<p>If you are at a liberal arts college (undergrad only), you could certainly ask a professor if s/he'd be willing to do a "French for reading" course with you as an independent study. "French for reading" is taught quite differently than conversational French, and you'd have to find someone who feels comfortable in that pedagogical arena.</p>
<p>If you are at a university, just call the French department. "French for Reading" courses are usually targeted toward grad students, and thus may only appear in graduate level course catalogues. They are often offered during summer sessions.</p>