<p>Has anyone ever majored in a Slavic language at U of M, specifically Russian or Polish? Overall is it a good program? For someone with no prior experience in any Slavic languages, would starting from scratch be difficult? Thanks!</p>
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<p>I can’t speak to the quality or rigor of the Slavic Languages department here at UM, but I will say from experience that yes, starting Russian or Polish from scratch is going to be difficult. I’ve known a couple people who minored in Russian and they both came from Russian-speaking households, so they had some prior experience with the language; I would guess that a fair amount of kids in the Slavic Languages dept. have some prior knowledge of the languages, which makes it harder for people who come in with a blank slate. The languages and their various literatures, cultures, etc are interesting though, and if you enjoy them and/or have a knack for languages then it probably won’t feel like too much of a struggle for you!</p>
<p>Also, from a logistic standpoint, it can be hard to do a major in a language if you start from the very beginning, just because you have to go through four semesters of the language and achieve fourth-term proficiency before you can take a lot of the classes required for the major. I struggled with that, as I wanted to major in Italian but had to pass through all 4 semesters of the language req classes first, and then take 30 something credits on top of that - it’s a lot! You can do it, it’s just tricky to time it right, especially when you’re working on a difficult language.</p>
<p>Sorry this is so long, haha. Best of luck and hopefully someone on CC can provide some advice on the quality of the profs or language classes in the Slavic Language Department!</p>