Language Study With SRAS
With SRAS, you can pursue your passion for languages abroad or online.
SRAS believes that the immersive experience of being abroad is irreplaceable. Being immersed in the culture and language, navigating daily life abroad and making daily local connections will prove to be a uniquely powerful and transformative time in your life. It is also essential for developing fluency in a foreign language and culture.
Experiences online are also invaluable. Whether preparing for study abroad, maintaining your language skills, striving for focused language development, or just staying connected to what life is like abroad, SRAS Online can help you achieve your goals.
Choose Your Option Below!
All SRAS study abroad programs allow for language study. SRAS programs can meet the needs of diverse student interests and goals.
Language study is available with ALL PROGRAMS as either an intensive program core, an optional elective, or as an extension (potentially in another SRAS location). All locations offer additional courses/workshops and/or cultural programming specifically designed to that location’s strengths so as to maximize the value of the study abroad location and diversify the possible transfer credits that you can earn while abroad.
Russian as a Second Language is most popular and is available in Bishkek, Tbilisi, Batumi, Riga, and Yerevan.
Other languages are also available. In Kyrgyzstan, Central Asian languages such as Kyrgyz and Kazakh are available. In Warsaw, Tbilisi, Batumi, Riga, and Yerevan the local languages may be studied as an elective or add-on.
All SRAS programming in both Russia and Ukraine is currently suspended.
Browse our programs abroad and contact us with questions. We’ll be happy to hear from you!
SRAS Online offers a range of options accommodate individual goals and schedules. Note that each of the listings below will often have multiple options.
Начинаем! Getting Started with Russian
This short course is appropriate for any age – from ambitious high school students to working professionals and lifelong learners. It is appropriate if you are simply in the planning stages of a trip to Russia, or any number of countries where Russian remains the lingua franca. It is a great launching pad from which to continue on with other SRAS courses – online or in-country.
Time Commitment: Meet 1 hr/week x 4 weeks, approximately 1 hr/week asynchronous work
Level: Beginner
Maintenance / Part Time Russian
Looking to keep up and advance your Russian language skills? Perhaps you have taken Russian in the past, but cannot fit a full-time intensive language course into your schedule right now. Or maybe you teach Russian but have limited opportunity to advance your own skills and practice speaking with others at your level. Whatever your situation, if you are looking to improve your Russian with a minimal time commitment, this course is for you!
Time commitment: from 1-3 meetings per week
Level: All levels
Ukrainian for Russian Learners
These are introductory courses aimed at those who have studied Russian for the equivalent of two years or more. It is a great opportunity to familiarize yourself with another Slavic language and boost your overall understanding and cultural integration in the relevant countries. Many graduate programs in Slavic studies require a second Slavic language.
Time commitment: 1 hr/week x 5 weeks synchronous + asynchronous work. In summer this can shift to a more compact period over 2 weeks.
Levels: Level of Russian should be B2 or above
Advanced Russian Training (ART)
Do you speak Russian at a high professional level (B2 or higher), with a wide vocabulary and strong knowledge of grammar – high enough that native speakers have stopped correcting you? Do you feel that because of this your learning of Russian has stalled? This is the course for you! An instructor will engage you in topical conversations, identify your weak points, provide detailed feedback and exercises, and work with you to bring your Russian to the next level.
Time commitment: 4 lesson series. Individualized – you set the schedule.
Levels: B2 and above, or at least 3 years of study
I’m finding the lessons incredibly valuable—they are helping me re-gain some fluency and confidence that had slipped away over several years of not using my language skills often enough. Still a ways to go, but this helps!
The program here is wonderful. All of my teachers have been extremely helpful and I have made friends both here in the dorms and with others who live in the city and find that I often have many opportunities to practice Russian outside of the classroom. Already I feel that my Russian has improved immensely, especially my listening and speaking.
At a time in my life when I was at a crossroads regarding where my career might take me, this course showed me a path that truly inspired me, and I haven’t looked back since.
I spent Fall and Spring with your program in St. Petersburg and it was truly the highlight and culmination of my University experience and just a banner year! I can’t thank you enough for or gush enough about your program. I recommend it to just about everyone I talk to, whether or not they’re interested in learning Russian.
My semester back home so far has been incredibly influenced by my semester abroad with SRAS and I find myself talking about it almost daily. Since many of my classes touch on the region (Europe after Socialism, Central Asian Politics), I’m able to add comments and insights unavailable to me before. My contributions to our Russian club have also been greatly enriched. Thank you for everything you did to facilitate this experience and going out of your way to ensure our success.
I’ve studied in Irkutsk and St. Petersburg with SRAS, but [Bishkek] is, by far, my favorite because of the intense focus on speaking skills. I spend about three hours, 4 times a week speaking one-on-one. It’s such a unique opportunity! The people are also especially friendly here. My homestay is fantastic, the coordinator is a never-ending wealth of help, and the food of Central Asia is delicious.
I wanted to find a program that combined my love of Russia and my passion for environmental studies. Because of my interest in environmental issues, Lake Baikal had always been a site of interest to me. Studying abroad in Siberia gives you the opportunity to see a completely different side of Russia and the Russian people. Just think, few people at home even know that Siberia is anything but a wintery tundra!