Let me take you back to last Monday, when I was sitting in a dance studio with my roommate and one of the boys who lives in the room directly above ours, being interviewed by a correspondent for a Russian-language radio station. Because the station has ties to the United States, they had come to the Vaganova Academy to interview the students who call that country home. Out of approximately forty-four international students, just over half are from Japan, and the other half are from various places in Europe, the Americas, and Australia; of that half, there are three of us from the United States - myself, Mikhaila (my roommate), and Adrian (the boy who lives upstairs). So it was - the three of us sat together on a bench, the correspondent asked questions and recorded our answers, and the school's vice principal sat nearby and listened to us being interviewed.
There was, however, a catch. The correspondent could speak a bit of English, but not enough to comfortably conduct an interview. Mikhaila and Adrian have been studying Russian, but only since their arrival in September, and there is a limited proficiency in a foreign language that can be achieved after just three and a half months of study, especially if your primary focus is on something else (like learning how to dance). After it was discovered that I had been studying here for longer and thus understood slightly more Russian, I was assigned the task of translating the questions from Russian into English so that the other two could understand and answer them.
This part actually went reasonably well, as I've started to get the hang of translating things from Russian into English. Sometimes I help out when the newer students have to go see the school nurse and often translate corrections into English during rehearsals. However, my translating efforts have never before been recorded, so that was a little bit nerve-racking. I was also a bit nervous because our vice-principal was listening, and she understands and speaks English as well as her native Russian. Everything was fine, though, and there was only one question that I didn't understand and had to get help translating.
The second catch came when it was my turn to be interviewed. The correspondent turned to me and informed me that I'd need to respond to her questions in Russian; since I already spoke some Russian, by answering in that language rather than in my native tongue, I could save her the trouble and difficulty of later having to translate my responses from English back into Russian. I understand completely why she asked this of me, but I still had not expected to have to do so and felt unprepared for the task.
Let me make one thing clear - understanding and actually being able to express oneself in a language are two very different things, especially when it comes to a language as grammatically intricate and complicated as Russian. There are so many slightly different ways to say things that have the same meaning in English - changing the preposition or verb used in front of a noun frequently (but not always) requires altering the ending of the noun in a pattern based on the gender of the word (and there are three different genders), any adjectives used along with this noun also have their endings altered in a (usually) similar manner, and the verbs come in pairs, one perfective and the other imperfective, the two having the same translation into English.
When understanding the basic meaning of something that's being said in Russian, it is helpful, but usually not absolutely necessary, to have a full understanding of all of these intricate concepts. After a few months, you get pretty good at recognizing nouns using just their beginning and middle parts. The end bit is like an added bonus; it's fantastic to understand the meaning that it adds to the word, but thinking creatively usually provides a way to get around not understanding it.
Speaking in Russian is an entirely different story. Two words having the same meaning when translated into English can have vastly divergent meanings when spoken in Russian, and the fluidity of Russian sentence structure means that attaching the right ending to a noun is a vital part of being properly understood.
Despite the correspondent's assurance that it was fine if my answers were laden with mistakes, I wasn't feeling terribly confident or comfortable with the situation. I smiled sheepishly and said that I'd try to do it, then started to answer her questions in my broken, toddler-like Russian.
When asked about the hardest part of studying at the Vaganova Academy, both of my companions answered that it was the task of picking up the language. When it came to be my turn to answer this question, I talked about the hardships of being so far away from friends and family. I decided that it was unnecessary to say that I, too, have difficulty with the language. The bad grammar that I used in my answers speaks for itself.
There was, however, a catch. The correspondent could speak a bit of English, but not enough to comfortably conduct an interview. Mikhaila and Adrian have been studying Russian, but only since their arrival in September, and there is a limited proficiency in a foreign language that can be achieved after just three and a half months of study, especially if your primary focus is on something else (like learning how to dance). After it was discovered that I had been studying here for longer and thus understood slightly more Russian, I was assigned the task of translating the questions from Russian into English so that the other two could understand and answer them.
This part actually went reasonably well, as I've started to get the hang of translating things from Russian into English. Sometimes I help out when the newer students have to go see the school nurse and often translate corrections into English during rehearsals. However, my translating efforts have never before been recorded, so that was a little bit nerve-racking. I was also a bit nervous because our vice-principal was listening, and she understands and speaks English as well as her native Russian. Everything was fine, though, and there was only one question that I didn't understand and had to get help translating.
The second catch came when it was my turn to be interviewed. The correspondent turned to me and informed me that I'd need to respond to her questions in Russian; since I already spoke some Russian, by answering in that language rather than in my native tongue, I could save her the trouble and difficulty of later having to translate my responses from English back into Russian. I understand completely why she asked this of me, but I still had not expected to have to do so and felt unprepared for the task.
Let me make one thing clear - understanding and actually being able to express oneself in a language are two very different things, especially when it comes to a language as grammatically intricate and complicated as Russian. There are so many slightly different ways to say things that have the same meaning in English - changing the preposition or verb used in front of a noun frequently (but not always) requires altering the ending of the noun in a pattern based on the gender of the word (and there are three different genders), any adjectives used along with this noun also have their endings altered in a (usually) similar manner, and the verbs come in pairs, one perfective and the other imperfective, the two having the same translation into English.
When understanding the basic meaning of something that's being said in Russian, it is helpful, but usually not absolutely necessary, to have a full understanding of all of these intricate concepts. After a few months, you get pretty good at recognizing nouns using just their beginning and middle parts. The end bit is like an added bonus; it's fantastic to understand the meaning that it adds to the word, but thinking creatively usually provides a way to get around not understanding it.
Speaking in Russian is an entirely different story. Two words having the same meaning when translated into English can have vastly divergent meanings when spoken in Russian, and the fluidity of Russian sentence structure means that attaching the right ending to a noun is a vital part of being properly understood.
Despite the correspondent's assurance that it was fine if my answers were laden with mistakes, I wasn't feeling terribly confident or comfortable with the situation. I smiled sheepishly and said that I'd try to do it, then started to answer her questions in my broken, toddler-like Russian.
When asked about the hardest part of studying at the Vaganova Academy, both of my companions answered that it was the task of picking up the language. When it came to be my turn to answer this question, I talked about the hardships of being so far away from friends and family. I decided that it was unnecessary to say that I, too, have difficulty with the language. The bad grammar that I used in my answers speaks for itself.
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