Learning A Third Language in My Second on My Year Abroad: First Impressions

By Miranda Dreisin, (Universität Leipzig, Germany)

I grew up only speaking English in an area where a lot of other people spoke another language fluently at home, and I distinctly remember from childhood wishing I were able to do the same. I was put in a German class in Year 7, and really enjoyed it, and by the time I was 16, being able to be proficient in another language was very important to me. I thus chose A-Level German, and at 18, decided to carry that passion through to degree level.

Three years later, I am now studying in Germany, where having learnt another language from scratch is hardly considered impressive. Most people here are able to speak English to a very high level, and sometimes are even fluent in a third language. German is not as internationally spoken as English, and so the pressure on school students to be highly proficient in a second language is far greater than it is in England. In Germany, a language subject is mandatory for students doing the equivalent of A-Levels (the Abitur), and English is by far the most common choice.

I also recently returned from 6 weeks backpacking Asia during my host university’s two-month Easter break, and after never having previously left Europe, it struck me how limited my knowledge of just two European languages was in the vast global landscape of languages. And so, when the module registration for Semester 2 came around and I was in Vietnam, surrounded by people who could speak English despite England being on the other side of the world, I decided to take the leap and sign up for an A1 Russian Module (taught in German). Universität Leipzig, where I am studying, offers a range of optional language modules, which makes it possible for me to take on Russian alongside my main studies.

The logic behind learning Russian was that it would allow me to linguistically cover a broad geographical area with a single language. Proficiency would enable communication across much of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and also open pathways to learning and understanding other related languages. While they are different, languages such as Ukrainian, Serbian, and Bulgarian would be easier to approach later on if I ever wanted to.

Above: Some handwritten Cyrillic practice I did earlier (a work in progress…)

First experiences learning Russian

I was very nervous going into my first Russian class; the only experience I had was a couple of hours on Duolingo and I had no idea what to expect. We had been emailed the first PowerPoint in advance, and I still remember the feeling of opening it and seeing the slides filled with Russian, only occasionally broken up by German. It felt daunting and in that moment I wondered if I had made a mistake. However, I am very glad that I went to the first lesson, as it immediately made the experience feel less intimidating. We did some introductions and learnt some of the Cyrillic alphabet, as well as practicing some handwriting. We are currently only in Week 3 of the semester, so I have only had about 8 lessons, but I have learned the alphabet typed and handwritten, which was easier than I thought it would be.

I was most nervous about having to learn through German, but I haven’t found it as hard as I thought I would. Last semester, I chose to do all my modules and exams in German alongside German students (rather than international students), which has made me much more used to the style and pace of speaking than I realised. Since starting Russian, my German has also improved: I find myself much more dependent on it. When my lecturer goes from talking in Russian to talking in German, I feel the same sense of relief I felt six months ago if a lecturer said something in English instead of German. I am also the only international student in my class (as far as I know), so there is no chance of being able to speak English. We do speaking activities in Russian, and while my classmates are very keen to practise speaking Russian, I find myself equally keen to use German, as it is language practice for me but not for them, which is a contrast I find quite amusing.

A lot of the words I’ve learnt so far are similar to German and/or English. For example:

Telephone
- Russian: Телефон (Phonetically: “Тelefon”)
- German: Telefon
Chair
- Russian: Стул (Phonetically: “Stul”)
- German: Stuhl
Item or piece
- Russian: Штука (Phonetically: “Shtuka”)
- German: Stück
Paragraph
- Russian: Абзац (Phonetically: “Absats”)
- German: Absatz
University
- Russian: Университет (Phonetically: “Universitet”)
- German: Universität

Above: One keyboard, 3 languages

Learning methods and progress

All of my class notes are either written in German or Russian (with my own explanations written in German). To get used to the two forms of the Cyrillic alphabet, I try to practice both in class. I’ve always preferred having typed over handwritten notes, so I bought Russian keyboard stickers (shown above). A lot of the time, new words or phrases are written by hand on the chalkboard, so I force myself to type them on my laptop with the printed alphabet (rather than handwriting and thus directly copying them from the board). When downloading the Russian keyboard onto my computer, I was able to choose which one I wanted, and I decided to use the one that is most widely used in Russia, instead of the phonetic one (QWERTY) where English and Russian letters are matched where possible. This means that I am currently quite slow at typing but I’m sure that will improve as time goes on! In most classes we practice handwriting, which I use my iPad for. Normally I will need to write each word out a couple of times to get the letters neat. We also get homework from a textbook, and I tend to write the answers by hand for practice.

Above: Class notes from earlier this week (including new Russian vocabulary with the German translation, and grammar explanations)

Above: The two textbooks we are using in class (one teaching book and one exercise book)

Pushing myself to try something new has been one of the most rewarding parts of my year abroad, and I am not sure when else I would have had the opportunity to take on a challenge like this. Learning Russian from scratch has reminded me how much I enjoy language learning – something I had forgotten after studying German for so many years. I am confident the effort will be worthwhile in the long run!