Russian Beginner for Academic Purposes II.
Instructor: dr. Palágyi Angela
Department: Historical Studies
Central European University
Semester/term, year: Winter 2025/26
Course level (MA, PhD): BA, MA, PhD
# Credits (# ECTS Credits): 2
Course e-learning site: Course: HISU5047 - Russian Beginner (Source Languages) II 2025/26 Winter | CEU E-learning Site
Time and place of the class: Tuesday 13:30-15:10
Office hours: days, location: Tuesday, 11:00- 13:00; 15:30- 17:00 (C-208)
Email: palagyia@ceu.edu
Course description:
This course is originally aimed at teaching Russian as a source language to students who will need it for their research.
In Russian Beginner for Academic Purposes II classes we will focus on enhancing understanding of texts and information read in Russian, on vocabulary building, and introducing more complex grammatical structures.
Course prerequisites:
The course is designed for students who have learnt Russian before for at least one semester. Students who would like to join the class are expected to be confident in such basics as alphabet, Russian handwriting, main phonetic rules including intonational constructions.
Students are also expected to be familiar with gender, plural of nouns; personal, possessive and demonstrative pronouns; construction 'У меня есть…’; conjugation of verbs (1st and 2nd groups); form of verbs in present and past tenses.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the winter term students will be able to (according to CEFR1):
know basic grammar of the Russian language including all 6 Cases,
practice Russian reading in adapted texts about Russian history and culture,
develop abilities to work independently (with the help of a dictionary) with adapted texts: answer questions about the texts, translate them,
learn to use Russian language programs that can help students work with Russian texts, while conducting research.
Course Requirements:
This syllabus includes a list of Russian texbooks available in PDF format. Due to the high likelihood of significant variance in students’ level of Russian, the readers can range from A2 to B2 levels.
Students will have to:
regularly submit written homework before each class,
regularly work with the selected texts (read, listen, translate, etc), to which the instructor will pose questions that the student will need to answer before or during the class.
Alternatively, students can bring a reader, or source materials of their choosing that closer relate to their field of research for instructor’s review and approval, upon which those materials can be used as homework assignments source.
Depending on the progress in class, additional home assignments related to the main textbook may also be given.
Final exam:
At the end of the semester each student will be required to translate a text from Russian to English with the help of a dictionary and other materials and vice versa from English to Russian.
Grading system:
Attendance and active participation: 40 %
Homework assignments: 40 %
Final exam: 20 %
COURSE SCHEDULE
Russian Beginner for Academic Purposes II
Meeting time: (Winter term, 2025/26), Tuesday 13:30-15:10
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Week 1 |
Review of all material covered: declension of nouns and adjectives in the Singular (Prepositional, Accusative and Genitive cases). The interrogative pronouns кто /что according to the case they are in.
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Week 2 |
Russian names Russian addresses Personal pronouns in the accusative and genitive
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Week 3 |
Verbs of 2nd conjugation любить, готовить Irregular verbs (мочь ’to be able, can’, хотеть ’to want’) The short adjective должен 'must’ Pronoun весь; neuter nouns in -мя
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Week 3
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Dative case Reflexive verbs Name the places and people (verbs звать, называться)
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Week 4
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Week 5-6
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Texts about sports, careers. Verbal aspect: use the imperfective past tense The Instrumental case The interrogative pronoun чей
Additional material:
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Week 7-8
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Additional material:
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Week 9-10 |
Texts about weather, holidays ;The months of the year; The colours Working with the map of Russia: The most important towns, rivers, mountains of the Russian Federation Этот / тот, весь, один in cases other than the nominative Use свой
Additional optional material (read this if you have an in-depth interest in Russian artists):
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Week 11-12
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Texts about festivals and celebrations. Imperfective future tense Express dates
Additional material:
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P.S. The above-mentioned weekly schedule of work is approximate and may change upon the
decision of the instructor based on class progress.
Main textbooks:
- Le Flemming S., Kay S., Vodorpyanov M., Colloquial Russian. The Complete Course for Beginners. Routledge, 2023 (Audio: https://routledgetextbooks.com/textbooks/colloquial/language/russian.php).
- Russian Grammar for Beginners. Textbook + Workbook Included. MyDailyRussian.com, 2021.
- AUDIO: https://mydailyrussian.com/audio-grammar-beginner/
- Курлова И.В., Начинаем читать по-русски. Москва: Русский язык. Курсы, 2008.
Other textbooks:
- Campbell Michael, Guide to Russian Pronunciation & Grammar. Glossika._ https://ai.glossika.com/language/learn-russian
- Golubeva Larisa, What do you know about Russia. English-Russian quiz-book, 2022. https://russianlessons.livejournal.com/19603.html
- https://www.lppbooks.com/Russian/FirstRussianReader_audio/En/
- Kees van den End Serafima, Learn Russian with beginner stories (Russian folk tales), Bermuda word, 2017.
- Richards Olly, Rawlings Alex, Short Stories in Russian for Beginners. Read for pleasure at your level and learn Russian the fun way. John Murray Press, 2018.
- Smyth Sarah, Murray John, Basic_Russian. A Grammar and Workbook, London&New-York: Routledge, 2009. (Exercises, grammar tables for easy reference, full key to the exercises, glossary of all Russian words featured).
- Zubakhin Vadim, First Russian Reader for Beginners (A1-A2 level + with parallel text in English), 2021.
- Костюк Н.А., Филлипс Д., Читаем без проблем [We read without problems]. Часть первая. СПб.: Златоуст, 2013.
- Полякова Ю. Д., Ермакова Е.В., Грамматика в картинах русских художников [Grammar in paintings of Russian artists]. СПб.: Златоуст, 2022.
- Instructor: Angela Palagyi