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HISU5046 - Russian Beginner (Source Language) I 2025/26 Fall

   TE Study guide

Russian Beginner for Academic Purposes I.

Instructor: dr. Palágyi Angela

Department: Historical Studies

Central European University

Semester/term, year: Fall 2025/26

Course level (MA, PhD): BA, MA, PhD

# Credits (# ECTS Credits): 2

Pre-requisites (if applicable): -

Course e-learning site: Main Course Forum | CEU E-learning Site

Time of the class: Tuesday 13:30-15:10 A/214

Office hours: days, location: Tuesday, 11:00- 13:00; 15:30- 17:00 (C-208)

Email: palagyia@ceu.edu

 

Course description:

This course offers a great opportunity to the students who need for academic reasons to learn Russian. It is originally aimed at teaching Russian as a source language to CEU students who will need it for their research. On the one hand, the course will explain elementary vocabulary and grammatical structures of beginner level. On the other hand, the course will develop students’ skills of reading adapted texts about Russian history and culture.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the course, students will:

be able to read and actively use the Cyrillic alphabet, applying the pronunciation and intonation rules,

acquire basic vocabulary,

learn elementary grammar rules,

develop recognition skills for identifying grammatical structures and categories,

acquire abilities to work independently (with the help of a dictionary) with adapted texts: answer questions about the texts, translate them.

 

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 A1 to B1 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 in class with the help of a dictionary and other materials.

Grading system:

Attendance and active participation: 40 %

Homework assignments: 40 %

Final exam: 20 %

COURSE SCHEDULE

 

Russian Beginner for Academic Purposes I

Meeting time: (Fall term, 2025/26), Tuesday 13:30-15:10

Week 1

Introductory class. What do you know about Russia, Russian language, history & culture? Introduction to the Russian alphabet through Soviet posters

Week 2

Russian (Cyrillic) Alphabet. Practice of print and handwritten letters.

Keyboarding in Cyrillic

Rules and features of Russian pronunciation.

Primary source: Colloquial Russian. The Complete Course for Beginners: Unit 0. Introduction to the Russian language (pp.17-28)

Week 3

 

Simple questions about yourself. Interrogative sentences.

Gender of Russian nouns,

Possessive adjectives.

Nominative case.

  • Primary source: Colloquial Russian. The Complete Course for Beginners: Unit 1, part 1 (pp.29-36)
  • Secondary source: Начинаем читать по-русски: Именительный падеж.
  • Secondary source: Читаем без проблем: Притяжательные местоимения (единственное и множественное число), pp. 5-10.

Week 4

 
  • Prepositional case
  • Languages and nationalities in Russian
  • Personal pronouns
  •  
  • - Primary source: Colloquial Russian. The Complete Course for Beginners: Unit 1 (part2) – 2 (part1) (pp.36-43).
  • - Начинаем читать по-русски: Предложный падеж.
  • - Читаем без проблем: Предложный падеж имён существительных (обозначение объекта мысли, речи), pp.27-30

 

Week 5

Plural of nouns

Indeclinable nouns

Present tense of verbs1.

  • Primary source: Colloquial Russian. The Complete Course for Beginners: Unit 2/2 (pp. 43-46).
  • Russian Grammar for Beginners: Lesson 6. Russian Nouns and Their Gender; Lesson 7. How to Create Plurals in Russian?; Lesson 11: Tenses in Russian—Part 1: Infinitives and Present Tense

Week 6

 

Adjectives.

Interrogative pronouns Какой, какая, какое, какие

How to create adverbs from adjectives

Impersonal expressions used with an infinitive: Можно, нельзя, надо

  • Primary source: Colloquial Russian. The Complete Course for Beginners: Unit 2/3 (pp. 46-49).
  • Russian Grammar for Beginners: Lesson 10: An Easy Guide to Russian Adjectives (pp.129-137)
  • Read this if you have an in-depth interest in Russian paintings and artists: Грамматика в картинах русских художников: В.В. Кандинский «Композиция 7»; Имена прилагательные, обозначение цвета, конструкция 'кому нравится что' (pp.6-7).

Week 7

 

Present tense of verbs писать, идти, жить

Accusative case of inanimate and animate nouns

  • - Primary source: Colloquial Russian. The Complete Course for Beginners: Unit 3/1
  • - Начинаем читать по-русски: Винительный падеж.
  • - Читаем без проблем: Винительный падеж одушевлённых существительных (прямое дополнение)/The Accusative Case of Animate Nouns (Direct Object) pp.31-37.

Week 8

 

Accusative case with verb of motion (Куда?) vs Prepositional case (Где?)

Cardinal numbers

Possessive adjectives его, её, их

  • Primary source: Colloquial Russian. The Complete Course for Beginners: Unit 3/2 (pp. 55-60).
  •  

Week 9

 
  • Genitive case1. Uses of genitive case after prepositions.
  • Congugation of verbs ждать, пить, есть, вставать, стоять
  • Primary source: Colloquial Russian. The Complete Course for Beginners: Unit 4/1 (pp. 61-69).
  • Additionnal source: Начинаем читать по-русски: Родительный падеж Genitive case
  •  

Week 10

 
  • Genitive case 2. Uses of genitive case in negative sentences: У меня есть… <> У меня нет…
  • Short adjectives
  • Primary source: Colloquial Russian. The Complete Course for Beginners: Unit 4/1 (pp. 69-73).
  • Additionnal source: Начинаем читать по-русски: Родительный падеж Genitive case

 

Week 11
  • Genitive case 3. Uses of genitive case after numerals and words denoting quantity.
  • Ordinal numbers
  • Primary source: Colloquial Russian. The Complete Course for Beginners: Unit 4/3.
  • Read this if you have an in-depth interest in Russian folk tales: Learn Russian with beginner stories: Russian folk tale “Каша из топора” (pp.12-17).
  •  

Week 12

А brief review of the material covered during the semester and FINAL EXAM

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:

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.

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