America Learns Russian. A History of the Teaching of the Russian Language in the United States

The American Councils rose from earlier efforts by American scholars of the Russian language to build sustainable professional and programmatic ties with their Soviet/Russian counterparts. From the onset of the Cold War until the late 1960s, there had been virtually no such professional contact. Teachers of Russian in the United States were organized nationally through the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL).

Download Full-text

Dostoevsky in Russian Language Textbooks for Americans

Language and Text ◽

10.17759/langt.2020070110 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 101-108

Author(s):

I.V. Zenkevich

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Russian Literature ◽

The United States ◽

Russian Language ◽

Modern World ◽

Continuous Sampling ◽

Language Textbooks ◽

Xix Century ◽

The Russian Language

The article examines Russian language textbooks written by American authors in order to identify the attitude of their authors to the work and personality of F. M. Dostoevsky. The article reveals the reasons that prompted American scholars to promote the introduction of teaching of the Russian language in the curriculum of American universities, one of them being appreciation of the role of Russian literature in the world. Therefore, this article examines the issue of how the life and work of one of the leading Russian writers of the second half of the XIX century Dostoevsky reflected in the textbooks of the Russian language for Americans. The author of the article examines more than 50 textbooks of Russian as a foreign language published in the United States in the period from the beginning of the twentieth century to our time. Using the method of continuous sampling, the author selects contexts in the textbooks in focus dedicated to Dostoevsky, divides them into groups, and reveals the degree of interest of American compilers of Russian textbooks in Dostoevsky - the writer and the person. The author concludes that, despite the interaction of cultures in the modern world and the interest in Russian literature in the United States, the number of references to Dostoevsky in the American textbooks of the Russian language is small, and the contexts containing his name – not very informative.

Download Full-text

A Russian “Yankee Doodle”

Slavic Review ◽

10.2307/2495325 ◽

1974 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

pp. 46-54

Author(s):

Norman E. Saul

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Nineteenth Century ◽

David Lewis ◽

Russian Literature ◽

The United States ◽

Russian Language ◽

Early Nineteenth Century ◽

American Students ◽

The Russian Language

Enclosed in a letter, written in September 1815 by William David Lewis (1792-1881) to the United States minister in Sweden, Jonathan Russell (1771-1832), is an interesting and unique example of an American's effort to compose verse in the Russian language. Though only a curiosity of Russian literature, “Yankee Doodle” illustrates the degree of facility gained by one of the first American students of Russian after more than a year of study. Of additional interest is the pronunciation guide which Lewis furnished Russell—rare evidence on how Russian was actually spoken in the early nineteenth century.

Download Full-text

American opium smuggling trade and John Jacob Astor

Genesis исторические исследования ◽

10.25136/2409-868x.2021.10.36620 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-6

Author(s):

Igor Nikolaevich Stepanov

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

The United States ◽

Russian Language ◽

Chinese Market ◽

Commercial Activity ◽

Parliamentary Debates ◽

Psychotropic Substances ◽

History Of ◽

The Subject ◽

The University

The subject of this research is the activity of John Jacob Astor and his role in the American opium smuggling trade. Description is given to the differences between the American and British opium models in China. An attempt is made to determine the peculiarities of Astor's activity in the opium business. The article employs the following sources: works of the German historian Alexander Emmerich from the University of Augsburg dedicated to the American Germans and their fate in the United States; work of the American historian John (Jake) Chen on the history of Chinese diaspora in the United States; work of Jeff Goldberg who specialized in the history of psychotropic substances; article by the member of the Massachusetts School of History  Fredrik Delano Grant, Jr. on the Roosevelt’ opium track’ text of the debate in the British Parliament of April 9, 1840. The novelty of this research lies in familiarization of the Russian-speaking audience with the problems of opium smuggling trade through the research works that have not been previously translated into the Russian language. The conducted analysis of the parliamentary debates in Great Britain determines the commonality of interests of the British and American opium traders with regards to China. The study confirmed the enormous fortune of John Jacob Astor in the American opium smuggling trade, although this type of commercial activity was not primary in his business. The article also describes his continued commercial activity (including opium) in the United States after leaving the Chinese market.

Download Full-text