How many languages can you speak, read, write, and understand? When we read scholars’ or historical figures’ biographies or biographies of those who were regarded ordinary noblemen and members of intelligentsia, the overwhelming majority of them spoke several languages at a fairly good level. The question arises, what was so special about the people of the 18th or 19th centuries that having such skills was a usual thing for them? Of course, home lessons taught by foreign tutors, the fact that it was considered comme il faut to use foreign languages in the nobility’s salons, and many other factors made their contributions. For instance, the tutors of the children of the Russian noblemen class were mainly German and French. Nevertheless, there are examples of children of lower class families independently learning foreign languages using books obtained accidentally. They not just learnt foreign languages, they were interested in scientific works on modern languages and studied ancient languages. However, not all of them were trained linguists and philologists. The question remains, how many languages can a person of the 21st century learn in his lifetime?
Today, there are many people who speak two or three foreign languages and there are also rare people who have learnt 20 foreign language or even more.
We are glad to invite you to get immersed in the world of Slavic languages starting by learning Russian. If you already have some basic Russian language skills, you will be able to improve your skills in an authentic cultural and linguistic environment. The Financial University arranges its Summer School of the Russian Language and Culture every year.
