Russian

Russian is one of the great languages of European and world culture, the native tongue of some 150 million people and a major literary and intellectual tradition encompassing Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov and Bulgakov alongside poetry, theatre, cinema and philosophy of the highest order. It is also a language of considerable geopolitical significance, and graduates who can use it with sophistication are valued in a range of international contexts. Studying Russian at degree level means both mastering a complex and rewarding linguistic system and engaging deeply with the cultures and societies that have produced some of the world's most extraordinary art.

At the University of St Andrews this four-year full-time programme teaches you to use Russian with sound grammatical accuracy and a high level of oral aptitude, developing your speaking, listening, reading and writing skills to an advanced level. Alongside language study you will engage with Russian-language cultures, histories and societies through literature, film, cultural history and contemporary affairs. You will develop the ability to read complex literary and cultural texts in Russian, to understand them in their historical and social contexts, and to analyse and discuss them with precision.

A year abroad gives you the opportunity to live and study in a Russian-language environment, which is transformative both linguistically and culturally.

Graduates with high-level Russian are sought after in diplomacy, the foreign service, international journalism, translation and interpreting, international business and NGOs working in eastern Europe and central Asia. Many also pursue academic careers in Russian and Slavic studies, and postgraduate study in Russian literature, linguistics, area studies, translation or related fields is a natural next step.