Student Interview with Erin

Today I had the chance to get an interesting interview with Erin, an English very young lady, who spent almost two months at Liden & Denz Language School in Moscow to improve her Russian skills. This is her last day at L&D, so now that the chips are down, let’s learn more about the experience she made here.

Hi Erin! What are you doing here in Moscow? Tell us a little about yourself.

Well, I’m studying French and Russian in England and as part of my degree I have to spend a year abroad, so after being in France I decided to come to Russia. I’ve never been here before, so I thought the capital was probably the best place to start.

Perfect choice! And when and why did you decide to learn Russian?

Unfortunately, I don’t have an exciting story about that. When I was at school we had to study three languages and I just happened to be in the group that had to study Russian, so that was when I started… I was about eleven years old. Then, however, I decided to carry it on to university and so I started studying also Russian literature.

Well, it’s been a lot then, lucky you! And now you’ve been in Moscow for almost two months and after all this time, after this Russian immersion, this is your last day here at L&D school. How do you feel about it?

I’ve enjoyed it, it’s been good because I’ve been forced to speak Russian all the time. The lessons have been very fun and I’ll be sad that the group is splitting up again. However, I’m excited to put my Russian into practice now for the next six weeks.

There you go, that’s the spirit! In your opinion, what is the most difficult part of this language?

I think it could be finding the correct verb, because there are a lot of different choices. But I think finally, maybe 50% of the time, I know which one to pick now.

Молодец! Do you think that L&D teaching method has helped you to improve your language skills and also to overcome your difficulties, especially with verbs?

Definitely, because first of all I had to speak Russian all the time and therefore I had to find the way to say what I had in mind and even if I made any mistake, I have been corrected so the next time I remembered the proper answer. I think that speaking all the time makes such a difference.

What about the teachers you had here at L&D?

I’ve had a couple of teachers and they have all been welcoming and have helped us with the things we struggled with by going through things in details, even if it took long time.

You’ve also been living with other students in a shared flat arranged by the school. Tell us something about your experience.

So far I’ve had four different flatmates and one of the things I’ve enjoyed the most is that you meet people that come from all over the world, that are of different ages and also that are learning Russian for different reasons, at different levels. Well, living in the flat has been useful, since it was very near to the school and gave me this chance to meet different and interesting people.

And did you put into practice your Russian language skills with them or did you talk in English?

Well, with the ones that were from the UK inevitably we spoke in English, but when I had an Italian flatmate who didn’t speak English, we had to converse all the time in Russian. Now my current flatmate is learning Russian from scratch so I switched to English again.

Ok, don’t worry now, but I’ve a really important question for you: would you do it all over again? Everything in exactly the same way?

I think so, I’d definitely come back to the school and back to Moscow. We’ll see.

What are your plans now after coming back home in England?

I think first of all I’ll go somewhere to find a real summer weather, since it hasn’t been nice in Moscow lately. And after that I’ll go back to university, finish my degree and then who knows?

Would you like to come back to Russia again?

I think so, but next time I would prefer to go to Siberia.

Well, wow, nice plan! You can relax now, we’ve just finished our interview. I wish you all the best for your degree and your future abroad!

Thank you!

This blog was brought to you by Lucia, currently studying Russian at Liden & Denz.