The Dangerous Allure of the Russian Language

Russian, the required foreign language for astronauts! Russian, an official language of the United Nations! Russian, the language of the world's largest country! Russian, an essential tool for traveling on the Trans-Siberian Railway! Russian, the key to mutual understanding with our neighbor, Russia! Russian, a language of rare value!

Russia: a country of vast birch forests, sunsets on the distant horizon, the mysterious Lake Baikal—the deepest in the world—the enigmatic letter Ж beloved by Gautier, the world's greatest literature created by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, the music of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, and arts including ballet and theater.

First-year students in the Faculty of Science and Technology who take Russian all have rich personalities. They include people who are particular about their identity, those with broad, continental-like personalities, those who hold big dreams, and those who wish to live life earnestly. Furthermore, nearly half of the first-year students in the Russian class become captivated by its charm and continue to study it for the next four years. Some students even impulsively set off on a solo trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway. This might be the dangerous allure of the Russian language.

Every December, we hold a social gathering called the "Russian Club," where everyone from first-year undergraduates to graduate students, all connected by the Russian language, comes together. It's a family-like members' club where we make Russian tea in a samovar, eat delicious pirozhki, have casual conversations about Russia with other Russian teachers, and listen to interesting science talks from graduate students. How does that sound? If you're interested, why don't you come to Keio to study Russian with us?

A scene from a Russian language class

The entire Russian class together

The cover of the April issue of NHK's "Russian Conversation on TV": Professor Kindaichi does this kind of work too.