Study abroad

Russian Language and Area Studies Program in Kazakhstan

Continue your Russian studies in the city of Almaty, Kazakstan, and immerse yourself in the language and culture for a semester or a year!

Kazakhstan, the ninth largest country in the world by area, is a multilingual, multiethnic home to Kazakhs (66%) and Russians (20%), as well as many other ethnicities. Among the entire population of Kazakhstan, 97% are fluent in Russian. Over 93% of ethnic Kazakhs are highly competent in Russian and are either dominant speakers of Russian, bilingual speakers of Russian and Kazakh, or use Russian peripherally as needed. Almaty, with over 2 million residents, in Kazakhstan’s largest city and the country’s major commercial, financial, and cultural center.

The American Councils’s Russian Language and Area Studies Program (RLASP) takes place on the campus of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU).

The program provides approximately 20 hours per week of in-class instruction in Russian grammar, phonetics, conversation, cultural studies, and optional Kazakh language instruction. Program features include homestays, weekly excursions, travel to other regions outside the host city, conversation partners, and a wide range of opportunities to pursue volunteering opportunities, hobbies, and personal interests in a Russian-language context.

To learn more and apply, follow this link.

Students studying abroad

Middlebury Summer School in Russian

Spend a summer at the Middlebury School of Russian and you’ll experience the single most effective method for rapid language acquisition: a total immersion environment with the Language Pledge®—a promise to read, write, speak, and listen only in your language of study.

Recognized as one of the world’s best Russian language programs, the Kathryn Wasserman Davis School of Russian has been offering its unique blend of cultural and language immersion since 1945. Each program is open to undergraduates, recent graduates, graduate students at other institutions, professionals, and lifelong learners.

The application opens in early November. If you have questions about the program, contact Professor Evgeny Dengub (dengub@usc.edu), Associate Director of the Middlebury Russian school.