When planning the year abroad, students are often made to feel that their only real option is a language course for foreigners; that anything else will be difficult to arrange or prohibitively expensive. This is not the case, however, in the past students have done various jobs including teaching English, translation and various kinds of charity work. You can also enrol on a university course for Russian students, studying almost any subject you like and going to lectures with Russians.
Working in Russia
This can be a great experience; students often say how much they enjoyed being treated like a 'real person' for a year. For things like charity work or teaching English wages are not high, but accommodation is often included, either in your own flat or with a family. You can also work for international companies in Russia, but people sometimes find that English is the predominant language and it's difficult to meet any Russians. This can also be a problem with teaching English because you're being paid to speak your own language rather than practise your Russian. However, this does give you a chance to meet people.
Translation, working as a guide or in an office can provide more of a chance to practise your Russian; many charities will take on foreign students to do this type of job. See the useful links page for a few of these organisations' websites.
Students' experiences of working
'Worked for the Interchurch Partnership. Translation work; book editing; grant applications; preparing visa letters of invitation; general office stuff; guiding guests.
Also did one day a week at the Brotherhood of St Anastasius, teaching English to children without parents and taking them out.'
'If you end up working for a charity, make sure you take time out to see the country and get a flavour of the place. Don't feel guilty about taking time off because you are helping a good cause.
If you are doing a job where the organisation is less than efficient, enjoy the time you spend drinking tea. I was too task-focused when I got there and initially missed out on opportunities to meet people and talk with them.'
'I would recommend my job'
Andy Schofield
'[In] Samara [I] worked for an NGO resource centre, teaching English to adults & doing translation etc...Organised through VSO. [In] St Petersburg [I did] unpaid translation work for NGOs.'
'VSO is worth investigating if you want to do voluntary work. I would not recommend the actual place I worked as they appeared to do very little indeed - and this may well be a frustrating feature of many Russian workplaces. I think VSO are extending their projects in Russia at the moment, so your chances of getting something good are better!'
Alyson Tapp
'Teaching was OK but would have been better if I'd been more enthusiastic about it - as it was I wanted to learn Russian more than they wanted to learn English so it was useful for me in that respect!'
'The place I worked at was: Muzei i Obshchestvennyi Tsentr Andreya Sakharova, Zemlyanoi Val, Moscow. I really enjoyed working especially for the museum as I felt they were really trying to do some good and the experience was great for my translation and grammar skills. It's also nice to be seen as an adult as opposed to a student for a while.'
Anna Hart
'I think people should be aware that, visa questions aside, as they are usually the trickiest, it is not as difficult as perhaps implied to seek and find employment, mainly with international companies, in Moscow, and people should not be daunted - once you have a few contacts, finding accommodation, etc. tends to sort itself.'
Bridget Farrell
'In Moscow I worked for a market research company as a translator. Fun, but I would say that Moscow is not the nicest place to be.'
'[In] St Petersburg. I worked in the Mariinsky Opera Theatre in the press department as a translator.'
'I taught English to professional Russians.'
'I worked as a fundraising assistant at the St Petersburg International Early Music Festival.'
Isobel Walsh
'The voluntary work I did in Moscow is hard to recommend, as I found the [Andrei Sakharov] museum and public centre was not always well organised, and it was often hard to find a place within it where I could be useful. On the other hand, while I was there I was the only non-Russian, which was very good practice. With perseverance I was able to gain some useful work experience, but I wouldn't recommend this organization to anyone looking for some serious experience on NGO work.'
Catherine Engelhardt
'I worked at Allen and Overy Legal Services, Moscow for 1 month, also worked for the UN information centre, Moscow for 6 weeks.'
'For placements with Allen and Overy Legal Services (who offer short placements or a 6 month placement to law students or students studying
Russian) write to Peter Timchur (Managing Partner) at peter.timchur@allenovery.com'
'The jobs with the UN and Allen and Overy were great, as was Moscow. To find jobs I think it is best to phone companies etc. when you are in Russia and could go for interview at short notice.'
Amy Watson
'I tended to find all my jobs/volunteer work through word of mouth. But most of the work started from getting to know people at the British Council [in Nizhny Novgorod].'
'A few people worked as a "Style Editor" (re-casting the English of stories translated by Russians) at the news agency Itar-Tass. Paid about one dollar per page. Very flexible hours.'
Nick Sandars
University courses
Ploshchad' Lenina, St Petersburg
Many students go on courses designed specifically to teach Russian to foreigners; some enjoy them, some find them an invaluable preparation for working in Russia and others do not find them so useful. One company organising such courses is RLUS; courses are available in St Petersburg, Moscow, Yaroslavl and Voronezh and the company will arrange your visa and travel. However, semester dates can be inconvenient (i.e. leaving you in Russia over Christmas) and there can be problems extending your visa if you want to stay on after the end of the course. It is possible to contact these universities individually and organise your own programme with much greater flexibility; look at the useful links page for some university websites. The organisation can be done by e-mail and fax; don't be afraid of organising things yourself because it's easier than you think.
These courses for foreigners tend to include classes in conversation, grammar and translation, as well as some optional courses such as history, politics and history of art. Lessons are all one and half hours long and this can be difficult for British students at first! They can be very useful for students who started Russian ab initio because they help to consolidate what you've learned and give you a chance to practise, but the lessons can get monotonous and the teachers often teach to the lowest standard in the group. You also don't meet very many Russian students this way, although it is sometimes possible to join their lectures.
Students' comments
'I would perhaps consider trying to study at a university - i.e., not through RLUS. The RLUS courses are not especially stimulating, but are an easy way of getting to the city and you can suss out other stuff once you're there.'
Alyson Tapp
'My university course wasn't much of a balance as it was designed for foreign students with even less knowledge of Russian than I have. I will probably go back [to Russia] some day, although I'm not sure I would recommend my course to other students.'
Matthew Stankiewicz
'[I] studied for 3 months [at the Benedict School in St Petersburg]; most of the other students at the Benedict School were there under the RLUS umbrella, which meant that I benefitted from the 'pastoral support' provided for them, but I also had the advantage of a more flexible programme in the longterm.
n.b. At that time, the Benedict School would not issue me an invitation for a visa because they were not arranging my accommodation (they put you in their hostel for a while before moving you in with families).'
Bridget Farrell
'I'd probably go to the Yaroslavl Pedinstitute rather than the State university as the people and subjects available were more interesting.'
Amy Watson
'In Voronezh I did the RLUS course, which was really bad - as any course for foreigners, it was totally unchallenging. Great for travelling
though, as we were near the Caucasus and Volgograd.'
'I would advise against doing RLUS for the sake of one's Russian. Much better if possible to do a real Russian university course (not a language course for foreigners). Moving around is good simply because of the tendency to slip into a foreign student ghetto-type life, and you meet more people.'
Isobel Walsh
'I definitely recommend the course at Yartek.'
Catherine Engelhardt
'If you are studying, make sure you have a good idea of what you want out of the classes. Lots of my year-mates agreed with me that, especially with one-to-one lessons, the temptation for them to turn into a chat is large. Sometimes they have to be structured by clear instructions from you (which are
generally appreciated rather than taken as criticism)'
'All my courses were optional, with no exams, making motivation difficult. I would recommend enrolling for exams, however horrendously you do (it doesn't count after all) to give a focus, and solidarity with the other students. Then you stop being "that random foreigner who sometimes comes to our
lectures".'
Nick Sandars
'I would definitely recommend the Russian course at MGU. It's more expensive than RLUS, but Cambridge paid the equivalent of a RLUS course for me. The teaching is excellent and everyone there is lovely. I couldn't stay in the hostel because I didn't have an MGU visa, but the rooms there were really nice and it's a great way to meet Russians (and other nationalities) of a similar age.'
Alicky Denton