Russian Language Studies

See what you can learn in only one semester of Russian!

Russian at UW-L

UW-L offers a certificate program in Russian. This includes four semesters of Russian language, Russian literature, and political science or history. The program provides students with the basics of Russian grammar and conversation, and an introduction to composition and civilization.

• Russian two-year course of study fulfilling the College of Liberal Studies requirements for a BA degree


• Opportunities to study abroad


• Instruction by a native speaker

Why Russian?

• Russian is one of the three major languages


• 280 million people speak Russian


• 25% of all scientific literature is published in Russian


• Over 300 US companies have businesses in Russian (for example, 3M, Honeywell, and SC Johnson)


• See one of our own student's glog on Reasons for Studying Russian


• Russia is undergoing great cultural and economic changes, which are increasing its contacts with the rest of the world


• There are increasing opportunities for those who speak Russian, particularly in the fields of international relations, political science, history, and business


• Russian is the official language of the Commonwealth of Independent States and is taught in all of the Commonwealth schools


• Learning Russian can make you a better student because the discipline required to learn another alphabet and a language based on the use of a case system can be applied to other courses, as well as improve your understanding of English


• Exploring the traditions of another country gives you fresh insight into your own culture and way of life; this is especially true with Russia, whose culture has not always been open to study


• Check out this website for more great reasons to study Russian

Ten Things You Probably Didn't Know about Russia

• St. Cyril did not create the Cyrillic Alphabet


• Every Russian Tsar named Peter died a hard and painful death


• The first Russian Olympic gold medalist was in skating; the first Soviet gold medalist was in discus


• A Russian invented the helicopter


• The Russian language is spoken by 278 million Earthlings (fifth most of all languages)


• A fox is the most famous trickster in Russian folk tales


• 22% of the world's forests are in Russia


• Never step over small children, you might stunt their growth


• Tchaikovsky (yes, Pyotr Ilyich, of 1812 Overture fame), was actually trained as a lawyer


• Russia has more Muslims than any "European" country

Register for Russian

UW-L offers Russian courses according to the following schedule:

• Elementary Russian
  • RUS 101 (Fall)
  • RUS 102 (Spring)


• Intermediate Russian
  • RUS 201 (Fall)
  • RUS 202 (Spring)