RUSSIAN LANGUAGE 3

The course Russian language 3 (LT009X) is addressed to the students enrolled in the literary-cultural and linguistic-philological-glottodidactic and international politics curricula. The course consists of a semestral whole class teaching, reinforced by yearly language classes of technical-pratical character, which aim at supporting students’ language learning.

Students are expected to develop their metalinguistic skills and achieve an overall linguistic background, both written and oral, that could be compared to the B2 level (according to the CEFR parameters). The expected goals will be verified through an exam composed of multiple parts (aimed at testing both written and oral skills).

The teaching programme aims at providing students with a theoretical and applied understanding of contemporary Russian syntactic structures. At the end of the course, students are expected to properly analyze a clause, differentiate various kinds of simple and complex sentences, grasp the main ideas underlying texts about concrete and abstract topics, understand technical debates pertaining to their own sectoral field. They are also expected to carry on a conversation in Russian with such fluency that they be able to get spontaneously in contact with native speakers in everyday life contexts reflecting the B2 level set up by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

Thanks to their high developed skills, students will be able to recognize and describe the syntactic structures of Russian language, interact with native speakers in various communicative situations, understand and create texts and oral messages at the B2 level, react adequately whatever the communicative situation and the linguistic register, understand the main points of a broadcast and/or an audiovisual record in standard Russian.

Students are supposed to make solid judgments about the well-formedness of a linguistic utterance, trace and find all the bibliographical sources requested by the tenured professor, use with ease both a medium-sized bilingual and an explanatory monolingual dictionary. They are also supposed to adopt adequate communicative strategies, testifying their ability to argue a stance (at the B2 level), as well as implement translational choices over complex texts.

Students are expected to explain the differences in Italian and Russian syntactic structures, adopting the linguistic nomenclature in describing morphosyntactic phenomena. They are also expected to express themselves in in/formal communicative situations (at the B2 level), while showing a knack for mediating through their Italian-Russian translations.

Students will learn to read and translate, with the only help of a dictionary, texts of medium difficulty pertaining to their own sectoral field.

Knowledge of the Russian language at the B1 level (according to the CEFR parameters).

During the whole class teaching the following grammar topics will be addressed: introduction to Russian syntax (simple and complex sentences); impersonal sentences; the formation of participial and gerundive forms; long and short forms of the adjectives; negative pronouns and adverbs.

During the language class hours the following conversational topics will be addressed:
First semester: 1. Russia; basic notions of geography, the climate, natural resources, the population and their languages, the state (the president, the parliament, the government); the republics of Russian Federation, its most important regions and cities; 2. Moscow and St. Petersburg: the history of the country as reflected in the history of the capital and of the former capital of Russia; historical notes, their position, the administration, the main monuments; 3. the Russian universities and Russian national higher education system.
Second semester: health (the body, diseases, their cures, prevention); the Russian national health system; the man and nature, ecology and the environment; the man and society; the social networks.

Moreover, part of the language classes will be devoted to the strenghtening of some grammatical notions and to the development of communicative skills.
During the language class hours some other aspects of Italian-Russian translation will be addressed, such as: the use of dictionaries, linguistic and extralinguistic factors, how to translate motion and temporal expressions, some particular pronominal phrases in simple and complex sentences, in passive constructions and impersonal sentences.

C. Cevese, Ju. Dobrovolskaja, E. Magnanini, Grammatica russa. Morfologia: teoria ed esercizi, Milano, Hoepli, 2000.
C. Cevese, Ju. Dobrovolskaja, Sintassi russa. Teoria ed esercizi, Milano, Hoepli, 2005.
N. Nikitina, Corso di russo. Livelli B1-B2 del Quadro Comune Europeo di Riferimento per le Lingue, Hoepli, Milano 2016.
N. Nikitina, Eserciziario di russo con soluzioni. Livelli B1-B2 del Quadro Comune Europeo di Riferimento per le Lingue, Hoepli, Milano 2016.
N. Nikitina, Esercizi di lingua russa. Morfologia: livello avanzato (con soluzioni), Hoepli, 2013.
M.G. Benedek, Come tradurre in russo, Milano 1995.
И. Некрашевич, Н. Фридлянд, Н. Любич, I Love Russian. Coursebook. B1.1, Liden & Denz Gmbh, 2019. ISBN – 9783907154021
Dictionaries:
V. Kovalev, il Kovalev. Dizionario Russo-Italiano / Italiano-Russo. Quarta edizione, Zanichelli, Bologna 2014.
J. Dobrovolskaja, Grande dizionario Russo-Italiano / Italiano Russo, Hoepli, Milano 2001.
S.I. Ožegov, Tolkovyj slovar’ russkogo jazyka, Moskva, 1997 (o altra edizione).
Italian Grammars:
L. Renzi, G. Salvi, A. Cardinaletti (a cura di), Grande grammatica italiana di consultazione, voll. I-III, Bologna, 1988-1996.
G. Salvi, L. Vanelli, Nuova grammatica italiana, Bologna, il Mulino, 2004.
Handbook of Linguistics:
G. Graffi, S. Scalise, Le lingue e il linguaggio. Introduzione alla linguistica, Bologna, il Mulino, 2002.

The assessment of learning outcomes is conducted through an exam structured in two parts (A and B), one oral and the other written, each of which is further divided into multiple tests. The use of grammar books, manuals, notes, mobile phones, the internet, or electronic devices is strictly prohibited under any circumstances. During the exam the use of annotated bilingual and monolingual dictionaries is permitted.

The written part (A), aimed at assessing grammatical knowledge, operational translation skills, and competencies in linguistic mediation, is divided into:

A1 and A2: A lexical-grammatical test and translation from Italian into Russian of a series of simple and compound sentences (both coordinated and subordinated), corresponding to the types covered during the year (duration: 2 hours and 30 minutes, with the use of a bilingual dictionary).
A3: Translation from Russian into Italian of a text related to topics from the student’s curriculum (duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes, with the use of bilingual and monolingual dictionaries).
The oral part (B), lasting approximately 30-40 minutes, is divided into:

B1: A brief presentation and conversation in Russian on topics related to geography, ecology, political system, history, culture, society, and current affairs, based on readings completed throughout the year. During this section, students must demonstrate the ability to apply appropriate communication strategies and interact effectively.
B2: Reading aloud (without marked stress), translation from Russian into Italian, and an in-depth linguistic commentary on 50 pages assigned at the beginning of the year (one page corresponds to 2,000 characters, including spaces). While commenting on the read and translated text, students must demonstrate the ability to describe morphological and syntactic phenomena of the Russian language, using the most appropriate linguistic analysis terminology.
Students must present themselves for the exam with a valid ID and university student card. The written tests take place consecutively on the same day, with a short break between the two tests. During the written exam, leaving and re-entering the room is not allowed. Students are expected to maintain the highest level of integrity and adhere to the principle of authenticity in their work. Those wishing to withdraw after the exam has begun may do so either during the break or at the end of the second test, handing their completed work and protocol sheets to the instructor. They must also sign a formal withdrawal request next to their name, surname, and student ID number.

Passing A.1-2 is a prerequisite for admission to the oral exam. The oral exam must be taken in full during the same exam session as the written tests.

A minimum score of 15 in each written and oral test is required to pass the Russian Language 3 exam. The final grade will correspond to the average of the scores obtained in the written and oral parts of the exam.

written and oral

Part A1, which consists of a lexical-grammatical test, accounts for one-third of the written exam grade; the percentage of correct answers out of a total of 30 questions is evaluated.
Part A2, which involves translating sentences from Italian into Russian, accounts for one-third of the written exam grade; the accuracy of the translation of 15 sentences into Russian is assessed, with a maximum of 2 points awarded for each sentence.
Part A3, which consists of translating a short text from Russian into Italian, accounts for one-third of the written exam grade; the accuracy of the translation is evaluated, with a penalty of 0.5 to 1 point for each error in conveying the content of the original text.

Part B1 accounts for 50% of the oral exam grade; it assesses the ability to express oneself in Russian using linguistic tools appropriate for the B1 level to present basic knowledge of the topics covered during the exercises.
Part B2 accounts for 50% of the oral exam grade; it assesses the ability to read and translate adapted texts in Russian, prepared independently, as well as the ability to express oneself in Russian using linguistic tools appropriate for the B1 level to present basic knowledge of the topics covered in the module lessons.

The grading scale for the oral exams will be determined based on the following criteria:
- Clarity and confidence in oral presentation (up to 5 points)
- Mastery of linguistic terminology (up to 5 points)
- Ability to read and translate independently (up to 5 points)

The maximum achievable score is 30/30. Honors ("lode") may be awarded in the case of excellent performance in all the evaluated areas.

Lectures (semestral whole class teaching) and seminars (yearly language classes of technical-pratical character).

The theoretical module will be held during the second semester. Language classes begin at the beginning of the academic year. Students who will not attend lectures and seminars need to contact the professor at the beginning of the course.