Heritage Speakers

Heritage speakers, or those students who have a fluent or near-fluent level of Russian through exposure at a young age, often find the Bard-Smolny program to be an attractive study abroad option. Heritage speakers frequently test out of all or part of the eight-credit Russian as a Second Language requirement (RSL), but may choose to take a Russian language course specifically designed for heritage speakers, in addition to a full course load of classes in the social sciences and humanities, in Russian. Individual Russian language courses focus on the aspects of language acquisition that heritage speakers need the most help with. Such courses have in the past treated difficult aspects of punctuation, spelling, and academic Russian. Heritage speakers often choose this unique opportunity as a way to improve their academic and professional knowledge of the Russian language.

We encourage you to contact us to learn more about the opportunities available to heritage speakers at Smolny.