Dear Students,

I note that the Registrar has assigned us a room, both for 101 and 203 — N119, which I optimistically believe, is smart. Excellent.

I have placed the syllabi for both courses on my site, www.tulane.edu/~gcummins. I will not print out copies for you, expecting that you have that capability. If not, please let me know and I will print out the syllabus for you. You will find complicated assignments on the site as we move into our work, and it would be practical for you to print those out rather than refer only to the site. If you really have no easy access to a printer, let me know.

I recommend but do not require Genevra Gerhart's book "The Russian's World." The other text we will be using is my Helps to Russian Grammar, which you will find in pdf on the site.

The single most important requirement in my courses is regular attendance — not perfect homeworks by any means, but attendance. If you have to miss, just let me know, in advance, if possible, and if you are ill, email me.

The single most important requirement for learning a language is enjoying the process. If it is not fun it is not going to work. I liken it to regular physical workouts or to running; if you dislike it, it won't work, and if it gets monotonous, it won't work. When I run, I memorize poetry or long passages from Nabokov (like the Черныш excerpt some of you heard in my Nabokov course.) Reviewing and memorizing something not only reduces the pain, it is worthwhile and fun in itself, and it is a portal into meditation in movement. This isn't for everyone. You have to have your own path. The last language I tried to learn was Hungarian, and I got sidetracked after a summer, but I luxuriated in its strangeness — not a word was a cognate, while its rhythm was like that of the surrounding Central European languages, so it was strange and familiar at once. Try to find a good routine for studying Russian, in a place where you won't be interrupted.

Buddha be with you. Buddha is related to Russian будить 'awaken' < boudhh- or something. Slavic lost all aspiration inherited from Indo-European.

gmc