No prior knowledge of the language. Declaration is required. Students will study the Russian alphabet, numbers, greetings, the politeness system, directions and places in the city, family members and professions. Throughout the course students will learn to use basic sentence structures to express present and future actions, describe themselves and their families, to ask and answer simple questions about people, weather, hobbies, and occupations. Grammatical topics introduced in LR9001 include pronouns, cases, verb conjunctions and question forms. Through the use of authentic texts and audio-visual materials the students' knowledge of the culture in Russia and Russian speaking countries will also be enhanced and expanded.