Russian at UH Student Spotlight: Meet Ariana

The Russian program at the University of Hawaii is filled with people from all over the United Stated, even all over the world. Every person brings such a unique perspective and adds dimension to the program. Among my classmates, there are a multitude of different reasons for pursuing Russian, different skill-sets when it comes to learning the language, and a variety of post-graduate goals. Every month, I will interview a student in the Russian program and share some of their own personal story: Why they chose Russian, studying advice, what they plan on doing once they graduate, their other hobbies & interests, and what they recommend doing while living in Hawaii.

November 2018: Meet Ariana!

Ariana with her siblings at graduation

Ariana is Freshman here at UH at Manoa. She is a declared English major, though she is considering adding a Russian minor or major as well. Ariana is Russian herself and grew up speaking the language with her parents. She is in RUS 101 currently, with plans to continue to RUS 102 next semester.

1. Why Russian?

Ariana grew up speaking and listening to Russian, as her mother is from Russia and her father is from the Ukraine, so she thought it would be really interesting to take RUS 101 and learn the proper grammar and spelling that she didn’t know. Also, she says- “I want to improve my accent. I really want to know how to speak better so I can talk with my family and cousins better.”

2. What is your favorite memory so far in the Russian program?

“I met a new friend in class and I like how everyone in class is ‘in it together.’ And the video project was fun.” The video project that she is talking about is our group assignment where we have to put together a video, and we can only speak in Russian in the video. Since Ariana is in my group, I can confirm that filming the video was pretty fun and definitely hilarious =)

3. What has helped you succeed in class?

Ariana says that her parents help her a lot, especially when it comes to pronunciation- “I had my mom recite the poem (we have to memorize a short poem by Pushkin for class) which really helped with pronunciation.” She finds that interacting with her parents and other members in her family who know Russian helps her learn the best.

Ariana with her family

4. What advice would you give to other RUS 101 students?

“Study at home, learn the grammar, do your homework, and meet-up with your group (for the video project).” Ariana says that thinking you will learn Russian just from class, without studying on your own, “isn’t going to cut it.” And, unfortunately, as we all know with group projects, sometimes a group member doesn’t participate as they should. Our group was fortunate that everyone was helpful and contributed to the project (probably why it ended up being really fun for us). As she says, "meet-up with your group members- don’t be that guy.”

5. How do you plan to use your knowledge of Russian once you graduate?

“I plan to use it everyday in my life.” She definitely wants to use her knowledge to speak more in Russian with her family and cousins. Also, she is thinking of adding Russian as a major and possibly getting a government job or going to Russia to teach in the future.

Ariana with her adorable little cousin at graduation

6. What is something that someone must do in Hawaii before they graduate?

When I asked this question, Ariana laughed, as she is a self-proclaimed introvert who prefers to stay home or just hang-out with her friends. But, besides going to the beach, she said that visiting Leonard’s Bakery was a must, as well as visiting and hiking on Big Island (where she lived for a few years as well.)

7. Other hobbies/interests?

“I like to read and write short-stories.” I asked her if she had published anything or had plans to, and she was hopeful that one day she would share her writing, but not quite yet =) As far as books go, she says she is currently interested in young adult fiction.