Debrecen4U September 8, 2025

The University of Debrecen launches an English-language Russian language course

The Russian Cultural and Language Center of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Debrecen is launching a new, English-language Russian language course, as announced on unideb.hu.

The initiative was launched for the first time by the center, whose instructors and native language tutors will participate in the training in the upcoming academic year.

“The free Russian language course for beginners, taught in English, launched at the Russian Cultural and Language Center, is important and innovative for the University of Debrecen (UD), because it allows students who do not speak Hungarian but are interested in Russian culture and language to join the language learning process,” Okszána Kiszil told hirek.unideb.hu portal.

The director of the Russian Cultural and Language Center of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Debrecen emphasized that the initiative is unique, as it acts as a bridge between international students and the Russian language while strengthening the multicultural nature and international appeal of the university, and its novelty lies in the fact that the acquisition of the Russian language takes place with the help of English as an intermediary language, which provides wider access and opens up a new perspective in language teaching.

The target audience is primarily foreign students of the University of Debrecen who do not speak Hungarian. The Russian Cultural and Language Center has been offering Russian language courses at all levels for many years, but so far the education has been conducted exclusively in Hungarian.

“In recent years, more and more students from different countries have contacted us, which is why we are starting to teach Russian in English as a medium of instruction. This will make the course available to many more students, and we are happy that we can teach Russian to even more interested people. The course starts at the basic level, and the plan is to reach the A2 level by the end of the school year,” informed Zsófia Mazalevszkaja-Makádi, the center’s instructor.

Courses advertised for native speakers and high school students are scheduled to start with 15 participants. Classes will be held twice a week, on Tuesdays from 12:00 p.m. and on Thursdays from 2:00 p.m. in the Russian Center on the Egyetem Square campus.

“The program is based on gradual language acquisition and covers all basic areas of the language: speaking, comprehension, reading, and writing. Thus, English as a medium of instruction offers students of different nationalities the opportunity to get acquainted with the Russian language and culture,” emphasized Dmitry Mazalevsky, native language lecturer at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Debrecen.

Important information for those interested is that the courses are not only open to students of the University of Debrecen. Residents of the city can attend the language courses free of charge.

Source:dehir.hu | Photo credit:Facebook Debrecen városa