Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Students major in the department for a variety of reasons. Some see their study as a first step toward professional training (law, business, government, journalism, graduate school). Some regard the major as a way to combine their interest in Russian language, literature, and/or linguistics with another or other fields.

Some students choose to major in the department because of the general liberal arts training it offers: the rigor of learning a foreign language; the challenge of coming face to face with the big questions of life posed in the masterpieces of Russian literature (Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Pasternak); the breadth that comes from the study of a foreign culture with very different basic assumptions. Some students decide to major because they see the need for exploring the background, values, language, and culture of Russia.

The department encourages students to study abroad as part of their college education. Such study can be undertaken either during a semester or a summer. Princeton has close links to language programs in both Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Slavic department graduates have gone on to graduate school in Russian and Soviet literature; Russian, Czech, and Slavic linguistics; history; Russian and East European politics; medicine; education; sociology; economics; comparative literature; and Russian area studies. They have gone to business, law, medical, and journalism schools. With the current situation in United States/Russia relations, career opportunities are increasing.