Projects

Ukrainian Language

Ukrainian Exercises (2023) Ukrainian language exercises for foreign students. This project includes extensive exercises to accompany Ukrainian language passages. Russian versions of those passages are also included.

Ukrainian (2023) Ukrainian language learning for Russian speakers. Native speakers of Russian as well as advanced students of the language will find this resource valuable as it systematically leverages a knowledge of Russian to simplify acquisition of Ukrainian at the grammatical, syntactic, and lexical levels.

Ukrainian (2022) The purpose of this manual is to develop the ability to listen to foreign students and teachers of Ukrainian as a foreign language, as well as those who seek to learn Ukrainian independently. The author aims to help foreigners who want to improve the level of B1 and master the level of B2 / C1, to form a high level of language competence in the conversational and everyday process, but also to expand students' knowledge of Ukrainian culture.

Ukrainian Assessments and Reading Modules: Computer-graded grammar and reading assessments; and intermediate/advanced level reading comprehension materials to be used for self study or as part of a class.

Multimedia Language Courses

Russian Language and Culture Through Film: An innovative project to teach language and culture to advanced-level students. This project integrates film clips, full transcript, embedded dictionary, and live, online exercises. Instructors can track student progress and answers through a robust reporting system.  The Russian language version is currently available and a supplement on the Russian Avant Garde is under development. Language and Culture Through Film is available online as well as through a four-CD standalone version. Please contact us at seelrc@duke.edu for more information.  For a full demo, please click here.

Russian cartoons (мультфильмы): A survey of cartoons known to all Russians. These materials include both Soviet and Russian productions. Essential viewing for all students hoping to fully understand Russian culture.

Polish Culture and Language Through Film: Multimedia Polish language and culture materials from Dr. Paulina Duda. Test and expand your knowledge through famous Polish films by Roman Polański, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Wojtek Smarzowski, and others. Each movie clip is accompanied by a transcript, extensive glossary, and computer-generated listening comprehension questions. The project includes clips and tasks from eight films spanning the Communist period and post-1989 cinema. Recommended for intermediate and advanced students.

Contemporary Russian Through Documentary Film I: Russian language and culture in documentary films on Putin, Yeltsin, and other cultural and political figures. These materials include extensive glossaries, cultural notes, and computer-graded reading comprehension questions. Recommended for intermediate and advanced students.

Contemporary Russian Through Documentary Film II: Russian language and culture in documentary films by prominent thinkers in Russia. These materials include extensive glossaries, cultural notes, and computer-graded reading comprehension questions. Recommended for intermediate and advanced students.

YurMikh. Listening and reading comprehension materials accompanying the documentary YurMikh, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of noted Russian linguist Yuriy Mikhaylovich Lotman's birth. Materials created by Aleksandr Viktorov.

Mikhail Shemyakin. Listening and reading comprehension materials on noted writer and artist Mikhail Shemyakin. This project is based on interview and archival materials from two Shemyakin documentaries Жизнь замечательных людей: Михаил Шемякин. В погоне за чистым временем and Ночной полет Михаил Шемякин. Project created for SEELRC by Aleksandr Viktorov.

Galina Vishnevskaya. Study materials for interview with notable Russian opera singer Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya

Dmitriy Lichachev. Study materials for interview with notable Russian thinker Dmitriy Sergeyevich Likhachev

Advanced Hindi language and cultural materials from Dr. Nilakshi Phukan. These resources feature audio and video content and address grammatical syntactic and discourse features of the Hindi Language. 

ScribeZone: ScribeZone is an instructional tool that teaches language through transcription for multi-language and civilian use; it improves listening and transcription skills, grammatical knowledge, and reading skills through exercises built around authentic materials from a range of media sources. To date, we have developed multiple modules (a total of 76 activities) for the following 13 languages: Bosnian, Chinese, Croatian, Kazakh, Montenegrin, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Turkish, Uighur, Ukrainian, and Uzbek. Future activities will include not only the development of additional modules for existing languages, as well as the development of additional modules for Caucasian, Turkic, Baltic, and Slavic languages.

Readings in Russian

Aleksandra Marinina's "ПОСМЕРТНЫЙ ОБРАЗ": Aleksandr Viktorov presents exercises for a literary analysis of Marinina's crucial work with additional materials to accompany the film of the same name.

Liliana Lungina's "Подстрочник" Elena Koshkarova presents exercises for a literary analysis of Lungina's work.

Readings for Advanced Students of Russian: The readings here comprise a sample of contemporary Russian short-form literature. Each reading is accompanied by comprehensive annotations to the text and exercises which challenge the user's textual, semantic, and grammatical comprehension of the materials.

Dictionaries

Russian Grammatical Dictionary: A searchable database of full word paradigms with native-speaker examples for each inflection. Each entry includes an English gloss and detailed annotation for semantics and pronunciation variants. The Grammatical Dictionary for Russian is available, with over 10,000 headwords.

Albanian-English Dictionary: An online version of the Oxford Albanian-English Dictionary by Leonard Newmark.

Other Material

Reference Grammars: A set of parallel grammars of the languages of our world region. Each grammar has been written by world experts on that language, and is indexed for instantaneous comparison of semantic fields across languages. Supplementary, self-grading exercises for advanced-level users accompany each grammar. Additionally, individual grammars can be downloaded for offline use. The Czech, Macedonian, Russian (with exercises) and Polish grammars are currently available online, with Romanian, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, and Georgian available soon.

Glossos: A peer-reviewed journal devoted to publishing original, independent research in languages and linguistics. In addition to publishing articles devoted to any of the world's languages, Glossos also exists to provide an avenue of publication for articles based on SEELRC research projects. In this way, Glossos is devoted to the specific needs of Slavic and East European language instructors and learners, as well as the applied and theoretical linguistics communities.

DukeSEELRC YouTube: A YouTube channel dedicated to hosting videos of SEELRC sponsored events 

Virtual Petersburg: Tour St. Petersburg, virtually! Explore hundreds of photos and virtual reality panoramic movies of St. Petersburg, Peterhof, Helsinki, Stockholm, Tallinn, Narva, and more!

Russian and COVID-19 This project captures the influence of the COVID-19 epidemic on the Russian diaspora and documents. In her detailed examination, Marina Miroshnikova documents the spread of COVID-19 information via Russian media, the introduction of new terms into Russian, and how Russian speakers have found humor in the darkness.

Building Blocks of Russian by Professor JoAnne Van Tuyl. These brief, instructor-lead videos will familiarize new students of Russian with key grammar, syntax, and semantic features of the language.