Let us share with you an interview with David – our student from sunny Malta, who talks about all the reasons why students should come to Riga to study Russian.

We at Durbe RLA are always interested in knowing why people want to speak Russian. So we asked David about his choice!

D: I am studying Russian mostly because I am very fond of the Russian culture, music, art and so on. It is a very interesting language, also an important one. As a result, when I started university last September, I decided to pick Russian as a new language to learn.

We continued the interview asking what he thinks about the teaching method of the communicative approach.

D: I also think that Durbe RLA’s teaching method is working much better than the university one! Here, you don’t go too slow but you don’t go too fast either, you get the right pace when you have difficulty. Teachers help you out and explain everything very well. They also allow to take notes and on the whole, you pick the language I think you love better because you also practice, speak it, so I think it’s a very good system!

What skills did you improve while studying here?

D: Definitely speaking, I am able to speak more comfortably now, I am beginning to recognize grammar a lot better. These are the reasons why I came, grammar and speaking, because we don’t speak a lot in university and I wasn’t picking up grammar at all. My writing improved a lot, too.

David also thinks that his teacher Victoria is very professional, kind and sympathetic. He believes that here teachers try to create a positive relationship with students in order to make them feel comfortable. This helps a lot because students are not afraid to ask questions or ask for more explanations.

May we ask how you found out about Durbe RLA?

D: It was one of my teachers at the university – my history teacher. She sent an email to all students saying ‘Learning Russian in Latvia with Durbe RLA. I looked at the brochure and was immediately interested so I contacted her. As a result, I decided that I would like to take a few weeks of Intensive course.

Here David’s opinion regarding our beautiful city of Riga:

D: I think Riga is a perfect destination to go to improve the Russian language inside the EU because everybody in Riga speaks Russian. I would say also that there is a lot to do and see for a smaller city, however, there is something new to do, to see, to discover every day. For example, I discovered Art Nouveau Street, which I thought it was very pretty and relaxing. Moreover, the atmosphere here is not intimidating!

Outside Riga and all the museums and so on. I have only been to the city of Sigulda, which is a very nice area and I consider it to be the perfect destination if you are sporty. I also enjoyed the Old Town of Riga. The different mixes of architecture, the atmosphere, the fact that you got the French, German and Russian style and it’s all blended, I think it is amazing!.

David fell in love with the city and the Russian language. We really hope he can continue studying it at home! We are sure he is going to take advantage of every new thing he learned about this language and our country!