albysky Triglot Senior Member Italy lang-8.com/1108796Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4408 days ago 287 posts - 393 votes Speaks: Italian*, English, German
| Message 1 of 3 08 May 2014 at 6:15pm | IP Logged |
Does anyone have any experience with this institution ? I would like to find as much information as
possible about how the service is , living cost , possibilities of interacting with natives etc etc . On the web
site there is very little information ,the price of the courses seems to me also very very cheap .
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Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6617 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish
| Message 2 of 3 22 May 2014 at 7:02pm | IP Logged |
I came across this again today and thought I'd reply.
Minsk is a wonderful city, more calm and more clean than Moscow or St Petersburg. Belarus has had serious economic problems, so the cheapness is nothing suspicious.
(for example, in summer 2012 I bought several books in Belarusian for 82000 BYR, which at that point was about 8€. Now it's about 6€. it used to be 20 € or something like that. and obviously it's a more significant sum of money for Belarusians than for you and me)
Given this, the living costs should also be quite low, although something you take for granted might be considered luxurious. you might have to use a local SIM card for example (or any SIM for travellers that has decent pricing options in Belarus). I personally only miss mobile Internet, not much else. (but I don't even have wifi on my phone, and I'm sure I could arrange something if I really needed it)
The opportunities to practise are the same as in Russia, or maybe even more because there are fewer foreigners and most locals can't afford travelling, apart from the former USSR and also countries like Poland, Bulgaria and Israel. So quite few people speak English.
Let me know if there's any specific information I can find/translate from Russian (not only the OP, anyone who wants to learn Russian in Belarus). Feel free to PM me, preferably not in English ;) BTW my aunt knows someone who speaks Italian and works for an Italian company, so maybe she can give some further info/knows someone who's interested in language exchange.
Edited by Serpent on 22 May 2014 at 7:09pm
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albysky Triglot Senior Member Italy lang-8.com/1108796Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4408 days ago 287 posts - 393 votes Speaks: Italian*, English, German
| Message 3 of 3 23 May 2014 at 1:53pm | IP Logged |
Serpent wrote:
I came across this again today and thought I'd reply.
Minsk is a wonderful city, more calm and more clean than Moscow or St Petersburg.
Belarus has had serious economic problems, so the cheapness is nothing suspicious.
(for example, in summer 2012 I bought several books in Belarusian for 82000 BYR, which
at that point was about 8€. Now it's about 6€. it used to be 20 € or something like
that. and obviously it's a more significant sum of money for Belarusians than for you
and me)
Given this, the living costs should also be quite low, although something you take for
granted might be considered luxurious. you might have to use a local SIM card for
example (or any SIM for travellers that has decent pricing options in Belarus). I
personally only miss mobile Internet, not much else. (but I don't even have wifi on my
phone, and I'm sure I could arrange something if I really needed it)
The opportunities to practise are the same as in Russia, or maybe even more because
there are fewer foreigners and most locals can't afford travelling, apart from the
former USSR and also countries like Poland, Bulgaria and Israel. So quite few people
speak English.
Let me know if there's any specific information I can find/translate from Russian (not
only the OP, anyone who wants to learn Russian in Belarus). Feel free to PM me,
preferably not in English ;) BTW my aunt knows someone who speaks Italian and works for
an Italian company, so maybe she can give some further info/knows someone who's
interested in language exchange. |
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It seems that I can't PM you , but it not a problem .
well , first let me thank you for offering help , it is not easy to find info in
english . I am now just trying to collect as much info as possible to assess if the
idea that has been roaming my mind recently can be turned into reality : my plan would
be to learn as much Russian as possible here at home to then expand my knowledge in
Minsk staying there some months .I still haven't been able to figure out how to find an
accommodation in a family or with local students ( that would be of course ideal to
make the most of my stay ) ,so if you have any thoughts concerning that , it would be
higly appreciated . The perspective of having an Italian -Russian exchange would be of
course very interesting.
Edited by albysky on 23 May 2014 at 1:58pm
1 person has voted this message useful
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