Russian
Summer Jobs, Internships, and Fellowships
Newton Free School
Location: Tbilisi, Georgia
Position: ESL Teacher
Description: Teaching little children English
Language Requirement: Russian and Georgian
Language Use: I had to communicate with the children in English and Russian and Georgian
Impact on Language Skills: I learned more Georgian from the children
Paid: Yes
Application Process: CV, interview
Contact Information: Fiametta Boffey '24 (fiametta_boffey@brown.edu)
Museum of Russian Culture
Location: San Francisco, CA
Position: Music Intern
Description: I have to tag and upload many Russian songs into an ethnomusicology archive. I notate the music and create labels for the content.
Language Requirement: Russian
Language Use: I read some Cyrillic to date recordings and learn more about them.
Impact on Language Skills: learned basic Russian
Opportunity Found Through: Brown alumni networks
Paid: No
Application Process: Cover letter and resume
Contact Information: Emma Giventer-Braff '23 (emma_giventer-braff@brown.edu)
International Labor Organization
Location: Remote
Description: Developed a chat bot to combat forced adult and child labor in cotton fields; eased access to laws and regulations for improved reporting & monitoring of cases; liaised with ILO translators and workers to include relevant documentation.
Language Requirement: Russian and Uzbek
Language Use: Translated the chatbot into different local languages and used.
Impact on Language Skills: More people had comfortable access to the bot in Uzbekistan, which is incredibly diverse in terms of languages spoken.
Paid: No
Application Process: I cold-emailed a bunch of people at the ILO. I then had to submit my LinkedIn and CV. I was offered an interview to discuss interests and motivation and then offered the unpaid internship.
Internews Kazakhstan
Location: Almaty, Kazakhstan
Position: Reporting Office Intern
Description: Translated reports and documents from Russian to English; Cleaned, compiled, and translated data in Excel; Wrote English language reports detailing USAID grant uses and project outcomes; Conducted research for various reports in English and Russian
Language Requirement: No requirement, although my internship specifically required Russian language since I speak Russian, but they tailor internship placement to each candidate's language level
Language Use: Most of my coworkers primarily spoke Russian, and I was also often tasked with translating content from Russian to English, conducting research in Russian, or filling in Russian language forms.
Impact on Language Skills: My level of fluency and vocabulary increased a lot, and my Russian language became "more Russian" in my usage of it.
Opportunity Found Through: found through American Councils OPIT program
Paid: No, but host family and optional cultural excursions provided
Application Process: Had to submit transcripts, resumes, statement of purpose, general demographic information, and essays in a foreign language if you wanted to have a language component in your internship.
SRAS and NovaMova
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
Position: Student
Description: NovaMova is a small language school in Kyiv. The language program was great, but the study abroad organization (who contracts with the language school) was not the best.
Language Requirement: No (recommend 2 yrs).
Language Use: Everyday
Opportunity Found Through: found through American Councils OPIT program
Paid: No, but study abroad included host family, some transportation, on-site assistance, and excursions
Application Process: Online application with simple prompts
Link: https://sras.org/students/
Contact: olwyn_kells@brown.edu