Interview with Olga Sokolova
Абигейл Фергюсон
This fall, William & Mary and the Russian Language House welcome the new International Fellow, Olga Sokolova! Olga was born in the North of Russia and later moved to Nizhny Novgorod to pursue her studies in linguistics. She has also spent a significant amount of time living and studying abroad in France.
A graduate of the Linguistic University of Nizny-Novgorod and Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Olga specializes in translation, communication, and Eastern European Studies. Olga is also equipped with a multilingual background. She speaks Russian, English, and French fluently. Furthermore, Olga studied Chinese while in university and Polish while pursuing her master's degree.
In Bordeaux, France, Olga worked as a Russian teacher for French students. This year, at William & Mary, she looks forward to gaining experience working with American students and learning more about American culture.
Within the Russian House, Olga is excited to organize more conversation hours, host Russian teas, and screen Russian films and cartoons, and perhaps even launch a new podcast! With her background in French language and culture, she also hopes to collaborate on new activities with the French House.
Outside of her academic work, Olga enjoys going to the beach, spending time with friends, reading books (especially in French), and listening to Russian music. Olga also has a special interest in the geopolitics of Eastern Europe and one day dreams of working for the United Nations or becoming a university professor!
We are fortunate to have Olga with us until May! She encourages all students to participate in Russian House events, share ideas for new activities, and is always happy to help students practice their Russian with her.
Interview with Blake Puckett
Кэйт Беллами
Note–this interview has been condensed and edited lightly for clarity :)
Kate: Tell us a little about yourself–your background and a brief overview of some of the work you’ve done, both in the US and abroad.
Blake: My name is Blake Puckett–I just retired from federal government service after serving as the lead analyst on Russia for the DIA at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I studied Russian in high school at South Lakes High School in Reston for three years and then went off to West Point where I studied Russian all four years and graduated with a Soviet Area Studies major. The Soviet Union disappeared six months later…making my degree feel obsolete. I then did five years of active duty with the army, went to law school, got married, and my wife and I went to Kazakhstan as missionaries. We were in Kazakhstan for a year and a half before we then got kicked out and went to Kyrgyzstan. I was then mobilized to Iraq where I actually ended up using my Russian skills–I was put in charge of the bureau of standards and measurement, and the two senior officials I worked with had studied in Moscow, so we spoke in Russian instead of Arabic. I then returned to the US and completed a PhD in Central Asian studies, worked for the State Department and then the Defense Department as a Russian analyst for the DIA.
Kate: What drew you to Russian and Central Asian Studies?
Blake: Initially it was that I wanted to be different by taking a different language. At West Point, it was more that the Soviet Union was our enemy, and I am the classic know-your-enemy type of thinker. At some point along the way I just started being fascinated by the region, the people, and the history. I actually got to go on a trip to Moscow and Tbilisi in 1986 when I was a senior in high school. I got to see ГУМ–which is the big department store–empty.
Kate: How did you find your major in Soviet studies useful throughout your career?
Blake: It helped to understand the people I was working with. Being an intelligence analyst looking at the former Soviet Union, the majority of the folks I worked with had never been to Russia or the Soviet Union, but I had lived (as we would say) “on the economy” for several years. It gave me a sense of both how these are folks just like us, driven by the same broad set of ideas and desires, but also how there are differences in perspective and history and their understanding of how the world works.
As a missionary, if you really want to gauge the heart of people, you will be at a huge disadvantage if you don’t have the language. Not only just knowing the language, but it is also necessary to understand the history of their culture.
Kate: Speaking of cultural understanding (or mis-understanding really), do you have any funny stories of misunderstandings that happened while you were abroad?
Blake: The funniest story–I was studying Russian in Kyrgyzstan with my wife, and our Russian teacher asked me “what values do you live by/what things do you subscribe to?” and I answered: “Well, love your neighbors". But instead of saying “cоседи” as in gender neutral neighbors… I said “cоседки”! Which is love your female neighbors… and of course both my wife and our teacher burst out laughing.
Kate: When I studied abroad in Lithuania, I found that over time as I grew accustomed to the culture and language, I had certain moments where I felt that I understood and could blend into the environment. Were there any times that you felt this way in your time in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan?
Blake: It was actually in the process of getting kicked out of Kazakhstan that I felt that I had reached a new milestone in my cultural understanding. I was helping run this business college and I had some American colleagues visiting when suddenly two МВД (Ministry of Internal Affairs) police officers burst into my office and say: “you’re under arrest and we are deporting you!” They’re yelling–it’s just a big hubbub of stuff. Having received hospitality from other Kazakhs before (and they’re extremely hospitable) I practiced what I had seen. So, I answered: “I am not sure that’s really possible right now, but why don’t you come and sit down? Would you like some tea? Would you like some chocolates? We’ve got chocolates!” So just knowing that it was their culture and they would respond to that totally defused the situation. Now, we still got kicked out…but as opposed to being led out of the building in handcuffs, which was probably a distinct possibility… the understanding of hospitality in Kazakhstan ended up being valuable.
Kate: What advice would you give to students who are studying Russian?
Blake: The one thing I would say is don’t despair. It is worth investing the time studying the Russian language even if you are not fluent in it. The Iraqis that I worked with did not speak fluent Russian either–but communication can happen at a level lower than professional fluency particularly if you have an understanding of the history and culture. Do the best you can–but Russian is really hard.
Kate: What would you tell a student who is interested in using their language skills to work for the government in any capacity?
Blake: I would warn you that even if you come in with those language skills and they hire you for those skills–understand that those are only one aspect of a broad array of skills that the government will want. Most of the positions–like foreign policy analyst positions–will be more general, you may be working on your region of expertise, and then six months later find yourself on a completely new account because there’s a crisis there that the US government is focused on. So be comfortable using the language/cultural skills when you have an opportunity but be prepared to operate outside of those skills.
A lot of the skills of learning a different language and culture are really helpful even when it is not the culture that you have studied. The ability to cross cultures and figure out where the other side is coming from is going to be broadly useful.