Graduate of St. Petersburg University, PhD in Linguistics, I have been teaching the Russian language in different programmes including intensive courses giving both in-person and online classes.

Find out more about Marina

• 1) Do you speak this language fluently because of your origins or because a teacher inspired you to learn?

  I speak Russian fluently because I am Russian. I was born in Russia and since my childhood I was inspired by my parents and grandparents to immerse myself in the world of Russian literature and culture.

• 2) Can you name a living, historical or fictional character that you think is the emblematic representative of the language's culture?

  It is so difficult to name one! But of course, first of all, it is Alexander Pushkin, a writer, poet, whose work influenced both the formation of the modern Russian language and world culture. In Russia they say: "Pushkin is our everything".
  
  All Russian children know Pushkin's fairy tales. In adolescence, we read his wonderful stories. You can declare your love with Pushkin's poems. You can learn about Russian history from his historical novels. You can study the traditions of 19th-century Russia based on his novel in verse "Eugene Onegin", which is called the "encyclopedia of Russian life" and has been repeatedly filmed in different countries. You can enjoy romances and operas by Russian composers inspired by the works of Pushkin. That's just to put it briefly.

• 3) Is there a typical word, phrase, tradition or behavior in the language that you particularly like?

  I want to mark my favorite Russian word МИР [mir] (peace; world). This word combines two important concepts: 1) peace as an antonym of war; 2) and the universe in which we live. These two concepts are inseparable. A wonderful Russian artist, thinker, writer, and traveler Nikolas Roerich wrote about this very well: «Unsurprisingly, in Russian the word МИР [mir] is compatible with both peacefulness and the universe. These concepts combine in one word not because of the poverty of the language. The language is rich. They are essentially combined because the universe and peaceful creativity are inseparable».

• 4) Why does speaking this language matter to you?

  It's important for me to preserve my identity, especially since I live outside of Russia. It was important for me to pass this on to my children. And I believe that my professional mission is to promote the Russian language and Russian culture as part of the world cultural heritage that can enrich any personality.

• 5) What is the main difficulty in learning this language and what can help the process of learning?

  The most important thing is to overcome the bias and fear that it is a difficult language. And what can help you is the joy of traveling into the unknown with constant discoveries that will amaze you. Of course, you know the traditional Russian souvenir matryoshka nested doll, which you open and find another, the third one, the fourth one and so on. Similarly, when learning a language, you will discover something new and fascinating every time.

• 6) Provide a valuable anecdote related to your language learning or your days at school.

  This is probably due to my experience of learning Arabic, which, unfortunately, I know very poorly. One day, students asked me who my husband worked for, and I said that he was a doctor. They asked me what kind of doctor he was, to which I replied in Arabic, "cardiologist," but in my Arabic version it sounded like a "dog doctor," because I had confused the initial sounds of the words "dog" and "heart".

• 7) How has travel or a specific trip helped you to increase your skill and knowledge of the language?

  I have been living in a multilingual country where code switching (Arabic, English, French) is a daily reality. People switch from one language to another and this is an amazing experience. In my family, we practice three languages: Russian, English, Arabic. When I moved to this country from Russia, I couldn't even expect that I would often be able to communicate in Spanish here as well.

• 8) What makes you a Superprof in language?

  Motivate students, make their journey into the Russian language unforgettable, fascinating and show that they are Superstudents!