How well would a Russian citizen speak English in 1972, and how would he have learned it?
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1 Expert Answer
Melanie J. answered • 08/22/19
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Experienced, Award-Winning ESL/IELTS Teacher!
It depends on the student, their resources and their exposure! A motivated Russian-native speaking student with decent textbooks and/or a teacher could become quite good at reading and writing in English even if their speaking and listening was poor. (This is actually quite common among academics, who may learn how to read or write in a language in order to read and understand texts in another language.) With all of the aforementioned things, plus exposure to the language in the form of an extended trip to an English-speaking country or an English speaking friend or family member, they could become quite fluent overall.
It really depends on a combination of resources, motivation and exposure to the target language.
Interesting question! :-)
Melanie
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Suzanne S.
According to Quora, during the 1970s in the Soviet Union, "it was mandatory to learn one foreign language for school kids; usually, kids started it from the middle school, but in some schools earlier. The exact language(s) available was determined by the supply side: what teachers could teach." English, German and French were offered when available. English was the most popular, especially in Moscow. "Possibly, they multiplied during the Detente in the 70s." As for how well one could speak English in 1972, "[t]he quality of foreign language instruction was not high".... "[t]he near-impossibility to visit a foreign country or even to meet a native speaker" during that time made good pronunciation and accent reduction unlikely. See https://www.quora.com/Were-foreign-languages-taught-in-the-Soviet-Union-If-yes-what-were-the-most-common-ones-taught for more information.06/21/19