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Has the Tatar language ever been taught at Moscow State University? How many times did Lomonosov visit Moscow University? By Olga Matveeva, 3rd year undergraduate of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Moscow State University  Has the Tatar language ever been taught at Moscow State University?  Yes, it has!According to the edict issued by Empress Catherine II, Tatar was one of the foreign languages taught at the university in the 18th century. Actually, this fact can be regarded as the foundation of the study of Oriental languages at Moscow University. The history of language studies at MSU is complex and eventful. The first foreign languages taught to students were Latin, French and German, which seems to be quite logical. The reason is that Latin was still the universal language of science at that time; German was an absolute necessity for students because the first university professors in Russia were German and they preferred to lecture in their native tongue (or had to do it not knowing Russian). French was almost as wide spread as English is nowadays. The way to teach foreign languages was at that time open to question. The first book touching upon methodical approach, which appeared in the 18th century, contained recommendations concerning phonetics, translation and comparative analysis. The main advice, however funny it can seem now, was not to make students bored with lectures. The suggestions mentioned above could hardly be considered concrete so different professors taught languages in different ways. Thus, when discussing articles, for example in French, from the point of view of grammar, lecturers told about the geographical position and the history of the country in addition. One of popular forms of language studies at that time were public exercises. Cramming, though, was nevertheless regarded as the most effective way to master a foreign language. As far as translation is concerned, it gained great practical importance during the years when Peter I governed the country and carried out social and economic reforms, the time when relations with other countries started to develop in Russia. The first texts translated into Russian had as subjects moral or didactic issues. They were in prose. Later translators attempted to deal with poetry and translated extracts from poems by Shakespeare and Goethe, and Scandinavian sagas. Scientific societies had by that time begun to publish works in foreign languages. In 1804 a special faculty was organised at Moscow University with the departments of Rhetoric, Versification, the Russian language, Latin and Greek. Philology in general was considered to be closely connected with History. In 1835 the department of History and Philology appeared where, besides Russian, Latin and Greek, the additional languages of Arabic, Persian, Tatar, Turkish, Mongol, and Sanskrit were taught. It is noticeable that students did not study living European languages taken separately until 1863 when a new department of the Comparative Grammar of Indo-European Languages was established. After the revolution of 1917 less attention was paid to the humanities. By 1930 Philology had ceased being taught to the students of Moscow University. Only 11 years later, in 1941, was the Faculty of Philology was restored. And 15 years ago, in 1988, the Faculty of Foreign Languages was established and Professor Svetlana G. Ter-Minasova became its dean. How many times did Lomonosov visit Moscow University?  Surprisingly, Lomonosov never visited the university.Having thought over the foundation of a university in Moscow and worked out the university statutes, Lomonosov understood that it was no use applying to the Academy of Sciences, the Senate or directly to the Empress for the realisation of his project. He knew from experience that as a result of endless rows over the matter the project would just be shelved. So, he decided to turn for help to the Empress's favourite Ivan Shuvalov famous as a protector of science, literature and fine arts. Shuvalov supported the idea with great enthusiasm in the hope of improving his reputation and strengthening his position at court. The Senate approved the project set up by Shuvalov, and on January 12 (24), 1755 an edict concerning the foundation of Moscow University was issued. The problem was, that even though Shuvalov helped Lomonosov to realise the project and the dream seemed to have come true, the original university statutes underwent a lot of changes. Thus, Shuvalov reduced the number of professors from 12 to 10 and limited the university to a budget of only 10,000 roubles per year, which appeared ridiculously little, especially in comparison with 3,000,000 gold roubles assigned for the needs of the Empress and the Court. To do justice to the Senate, after studying the project its members added 5,000 roubles to the university budget. But this did not help to improve the situation. During the 18th century the university staff, professors, lecturers and students were constantly badly in need. According to Lomonosov's plans, students were not to be distinguished on the basis of their social background. Shuvalov, in his turn, insisted on observing the principles of seniority. He suggested that nobles at the university gymnasia should be supported with more money than so called 'raznochintzi' (students coming from other social layers). The latter ones were provided with worse living conditions than noblemen and could be birched by teachers. Having changed the project, Shuvalov assumed the idea of the foundation of Moscow University. Astonishingly, Lomonosov's name was never mentioned in any documents, either introduced to the Senate or published at that time, concerning the establishment of the university. The university was opened with much pomp and ceremony on April 26 (May 7) 1755. The Empress and Shuvalov were glorified as its wise founders; fireworks were set off in their honour, while Lomonosov did not even manage to come to Moscow on that day. Neither did he visit the university later. |
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