ASU student puts Russian to good use

While working on a story for The Arizona Republic covering the Rock'n'Roll Marathon, I was lucky enough to be able to use my Russian skills I learned at ASU. I happened upon a young man in a Team Russia jacket sitting at a table smiling happily at another racer who was trying to communicate in English. The Russian didn't understand a single word of English and instead nodded to every question the other racer had. Eventually I stepped in and began to translate for the two men. Although I wasn't fluent, I was able to understand nearly everything the Russian (Sergei) said. I conducted an interview with him about his race (po-russki), but it wasn't printed in the paper.

It was amazing to use my Russian studies in my reporting and it encouraged me to continue to study the language. The best part is that he was impressed with how I spoke given the relatively short time (2 1/2 years) I have studied Russian.

Cameron