Mohadeseh from Iran: ‘Learning Russian opened up a magical world for me’
Why she chose to learn Russian
For a girl from Iran, learning Russian began with her home library. Her parents are doctors and have a rich collection of fiction from around the world (translated into Persian). When Mohadeseh started reading books by Russian authors, she found many similarities with her native literature. So, she decided to become more familiar with Russian literature and the language.
11 years with Russian
The Iranian started learning Russian in Tehran. She first studied four years of undergraduate studies at Al-Zahra University and then another six years of graduate and postgraduate studies at the Tarbiat Modares University.
In her home country, she has already worked as a guide and translator with Russians who come to Iran to work, study and travel. The young lady speaks excellent Russian and already teaches it. But there is no limit to perfection.
For almost a year, Mohadeseh has been studying in Moscow in the State Pushkin Institute of Russian Language.
“Learning Russian opened up a magical world for me. While working on my paper in my master's degree and postgraduate dissertation, I found many similarities between Russian and my native language. I came to the Pushkin Institute to draw knowledge from this scientific treasury,” Mohadeseh says.
Her favorite writer is Pushkin
When you ask any Russian who their favorite writer is, most people would answer Pushkin without hesitation. Mohadeseh agrees with them, although she is not as quick to answer, as she finds Russian literature too rich at times.
But she admires Pushkin's talent: “Two centuries later, people still read his works with great interest!” She especially likes the ‘Eugene Onegin’ novel in verse, which the author wrote for a whole eight years.
And, when Mohadeseh read Pushkin's poem ‘The Fountain of Bakhchisarai’, she discovered that the author was influenced by great Iranian poet Hafiz Shirazi. And she was not mistaken. After all, Pushkin openly showed respect for the Iranian poet and even wrote a poem inspired by him called ‘From Hafiz’ (“Don't be captivated by the glory of battle”).
Challenges of the Russian language
“The Russian language is very beautiful though complicated. But, in my opinion, it is very interesting when the thing you love is both difficult and beautiful,” the Iranian says.
Other foreign students are quick to talk about what they find most difficult in learning Russian, be it motion verbs or cases, for example. But, Mohadeseh is confident that such difficulties are solvable. “As the Russians say, 'repetition is the mother of learning',” she quotes a Russian proverb.
“In my opinion, Russian is like math. In math, there are formulas and, in Russian, there are also cases, genders and grammatical numbers. And we need to put all the words in their place to create a correct sentence in Russian.”
Incidentally, Mohadeseh's dissertation was specifically about sentence construction.
About life in Russia
“I thought I had entered my dream,” says Mohadeseh, describing her first impressions of Russia. She was lucky, though, that the first winter of 2025 was quite mild.
She admits she likes living and studying in Moscow very much. Her favorite place is the Red Square, which she refers to as “the symbol of the capital of Russia” and she gets especially fascinated by how many sights there are in one place: both the St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin. Mohadeseh dreams of traveling to other Russian cities to see as much of Russia as possible. “I've been to Tula, the homeplace of Leo Tolstoy. There, I tried the local gingerbread. It was a wonderful experience for me!”
And Mohadeseh has also fallen in love with Russian cuisine: “I’ve tried borsch, shchi, pelmeni and I like them all very much!”
‘Gateway to Russia’ is grateful to the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute for its help in preparing this interview.
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