IF STATISTICS WERE AVAILABLE ON THE DROPOUT RATE AND UNSATISFACTORY ACHIEVEMENT OF COLLEGE STUDENTS TAKING RUSSIAN, THEY WOULD PROBABLY SUPPORT THE WIDELY HELD OPINION THAT RUSSIAN IS DIFFICULT. THE DIFFICULTY IS ATTRIBUTABLE LARGELY TO THE FACT THAT RUSSIAN IS NEITHER A GERMANIC NOR A ROMANCE LANGUAGE, AND STUDENTS THUS FIND IT HARD TO RECOGNIZE COGNATES AND TO ACQUIRE AN ACTIVE VOCABULARY. NEW TEXTBOOKS AND METHODS, BOTH AUDIOLINGUAL AND GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION ARE NEEDED THAT WILL FACE THE VOCABULARY PROBLEM. INSTEAD OF REQUIRING AN ACTIVE COMMAND OF GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY FROM THE OUTSET, TEACHERS SHOULD AIM AT DEVELOPING IN THEIR STUDENTS AN ACCURATE PRONUNCIATION, A THOROUGH BUT PASSIVE COMMAND OF GRAMMAR, AND A LARGE READING VOCABULARY. THESE SKILLS, ADMITTEDLY, ARE GAINED AT THE EXPENSE OF A LIMITED AND DOUBTFUL ORAL FLUENCY. IN THE FIRST TERM OF COLLEGE WORK THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF GRAMMAR AND A 300-WORD VOCABULARY SHOULD BE COVERED. THE OTHER TERMS SHOULD BE DEVOTED TO DEVELOPING A LARGE PASSIVE VOCABULARY BY MEANS OF READERS WITH VISIBLE VOCABULARIES AND STIMULATING MATERIAL ON RUSSIAN CULTURE. AFTER 2 YEARS OF NONINTENSIVE COURSES THE STUDENT WILL HAVE A CORRECT PRONUNCIATION, A RELIABLE COMMAND OF GRAMMAR, UNUSUAL FLUENCY IN READING, INSIGHT INTO RUSSIAN CULTURE, AND THE DESIRE AS WELL AS THE SOLID BASIS FOR GOING ON TO ADVANCED COURSES. THIS ARTICLE IS PUBLISHED IN "THE SLAVIC AND EAST EUROPEAN JOURNAL, "VOLUME 10, NUMBER 1, SPRING 1966. (AUTHOR)