Abstract:

Nowadays multilingualism is one of the most important characteristics of the contemporary society. Speaking and comprehending at least two foreign languages is a must for a specialist of any specific setting. That is why many Universities include studying a second foreign language as a compulsory subject in the curriculum of Higher Education. As the English language is widely spread and is considered to be a language of international communication, a lot of students have a certain level of proficiency in English. Learning other foreign languages has become a necessity that involves extensive study of major European languages: Spanish, French or German. In recent years, Spanish is known to be widely used as a second foreign language by the majority of students.

The paper examines the reasons why students of a Russian University (at the example of RUDN University – Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia) choose Spanish as a second foreign language. As the students have already some experience in studying a first foreign language, the mastery of a second foreign language should go more smoothly. But in fact the students face a lot of issues that make both positive and negative effect on studying the second foreign language. The paper concentrates on some aspects of studying Phonetics of the Spanish Language and its correlation with graphical symbols.

The examples of teaching Spanish as a second foreign language at a Russian higher education Institution are presented.