I’ve known Russian and English from birth and, as a freshman in college, have the opportunity to take a RUS411 course. I personally want to audit it to minimize any potential risk to my GPA. My father wants me to take it for credit, saying it will be a valuable tool in proving proficiency in the language. I am majoring in Business Data Analytics with an Int. Business certificate, so this is only at best tangentially related to my coursework.
My question is this: how would I go about showing employers I know Russian from birth? Is taking this class and then pointing to a (hopefully) good grade on my transcript the only option? Or is there another path I can take that would produce similar results? How highly would employers value an A grade in such a class as a sign of my knowledge of the language?
You can get an A in a language class without being truly proficient in the language. If you state proficiency on your resume, and if language skills are at all relevant to your employer, it will help you get in the door. They will test your proficiency personally (look online for stories of people who claimed proficiency and got embarrassed during interviews and you’ll see!).
In some countries there are language proficiency tests, much like the English proficiency tests required of international students. I doubt you can take such a test in the US, and don’t know about Russian specifically, but it is something you could explore. Then you have a certification so to speak.