Learning basic Russian

[Nightwish]

And do not forget that Russia is also just a submarine trip away.

I actually sat on watch during the last visit RED IVAN made to us in the late 80:s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_S-363).. imagine a bunch of 19 year old kids, in the middle of the night, pitch black... in the Swedish archipelago with fully loaded atomatic weapons, looking for submarines or attack divers from Russia...  when a family of swans decides to swim by us   

[mendeleyev]

f you want to learn more about Russia or about learning the Russian language, just "Ask Sophie." This popular feature continues to grow, and host Sophie Tupolev is providing great resources for adding to your knowledge on all things Russian.We are very pleased that the popular "Ask Sophie" website has added the Mendeleyev Journal to their resources on learning Russian language, and about Russia in general.





Sophie also writes a regular column for Moscow Expat Life magazine and she is the driving force behind the Key2Moscow blog which is a lively guide to just about everything happening in Russia's capital city. The Mendeleyev Journal is adding several of her insightful features to our language and cultural resource pages.

[iceshaft07]

Hey everyone!

I've been studying Russian for four months now. I can only say basic things, but I agree its worth learning. Its magic. People will like you for attempting to speak their language.

I love Russian (more so than English), but Russian is a very difficult language coming from English.

Russian nouns are declined. Russian verbs are conjugated 4 different ways. The grammar... Well, it's not difficult, it's just that English speakers don't need to know what a "Direct Object" or "Indirect Object" is....

Until I figure out what that is, Olga will have to deal with me speaking in the nominative case for everything :-D!

For Rosetta Stone, it's this crazy thing... When I use it, I feel like I'm not learning. But then several months later, I realize how much I've improved.

As far as Rosetta stone goes, it takes me about 2 months to complete a level. So yes, $169 to get through lesson 1 will take about 2 months. I study for about 2 hours every day.

HOWEVER!

I also highly recommend getting a book on Russian too, as Rosetta Stone DOESN'T teach you grammar. It also doesn't teach you what a Russian "Particle" is (words that are in a sentence that are used for emphasis, but have no meaning).

Otherwise, you will just be wondering why sometimes its "Most" and other times its "Mosta".

I plan on getting the Penguin book... after I've completed Russian levels 1-5 on Rosetta stone. I plan on using Rosetta Stone as an introduction to the language, and then getting some books on Russian Grammar to really finesse my speaking abilities.

[ML]

Hey everyone!

I've been studying Russian for four months now. I can only say basic things, but I agree its worth learning. Its magic. People will like you for attempting to speak their language.

Please stop these lessons immediately.

If you were to become proficient . . . then Russia would feel obligated to come protect you from your friends and neighbors.

[Taz]

One benefit of speaking Russian (or Ukrainian) is being able to communicate with her friends and family. You get a better idea of what type of people they are. It of course can pay huge dividends.


If I had not spoken Russian, I am sure my wife's family wouldn't have been so supportive of our relationship. Because they could talk with me directly and voice their concerns, it really helped us overcome the ones we could and build a closer family.


As for good Russian learning options, I would highly suggest the Ruslan series of computer based training series as well as the workbooks. More effective than Pimsleur and cheaper too. They are written by John Langram and were designed for use in the secondary school system in the UK. Very well designed and likely not boring for most people to study. Go to www.ruslan.co.uk


General language learning tips are to study every day for 30 minutes rather than 3 hours in just one day each week. At one time I spoke 6 languages fluently with Russian being one of them. Lack of practice I am down to probably 3 and possibly a fourth but my Ukrainian has improved quite a bit whereas before it wasn't very good. All but 2 of the languages I learned while as an adult which is definitely harder than as a child.


Forgot one other benefit. My Russian ability has saved me a lot of money in fines and kept me from being arrested a few times. Refer to some of my past trip reports for more info on some of this.

[KenInUtah]

This is a topic I may be able to chime in on.  Fortunately for me my lady speaks English quite well.  My Russian is non-existent so I am trying to learn a bit.  Fortunately for me, I speak Czech and while they are both Slavic languages, very little translates.  Numbers are very similar which helps and a word here and there like "ulice" is street in both but it is a learning experience for me too.  Now, Russian conjugates verbs 4 ways, Czech is 6.  Russian has 6 cases, Czech 7 and both have M-F-N nouns so at least I am past that as well and the pronunciation like mentioned above helps that each letter has ONE sound.

I am going to take this the same way I learned Czech.  First decide whether it is more important to read/write or speak/understand the language and focus there 80% of the time.  It does you know good if you can read when you are in a store or restaurant and need to talk!

Learn nominative case first ie "It is a car", "Where is the bathroom"...Nominative case is basically defined by the verb "to be".  If you were never good in English grammar, get ready...You will learn more about grammar learning a language than you ever did in school! Cases are basically decided by verbs and prepositions.  In other words, "to them" and "with them" will have a slightly different word for "them".

Basically, put yourself in situations and figure out what you need to understand. Please, Thank You, Where is..., Hello, Goodbye, How much..., When is... are good places to start.

Remember something else, we all cringe when someone leaves out words in English saying something like "When is train".  We understand them and understand they are trying to speak English.  Some words don't exist in other languages or some are left out all together.  Examples that I can give are that there is no word for "the" in Czech so "When is train" is the translation.  Also, Pronouns are defined by the verbs conjugation. "I am" = Ja jsem in Czech but the Ja gets left out of spoken language so "Jsem tady" means "I am here".

Basically what I am saying is "Kak da metro" will get the meaning across of when is the train even though it isn't perfect.  Remember that and you won't get frustrated. be patient and try to think of multiple ways to make your point, meaning you could say "very good" or "great" (different words) but mean basically the same.