Learning Russian

[Howyoudoin]

Had my first lesson of 10 tonight. "Russian for Beginners".

Holy cow, this language is hard.

The expression 'an old dog can't learn new tricks' comes to mind!



HYD

[UncleEbenezer]

I've sadly never learned Russian.

But I do speak four languages to a level of decent conversation, and learned all of them not by useless lessons, but by speaking them with natives when I've been in their respective countries.

You want to learn Russian, spend some time with those in-laws and others in Russia.

[Howyoudoin]

I've sadly never learned Russian.

But I do speak four languages to a level of decent conversation, and learned all of them not by useless lessons, but by speaking them with natives when I've been in their respective countries.

You want to learn Russian, spend some time with those in-laws and others in Russia.

Hmmm. Sounds great in principle but if I don't speak Russian and they don't speak English, where do you go from there?

HYD

[GoSeigen]

I've sadly never learned Russian.

But I do speak four languages to a level of decent conversation, and learned all of them not by useless lessons, but by speaking them with natives when I've been in their respective countries.

You want to learn Russian, spend some time with those in-laws and others in Russia.

Hmmm. Sounds great in principle but if I don't speak Russian and they don't speak English, where do you go from there?

HYD

Speak the language while engaging in something else of interest to both parties. Use the main activity to show off your skills while accepting the clumsiness and limitations of each other's use of language.

When not in company try to expose yourself to as much new-language resources as you can. Watch movies in the language, read your news on their media websites. Turn your phone onto the new language. Buy light reading in the target language - magazines about your interests for example. Get some decent literature in the language for your commute and just skim read it, trying to get through quickly rather than understand the detail. All takes a bit of effort when not in the foreign country so good luck!


GS

[bungeejumper]

Hmmm. Sounds great in principle but if I don't speak Russian and they don't speak English, where do you go from there?

If I recall correctly, Condoleezza Rice was the only member of George W Bush's government who spoke any foreign languages at all. (Apart from a smattering of local Hispanic, presumably.) And her chosen tongue was Russian. Might have been one of Dubya's very few smart moves, if only she hadn't gone and spoiled it all by demanding the Iraq invasion.

Never mind, most of the European national leaders seem able to talk to BBC reporters in English, so why do we need to pander to Johnny Foreigner and his inconvenient linguistic needs? Just do what Maggie did and say the same thing again at twice the volume.

As a former foreign languages teacher, I despair at this country's willingness to believe that you can get along anywhere in English. Mind you, Russian was too hard for me as well when I was at school - I gave it up in favour of woodwork classes, which probably served me better in the long run.

BJ

[stevensfo]

Try to get hold of the Pimsleur course. I've never found a better introduction to a language and it's great for getting the pronunciation correct. All Pimsleur courses have the same format and you learn fairly basic but useful phrases. No reading or writing; just listen, repeat, so good for the car. What I always did was to start off with these, then start using other courses after about the tenth lesson. I used this method when we used to go to Greece a lot and was soon able to have simple conversations.

Good luck,

Steve

[swill453]

Never mind, most of the European national leaders seem able to talk to BBC reporters in English, so why do we need to pander to Johnny Foreigner and his inconvenient linguistic needs? Just do what Maggie did and say the same thing again at twice the volume.

Funnily enough that was how the Brexit negotiations were characterised on the radio this morning

(Sorry, off topic I know)

Scott.

[Sobraon]

I have had a lifetime of failure in learning other languages, Mrs S is a language graduate so the pressure is reduced but it has always annoyed me. Determined to do something about this about three years ago I became addicted to a web based tool called Duolingo (free) and started Spanish. To my utter amazement (yes, really) I can now read, write and listen to slow-ish ‘every day’ Spanish (shops etc.) and I can understand. Speaking is slower (I need more practice).

In a Spanish restaurant this year I could fully understand the native conversation between two guys on the neighbouring table (possibly school teachers as their annunciation was really clear).

I am a philhellene so I started Modern Greek about 2 years ago. Greek is fiendish and much more of a challenge than Spanish, some words are familiar but others are just a jumble and the grammar is interesting. However I feel I am making progress (at least reading wise).

My conclusion is I need 20 mins a day, every day (about 10 mins per language). I use Duolingo as it continually tests me and then automatically focuses on weakness.

So my point – register for Duolingo Russian !

[stevensfo]

I have had a lifetime of failure in learning other languages,

I think it's a mixture of having a genuine interest in learning and actually opening your mouth and practising.

I was pretty awful at languages at school, but after leaving, I became more and more interested and finally fulfilled an old dream of working abroad. But I was very aware that my shyness made progress slower than it should have been. Many times I just didn't open my mouth to practise, scared of looking daft.

Our youngest son is very similar to me and is not at all talented at languages. However, the eldest speaks fluent Polish, Italian and in theory, French (rarely used these days). The difference is that he's very extrovert and has never been afraid to speak.

I forgot about Duolingo. I have it on my phone somewhere for learning Swahili but haven't used it for ages.


Steve

[vrdiver]

... if I don't speak Russian and they don't speak English, where do you go from there?

My English grandmother and her German counterpart used to walk around the garden, naming flowers in English or German, then getting the other's version back. They would do the gardening together, and a mix of miming and actions alongside the spoken word led to being able to communicate, initially about gardening, but it developed. Repeated usage, rather than accuracy, was a key component in the process.

VRD

[tjh290633]

I did three years at night school in the early sixties learning Russian. I got to Institute of Linguists stage one, which allowed me to read scientific papers, but it was only twenty years later during several visits to the Soviet Union that conversational skills developed.

The grammar can be difficult to get your head round, but you have to accept that they have nine cases, where Latin only has six. Then you have the perfective and imperfective aspects and, of course, gender to cope with. For a man to use the feminine form of a verb is a give away about how he learnt his Russian.

Once you know the alphabet and some basic grammar, it is easy to make progress. We used Semyonova's grammar, which was fairly straightforward.

TJH