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candide
Frequent Guest
Joined: 24 Nov 2004
Posts: 15
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 Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 6:34 pm Post subject: |
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Can we stay on topic to a serious request from the original poster?
I fully agree with Brent, ie try different methods or media, especially when you get bored with one approach and seem to be stuck and getting nowhere. There is not one method of learning Russian, or any other language, that is best for everyone. You need to find out what works for you .
IMHO, which may or may not suit you:
1. For absolute beginners, First, learn the Cyrillic alphabet, and a good and fun way to learn this is at
http://www.catcode.com/ and click on Introduction to the Russian alphabet. Then try http://www.funet.fi/pub/culture/russian/html_pages/language/rusphon.html this is an old link and may not be working now.
2. Buy a dictionary, and I have the Collins pocket and the full Oxford Russian dictionary. I also find the Lonely Planet Russian phrasebook useful, although there are many errors in there.
3. Having a personal tutor or attending evening classes may work for you, but I find it difficult to commit myself to fixed times, etc.
4. I prefer the CD or multi-media courses offered by Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone. They are expensive, but you could download them from the file-sharing or P2P websites. Check out your local library and if they have them, then its free to use. For grammar, try Transparent Languages Russian GrammarPro, or buy a book, or go to http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/ (has lots of stuff on Russia and links to eg, Voice of Russia world service).
5. I find Pimsleur the most convenient as I have it in MP3 format, and can play them in the background, eg when having breakfast. The major drawback with Pimsleur is that it is mainly audio, and there is no text to go with the audio (if like me, you are a visual rather than audio learner). However, I did try to transcribe them, but you can find self-made transcriptions on other forums.
Rosetta Stone is useful as it is multi-media and you can choose to have combinations of audio, text, graphics, and even have your voice wavelengths recorded and compared against what it should be. The drawback is that you have to be at the PC, and it starts off with trivial words or phrases, like boy, girl, dog, cat, aeroplane, above or beneath the aeroplane - all of which are not exactly useful if you want to learn phrases that are of immediate use (phrasebooks are much better if you have only a few weeks before going to Russia)..
6. There are a lot of free and not so free, resources available on the internet. Just google on learning Russian or some combination or variant. I have not tried all of the following websites, but are great when you get tired of pims and RS, or your tutor:
http://www.russnet.org/online.html, (by american council for teachers of russian).
http://masterrussian.com/
http://learningrussian.com/ (the message board is good to get ‘free’tuition, most are very friendly, and no flames, etc).
http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/Learn/Russian.asp, (is fun and write/chat with others at same time).
http://www.declan-software.com/russian/ (have to pay for most).
http://www.ukma.kiev.ua/pub/courses/UFL/ (free, for those interested in Ukrainian instead of russian).
7. For those confident enough to look for something more challenging, then try:
www.russiantroika.com/links.html
http://www.rambler.ru
http://www.gramota.ru
8. Internet TV and radio (you need at least good basic Russian to benefit from this)
http://www2.gwu.edu/~slavic/webcast/ (quite good)
http://www.1tv.ru/ (sometimes the pop songs video has lyrics in English for Russian pop, and vice versa).
http://www.webtelek.com/
http://player.narrowstep.tv/?player=tvplus
9. And try those online, automated and free translators. They obviously do not provide perfect translations and some of the translations can be really hilarious. I have fun using reverse translations, or translating the same sentence using different translators below.
http://www.online-translator.com/default.asp?lang=en
http://plugin.imtranslator.com/
http://www.worldlingo.com/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html
10. For swear words and phrases, i have seen some files from other forums such as Russian slang and colooquialism, and a Pimsleur - Russian alternative dictionary
And lastly, and perhaps most importantly, there is no better way to learn a language than being in the country, and ideally having a girl/boy friend.
Have fun. |
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Dr-Fauste
Site Admin
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 654
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| Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 7:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Dr Fauste,
You said there were no Chinese, but are there any other Asians? |
Read your question again and look at a geography map at look at Russia from west to east. 
Now I think you have your answer.
Now are you talking about other Asian people like Phillipines, Japanese and Korean. If you read Bryanboy's comment, he felt very unique in this way. Asians lke Uzbeks and Kazakhs are very common. But people who Moscow is truly multiculture city have not traveled in west. The fact on Metro in Calgary, English is secondary language. I have heard Hindi, POlish, Russian, Ukrainian, French, Spanish, and etc. People speaking foreign languages combined outnumber people speaking English on our metro. No BS.Moscow is slowing becoming multicultural, but it is not even close to Western cities. |
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Dr-Fauste
Site Admin
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 654
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| Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 7:34 pm Post subject: |
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Another radio station is http://www.europaplus.ru/
www.zevel.ru is a good to get movies in Russian. You can watch a movie that you previous watched in English.
Also Mark had a list of books in Russian
Plus there are Russian communities in every country so you can try out your new found skills
Plus read children stories is good way of learning. I do not how times I read that damn turnip story. |
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Dr-Fauste
Site Admin
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 654
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Camrade
VIP
Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 516
Location: Ñàíêò-Ïåòåðáóðã
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| Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 8:40 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.roks.ru/air/ROKS%20HIGH.m3u - one of my favourite radiostations 
2Dr Fauste
i've looked through ituner: there's lots of mistakes and non actual information |
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language_michael
Just Starting
Joined: 14 Feb 2005
Posts: 1
Location: USA
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| Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 2:10 pm Post subject: Learning Russian language -- I want to help ! |
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I see there is an interest in learning Russian. I have been studying for over five years with Russian tutors, then I lived over in eastern Ukraine from first week of August '04 till the end of January '05. During elections and all. I spent time with non-english speaking students so that I would be forced to speak.
Now, I have a project for my PhD program that I want to invite you to. This is all FREE of charge, as I am an educator, I don't believe in charging for the sharing of knowledge on a one-on-one basis. I am building a site where my Russian speaking students willingly will help you with learning Russian, and in return you have to help them improve their English. They said they would do this because they have had four years of formal teaching of English, but non native speakers, and they feel that they need more help.
These students are fun to talk with as well, which makes the learning enjoyable. I chat online with them in Russian just to keep my practice up. I also teach students on my campus Russian, so that helps me, then we practice together. Not everyone is a eager and hung up on learning it as I am, but if you are interested, here is my email address, and I will share yours with my students if you would like. My site should be completed by the end of February. My email is
administrator@language-learners.org
The site is http://www.language-learners.org (not yet posted, but not blank either)
Hope to hear from some of you that are interested in learning Russian.
Michael èëè Ìèøêà ...ïîêà |
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Katyara
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 07 Feb 2005
Posts: 124
Location: Russia, Sakhalin island, Korsakov!
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| Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 1:21 am Post subject: |
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| I am glad that there a lot of people who wanna learn russian. I am staying in America as an exchange student and one of my friends in High School wants to learn russian too. I seriously think that russian is kinda hard for foreigners to learn, but you all can do it if you try hard. Good luck to all of you who are learning russian!!![/quote] |
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vettra
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 24 Dec 2004
Posts: 123
Location: Cleveland
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| Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 9:07 am Post subject: |
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There's a great little book "Dermo!: The Real Russian Tolstoy Never Used", by Edward Topol. This $8 book also qualifies as a neat present to take to Russia.
| Camrade wrote: | 2Dr Fauste
Do you think that almost all russians are nationalists? 
i would just answer "pashel na hui" |
FYI, insulting a Russian like this is a great way to get punched in the face. They are easily enraged and not tolerant of insults. |
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Niko-A
Just Starting
Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 9:11 pm Post subject: |
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Hello, guys! I'm guy from Russia and I want to warn you.
Language is a face of nation. We are very paradoxical people. So our language is paradoxical too. Look at these phrases:
Da net, navernoie (Yes no, maybe) it means: "No".
Da net (Yes no) means "No".
Net da (No yes) means "Yes".
Nu da, koneshno! (Oh, yes, sure!) means "No! No! No!" 
I'm serious!
And, we like jokes very much. We invent jokes and anecdotes about every nation and social groups. So, don't take offence, if someone tells anecdote about America. And, say nothing, if someone Russian tries to tell you about bad life in Russia. If you agree with him, he will take offence and possibly, he will beat the face. |
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mediashark
Moderator
Joined: 04 Nov 2004
Posts: 1599
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| Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Yeah, right. |
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CHeburashka
Talk Show Host
Joined: 23 Sep 2005
Posts: 218
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| Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Niko-A: Who's Talant? should we know this guy? |
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Niko-A
Just Starting
Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 11:14 pm Post subject: |
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| ×åáóðàøêà wrote: | | Who's Talant? |
Sorry, I did a mistake. Talent is right form.
And, if anybody wants, I can post some Russian swearing. |
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CHeburashka
Talk Show Host
Joined: 23 Sep 2005
Posts: 218
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| Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 11:26 pm Post subject: |
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Go ahead!
I deserve it.. after not only insulting you, but also Brevity and her talented brother. Not to mention the shameless offence done to the great Chekhov
Nice pick for a signature by the way.. |
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