41–46 of 46 posts
Попробуйте учить на память русские детские стихи. Аналогично тому как это делают дети в детстве, когда они учатся говорить. Из авторов рекомендую: Михалоква, Маршака, Чуковоского и Барто ( http://deti-online.com/stihi/ ) Try to learn by heart Russian poems for children. In the same way as they do it in childhood, when they learn to talk. I recommend to start from the the authors: Mihalokv, Marshak, Chukovoskiy and Ba…
отлично, большой спасибо!
Russian's a fun one, that's for sure. Stupid noun declension. Immersion's still your best bet. If you've got the time and the money to put towards this, I'd recommend a intensive summer program like Middlebury College's Language School - if you're in Silicon Valley, they've also got a similar one in Monterey. For two months they put you in a group of about a dozen with the same level of Russian you've got, make you v…
Unfortunately they don't seem to teach Russian. Is there an advantage to this type of immersion as opposed to just moving to russia for a month?
http://www.miis.edu/academics/language/programs/summer
An immersion program like Middlebury has huge advantages over just moving to Russia for a month. Off the top of my head:
In Russia, everyone with any English will talk to you in English. People want to practice their English - or just communicate more efficiently - more than they want to help you practice your Russian.
In Russia, the people you meet often have no interest in conversing with someone who speaks Russian poorly. (Russians make great friends, but they're not the outwardly warmest people to strangers.)
In Russia, when you do find someone to speak with, that person won't be speaking at your level - they'll be speaking fluent Russian, and quickly.
There's language schools in Russia, but it's unlikely that you'll find one with as good teachers, and the curriculum won't be as intensive.
Living in an unfamiliar country where you don't speak the language can be stressful like you wouldn't believe - it's not the same thing as tourism. Language learning while dealing with all that crap is way harder than language learning while living like a pampered college student in a pleasant little Vermont town.
Input is much better than output. Reading and listening actually give you new words, new phrases, new connections and new ways of saying things. Speaking and writing only reinforces the things you already know. If you have never heard the word "spatula" once you won't be able to say it.
Also, in a real conversation you only have to be able to say something one way: "Where is the station?" or "How do I get to the station?" are just as good, but you have to understand many different possible answers.
When you are looking for learning materials try to only use things aimed at native speakers. Lots of resources for adults over-simplify to fit their pedagogical idea, whereas even books for very young will children give you a full range of grammatical forms and vocabulary.
Never learn vocabulary as single words. Doing a flashcard that says "dog"=="hund" is just not that useful. Instead, make flashcards of sentences, fragments and phrases. This way you learn which verbs combine together with which nouns and all the unwritten rules.
Don't just blast through x000 flashcards. You will get bored and quit. As you have noticed already, just dumbly repeating words takes a lot of effort to get them to stick. When you are having fun with the language (whether that is watching TV, reading books, playing games or speaking to people) words tend to stick much better. That said, you should still use spaced repetition for these words you find "in the wild".
Be realistic with the amount of time you put in. If you compare yourself to a native speaker you're comparing yourself to someone who has had 24/7 practice in the language for many many years.
Don't get tricked by the vague word 'fluency'. A 6 year old can hold a conversation and knows a great deal of words. He is also easily confused by simple words like "tax" and has very little spelling ability.
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IYO, what is the best audio to listen to? Tapes for language learners? Radio? Subtitled movies?
When I was learning Turkish, I spent a summer listening to an hour-long talk radio show every morning. Three guys chatting about local issues and making jokes, with callers phoning in to offer their opinions. It bumped my comprehension to effectively fluent, and I learned a lot of colloquialisms that make me sound more fluent than I actually feel when I speak.
You're at the foot of Mt. Everest asking if there's a shortcut to the top. Learning a second language is like having a child. It's a life long commitment that will consume much of your time for 10 years or so, assuming you really want to be fluent, and will require maintenance thereafter. Consider learning Russian history and culture instead if it sounds too daunting. That's almost always a better choice for native E…
Well, I was asking if I was wearing the right kind of boots. The conclusion seems to be that while there are many boots to choose from, none will make you walk any faster. I think your suggestion about history and culture is wise. Sometimes when I get tired of learning the language I'll read Russian politics or recipes, just to remind myself why I'm trying to learn it in the first place.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I was learning Turkish, I spent a summer listening to an hour-long talk radio show every morning. Three guys chatting about local issues and making jokes, with callers phoning in to offer their opinions. It bumped my comprehension to effectively fluent, and I learned a lot of colloquialisms that make me sound more fluent than I actually feel when I speak.
Can you tell me the talk show you are referring to and if it's accessible in the US? I'm trying to learn Turkish, and compared to when I was trying to learn Spanish, it feels like there are very little accessible resources.
http://podcast.modernsabahlar.org/ https://twitter.com/modernsabahlar