Learning Russian

    • Learning Russian

      Hello.

      I already speak French to a relatively good level and will continue to be studying this langauge through my A-levels and into university. I would also however like to begin learning other languages. I am quite content in the knowledge that I would probably be able to pick up other latin-based languages easier because of my knowledge of French however I would like to test my abilities through learning Russian. I am planning to do an evening course in Russian and was wondering if any native speakers of the language, or anyone that knows it or has tried learning it in the past, could give me some tips for starting off.

      ~Tom
      [CENTER]This is a gift it comes with a price
      Who is the lamb and who is the knife
      Midas is king and he holds me so tight
      And turns me to gold in the sunlight       - Florence + The Machine, Rabbit Heart
      I'm not a misanthrope, but I can utterly empathise with them.
      [/CENTER]

    • Re: Learning Russian

      I am wanting to speak 6 languages ultimately and would rather them not all be latin-based but show I've had a challenge and it may help me if I want to learn other Slavic languages. I would like to learn Mandarin Chinese at some point too.

      I am planning to pick up Italian later on when more advanced knowledge in French could prove useful due to both of their connections with latin. I would learn Spanish but I don't like it's sound :p I'll change my mind probably though.
      [CENTER]This is a gift it comes with a price
      Who is the lamb and who is the knife
      Midas is king and he holds me so tight
      And turns me to gold in the sunlight       - Florence + The Machine, Rabbit Heart
      I'm not a misanthrope, but I can utterly empathise with them.
      [/CENTER]

    • Re: Learning Russian

      I dont speak Russian but Bulgarian and they're kind of alike. My dad is Bulgarian.
      Anyways, it can be hard(unleast Bulgarian is hard for foreigners) but its fun as all the Slavic based languages are beautiful.

      6 languages? that's great.
      Actually french is more of a germanic language than a latin based language. Italian and Spanish are too alike. I can understand 50% of Italian when spoken and reading it, becuase i speak Spanish(as i live in Colombia) . I'm beginning with Italian lessons next week to speak it fluently and at a 100%.
      French and Italian dont have lots of common words as Spanish and Italian or Portuguese.

      What other languages do you speak?
      Good luck!!
      Robert Downey JR owns me!!:p

    • Re: Learning Russian

      I'm glad it can be hard, I'm looking for a good challenge :D
      And I do agree, Slavic languages are beautiful.

      Yes, ultimately 6 languages no matter how long it takes me. I don't want perfect fluency in all of course but be able to speak, read and write quite a lot.

      I see what you mean about it being more of a germanic language and I suppose you could say that from the germanic tribe of which comes the name but the influences from latin are quite undeniable and although the links are not as strong with other latin langauges I have found a few links before and my old teacher used to go about it ^^.

      At the moment I only speak English and relatively good french. I am planning to learn some Polish from my grandad soon and then pick it up again later in life.
      [CENTER]This is a gift it comes with a price
      Who is the lamb and who is the knife
      Midas is king and he holds me so tight
      And turns me to gold in the sunlight       - Florence + The Machine, Rabbit Heart
      I'm not a misanthrope, but I can utterly empathise with them.
      [/CENTER]

    • Re: Learning Russian

      Polish is to beau!! But its too hard for me.
      Oh yeah, if a challenge is waht you want Russian is good!!

      I can speak Bulgarian(bulgarian dad), Spanish, English and Aremenian(armenian mum) though in Armenian i cant write in the armenian alphabet, ugly handwritting but i can read it speak it etc.
      I want to learn Italian and Croatian though, but my dad says Croatian is useless:rolleyes:
      Robert Downey JR owns me!!:p

    • Re: Learning Russian

      Sasha Vassily wrote:

      Learning Russian is a great leap, especially for someone who hasn't explored outside their language family, in your case Latin (English, French, etc.).

      Russian scripts and pronounciation are cryllic, a blend of Greek and Arabic languages, mainly because of its Aryan and Greek civilisations. So mastering it for a newly initiated can be a challenge, not tough. I didn't know to write and read Russian until a couple of years back, I could only speak it owning to family linings. Anyway, good luck trying to learn it.

      And one thing, speaking a language is quite easier than writing it so if you just want to learn to speak, you can do that. For example I can speak Arabic, Cantonese, Thai, Hindi and Malay but can't write or read them in native scripts. :p


      Heya :) Learning to right and read it would be something I'd want to be able to do eventually but learning to speak it would be my first obstacle. The only problem I find with that is if I am learning how to speak it and something is given to me to read in my own alphabet will it put me into bad habits and practices?

      Thanks for the good luck too Sasha :)
      [CENTER]This is a gift it comes with a price
      Who is the lamb and who is the knife
      Midas is king and he holds me so tight
      And turns me to gold in the sunlight       - Florence + The Machine, Rabbit Heart
      I'm not a misanthrope, but I can utterly empathise with them.
      [/CENTER]

    • Re: Learning Russian

      I was learning Russian for 6 years. I think it's easy language to learn - but I think it's better to learn to read and speak in the same time. Russian alphabet isn't as hard to learn as it's could seems ;) For me the most difficult thing is moving accent (I'm not sure, that I correctly write this 'moving accent'... I hope you know what I mean ;) )

      Good luck :)

    • Re: Learning Russian

      Read and speak at the same time? I suppose that is what most course would do anyway and I wouldn't get into bad habits so easily I suppose :)

      Thanks for the advice!
      [CENTER]This is a gift it comes with a price
      Who is the lamb and who is the knife
      Midas is king and he holds me so tight
      And turns me to gold in the sunlight       - Florence + The Machine, Rabbit Heart
      I'm not a misanthrope, but I can utterly empathise with them.
      [/CENTER]

    • Re: Learning Russian

      Sasha Vassily wrote:



      You got half of it wrong. Italian is hardly the most spoken language in the world, 24th isn't really 'most'. Russian on the other hand, is the 6th most spoken language around the world. Moreover if one learns Russian, they'd be able to understand a lot of other languages of CIS and Slav countries (ex-Russian empire).
      .


      Fair enough, cheers for correcting me. Howver Spanish is spoken within 22-25 different countries in the world, so would still be useful.
      Nicole = Happiest she's been in a long time:lovey:

      The post was edited 1 time, last by nicole91 ().

    • Re: Learning Russian

      Sasha Vassily wrote:

      What do you mean by 'bad practices'?

      Sasha Vassily wrote:



      [/COLOR]

      It's hard to explain what I mean really. Basically will it become harder for me to learn to read Russian if I have been reading from English phonetics rather than learning it straight from the Russian alphabet and how certain letters make certain sounds etc. because I will be associating the sounds with the English sounds.
      [CENTER]This is a gift it comes with a price
      Who is the lamb and who is the knife
      Midas is king and he holds me so tight
      And turns me to gold in the sunlight       - Florence + The Machine, Rabbit Heart
      I'm not a misanthrope, but I can utterly empathise with them.
      [/CENTER]