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Monkel’s Log: Russian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| MonkelHansmann Triglot Newbie Germany Joined 3755 days ago 15 posts - 17 votes Speaks: German*, English, French Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 11 28 January 2015 at 11:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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Здравствуйте!
I've been following the forum for some time now, but haven't had the time to devote much attention to language learning. TAC 2015 seems a good starting point to change that. The goal is to devote as much time as my university studies allow me to Russian. Why Russian? That's why. I play the piano and the music Rachmaninoff et al have given us is just wonderful. Not to mention Dostoyevsky and the other great russian writers. Current State I have taken an introductory course at my university this semester, which means that I'm not starting this log at zero but am still very much a beginner. Learning Material The course works with Жили-Были, which is purely in Russian without translations, so I can only use it when the class continues next semester. My main ressource (for now) will be the "Russian Course" by Nicholas J. Brown published by Penguin. So far I've done the first seven chapters and it feels like a very comfortable ressource to work with, while Anki will be my helper to gain a comfortable level of vocabulary. Suggestions for further material is always very welcome 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| MonkelHansmann Triglot Newbie Germany Joined 3755 days ago 15 posts - 17 votes Speaks: German*, English, French Studies: Russian | Message 2 of 11 29 January 2015 at 6:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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29/01
Today I reviewed the first 12 lessons of Жили-Были in order to be prepared for the final examination in my university course. I thought that it went well, hopefully my teacher things the same ;) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| MonkelHansmann Triglot Newbie Germany Joined 3755 days ago 15 posts - 17 votes Speaks: German*, English, French Studies: Russian | Message 3 of 11 02 February 2015 at 12:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have finished lesson 8 of the "Russian Course" and am preparing myself mentally for the introduction to the genitive case which is the subject of the next two lessons.
In my quest to gain an overview on the available ressources, I've found the books "Modern Russian: An Advanced Grammar Course" and "Using Russian: A Guide To Contemporary Usage" by Derek Offord. Has anybody some experience with these two? Also, I've signed up for the current 6 Week Challenge 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| MonkelHansmann Triglot Newbie Germany Joined 3755 days ago 15 posts - 17 votes Speaks: German*, English, French Studies: Russian | Message 4 of 11 06 February 2015 at 7:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have finally finished lesson 9 which introduced numbers and is the first of two chapters on the genitive.
The building of genitive plural doesn't make a lot of sense to me at the moment, but I guess I have to just accept it (at least it is predictable). What I mean is the fact that: один uses nominative singular два/три/четыре use genitive singular and пять,... use genitive plural Does anyone know the reasoning behind this? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| MonkelHansmann Triglot Newbie Germany Joined 3755 days ago 15 posts - 17 votes Speaks: German*, English, French Studies: Russian | Message 5 of 11 12 February 2015 at 2:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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Lesson 10 is finished now. It introduced some more usage cases of the genitive & lots of new prepositions.
As was to be expected there are a again some strange grammatical rules, whose historical development I'd love to know. Well, the obscurer the exception, the greater the enjoyment that comes with correctly using/recognizing it in an exercise. I have also started to develop an intuition where some answers just feel/sound right, and only later my conscious mind thinks about why this answer might be correct. Of course this intuition is still very small and untrustworthy, but still nice. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kc2012 Diglot Groupie South Africa Joined 4475 days ago 44 posts - 65 votes  Speaks: English*, Afrikaans Studies: Dutch, Mandarin, Russian | Message 6 of 11 13 February 2015 at 11:19am | IP Logged | ||
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Good luck with Russian! It's a fantastic language to learn, and one that I really enjoy
studying. The Russian Assimil course is pretty good, I'd also recommend LingQ as a good way to practise reading. Also, the website www.russianforfree.com is an excellent resource! It has everything... and it's Free! Good luck! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| MonkelHansmann Triglot Newbie Germany Joined 3755 days ago 15 posts - 17 votes Speaks: German*, English, French Studies: Russian | Message 7 of 11 13 February 2015 at 12:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you for the suggestions. I definitely plan to have a closer look at Assimil, once I've decided on which edition to take(the English and French editions are both arranged in 100 lessons, whereas the German edition has only 70 ...)
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| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4641 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 8 of 11 13 February 2015 at 2:53pm | IP Logged | ||
The formation of genitive plural is certainly the most complex part of the declension system, and it is the only case where neuter parts with masculine and joins feminine when it comes to declension forms. The explanation I have seen for the fact that два/три/четыре take genitive singular is that it is a remnant of the old grammatical number dual, which existed in "Protoslavic", but which today can only be found in Slovene, Sorbian and Chakavian. As for using genitive instead of nominative after numerals, you may think of it as being "one of..." "five of..." etc. just as you use genitive after nouns or pronouns expressing quantity: "A glass of water = Стакан воды", "many apples = много яблок" etc. Edit: I can also recommend the Assimil course. I used the French version, not sure if the English is identical, but it is the Assimil course that I have enjoyed the most, it is well structured and the stories and texts are sometimes quite fun. Edited by Ogrim on 13 February 2015 at 2:56pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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