Russian: Textbook, Anki and...what else? (Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies) Language Learning Forum

Russian: Textbook, Anki and...what else?
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Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies

Expugnator
Hexaglot
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Message 1 of 7

12 July 2013 at 9:47pm | IP Logged

So, I've come to a point in my studies when I'm easily done with textbook study along the day. Therefore, I've started adding up native materials consistently and I pick them later in the afternoon after I'm done with the core textbook study.

I've been doing this with

Chinese (Happy Chinese series)
Georgian (A novel)
Norwegian (another novel)

And I'd like to decide what to do with Russian. I'm using the tetxbook by Nina Potapova, Brazilian edition, but I do the lesson in no time. So, I'd like to watch some TV series, because

a) It works very well for my Chinese after only 10 days
b) I've tried bilingual reading with Russian but it's still too overwhelming.

I'm afraid there's no such series for Russian as there are Destinos, French in Action, Fokus Deutsch and Happy Chinese. Then I'd like to find some series which would be interesting and still tell me about the Russian culture. If I don't, as a last resort I'll pick western series, either dubbed in Russian with the original subtitles or the other way round (in fact, double subtitles as in Happy Chinese are the best option, but not always technically doable).

So, I'd like to hear any recommendations on series or maybe something else.

So far i've been recommended Eralash for Russian, but it doesn't seem so simple to find episodes with accurate subtitles. The shorter the better, ideally no longer than 20min each episode.

As an alternative to watching videos, I've been thinking on pod101 too, because it has insightful cultural information (I'm taking it for Chinese). I just wouldn't consider a second textbook because that would be repetitive.
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iguanamon
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Message 2 of 7

12 July 2013 at 11:20pm | IP Logged

Perhaps this may help: Beginning Russian Through Film from Cornell University.

Cornell University wrote:

Short digitized clips from Russian films are the primary source of language and culture in this course. We collected close to 400 clips and placed them on this Web site along with many supporting materials. You can use a Windows or Macintosh computer to take advantage of the course. No registration is necessary (or, indeed, possible), and no credit is given, unless the student is registered for first-year Russian at Cornell.

In 1997-98, this was an experiment in creating a two-semester elementary Russian course in which traditional textbook materials were to a large extent replaced by excerpts from Russian films, videos, and non-rehearsed videotaped interviews; all of which emphasize the spoken language. While we had always devoted a large proportion of time and energy to speech, we expected that the use of video materials would enable us to develop our speech-oriented approach even further.

Before BRTF, all classroom exercises and homework in our first-year course were based on Beginning Russian by Richard L. Leed, Alexander D. Nakhimovsky, and Alice S. Nakhimovsky (Slavica Publishers). In the first year of BRTF, more than half of the exercises and homework were based on a large number of very short digitized video clips. Students watched these clips in class once a week and reviewed them in the language lab as part of their homework. The work involved listening comprehension, imitation, role playing, skits, and improvisation.

The grammar portion of the course was still based on Beginning Russian. All reading assignments were based on What I Saw by Boris Zhitkov (Slavica Publishers). 5000 Russian Words (also from Slavica Publishers) was used as a vocabulary and grammar reference.

The course met five times a week. On the first day of a given week, new grammar topics from the book were introduced, and a new series of clips was assigned as homework for the following day. After that, three classes were spent exploring and reinforcing the language in the videos. The last day of the week was a book/grammar day again.

Digital video offers a dimension that videotape cannot, in that scenes from authentic Russian films can be made accessible to beginning students. As a student watches a clip on his or her computer screen, he or she can rewind the clip and move to any portion of the clip by pointing and clicking with the mouse. A complete transcript of the dialog, a glossary, and linguistic and cultural comments are also only a mouseclick away.

Exercises based on the clip are presented on the same screen, with high quality audio recordings that are played back by the computer. The student can pause and rewind the recording by using the mouse....

source: Beginning Russian Through Film- About

Beginning Russian Through Film Index

Edited by iguanamon on 14 July 2013 at 12:38am
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Expugnator
Hexaglot
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Brazil
Joined 5165 days ago
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Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento
Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian

Message 3 of 7

16 July 2013 at 5:04pm | IP Logged

Yeah it's a nice selection, but still too advanced for me. I'd need something with subtitles. It's bookmarked for maybe...10 months later =D
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yuriFromRoma
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Message 4 of 7

16 July 2013 at 6:28pm | IP Logged

@iguanamon: thanks a lot! I really like this site!

@Expugnator: are you sure about it? All the scenes I've watched so far do have russian subtitles -- and english notes alongside, which always come in handy.

Yuri

Edited by yuriFromRoma on 16 July 2013 at 6:29pm
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Expugnator
Hexaglot
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Brazil
Joined 5165 days ago
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Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento
Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian

Message 5 of 7

16 July 2013 at 6:56pm | IP Logged

Oh right I saw it now. Pity that the actual videos are blocked here :/
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iguanamon
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Message 6 of 7

16 July 2013 at 9:46pm | IP Logged

Expugnator wrote:

Oh right I saw it now. Pity that the actual videos are blocked here

Try using a proxy server based in the US to get around the blocked videos. Goggle "proxy servers" and search for one with a US flag. That may help.
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Expugnator
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Brazil
Joined 5165 days ago
3335 posts - 4349 votes

Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento
Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian

Message 7 of 7

16 July 2013 at 11:09pm | IP Logged

Nah I meant "here" at work. I should reschedule my activities so I can do it at home, but I have already a lot of stuff I should do early in the morning because I can't install any plugins or download video/audio here, so I better not add up something else to worry about. Russian is less of a priority compared to Chinese and Georgian, so I'll do it once in a while when I'm home early and got time.

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