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The endless matrioshka of Russian grammar | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7376 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes  12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 1 of 33 27 April 2005 at 7:43am | IP Logged | ||
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The more I am studying Russian, the more I feel like this language is like an endless matrioshka (nesting dolls) where you can open new dolls with new complications every step of the way.
This is quite frustrating as one feels you will never reach the final matrioshka where it's written "You now speak Russian". I wonder if other people have reached an advanced level in a language and felt the same. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| dysphonia Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 7161 days ago 48 posts - 58 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French, German Studies: Russian | Message 2 of 33 27 April 2005 at 8:12am | IP Logged | ||
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I know this feeling well. I think it is in part based on ones previous
language experiences. After for example romance languages (which is where I started) it is a little frustrating at times to come up against something like Russian with its case system and seemingly never-ending exceptions, or Arabic where, no matter how long I study it, or how many times I use it in an Arabic-based country I find its (to me) infinite dimensions completely overwhelming at times. This is why I always deny that I "speak" Arabic, even though most of my co-workers having seen me using it think I do. I guess it depends on what your goals/standards are. The only good news I can offer is that your feeling of frustration has not only been felt by, I would think, every person encountering what you are, but is the very thing that will drive you in the end to that seemingly unreachable 'plateau' where you feel "You can now speak Russian". I wish I had more practical advice to offer, other than, try to use your frustration to fuel your studies, or maybe take a break, put down the Tolstoy and pick up something else in Russian you know you can read and will enjoy. The feeling of achievement at understanding from the latter activity is also necessary to the enjoyment of languages. Don't forget how far you have come when looking at how far you have to go. Edited by administrator on 27 April 2005 at 9:29am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| deniz2 Groupie TurkeyRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5152 days ago 53 posts - 62 votes | Message 3 of 33 25 October 2013 at 7:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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German is famous for its case system. Though İ don't know any Russian I know that its case system is much much more difficult than German. My friend tells me that French is 5 times more difficult than English whereas German is 10 times more difficult than English. For a fair comparison he says Russian is 100 times more difficult than German!
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| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5334 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 4 of 33 25 October 2013 at 8:08pm | IP Logged | ||
Lovely! You just made me feel much better. I am not sure it is entirely accurate, but it makes me feel less like a failure for being so incredibly slow to learn Russian :-) 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4622 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 5 of 33 25 October 2013 at 10:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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But Russian only seems to have 3 tenses so it's not all bad.
Also, I wonder why English never borrowed the lovely word Matrioshka and stuck with plain old Russian doll. Edited by beano on 25 October 2013 at 10:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5832 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 6 of 33 26 October 2013 at 12:06am | IP Logged | ||
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English had borrowed the word matryoshka
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| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4622 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 7 of 33 26 October 2013 at 12:37am | IP Logged | ||
I don't think I've heard anyone use it, or seen it in print, save for a Frederick Forsyth novel (which is where I learned it from) but he is a Russian speaker so I presumed he had included it for effect. Edited by beano on 26 October 2013 at 12:40am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4707 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 8 of 33 26 October 2013 at 12:57am | IP Logged | ||
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Nice thread necromancy.
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