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10 Months to Prep for Russian B1 level | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4739 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 1 of 5 04 May 2012 at 1:24am | IP Logged |
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Hello all, I've decided to turn my full attention to Russian. I would like to get to an S-2 level on the IRL rating scale, which is called Limited Working Proficiency, and is considered equivalent to the B1 level on the CEFR rating scale that seems common on this website. If you think reading over a specific descriptor of the requirements for each aspect would help with your suggestion, there is this: http://www.govtilr.org/Skills/ILRscale2.htm#2 The test format I'd take would be over the phone, so the emphasis would be primarily on speaking ability, but also listening to a certain extinct. Therefore, reading and writing are not vital at this juncture (though obviously, developing all skills equally would be ideal). I need to get to B1 in Russian by early Spring-2013 (March time frame). I took one semester of Russian during the fall of 2011, and received an A- in the class. Though, that was somewhat higher than my actual skill set due to extra credit, etc...I was a solid B student, though, in actual Russian material study. Unfortunately, I am currently completing my final semester of university, and could not fit in a 2nd semester Russian course, which was rather depressing for me, haha. I have forgotten just about all of what I learned except the very basics. However, I graduate a week from Sunday, and want to hit the books hard and heavy for it. I have a few languages I'd like to learn over the course of my lifetime, and Russian is one of them. It just clicked that sticking with the one I have some classroom experience in is probably my best bet for now. Also, it will help me with a specific career track I am trying for. So, anyway....here we are. http://www.amazon.com/Nachalo-Book-1-Bk/dp/0072433930/ref=sr _1_1? s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336085260&sr=1-1 This Nachalo Book 1 was our text last semester, and the only thing I currently own for studying Russian. So, I am basically starting from scratch, haha. However, as a graduation gift, my dad said he would buy me a language program of my choosing to help me with this! I think this is a very generous gift offer, and I want to be sure to choose wisely. I know language learning is a lifelong and neverending process, but, as I said, B1 by March (so basically 10 months of study time) in a language I was exposed to recently. I feel this is definitely possible, especially since I am motivated and know I will be able to study regularly (as in daily) for it. I am here to ask for everyone's advice and opinions as to which learning tools will be the most helpful. From spending many, probably too many, hours perusing the forum, it seems that a student's motivation is almost as important as the materials they use. So, knowing that I am passionate, dedicated, and set on this, I just wanted some outside opinions on where to turn to! So, which books/courses/etc....should I consider with the goal being a solid B1 by March? Things I have read of somewhat on this site: Assimil Russian (English base that just came out. One con is it is too soon to tell if it is plagued by poor translations from the French, or anything of that nature) Michel Thomas Total and Perfect Russian (or just the Total...) Pimsleur Russian (there are 3 levels) The New Penguin Russian Course DLI courses: http://jlu.wbtrain.com/sumtotal/language/DLI%20basic%20cours es/Russian/ There are a ton on there, so any guidance on which ones to use would be wonderful Princeton Russian Course (I've heard good things, but it appears there are many missing answers, etc...) Modern Russian 1 and 2 (with workbooks) Colloquial or Teach Yourself (if you think either of these would be a good choice, please tell me which edition or provide an Amazon link, etc…since there seem to be many versions) Russian Linguaphone (I have a version from 2001 bookmarked in my Russian resources tab. It is ISBN-13: 978-0747309000 if anyone wants to look at it. Just like with Colloquial and TY, any suggestions of specific versions would be great) FSI Russian (the link I have has “Russian: An Active Introduction” and a Russian FAST course with 11 lessons and 8 tapes) Then there are the various online Russian options like: Language101.com and Listen2russian.com And of course many reference sites like masterrussian and russianforeveryone I’d rather not ever use anything like Rosetta Stone as I know no one that has had actual success with it. So, if you could create a study system with the above (or other sources you know of/recommend) with the goals listed above in about 10 months, which would it be? As I said, my graduation gift is a language course, so it is alright if it is one of the pricier things. I also have no qualms buying things myself (say, if you think the Assimil course and Penguin would be the best way to go, it isn’t like I will only get myself the one resource my dad buys, haha). My university does have a decent number of resources, as well as the local library. So, suggest away, and I will see which things are already available before making a choice for the present. Thanks everyone! I apologize for the length. Sometimes I ramble, but I wanted to share all pertinent info and tell you what I know of so far! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4917 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 2 of 5 04 May 2012 at 2:00am | IP Logged |
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While I don't know Russian, I suspect the answer is "do all of the above."
I've seen estimates that it takes about 400 hours of active study to reach B-1 level in the Romance and Germanic languages, and maybe 700 hours for Slavic languages. My own very, very rough estimate from studying French is that two volumes of FSI, three levels of Pimsleur, three levels of Michel Thomas, and two levels of Assimil all combined gave me 400 to 450 hours of study. These would be my generic picks for any new language I were starting, plus maybe a Teach Yourself or Colloquial book, and adjusted if any have bad reputations in that language (e.g. Assimil is usually great, but Assimil Arabic is crap). I hear good things about the Russian Princeton Course. Hope you're starting now! You've got a long challenging road ahead. Good luck. Edited to add some advice on Pimsleur: If you buy it used on Amazon (and there's really no reason to buy it new), make sure the cd's come in the original case. You can then sell/trade it back to Amazon for $20 - $30, sometimes a lot more for popular titles. If they're not in the original case then Amazon won't buy them back. Edited by kanewai on 04 May 2012 at 3:46am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4739 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 3 of 5 04 May 2012 at 4:13am | IP Logged |
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Cool, thanks for the input, and the Amazon tip. What you said was kind of along the
lines of what I was thinking to do. A few courses (the ones you mentioned) just continue to be brought up as high quality, though some disagree about which is "best". I really think combining systems is the best way to go. I think I will ask my dad for the Assimil program as the present, then dig around for the older Michel Thomas course online used (apparently the program used to go Foundation -> Advanced course and now goes Total->Perfect, so maybe I can get the older version cheap) and look on ebay and amazon for used Pimsleur like you suggested. I'm thinking the Assimil may take a while to get here (I'm in the US and I'm not sure how long shipping is direct from Assimil), so I think the plan is to go.... 1. Pimsleur/Michel Thomas Not sure if I'll order more than just level one Pimsleur, guess it depends what kind of deal I can get. Though I'll try interlibrary loan for that first since a friend of mine had luck getting the French one through that earlier this year. 2. FSI/DLI after the above two are done. I'll do a little poking around and see which version seems better for Russian. I am pretty sure the concepts of the courses are the same, so I'll just see which one seems fuller and better for this set language. 3. Assimil No idea how long the FSI/DLI would take to work through, but at that point, I'd consider the New Penguin Russian Course (or something similar) that seemed needed to continue progressing. Fortunately, I still have a few Russian friends from my semester I studied before. So, ideally I can get back to at least basic conversations with them after only a few weeks! So, yeah....there it is, haha. I have a few more papers and finals to finish up, but I will graduate May 13th and be able to really focus more or less full-time on Russian until I start my new job in August! I'm excited :) I suppose I'll consider making a language log since people seem to enjoy those. Now it is all done except the doing ;) Thanks kanewai! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4739 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 4 of 5 04 May 2012 at 8:04am | IP Logged |
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Wow, so I wanted to look at the public domain stuff tonight. Kind of get it all sorted
so once I finished my university stuff I could jump right in. On the FSI front, the Russian FAST course looks rather great! DLI is a mess. Has anyone ever used any of the basic stuff from this site? Haha. http://jlu.wbtrain.com/sumtotal/language/DLI%20basic%20cours es/Russian/ I tried to go down the rabbit hole, but got sidetracked many times. I'm having trouble figuring out what to link with what, haha. Under this subset, I think working up from Phase I through II and III would be great: http://jlu.wbtrain.com/sumtotal/language/DLI%20basic%20cours es/Russian/Basic/ But I cannot seem to locate the corresponding audio. Anyone have any ideas? There is a ton of audio sprinkled around under the main directory, but, having trouble figuring out what goes with those courses referenced. If the site was organized slightly better, it'd be a legitimate treasure trove. As it stands....it is giving me a headache trying to get it sorted, haha. I guess that using the FSI course exclusively is not a bad thing, but I figured I'd ask in case it is right there in front of me and I am just blind. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6133 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 5 of 5 04 May 2012 at 8:34am | IP Logged |
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It may sound obvious, but if your test format is speaking, then find a few Russian conversation partners and practice speaking as much as possible. If it's a phone test format, Skype partners would help. Gear all your learning materials towards listening and speaking. I'm doing the opposite at the moment because I read a lot, consequently, although I have a reasonable vocabulary my speech is far from fluent.
I've also grossly underestimated the amount of time to reach B1, so start NOW! Good luck and keep us up-to-date with how it's going. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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