Keilan Senior Member Canada Joined 5085 days ago 125 posts - 241 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German
| Message 1 of 4 10 March 2013 at 4:53am | IP Logged |
Hey all,
I've been living in Russia for about 6 weeks now, and while I've improved greatly in my speaking, reading, and writing, my listening is still very primitive. Despite being surrounded by Russian most of the time, I just don't feel like I'm getting a feel for it. Now I have improved of course, but in general I still don't understand much of anything when people talk to me.
Any suggestions for how I would improve in this area?
Thanks,
-Keilan
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Bbcatcher 08 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4417 days ago 130 posts - 154 votes Speaks: English*, Latin Studies: Russian, Mandarin, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Serbo-Croatian, Hungarian
| Message 2 of 4 10 March 2013 at 10:30am | IP Logged |
When I feel my listening skills are not up to par to the other skills of language
learning, I try to watch as many videos in the language I can find. I go onto Youtube,
listen to people just speak, and read the subtitles. There also are kid's shows (yes they
are silly, but at the beginning can be more appropriate because they have a more limited
vocabulary), along with listening to songs. If you look up the lyrics, then you can see
what they're saying, and then you have even more reading practice.
2 persons have voted this message useful
|
beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4621 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian
| Message 3 of 4 11 March 2013 at 2:46pm | IP Logged |
6 weeks is nothing! 6 months would be a better yardstick for evaluating your passive comprehension. You don't list Russian as a language you speak or study, so I presume you've gone in cold.
What role does Russian play in your job and home life? These factors have a major influence on how quickly somebody picks up a language.
I wouldn't worry at this stage.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Keilan Senior Member Canada Joined 5085 days ago 125 posts - 241 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German
| Message 4 of 4 14 March 2013 at 6:37am | IP Logged |
Haha, I realize 6 weeks isn't much - it's just frustrating that I can express myself at a level so far beyond what I can understand. I can talk, but not take part in a conversation.
I live with a mix of Russians and English speakers, so on an average day I probably speak for 30-45 minutes in Russian and listen to it for 1-2 hours when I'm not participating. I work as an English teacher however, so full immersion really isn't an option - my job requires me to maintain a very high level in English at all times and I still converse in English more than in Russian.
But you are probably right that I just need to give it more time. I'm just impatient I guess. :)
1 person has voted this message useful
|