Well I guess I�m learning Russian... (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

Well I guess I�m learning Russian...
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Brian_N
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Canada
Joined 5769 days ago
200 posts - 202 votes

Studies: English*, Russian
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Message 225 of 248

01 August 2009 at 4:48pm | IP Logged

SII wrote:

Russian Orthdox Church uses Church-Slavonic language, not Russian. There are many differences between these languages. For example, Church-Slavonic has four past tenses, Russian -- only one past tense.

Hmmm, interesting...more things to contemplate.
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mick33
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5928 days ago
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Speaks: English*
Studies: Finnish
Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish

Message 226 of 248

01 August 2009 at 11:25pm | IP Logged

Brian_N wrote:

Day 170

As I go about learning Russian I have been monitoring my psychology in an effort to better understand my motivations for learning Russian and my attitudes and opinion towards the Russian people, both in the here and now and as they evolve. Going into this I was fully aware of the potency and the appeal of the Russian culture, it can grab an individual and never let them go. Has it taken me? Lol perhaps, it’s effects on my psychology are subject to debate. However, regardless of Russia’s culture power, certain cognitive distortions have developed since I started learning Russian that cannot be explained through Russian cultural capabilities. In order of occurrence...

1. Why when I listen to the Russian language can I call it my language?
2. Why when I look at the Russian people I feel that they are my people?
3. How, as someone who has never been to Russia and who doesn’t even speak Russian can I look at Russia and call it home...and mean it, body, mind and soul?
4. Why as I hear the hymns of the Russian Orthdox Church do I feel I know this somehow?

I have answers now to most of these questions.

The answer was something I never expected nor would I have ever considered had I not started learning Russian. It’s quite simple actually...as a child my soul was painted with brush of a collectivist culture. My mind is a product of collectivist thought and as I gaze at Russia I also see collectivist thought and it penetrates to the very depths of my mind.

Because of the insights I have gained recently I understand perfectly now the psychological basis for why the Russian people and the Russian nation attract me so and I can now answer the above questions.

2. Why when I look at the Russian people I feel that they are my people? + 3. How, as someone who has never been to Russia and who doesn’t even speak Russian can I look at Russia and call it home...and mean it, body, mind and soul?

It’s the way they talk about things, our great nation, our beautiful city, our great Catherine….ours. This type of thought resonates within my mind. It holds an emotional power that it hard to put into words. I was raised with the concepts of ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ before being sent off into a world of ‘I’, ‘me’ & ‘mine’. And then I look at Russia I see those values of ‘we’, ‘us’, and ‘our’ embedded in their minds and their culture. How could I not look at them with the thought of ‘my people?’ Are Russians my people? No of course not, such notions are silly. Canadians are my people. I’m just a product of unique conditions. These unique conditions however will allow me to experience and understand Russian society and Russian culture in a deeper way than would be expected for a typical Westerner. Just the fact that I can call it home I find psychologically telling. Most people from the west can never truly blend into Russian society, how could they? Their minds have not been shaped by Russia’s collective values. The same goes for me, I’ll probably never truly blend into Russia society…but if I choose to stay in Russia for at least a few years and surround myself with Russian people and Russian culture…I think I’ll come pretty close.

1. Why when I listen to the Russian language can I call it my language?

Because it’s better than English. But is it mine? Again, no it isn’t. But it is still very beautiful. ...Wow, long post…but it was necessary. I needed to understand the mechanism by which Russia can produce certain emotional reactions in me, i.e ‘my people’, ‘my home’. And now that my identity is once again stable lol, I can proceed once more.

This is very interesting, I feel the same about Finnish and Afrikaans and the cultures that go with them; even though I don't really speak Finnish and I write Afrikaans better than I can speak it. Furthermore, I don't think learning languages makes my identity unstable, but rather they make me more aware of my identity.

Edited by mick33 on 01 August 2009 at 11:31pm
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Brian_N
Pro Member
Canada
Joined 5769 days ago
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Studies: English*, Russian
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Message 227 of 248

02 August 2009 at 3:39am | IP Logged

mick33 wrote:

It is very interesting, and so very strange. To look at another culture and to be able to feel it wrapping itself around your mind and bit by bit slowly pulling you in. It is the strangest feeling. Powerful and yet, subtle. If you feel these emotions, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

It’s not learning the language though I was speaking of when I said unstable, I was referring to the emotion things Russian can evoke in me. I do agree with you though. At the end of the process if you are able to look within yourself and understand the basis for those emotions you will emerge with a greater understanding of who you are as an individual. For me this is my first time through this process and the rational 5% of my mind was screaming to understand why if given the opportunity I would wrap the Russian people and the Russian culture around myself as I would a blanket.

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Brian_N
Pro Member
Canada
Joined 5769 days ago
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Studies: English*, Russian
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Message 228 of 248

04 August 2009 at 5:33am | IP Logged

Day 174

Well it’s official, I am sick and tired of working in circles...sick of all this memorizing crap and then forgetting it, and then going back to relearn it...only to forget it again. This is bullshit lol. I’ve officially become a fan of the ‘learning in context movement’.

I know about 700 words quite well, I know them immediately upon hearing them and seeing them even in their modified forms. However my mind is having trouble holding onto this many ‘independent bits’ of knowledge. Having less time than I started with mass drill is not really helping me anymore to build my vocabulary...it’s just preventing what I have from decaying.

So, mass drilling is on its way out. I tried to do blocks of 50, but again too much forgetting to make it practical. I’ll still do drill but as soon as something is learned (or relearned) it’ll be deleted from the word lists. I’ll go back and review it down the road. Right now I need to get through these flashcards and move onto grammar and eventually reading. Once I move into the reading part of this project then I’ll go back and start reviewing the words I’ve covered...I suspect that they’ll stick in my head better when there being reviewed and re-drilled as I’m reading.

Lesson learned: Learn shit in context stupid.

Now...onward.

*** Have been listening to a collection of Russian audio phrases at work and I’m not quite sure but I think that hearing some of those words I’ve been drilling used in a spoken context with proper grammar is improving my verbal comprehension. I’m starting to grasp some basic sentences...nothing really major just simple sentences but it’s a step up from just random words here and there. I’ll do nothing about it for the moment, but it will be something I might start playing with more down the road once I get into reading.***

Edited by Brian_N on 04 August 2009 at 5:46am
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Brian_N
Pro Member
Canada
Joined 5769 days ago
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Message 229 of 248

25 August 2009 at 6:38am | IP Logged

Finally back. Everything been a little too FUBAR lately. It kicked off about two weeks ago with my cell phone and laptop F*ing up in the same day and I’m hoping it ended last Friday with me waving to my supervisor as I walking off my job. “Sick of this shit, I’m going home.” (Yes, it did feel good. Didn‘t even get in crap for it either, soo still employed lol)

Internet is up and running once again, the new laptop is nice but it just doesn’t steal wireless like my last one. But now I have my own dedicated connection so sweet, I can finally go to sleep listening to a Russian radio station again. And my mood is improving quickly.

Anyways though, just wanted to add in that there is something in the works right now, not related to this project but it will have a definite impact if I‘m successful (or lucky, take your pick.) Two weeks and I’ll know for sure. Crossing my fingers and hoping…..
------------------------------------------------------------ --------------
Listening Hours Completed - (+6 hr)
(19:15 of 250)

*This is getting way to disorganized, I need something to augment it like a website site, yeah definitely going to do that.

Edited by Brian_N on 25 August 2009 at 6:39am
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Brian_N
Pro Member
Canada
Joined 5769 days ago
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Studies: English*, Russian
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Message 230 of 248

30 August 2009 at 6:03am | IP Logged

Well I’m made up my mind, February and March is when I’ll be making a little trip to Russia. I’ll let my company know that they will be giving me those months off in January after I get my Christmas bonus. It’s going to be kinda funny when I tell my boss, he’ll be like “And you need two months off why?” and I‘ll be like “Um, because…I’m going to Siberia”. Lol.

Yeah, Siberia. Irkutsk is where I‘m going to be for those two months. Like I said before, Moscow and St. Petersburg will be bypassed. Both are very impressive yes…probably the finest cities Russia has to offer, which is exactly the reason I’m not going to either of them. I’m interested in ‘seeing Russia”, not the ‘best of Russia’. I’ll go sometime to snap some pictures of the monuments for my facebook, but if I’m ever going to stay for awhile it’ll be in a regional city…somewhere.

February…it’ll be very fitting that I’ll find myself in Russia as the first year of this project comes to a close. Can’t wait, and with a bit of luck the usual couple weeks of like -40 will start after I leave Winterpeg. Probably not though lol.

Listening Hours Completed - (+3.5 hr)
(22:45 of 250)

Edited by Brian_N on 30 August 2009 at 6:03am
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SII
Senior Member
Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5796 days ago
184 posts - 194 votes

Speaks: Russian*
Studies: English

Message 231 of 248

30 August 2009 at 8:00am | IP Logged

Brian_N wrote:

Like I said before, Moscow and St. Petersburg will be bypassed. Both are very impressive yes…probably the finest cities Russia has to offer, which is exactly the reason I’m not going to either of them. I’m interested in ‘seeing Russia”, not the ‘best of Russia’.

:) As we speak, "Moscow isn't Russia". Even in Moscow region people don't lived as in Moscow, especially in countryside.

(Hmm... Do I right using the preposition "in"? In Russian I must use "в", which usually is translated as "in")
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Paramecium
Tetraglot
Groupie
Germany
Joined 5716 days ago
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Speaks: German*, English, French, Russian
Studies: Japanese

Message 232 of 248

30 August 2009 at 1:25pm | IP Logged

Mhm I hardly doubt that the difference between Moscow and Irkutsk is so big. Yes of course the center of Moscow is great, but at the outskirts it is like most of the other russian towns. You also can see "not the best of Russia" at Moscow if you will drive for example to some of the south-east quarters...very interesting...especially at night ;-)

I hope you will take the train from Petersburg to Moscow and the Transsib from there to Irkutsk, because this is how you can "really see" Russia.

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