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Learning Russian independently

  Tags: Self-Study | Russian
 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center Post Reply
11 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
Olympia
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5987 days ago

195 posts - 244 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Old English, French

 
 Message 1 of 11
23 August 2008 at 5:38pm | IP Logged 
For quite awhile now, I've wanted to learn Russian. I'm finally headed off to the university in a few days, but
thanks to a loophole in the scheduling rules, I most likely will not be able to take a Russian course. My big
question is, has anyone here ever taught himself/herself Russian? I've been thinking about trying it, but it
seems almost impossible. I already speak Spanish well, but obviously Russian is quite different. I was able to
teach myself the Cyrillic alphabet to the point where I can sound out words, but now I have the momentous task
of learning the grammar.

So, if anyone out there has learned Russian independently, I'd like to know how you did it and how long it took
to reach basic fluency and things like that. The less expensive the method, the better. I will very likely have
access to native Russian speakers in the near future as well, but I don't know to what extent.

Thanks in advance!



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BGreco
Senior Member
Joined 6399 days ago

211 posts - 222 votes 
3 sounds
Speaks: English*
Studies: French, Spanish

 
 Message 2 of 11
23 August 2008 at 9:11pm | IP Logged 
Do a search for the Princeton Russian course. It's wonderful. There are also Michel Thomas courses out for Russian now.
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Cainntear
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Scotland
linguafrankly.blogsp
Joined 6017 days ago

4399 posts - 7687 votes 
Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic
Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh

 
 Message 3 of 11
24 August 2008 at 6:35am | IP Logged 
I'm not mad keen on many of the features of the MT Russian, but it does give you a very solid foundation.

As for price -- do university students still get free library cards...?
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Fat-tony
Nonaglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
jiahubooks.co.uk
Joined 6146 days ago

288 posts - 441 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Russian, Esperanto, Thai, Laotian, Urdu, Swedish, French
Studies: Mandarin, Indonesian, Arabic (Written), Armenian, Pali, Burmese

 
 Message 4 of 11
24 August 2008 at 7:28am | IP Logged 
Russian was the first language I taught myself as a result my techniques were far from perfect. This is because
the only language learning experience I had was from Latin, so I took a grammar intensive approach. Now I
realise that I wasted a lot of my time and I wouldn't like to say how long it will take to get to basic fluency.
Personally I feel I spent far too much time worrying about grammatical intricacies such as declining adjectives
and the finer points of verbal aspect, before moving on to using the language actively. I would hope that the
members of the Russian department would offer you reasonable assistance in learning Russian, if that's the case
then start speaking straight away: they're teachers and are paid to correct students' language - don't feel sorry
for them!
As for courses, the internet came too late for me but I think there's more than a GB of material in the Princeton
course, so it should keep you busy for a while. Personally I can recommend Teach Yourself Russian as one of the
better TY courses, and as you come to an intermediate level the Penguin Russian Course and Ian Press' Learn
Russian will add variety to your reading (all of these should be in any decent library). My advice is not to focus on
one course. Unless the course is explicitly designed for your needs (e.g. the Defence Language Institute courses
for the military) then you should be willing to work through two or three courses, maybe not simultaneously but
to avoid becoming blinkered. I always found it a morale boost when I got stuck to blitz through the first couple
of chapters of other beginners courses.
And get a dictionary, I still mainly use my battered, coverless Collins Gem Russian-English English-Russian
dictionary, which is under a fiver on Amazon.
Good luck,
Fat-tony


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Olympia
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5987 days ago

195 posts - 244 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Old English, French

 
 Message 5 of 11
24 August 2008 at 12:52pm | IP Logged 
Wow, I downloaded the Princeton Russian course today and it is fabulous! I can't believe all the information it has.
It should keep me going for awhile. I'm definitely heading to the Slavic languages department at my university
when I get there in a couple of days. Hopefully they will be willing to help as well. Now all I have to do is stick with
it.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their ideas.
1 person has voted this message useful



I'm Russian
Senior Member
Russian Federation
svet-v-mir.narod.ru
Joined 6154 days ago

111 posts - 113 votes 
1 sounds
Studies: English

 
 Message 6 of 11
24 August 2008 at 9:16pm | IP Logged 
If you want I can help you through the internet. It would be helpful for me as well. I learn (or i'm learning?) English now. I think that if we help each other 5-10 minutes per day it will be very well and may be it will be funny... I'd propose it to a few people, they were very glad for that... and then they disappeared.

One can to learn russian himself if it is needed.
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William Camden
Hexaglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 6278 days ago

1936 posts - 2333 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French

 
 Message 7 of 11
12 September 2008 at 6:33am | IP Logged 
If you are studying on your own, get Nicholas Brown's Frequency Dictionary of Russian. Published by Routledge. Ten thousand of the most common Russian words, in order. You will build up a large, at least passive, vocabulary of Russian if you use it well. I regret this book was not available when I studied Russian at university, though I did use one of Brown's sources.
1 person has voted this message useful



I'm Russian
Senior Member
Russian Federation
svet-v-mir.narod.ru
Joined 6154 days ago

111 posts - 113 votes 
1 sounds
Studies: English

 
 Message 8 of 11
12 September 2008 at 8:15am | IP Logged 
William Camden wrote:
....Frequency Dictionary of Russian. .... Ten thousand of the most common Russian words, in order. You will build up a large, at least passive, vocabulary of Russian if you use it well....

All depends on that how much well you wish to know language. If you wish it to understand a little this technique is quite appropriate.



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