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[TAC 2014] Learning Russian - Team Катюша

 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
88 messages over 11 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 1 ... 10 11 Next >>
Cristianoo
Triglot
Senior Member
Brazil
https://projetopoligRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 3880 days ago

175 posts - 289 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, FrenchB2, English
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 1 of 88
22 September 2013 at 4:28am | IP Logged 
привет!

This is my first log. I'm trying to learn Russian from scratch. I already studied the
alphabet, so I might skip this. This are the tools I'm using to learn Russian:

1. Pimsleur - I take lessons when i'm going to and from the gym and work. I also listen
on elevators, lines and during "snack" time

2. The New Penguim Russian Course - Textbook to learn grammar and some vocabulary

3. Anki for vocab trainning

4. Word lists and simulated written conversations to train vocab and cyrillic write
speed.

I plan to add some more stuff along the way....


Language Goals:

1) Imediate goal: Be able to read cyrillic without having to think much. I mean, read
it like i do with roman

2) Be able to read a newspaper with a dictionary without having to check every word

3) Be able to get along with things in Russia


Life Goals:

1. I intend to travel to Moscow and St. Petersburg in 2015 during a planned Round the
World trip. I already took a RTW vacation, so this is going to be my second one. Much
more fun! Also, I hope to visit some of other East European countries, specially
Belarus (russian could help) and Czech Rep (maybe not).

2. I like very much Dostoiévski's books, so why not read some in russian? I would like
to buy some of his books in Moscow (in russian, of course), bring then back to Brazil
and read then at home =)

3. Maybe, depending on my Russian level, I will take the transiberian railroad trip,
from Moscow to the end of Russia.




Edited by Cristianoo on 13 January 2014 at 5:58pm

2 persons have voted this message useful



fabriciocarraro
Hexaglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
Brazil
russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4474 days ago

989 posts - 1454 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French
Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese

 
 Message 2 of 88
22 September 2013 at 6:47am | IP Logged 
Boa sorte velho! Vou acompanhar =)

Qualquer coisa, só perguntar!
1 person has voted this message useful



Lorren
Senior Member
United States
brookelorren.com/blo
Joined 4010 days ago

286 posts - 324 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Spanish, Danish, Irish
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 3 of 88
22 September 2013 at 9:22am | IP Logged 
Russian is the next language that I'm going to work on, starting November 1st. I took a year of it in high school, but I've forgotten most of it, except for most of the alphabet. So I guess I'll be approximately where you are.

Good luck!
1 person has voted this message useful



Cristianoo
Triglot
Senior Member
Brazil
https://projetopoligRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 3880 days ago

175 posts - 289 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, FrenchB2, English
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 4 of 88
23 September 2013 at 11:30pm | IP Logged 
Today's Report

Pimsleur - Finished lesson 5
Penguin - Finished lesson 5

Started studying the case system. Very complicated and different.
1 person has voted this message useful



BonneVivante
Pro Member
Canada
Joined 4617 days ago

33 posts - 59 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 5 of 88
24 September 2013 at 12:18am | IP Logged 
Welcome to Russian! It can be hard to pronounce properly, but it's a beautiful language.

When I studied Russian a few years ago I also used the Penguin book, and I found it to be very good. My partner, who is a native Russian speaker from Moscow, said that it was very accurate concerning Russian expressions and customs.

I think that Russian will help you a lot in Belarus. When a friend of mine did some genealogical research that required correspondence with Belorussian archivists and translations of old Belorussian records, my Russian-speaking partner was able to handle all interactions and translations with very little confusion. Apparently the two languages are quite similar.

Something you may find fun is that many Russian cartoons from the 70's and 80's are available on Youtube. My personal favourite is Vinni Puh (Winnie the Pooh), but there are many others, including some very famous ones such as Cheburashka. The language is usually simple, and it always makes a Russian person smile when they realize you know their favourite childhood cartoons! Once I was at the house of a Russian acquaintance for dinner, and they were very impressed when I recognized the plush Cheburashka doll in their living room.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Cristianoo
Triglot
Senior Member
Brazil
https://projetopoligRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 3880 days ago

175 posts - 289 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, FrenchB2, English
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 6 of 88
24 September 2013 at 3:12am | IP Logged 
Thanks BonneVivante. Pronunciation is not that hard, except for those sounds that
doesn't exist in Portuguese, English or French. I think the most difficult sound for a
english speaker would be the rolling r's, but since I'm a portuguese speaker, they are
ok to me (we have then).

What I'm finding really painful is the vocabulary... they are all different for what I
know =). And to understand lessons properly one must already know some of them. And, of
course, the case system.

Another thing that I found difficult is to use google translator. It seams to not
translate properly, so I find myself lost sometimes.

Verb conjugation is hard, but quite less than in portuguese or french.




Edited by Cristianoo on 24 September 2013 at 3:13am

1 person has voted this message useful



Ogrim
Heptaglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 4398 days ago

991 posts - 1896 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian
Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian

 
 Message 7 of 88
24 September 2013 at 9:17am | IP Logged 
Good luck with your Russian studies. I also found that learning the vocabulary takes more of an effort than it did for me learning Romance or other Germanic languages. Obviously in Germanic and Romance you have a large number of words with a common origin, which Slavic languages don't share.

As for Google, you really cannot trust it when it comes to Russian. I used to run articles in Russian I found on the internet through Google translate, but the outcome was sometimes so bizarre that I gave up on it (except if I want to have a laugh;)
1 person has voted this message useful



Марк
Senior Member
Russian Federation
Joined 4815 days ago

2096 posts - 2972 votes 
Speaks: Russian*

 
 Message 8 of 88
24 September 2013 at 10:46am | IP Logged 
Cristianoo wrote:
Thanks BonneVivante. Pronunciation is not that hard,

It seems easy for you because you use such a "great" resource as Penguin. Which says that
Russian pronunciation is not important, soft consonants are a "non-essential" feature and
which fails to explain even basic pronunciation rules.


3 persons have voted this message useful



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