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Russian Success Stories | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| blauwevos Newbie France Joined 3490 days ago 7 posts - 12 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 8 14 May 2015 at 10:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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After about two years of studying Russian, I find myself suffering from the intermediate blues. I'm at that stage where you're starting to doubt yourself, your methods*, and above all, whether it's even possible to really learn Russian well to begin with. :-)
I was wondering if any of you who've successfully learned Russian would be willing to share their story. How did you learn the language? How long did it take you, and were there moments when you almost gave up? What got you through? How did you get to the level where you are now? And most of all, was it worth it? What novels, music, movies,... are you glad that you learned Russian for? (* I'm learning mainly by looking up every unknown word I encounter while reading, without any particular effort to memorize them, relying on repeated exposure to engrave them in my mind. It's hard work and it got me from beginner to intermediate, but I'm not sure if it'll work for the transition from intermediate to advanced. I aim to be at least C1 in Russian someday.) Edited by blauwevos on 14 May 2015 at 10:10pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Kavakos Newbie United States Joined 3376 days ago 5 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Portuguese | Message 2 of 8 15 May 2015 at 6:49am | IP Logged | ||
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This is a beautiful question. :') I've been stuck in the dreadful intermediate stage for
a while too. I'm excited for the responses! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4029 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes  Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek | Message 3 of 8 15 May 2015 at 11:34am | IP Logged | ||
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If you don't want to wait for responses, just go and read a bunch of logs over here, visit TAC team Russian
threads. Do a research. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Nieng Zhonghan Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Antarctica Joined 3466 days ago 108 posts - 315 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Japanese*, Spanish, Galician Studies: Finnish, Icelandic, Armenian, Mongolian Studies: Old English, Russian, English, German, Korean, Mandarin | Message 4 of 8 15 May 2015 at 1:35pm | IP Logged | ||
I second that. I have been following HTLAL since 2006. I could name some names here, but most of them seen to be no longer active. From recent logs I have been following, I think you may take a look how Tarvos has successfully learned Russian, but you can also check the other members of Russian team's log (Pushkin) on here: http://www.how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.a sp?TID=39755&PN=1&TPN=1 You could also check the previous year's logs from those who were registering their achievements etc on their logs. Another suggestion is to join the super challenges and so on. You can read about them later to see how it works. There is a recent thread where other users have already posted many useful things, advice etc. Even though the learner's goals might be different from yours, I think there are some useful methods, links etc being mentioned there. http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=40427&PN=1 As it was suggested in the thread above, you may take a look on Gloss. I could list here a list of music and movies, but what are your favorite genres? It doesn't make sense to list my favorite Russian rock bands if you are looking for hip hop which I am not fond of, for example. I have never wanted to give up on learning any language I am learning at the moment, including Russian. Basically I can say that I take it easy and I have fun most of times. Being challenged is already a good reason for me to stick with what I am doing. Sometimes you will face difficult things, but that's part of language learning or maintaining. What's not difficult in our lives? It's not only the destination, it's the journey... PS: Are you aiming to reach C1 in your passive skills (reading and listening)? Edited by Nieng Zhonghan on 15 May 2015 at 1:53pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4502 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 5 of 8 15 May 2015 at 4:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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Succesfully is a definition up in the air depending on how you look at things...
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5351 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 6 of 8 16 May 2015 at 5:21am | IP Logged | ||
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I second reading Russian Team members' blogs, especially anything by tarvos, who has impressed me no end with his epic journey to advanced Russian proficiency. Tanya_b has also shared some interesting posts on how she reached an advanced level of proficiency in Russian over a period of two to three years.
Just keep in mind, no matter how far that intermediate desert seems to stretch into the distance, or how many oases turn out to be a trick of the heat along the way, each small step forward will bring you closer to your goals, whatever your definition of "success" may be. There is a time and place just over that horizon, rich in fertile Russian plains and fluent conversation, where все will indeed вудет хорошо (hooray for tired but true aphorisms)!! :D Edited by Teango on 16 May 2015 at 8:07am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4502 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 7 of 8 16 May 2015 at 7:01am | IP Logged | ||
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Ah, my case is funny because I actually have to speak Russian on a daily basis. I don't
live in Russia but I do have frequent contact with the Russophone world (Russians are a notable part of my student clientele) and even outside that I am in contact with several Russians regularly. I'm glad I learned Russian, not to learn to read any books, but to converse with the entire Russophone world. It's the culture that attracts me. Novels, music and so on are only a part of that. Edited by tarvos on 16 May 2015 at 7:02am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4434 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 8 of 8 18 May 2015 at 12:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't think I am a "success story" yet, I'm also on an intermediate level and progress is slow, but that is also due to lack of time. However, as others say, every little helps, and you just need to realise that it will take time.
One thing that is crucial for me is having regular language classes. I only have time for a one-hour class per week, in a small group (there are three of us), but it works wonders in terms of motivation. I do not want to come unprepared to the lesson, so it encourages me to put in an extra effort. We are given a topic to prepare each week, so I look oup vocabulary and think through how to construct meaningful sentences so I can really benefit from the lesson. I would have liked an hour per day, but even once a week is better than nothing, as long as you work between lessons. Also, sometimes I look back and realise that having reached an intermediate level is actually quite an achievement. Think where you were two years ago, and you see how much you have progessed. There is no reason why in two years time you will not be able to look back to today and have the same experience. And if it's worth it... Yes, even at the intermediate level I find myself now, I feel that all those hours have been very much worth it. I can read news articles in Russian on my screen. I can listen to Russian songs and actually get the gist of it. I can read a modern novel, although I do need to look up a lot of words. And not least, I can have a basic conversation in Russian and make myself understood. All this makes it worth it and motivates me to continue, hoping to reach that advanced level where I can easily read, write and talk in Russian. I know it won't happen tomorrow, or next month, or maybe even next year, but I know I'll get there eventually. Edited by Ogrim on 18 May 2015 at 6:31pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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