Thread: Help with Russian

Hello everyone,

Im 22 years old and a Greek-Cypriot from the UK and recently travelled to Saint Petersburg where I fell in love with a Russian girl. She dosent speak much English but our hearts speak the same language. Im going to learn Russian, I heard it has similarities with Greek, is this true?

Any advice?

Also Id like to buy a portable translator where I can type in English sentences and it will translate it into Russian and vice vercer. Does anyone know if this kind of thing can be baught? Any reccomendations?

Thanks in advance for any help!


-Marios

Well, Russian has some similarities with Latin, and German, don't know about Greek.

Russian is a very simple language, actually. No one can ever have any difficulty studying it (if they have a prodigious motivation corresponding to the huge amount of grammar points they'll have to learn).
But since you do not speak any Russian yet, and the girl isn't good at English I'm afraid it's going to be oh very hard for you.
Devices like what you have described can be bought. They are called laptops, or any kind of portative computers - you just buy them, find a programm needed and the business is over.

Originally Posted by Marios

Hello everyone,

Im 22 years old and a Greek-Cypriot from the UK and recently travelled to Saint Petersburg where I fell in love with a Russian girl. She dosent speak much English but our hearts speak the same language. Im going to learn Russian, I heard it has similarities with Greek, is this true?

...
-Marios

Yea, it does have similarities with Greek after all this is a Slavic language and Slavic originaly comes from a Greek dialect that used to be spoken ones in Saloniki.

We do have a lot of words that we actually share with other languages like English, that their origin is Greek.

Words like phenomenon(феномен) crisis(кризис) demon(демон) schema(схема) lexicon(лексикон) lexica(лексика)

Terms like Psychology(Психология), Stomatology(Стоматология), anything that ends with *logy* from Greek "logos".

The Greek letters and the Russian, do look similar, i Believe the first 4 letters of Russian alphabeth look a lot like greek and also the latter Ф is the same as Greek.

Мне кажется, по фонетике русский и греческий похожи...
По крайней мере, я знала одного грека, который прожив в России всего два года, говорил на русском без акцента. Не думаю, что это получилось бы у англичанина или француза...

Кому не сложно, переведите мой пост на английский, для автора темы

Originally Posted by Оля

Мне кажется, по фонетике русский и греческий похожи...
По крайней мере, я знала одного грека, который прожив в России всего два года, говорил на русском без акцента. Не думаю, что это получилось бы у англичанина или француза...

Кому не сложно, переведите мой пост на английский, для автора темы

пожалуйста:

Olya said:

I think that with their phonetics Russian & Greek are similar.
Ar least I knew one Greek that lived in Russia only two years and could talk on it with no accent. I don't think an Englishman or a Frenchman could do that.

Originally Posted by Красота-то какая

They are called laptops, or any kind of portative computers - you just buy them, find a programm needed and the business is over.

I don't think you meant it like that, but that sounded REALLY sarcastic -- and made me laugh really hard.

Anyway, I think what he wants is like a handheld, almost-calculator sort of thing. I've not seen any, but they probably exist. I doubt they're much count however. Get a phrasebook and a pocket dictionary -- and save your money and batteries.

I have seen quite a few of those calculator type devices for translating russian to english for sale on line. The run about $500, so without knowing how well they work thats a pretty big risk.

But do they actually translate sentences or are they just electronic dictionarys?

I want a translator not an electronic dictionary.

And as for things being hard between me and the girl, I do not care how hard it will be we love each other and I will do anything to make things work out. Learning her language is the least I can do!

Why doesn't she learn Greek?

Originally Posted by Leof

Why doesn't she learn Greek?

Yup. This is the best idea yet. Here's what you do: you buy her a Greek phrasebook and dictionary, and let her reciprocate with the Russian ones. Then you speak to her only in Russian and she can speak to you in Greek. You two will gain both a lover AND another language! Forget the electronic translator. They're expensive -- and if they are ANYTHING like the ones for free online, they're hopelessly stupid.

I was born in England and I am bi-lingual, speak English and Greek, so it seems to me natural for her to learn English and not Greek as she already has a basis in English and could decide to live with me in future in England. Although Id love her to speak Greek, English is more essential for somone to learn, and she could always learn Greek in future if she chose.

Any advice on learning Russian? Ive already looked at the alphabet, that was my first lesson with myself. It has alot of similarities with Greek which is very easy for me, but some of the other letters and their pronunciation will need alot of practice! From a common sense point of view Im thinking I should first master the alphabetm then learn some basic but essential words, and then learn some sentences. What do you think? I can do this online, but maybe I should order a course, also? Like Russian in 3 months or Linguaphone or somthing.

Thanks!!


-Marios

check out the getting started and books sections, lots of course books are listed there

Originally Posted by Marios

I can do this online, but maybe I should order a course, also? Like Russian in 3 months or Linguaphone or somthing.
-Marios

Try this http://www.slovio.com/1/0.knigis/qslovio-02-eng.pdf maybe it helps you.

Originally Posted by Оля

Мне кажется, по фонетике русский и греческий похожи...
По крайней мере, я знала одного грека, который прожив в России всего два года, говорил на русском без акцента. Не думаю, что это получилось бы у англичанина или француза...

У французов без акцента говорить получается за две недели.

From the point of view of a native English and Greek speaker, Russian will be very different for you.

I think the "similaraties with Greek" thing is a mix up of the Russian (Cyrillic) alphabet being adapted from the Greek Alphabet.

It's not any way similar enough for you to notice much. Russian grammar and vocab is proabably as similar to Greek and English is to Greek.

In most European languages there is a huge number of words of Greek origin.

It will seem "Greek" to you.

Originally Posted by adoc

Originally Posted by Оля

Мне кажется, по фонетике русский и греческий похожи...
По крайней мере, я знала одного грека, который прожив в России всего два года, говорил на русском без акцента. Не думаю, что это получилось бы у англичанина или француза...

У французов без акцента говорить получается за две недели.

I don't believe :P

[quote=Оля]

Originally Posted by adoc

Originally Posted by "Оля":c31f5h24

Мне кажется, по фонетике русский и греческий похожи...
По крайней мере, я знала одного грека, который прожив в России всего два года, говорил на русском без акцента. Не думаю, что это получилось бы у англичанина или француза...

У французов без акцента говорить получается за две недели.

I don't believe :P[/quote:c31f5h24]


In times when I pretended to be a Frenchman, I used to "have learnt" Russian in a day (two at the most). Girls were thinking they had been in a presence of a genius

(joking only in part).

[quote=Оля]

Originally Posted by adoc

Originally Posted by "Оля":1ry21xzs

Мне кажется, по фонетике русский и греческий похожи...
По крайней мере, я знала одного грека, который прожив в России всего два года, говорил на русском без акцента. Не думаю, что это получилось бы у англичанина или француза...

У французов без акцента говорить получается за две недели.

I don't believe :P[/quote:1ry21xzs]

Surprizingly, it's true. French people speak Russian with a very good accent, much better than the English or German anyway.

Originally Posted by Rtyom

It will seem "Greek" to you.

LOL!!!

And thanks for the info guys, Ill stick around and try and learn from the forum.