Thread: Advanced Russian learners invited to participate in a university study

Hi, my name is Svetlana and I am new to the site. I am a native Russian speaker, but I will write in English since my post needs to reach native speakers of English learning Russian.

Dear Russian Language enthusiasts/experts/! I need your help!

I am PhD student at the University of Maryland and I am conducting a study on how Russian words are learned and memorized by the native speakers of English, and I have found myself in desperate need of participants at advanced levels of proficiency in Russian (if anyone is familiar with proficiency scales, ILR 2 and higher or ACTFL Advanced and higher, which roughly equates to 5-6 semesters of college Russian plus a semester of study/work abroad or any other type of Russian immersion experience).
If you think you match the criteria, it would be absolutely wonderful if you consider participating in this study - you can participate online and there is no need for travel.

You will need a PC with internet access, access to a printer to print out some forms and a scanner to convert the filled out documents to PDF. It will take about 2-2.5 hours and there is a $50 compensation upon completion.
Please, contact me if you are interested and feel free to share this information with anyone who might fit the profile.

You can reach me at RussianStudyUMD@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.

If you are unsure if you qualify, you can fill out the initial screening questionnaire and the proficiency test at:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...al9pbFNkYmc6MA

I look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you to all of the forum members for your sincere interest in the Russian language and good luck to those who is just starting out - don't despair!

Sincerely,
Svetlana

With learning new vocabulary, I usually look for:

Anything in the word that looks like something I know, root, stem.
Then from familiar Russian roots/stems or words with different prefixes & suffixes.

From known patterns like город град/ж pairs, солодь слад etc.

By association with other Indo-European roots/words мёд => mel-.

By humor, or homophony, or other similarity: жалобы => jalopy, an old vehicle that is all complaints.

For memorization, I try to have normal, typical or set phrases that incorporate the new word/s. Or use something like a stock phrase of a character, like a Benderism. 'Заседание продолжается, господа присяжные!'

And a very important method of memorizing new vocabulary is song. Songs that contain new vocab 'unitize' or incorporate new vocab in a package that ties in the new vocab. Sing to remember.