Thread: Why do you choose to learn Russian?

I'm just interested to hear why you have chosen to learn Russian?

I mean the reason I am trying is partly as I like a challenge. I learnt French at school and didn't enjoy it and probably should learn french as my parents have just bought a villa there, but I am just not interested. The culture of Russia, and in particular references to the war or cold war really interest me.

I am pretty sure that I will never use it as part of my work, and I cannot see me travelling to Russia within the next 4 or 5 years... Am I crazy?

Andrew

You are surely not crazy! If you feel that you want to learn the Russian language just do it. Don't worry too much over why you are doing that. You will probably pick up French when you move to your French villa without any difficulty.

I am pretty sure that I will never use it as part of my work, and I cannot see me travelling to Russia within the next 4 or 5 years...

Who knows? Maybe, you will have to come to Russia on acount of your work. Or you will probably acquire a very good command of Russian and will want to come to Russia to practice the language.

Originally Posted by andrewsco

I'm just interested to hear why you have chosen to learn Russian?

Becouse I'm crazy about Russian culture and I am charmed of these harsh but brave, beatifull and kind people. BTW, russian cooking is really nice too.

Learn Russian? Hmmm. What makes you think we're learning Russian???

Seriously, I am learning because my wife is from Bulgaria. No, her 1st language is not Russian, but Bulgarian. I can't feasibly learn Bulgarian because there are not many good resources out there for learning Bulgarian. Russian is a similar language with lots of good audio CDs, books, websites, etc. And my wife and most of her family do know Russian.

Now, call me crazy, but I'm thinking of starting to learn Bulgarian at the same time. Confusing? Yes. Useful? Yes.

IMHO it`s cool to be some crazy...

Learn Russian? Hmmm. What makes you think we're learning Russian???

Seriously, I am learning because my wife is from Bulgaria. No, her 1st language is not Russian, but Bulgarian. I can't feasibly learn Bulgarian because there are not many good resources out there for learning Bulgarian. Russian is a similar language with lots of good audio CDs, books, websites, etc. And my wife and most of her family do know Russian.

Now, call me crazy, but I'm thinking of starting to learn Bulgarian at the same time. Confusing? Yes. Useful? Yes.

Why do you think one is crazy if he wants to learn two pretty similar languages? I think that you have so few good resources for learning Bulgarian because of the fact that the population of Bulgaria is much smaller than that of Russian and Bulgaria per se is a lot smaller than Russia.

I am learning Russian because I live there with my Russian husband.
Don't give up your French language! Many words in Russian are derived from French and many French words are still used in Russian conversation. I have many Russian friends in Moscow who are fluent in French and use it daily. So French and Russian are a nice combination and useful to know!

Originally Posted by ReDSanchous

Why do you think one is crazy if he wants to learn two pretty similar languages? I think that you have so few good resources for learning Bulgarian because of the fact that the population of Bulgaria is much smaller than that of Russian and Bulgaria per se is a lot smaller than Russia.

I have been told not to learn two similar languages simultaneously (i.e. SPanish/Italian, Russian/Bulgarian, Martian/Neptunian, etc.). I think it's because when they're so similar it's very easy to get confused. I dunno, I haven't really tried both at the same time yet.

And you're right, only about 9 million people speak Bulgarian, and about 7.5 million live in Bulgaria. Russian, however, is spoken by (if i remember my stats correctly) 200+ million people. ANd half of those are outside Russia. That's another reason to learn Russian. Because of its usefulness in the world.

Originally Posted by JB

I am learning Russian because I live there with my Russian husband.
. I have many Russian friends in Moscow who are fluent in French and use it daily. So French and Russian are a nice combination and useful to know!

yAAy!! I've just started Russian and French in uni this week =) What interested me was firstly the history then secondly the desire to go to Russia and move around competantly {plus Russian blokes and their whole gutteral drawl are aesthetically pleasing and make reason nomer tri}.

I have been told not to learn two similar languages simultaneously (i.e. SPanish/Italian, Russian/Bulgarian, Martian/Neptunian, etc.). I think it's because when they're so similar it's very easy to get confused. I dunno, I haven't really tried both at the same time yet.

I didn't think about that! I learned English and German simultaneously something like two years ago but I paid much closer attention to English than German. Probably, it is the chief reason why I didn't get confused at the time. If the two languages are too similar you could probably try acquiring a fairly good command of Russian (since you are already learning it) and then switch to Bulgarian. You will find you will know a load of words in Bulgarian..

Originally Posted by ReDSanchous

I didn't think about that! I learned English and German simultaneously something like two years ago but I paid much closer attention to English than German. Probably, it is the chief reason why I didn't get confused at the time. If the two languages are too similar you could probably try acquiring a fairly good command of Russian (since you are already learning it) and then switch to Bulgarian. You will find you will know a load of words in Bulgarian..

That has been my plan. I originally tried Bulgarian. I learned the alphabet, and I learned a few words. Also, being married to a Bulgarian for 5 years, I've listened to her talk to her mom and I have picked up a few more words. I gave up Bulgarian because of the lack of books, CD's, etc. Now, learning Russian, I find that I already know a bunch of words maybe pronounced or spelled a little differently.

I have pretty much decided to stick to Russian, but I'm so impatient and I want to learn Bulgarian too. I've only been studying Russian 3 months or so, and I still can't speak or understand very much. And I know even less Bulgarian.

One problem is that I am going to Bulgaria in 2 months, and I would LOVE to be able to have conversations with them. But there's no way I could get that far in ANY language in 2 months, I think.

Originally Posted by Platinum

Originally Posted by ReDSanchous

I didn't think about that! I learned English and German simultaneously something like two years ago but I paid much closer attention to English than German. Probably, it is the chief reason why I didn't get confused at the time. If the two languages are too similar you could probably try acquiring a fairly good command of Russian (since you are already learning it) and then switch to Bulgarian. You will find you will know a load of words in Bulgarian..

That has been my plan. I originally tried Bulgarian. I learned the alphabet, and I learned a few words. Also, being married to a Bulgarian for 5 years, I've listened to her talk to her mom and I have picked up a few more words. I gave up Bulgarian because of the lack of books, CD's, etc. Now, learning Russian, I find that I already know a bunch of words maybe pronounced or spelled a little differently.

I have pretty much decided to stick to Russian, but I'm so impatient and I want to learn Bulgarian too. I've only been studying Russian 3 months or so, and I still can't speak or understand very much. And I know even less Bulgarian.

One problem is that I am going to Bulgaria in 2 months, and I would LOVE to be able to have conversations with them. But there's no way I could get that far in ANY language in 2 months, I think.

As far as the vocabulary goes, Russian is very close to Bulgarian, it's probably the closest among all the living languages. The reason is that when the standard Russian was formalized, a lot of words were borrowed from Bulgarian or Church Slavonic because they were considered "higher style" than the ones that were common in the local dialects.

Originally Posted by laxxy

As far as the vocabulary goes, Russian is very close to Bulgarian, it's probably the closest among all the living languages. The reason is that when the standard Russian was formalized, a lot of words were borrowed from Bulgarian or Church Slavonic because they were considered "higher style" than the ones that were common in the local dialects.

Yeah, I kinda knew about that. I don't know all the details, though. Anyway, my wife says that if I learn Russian then I can communicate (at least a little bit) with her family who speaks only Bulgarian.

That's the plan!

That has been my plan. I originally tried Bulgarian. I learned the alphabet, and I learned a few words. Also, being married to a Bulgarian for 5 years, I've listened to her talk to her mom and I have picked up a few more words. I gave up Bulgarian because of the lack of books, CD's, etc. Now, learning Russian, I find that I already know a bunch of words maybe pronounced or spelled a little differently.

I have pretty much decided to stick to Russian, but I'm so impatient and I want to learn Bulgarian too. I've only been studying Russian 3 months or so, and I still can't speak or understand very much. And I know even less Bulgarian.

One problem is that I am going to Bulgaria in 2 months, and I would LOVE to be able to have conversations with them. But there's no way I could get that far in ANY language in 2 months, I think.

If you are going to Bulgaria in two months you definitely should start to continue studying Bulgarian again. You will get a good chance to practice the language while in the country. If the Bulgarian and Russian languages are really so similar then you can just switch back to Bulgarian now so you can have conversations while you are in Bulgaria. Once you are back in the States continue learning Russian. How long will you be staying in Bulgaria? If it is a pretty long period of time you will probably gain a lot during your stay in the country and wil no longer want to study the Russian language. It might be kind of a problem. I dunno. It is very hard to give advice when you know rather little.

As for your last post, you could do that. I met a few guys from Poland in the summer of 2004 when I was in the UK and you know what? I was sometimes able to catch the gist of what they said

Therefore, your plan is highly likely to succeed!

Originally Posted by ReDSanchous

If you are going to Bulgaria in two months you definitely should start to continue studying Bulgarian again. You will get a good chance to practice the language while in the country...How long will you be staying in Bulgaria?

I will be staying there for 1 month. My wife and children are there now. They got there 3 weeks ago, so they will be there a total of about 4 months. Our children are VERY young (ages 4, 2, and 1), and my wife says that in 2 weeks they are already starting to speak Bulgarian. So maybe by the time they've been there 4 months they will be speaking Bulgarian, even when we come home.

I think even if I learn a LOT of Bulgarian, I'll still want to learn Russian. I originally started Russian as a stepping stone to Bulgarian, but i've gotten very interested in Russian language, history, and culture. My ultimate goal is total fluency in both...but I realize that's years away. Short-term, I want to be able to do two things:

1) Communicate with my wife's family
2) Read books, etc. in Russian.

Do you think ‘total fluency’ is achievable if you are not a kid? To my way of thinking, it is virtually impossible. Maybe only if you are a genius or something...

1) Communicate with my wife's family
2) Read books, etc. in Russian.

I think you can achieve the first goal in about 6 months of constant practice. As for the second goal, it's going to be harder. I could read English books relatively easily after 2 years of learning English. I want to repeat 'relatively easily'. I could read books after 6 months of learning English as well but there were many more things I did not understand at the time than there were 18 months after. Now that I've been learning English for a little bit more than 4 years I can read any book in English but can't write the way you, natives, write/speak.
Being immersed in the language you are studying is very good. What's more, I think it's virtually impossible to achieve "total fluency" without, at least once, going to the country where the language you are learning is spoken.

Originally Posted by ReDSanchous

Do you think ‘total fluency’ is achievable if you are not a kid? To my way of thinking, it is virtually impossible. Maybe only if you are a genius or something...

1) Communicate with my wife's family
2) Read books, etc. in Russian.

I think you can achieve the first goal in about 6 months of constant practice. As for the second goal, it's going to be harder. I could read English books relatively easily after 2 years of learning English. I want to repeat 'relatively easily'. I could read books after 6 months of learning English as well but there were many more things I did not understand at the time than there were 18 months after. Now that I've been learning English for a little bit more than 4 years I can read any book in English but can't write the way you, natives, write/speak.
Being immersed in the language you are studying is very good. What's more, I think it's virtually impossible to achieve "total fluency" without, at least once, going to the country where the language you are learning is spoken.

You're probably right. "Total fluency" is almost impossible to do. I think a person can become "fluent enough" in any language, but only if he/she is in that country. I'm surprised to know that you found communicating with people easier than reading English. For the record, I think your written (typed) English is VERY good. Honestly, I cannot tell a difference in your English compared to a native speaker.

How old were you when you started learning English? I think there are several factors involved. For example, my wife came to America at the age of 17, with NO knowledge of English. Since she was in complete immersion, with virtually nobody to talk to in Bulgarian, she was "fluent" within 1 year. Even today (7 years after coming to America), her accent is not very strong. You can tell that maybe she's not from America, but only if you listen carefully. The funny thing is...other native Bulgarian speakers have said that her Bulgarian is not good anymore. She has an "American" accent when she speaks her native tongue. I think that's strange, but understandable.

Originally Posted by ReDSanchous

Do you think ‘total fluency’ is achievable if you are not a kid? To my way of thinking, it is virtually impossible. Maybe only if you are a genius or something...

1) Communicate with my wife's family
2) Read books, etc. in Russian.

I think you can achieve the first goal in about 6 months of constant practice. As for the second goal, it's going to be harder. I could read English books relatively easily after 2 years of learning English. I want to repeat 'relatively easily'. I could read books after 6 months of learning English as well but there were many more things I did not understand at the time than there were 18 months after. Now that I've been learning English for a little bit more than 4 years I can read any book in English but can't write the way you, natives, write/speak.
Being immersed in the language you are studying is very good. What's more, I think it's virtually impossible to achieve "total fluency" without, at least once, going to the country where the language you are learning is spoken.

Total fluency is definitely achievable, although not easily so. I have met several people who spoke Russian fluently without any trace of any accent or anything else that could have told them off as foreigners (and who started learning it as adults), but of course this is not too common.

btw, for those interested in improving their English: I recently came across a manual called "American accent training" by Ann Cook, it's like $26 on Amazon, which seems to be quite nice. She covers a few topics that are both important and hard to grasp, such as the word stress and sentence rythm patterns, in addition to other things.

Let me ask my question in a different way. Perhaps you already answered it, but anyway...

I want to learn Bulgaria AND Russian. Since I'm going to Bulgaria in 2 months (and staying there for 1 month), should I switch my studies to hard-core Bulgarian? So far I know almost zero Bulgarian. I know a few words, but that's all. Or should I just stick with Russian and deal with Bulgarian later? In two months of learning Russian I can't yet communicate well, but I know some basics.

I'm guessing in two months of learning Bulgarian, I'll be about where I am now in Russian.

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just new at this learning-a-language game. Still trying to figure it all out.

Originally Posted by Platinum

The funny thing is...other native Bulgarian speakers have said that her Bulgarian is not good anymore. She has an "American" accent when she speaks her native tongue. I think that's strange, but understandable.

A very good point. There was a discussion some time ago, where a few folks did not believe me when I was telling that this is possible.
I personally knew two people who acquired a foreign accent in their native Russian speech after staying abroad for a while, and in both cases their situations were exactly the same as with your wife.
This is very different from just getting your vocabulary mixed up btw.