Thread: Why I am learnging Russian

Originally Posted by Тоби

I have received the Penguin book and it is wonderful, but I am putting it down for now until I can memorize the alphabet first. Once I do that I can then associate the letters with the Russian words. That alphabet is sure hard to learn. I had learned a few words before going to the Ukraine in July, and I was told that my accent/pronunciation was that of Russian. That apparently I upset some cab drivers because they thought I was messing with them when I told them “ I don’t understand Russian” in Russian. So I think I got the accent down unless a few folks were just being nice to me. I think my Spanish accent helps this a little because of the ability to roll my English R’s, in Spanish this is hard for the typical English person to learn.

Yep, I've had various Spaniards tell me they thought that Spanish pronounciation is closer to Russian, than English is. I agree with you.

The alphabet is not difficult, it just takes time.

Originally Posted by Тоби

I did try Skype with one fellow that would teach however I could not hear him very well.
My internet is currently Satellite only because of where I live. But when I use my headset for other means of communication it works fine. He stated that his internet connection is 128KBps so that may be the problem as VOIP is better at a constant 200KPBps or higher. So Dobry, I may be asking you for that other teacher’s information and I can try her out. But I will do it after I learn the alphabet.

Yes, this is a problem with Skype, and you are right.

I was also going to recommend another Russian language website that's another good resource for beginning Russian... it's not really a competing website (I'll have the Moderators on my back! ), but for some reason it seems the website is down??

LearningRussian.com... they have (or I guess had) some good online stuff for learning, and audiofiles for practicing, but I haven't visited the website in a long time, so I don't know where they are now.

Originally Posted by Dobry

Originally Posted by Тоби

Yep, I've had various Spaniards tell me they thought that Spanish pronounciation is closer to Russian, than English is. I agree with you.

The alphabet is not difficult, it just takes time.

Разве ты думаешь, что испанское произношение более похожее на русском, чем английское? Я думал бы наоборот, то есть, в испанском мало групп согласных и трудных звуков, например 'щ, ч, ш, ж, ц, дтв, тврыфдн, клкхкдшщтц , цткс, и т.д '

Но я не знаю. Я никогда не спросил у испаноговорящего человека, трудно ли ему произносить русские звуки...

Originally Posted by basurero

Разве ты думаешь, что испанское произношение более похоже_ на русское, чем на английское? Я сказал бы, что наоборот, то есть_ в испанском мало групп согласных и трудных звуков, например 'щ, ч, ш, ж, ц, дтв, тврыфдн, клкхкдшщтц , цткс, и т.д '

Но я не знаю. Я никогда не спрашивал у испаноговорящего человека, трудно ли ему произносить русские звуки...

You know what would be really great, if there was a locked sticky thread with all the learning stuff on it.

Like recommended books.

Recommended Course sites.
Example: http://www.princeton.edu/russian/SLA101/

Some of the recommended CDs as well such as Pimsleur.

The video link for the alphabet.

Etc.. etc..

The thread should be locked so that you dont have to read through the entire posts to get something.
We could just send a PM to MASTERADMIN or someone, who can update the that particular post.
Sorry if it has already been discussed.

Тоби, thanks for the extensive answer/comment. Now I see what you mean. Yes - of course it's entirely up to you whether you'll bring up the subject of moving to the US next time you see her in the Ukraine. It is wonderful that she asked you to stay with her instead of a hotel. You'll have a nice chance to get to know each other heaps better. Judging by what you've said, she's like me when it comes to defecting. I really like Russia in spite of plenty negatives we have here. But if I got an opportunity to emigrate to England, for example, I'd most likely agree to come over to there.

Now that you've visited the Ukraine, you seem to have seen the true Russian/Ukrainian beauty, yeh? I mean that many people all over the world know that Russian/Ukrainian girls are very beautiful but they only get to see them on TV or the Internet. You have seen them in real life.

тврыфдн, клкхкдшщтц

Hey! What's that? Это можно только по пьяни такое выговорить или во сне!

Originally Posted by Тоби

You know what would be really great, if there was a locked sticky thread with all the learning stuff on it.

Like recommended books.

Recommended Course sites.
Example: http://www.princeton.edu/russian/SLA101/

Some of the recommended CDs as well such as Pimsleur.

The video link for the alphabet.

Etc.. etc..

The thread should be locked so that you dont have to read through the entire posts to get something.
We could just send a PM to MASTERADMIN or someone, who can update the that particular post.
Sorry if it has already been discussed.

Тоби,

Actually, this is a good idea. I'm surprised we haven't built a locked sticky thread, covering educational links. The main website that is the home of our forum is "masterrussian.com", and it already does have several excellent links into educational resources, that you might find helpful. Just so you know, if you haven't already seen the home of Master Russian.

But I do think this is a good idea for MasterAdmin to consider. This would probably prevent many duplicate posts in the forums.

Dobry,

I had no idea that there was a masterrussian.com.
I ran into these forums via a google search I did one day.

So I took it that there was only a masterrussian.net and did not think of substituting a .com with it.

So thanks, now I have a bunch more reading to do.

Good Stuff!

Welcome man!Be wise man and don't get tricked