Could anyone help me improve...

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November 20th, 2007, 04:50 AM

Could anyone help me improve...

Hello, I am a younger person interested in speaking Russian, I can READ many of the letters and pronounce them correctly ( with the help of masterrussian.com), but I dont always understand what the words mean, I know some words and their meaning, but can anyone help me out here?
And also could anyone tell me how I could pratice rolling the R because im having problems with that, as well. How could I eventually produce a Russian accent and rid of my English? or is that even possible?

Thank you if you do help me, I am really interested in Russia, and hope to one day move there.
November 20th, 2007, 08:04 AM
Leof

Hello!
Post here any of the words you can't understand and watch what happens. :D

edited: спасибо за исправление, Кот!
November 20th, 2007, 03:19 PM
Matroskin Kot

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leof

Hello!
Post here any of the words you can't understand and watch what happens. :D

I agree. You'll find plenty of help here. Goodness knows I've needed it myself! :)

I don't know how young you are, but the younger you are the easier it is to learn a language without an accent. You'll need perfect examples, though.

In addition to all the textbooks and recordings and whatnot that you will use while you learn, I would make finding real Russians to talk to a priority. You probably have some in your own town. I was helped greatly, when I was first learning, by an older Russian couple who spent lots of time with me just listening to me try to talk and correcting me. I think you'll find most Russians very helpful to anyone who wants to learn their language.
November 20th, 2007, 05:46 PM
vox05

Re: Could anyone help me improve...

Quote:

Originally Posted by YuliaVolkovaFan

And also could anyone tell me how I could pratice rolling the R because im having problems with that, as well.

Spanish (mexican) speech therapist? ( If nothing else helps... ) I think their r doesnt differ from Russian.

Quote:

How could I eventually produce a Russian accent and rid of my English? or is that even possible?

Some people mentioned that Pimsleur lessons are good for this purpose ( elimination of accent ), although it's cost money and is less helpful in other areas.
November 20th, 2007, 05:55 PM
Leof

I heard Russian R sounds a bit like a Scottish one. Maybe you have to speak like a Scot? :?
November 20th, 2007, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matroskin Kot

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leof

Hello!
Post here any of the words you can't understand and watch what happens. :D

I agree. You'll find plenty of help here. Goodness knows I've needed it myself! :)

I don't know how young you are, but the younger you are the easier it is to learn a language without an accent. You'll need perfect examples, though.

In addition to all the textbooks and recordings and whatnot that you will use while you learn, I would make finding real Russians to talk to a priority. You probably have some in your own town. I was helped greatly, when I was first learning, by an older Russian couple who spent lots of time with me just listening to me try to talk and correcting me. I think you'll find most Russians very helpful to anyone who wants to learn their language.

I would love to ask some Russians to help me, but there are none near me, and I will soon live on an American Army base, and i dont know if i might find any Russians there, but I would love to find someone to help me, i am not an adult, (my dad says i am not to give my age out). What do you think the hardest for me to learn with Russian?
November 20th, 2007, 07:41 PM
xRoosterx

What part of Tennessee you from, bro?
November 20th, 2007, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xRoosterx

What part of Tennessee you from, bro?

East Tennessee, but I have no accent, I used to have a Southern accent, but I moved to Hawaii, and lost my accent
November 20th, 2007, 07:43 PM
TATY

HAHAHA You like t.A.T.u.!
November 20th, 2007, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TATY

HAHAHA You like t.A.T.u.!

yes, I do, do you? TATY is how you spell it in Russian, am I right?
November 21st, 2007, 07:13 AM
Dogboy182

You live on an Army base???

I miss being on an Army base just for the reason that THERE ARE LOTS OF RUSSIANS in the Army!!

I had a good friend from Leningrad who was serving in the U.S. Army as a Russian and Arabic translator. But I'd also met other Russians and people from Ukraine as well.

I think all you have to do is take a walk around the BX :)
November 21st, 2007, 07:25 AM
BappaBa

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

THERE ARE LOTS OF RUSSIANS in the Army!!

Серьёзно? :o
November 21st, 2007, 07:31 AM
Dogboy182

Well, Yeah... Maybe not brigades of them but a few thousand.

I knew a lot at my last base... here there aren't any. When I was in high school a few of my friends always talked about joining the army. On our TVs they always show dumb motivational propaganda commercials about military people doing their jobs or whatever and every once in awhile you see like "Sgt Levkiv from the 31st stryker brigade" Or "Corporal Yokovlev in the 101st airborne..."

There are quite a few.
November 21st, 2007, 07:49 AM
BappaBa

=)
"Проникновенье наше по планете особенно заметно вдалеке" (c) Высoцкий
December 4th, 2007, 09:02 PM
giovanni

Quote:

Originally Posted by YuliaVolkovaFan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matroskin Kot

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leof

Hello!
Post here any of the words you can't understand and watch what happens. :D

I agree. You'll find plenty of help here. Goodness knows I've needed it myself! :)

I don't know how young you are, but the younger you are the easier it is to learn a language without an accent. You'll need perfect examples, though.

In addition to all the textbooks and recordings and whatnot that you will use while you learn, I would make finding real Russians to talk to a priority. You probably have some in your own town. I was helped greatly, when I was first learning, by an older Russian couple who spent lots of time with me just listening to me try to talk and correcting me. I think you'll find most Russians very helpful to anyone who wants to learn their language.

I would love to ask some Russians to help me, but there are none near me, and I will soon live on an American Army base, and i dont know if i might find any Russians there, but I would love to find someone to help me, i am not an adult, (my dad says i am not to give my age out). What do you think the hardest for me to learn with Russian?

ahahaha... my parents always said that too... :roll: I think it took me till i was 14 that nothing would happen to me online as long as i wasnt retarded... seriously, what would the harm have been to tell people how old i was? Im not trying to convince you to do something... just reflecting! :lol:

but as far as your R's go, i could teach you how. I was born without the ability to do it (we dont have to use it in italian much or at all in english... so i never needed!) But i learned how to at a later age by myself! (whoever says its genetic is wrong!)

here are 5 tips...

1. dont get discouraged, biggest tip ever. Its rediculously hard, but once you learn it, it will be the funnest thing ever!
2. There is no sure fire way to learn... people tried to give me steps how to do it, but in the end you have to figure it out for yourself!

ok... heres all i can help with...
3. there is a little dip in the top of your mouth, you need to put you your tougue there when you do it... its key! basically you are sending air up the tongue and into that spot.
4. I started by making a "buzzing" sound of a bee. You notice that you make the sound with the tongue RIGHT behind the teeth, but to roll the r's, you need to eventually try to move the tongue back. Keep practicing making the bee sound until you get it... It took a week for me man, and i would try it constantly! It was so worth it when i got it though
5. after you try the "bee" technique to loosen up your tongue, try to say the word "air", but on the air, make sure your tongue goes up to that spot, and try your hardest to blow the air up and make it roll... hard, i know!

I hope that helps a bit... but all i cant say is, practice, practice, practice!!!

(cliche, isnt it? :lol: :lol: )
December 4th, 2007, 09:07 PM
giovanni

Quote:

Originally Posted by YuliaVolkovaFan

Quote:

Originally Posted by xRoosterx

What part of Tennessee you from, bro?

East Tennessee, but I have no accent, I used to have a Southern accent, but I moved to Hawaii, and lost my accent

I find americans say this all the time... "oh i dont have an accent at all!" then i think... "then why cant i understand you?!" :wink: but maybe you dont, who knows?

to lose it, you have to get your mouth used to sounds you might have never used.... an accent is the accustomment of the mouth to a certain way of speaking. All you have to do is loosen it up so you can make the sounds of a native.. (i know i probably make it more simple than it is, but it works for me) so just practice, when you hear a word, repeat it over and over, it will help
December 4th, 2007, 11:46 PM
strawberryfynch

Quote:

Originally Posted by giovanni

Quote:

Originally Posted by YuliaVolkovaFan

Quote:

Originally Posted by xRoosterx

What part of Tennessee you from, bro?

East Tennessee, but I have no accent, I used to have a Southern accent, but I moved to Hawaii, and lost my accent

I find americans say this all the time... "oh i dont have an accent at all!" then i think... "then why cant i understand you?!" :wink: but maybe you dont, who knows?

to lose it, you have to get your mouth used to sounds you might have never used.... an accent is the accustomment of the mouth to a certain way of speaking. All you have to do is loosen it up so you can make the sounds of a native.. (i know i probably make it more simple than it is, but it works for me) so just practice, when you hear a word, repeat it over and over, it will help

I agree with you... I have a Californian accent and I constantly repeat words until it sounds as close as possible to how a native says it.
December 5th, 2007, 02:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by giovanni

Quote:

Originally Posted by YuliaVolkovaFan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matroskin Kot

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leof

Hello!
Post here any of the words you can't understand and watch what happens. :D

I agree. You'll find plenty of help here. Goodness knows I've needed it myself! :)

I don't know how young you are, but the younger you are the easier it is to learn a language without an accent. You'll need perfect examples, though.

In addition to all the textbooks and recordings and whatnot that you will use while you learn, I would make finding real Russians to talk to a priority. You probably have some in your own town. I was helped greatly, when I was first learning, by an older Russian couple who spent lots of time with me just listening to me try to talk and correcting me. I think you'll find most Russians very helpful to anyone who wants to learn their language.

I would love to ask some Russians to help me, but there are none near me, and I will soon live on an American Army base, and i dont know if i might find any Russians there, but I would love to find someone to help me, i am not an adult, (my dad says i am not to give my age out). What do you think the hardest for me to learn with Russian?

ahahaha... my parents always said that too... :roll: I think it took me till i was 14 that nothing would happen to me online as long as i wasnt retarded... seriously, what would the harm have been to tell people how old i was? Im not trying to convince you to do something... just reflecting! :lol:

but as far as your R's go, i could teach you how. I was born without the ability to do it (we dont have to use it in italian much or at all in english... so i never needed!) But i learned how to at a later age by myself! (whoever says its genetic is wrong!)

here are 5 tips...

1. dont get discouraged, biggest tip ever. Its rediculously hard, but once you learn it, it will be the funnest thing ever!
2. There is no sure fire way to learn... people tried to give me steps how to do it, but in the end you have to figure it out for yourself!

ok... heres all i can help with...
3. there is a little dip in the top of your mouth, you need to put you your tougue there when you do it... its key! basically you are sending air up the tongue and into that spot.
4. I started by making a "buzzing" sound of a bee. You notice that you make the sound with the tongue RIGHT behind the teeth, but to roll the r's, you need to eventually try to move the tongue back. Keep practicing making the bee sound until you get it... It took a week for me man, and i would try it constantly! It was so worth it when i got it though
5. after you try the "bee" technique to loosen up your tongue, try to say the word "air", but on the air, make sure your tongue goes up to that spot, and try your hardest to blow the air up and make it roll... hard, i know!

I hope that helps a bit... but all i cant say is, practice, practice, practice!!!

(cliche, isnt it? :lol: :lol: )

i will try, thank you soooooo much! This really helps me. and yeah dad threatens me by saying that if i give my age out on the internet, I will lose my internet, my games, my christmas gifts priveliges this year, and so much more! But thank you!
December 5th, 2007, 02:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by giovanni

Quote:

Originally Posted by YuliaVolkovaFan

Quote:

Originally Posted by xRoosterx

What part of Tennessee you from, bro?

East Tennessee, but I have no accent, I used to have a Southern accent, but I moved to Hawaii, and lost my accent

I find americans say this all the time... "oh i dont have an accent at all!" then i think... "then why cant i understand you?!" :wink: but maybe you dont, who knows?

to lose it, you have to get your mouth used to sounds you might have never used.... an accent is the accustomment of the mouth to a certain way of speaking. All you have to do is loosen it up so you can make the sounds of a native.. (i know i probably make it more simple than it is, but it works for me) so just practice, when you hear a word, repeat it over and over, it will help

i SERIOUSLY dont have an accent, though. My family says words such as "Hawaii" like "Ha-wai-yeh" and I say "Huh-wai-ee", they say "Creek" like "Crehck" or "Crick" even, but I say "Creek". I used to have a really big souther accent and when we moved to Hawaii, I became really quiet and kept to myself, and before we moved I was really outgoing, and after we moved I only talked in class to answer the teacher, really. and I sort of let go of my accent (also im older now ,and my voice has changed...) but thank you, and I will practice that! I used to pretend i had an italian, french, or maybe even European accent ( i dont know), and when i tried to make the accent when i talked i was horrible! but now i can make an italian or french or European accent and it sound almost natural. but again thank you!
December 5th, 2007, 02:47 AM
TATY

Quote:

Originally Posted by YuliaVolkovaFan

Quote:

Originally Posted by giovanni

Quote:

Originally Posted by YuliaVolkovaFan

Quote:

Originally Posted by xRoosterx

What part of Tennessee you from, bro?

East Tennessee, but I have no accent, I used to have a Southern accent, but I moved to Hawaii, and lost my accent

I find americans say this all the time... "oh i dont have an accent at all!" then i think... "then why cant i understand you?!" :wink: but maybe you dont, who knows?

to lose it, you have to get your mouth used to sounds you might have never used.... an accent is the accustomment of the mouth to a certain way of speaking. All you have to do is loosen it up so you can make the sounds of a native.. (i know i probably make it more simple than it is, but it works for me) so just practice, when you hear a word, repeat it over and over, it will help

i SERIOUSLY dont have an accent, though. My family says words such as "Hawaii" like "Ha-wai-yeh" and I say "Huh-wai-ee", they say "Creek" like "Crehck" or "Crick" even, but I say "Creek". I used to have a really big souther accent and when we moved to Hawaii, I became really quiet and kept to myself, and before we moved I was really outgoing, and after we moved I only talked in class to answer the teacher, really. and I sort of let go of my accent (also im older now ,and my voice has changed...) but thank you, and I will practice that! I used to pretend i had an italian, french, or maybe even European accent ( i dont know), and when i tried to make the accent when i talked i was horrible! but now i can make an italian or french or European accent and it sound almost natural. but again thank you!

Everyone has an accent. You can't not have an accent. I am British, so to me you have an American accent.
Also "french, italian or maybe even European accent". Europe is a continent consisting of 48 countries and France and Italy are in Europe, so French and Italian = European. There is no such thing as a European accent anyway as there are like a million different languages spoken in Europe, including French, Spanish, Russian, Hungarian, German, Czech, Greek, Swedish to name but a few, and English of course.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe#Political_geography
December 5th, 2007, 08:13 AM
Dogboy182

I think when an American is talking to another American or someone they think might have a slight grasp on the geography of the American lower 48, when they say "I don't have an accent" it means they speak more or less, like they are from the west coast.

Georgia (or any southern / eastern) state is a good real life example.

I had a friend at my last base from Atlanta, and from his "accent" you couldn't tell he was from the south. Because in the city they speak with "west coast" accents. While you drive 20 miles out of the city and you can hear strong Georgian accents.

The same thing with 2 people I know here from North Carolina.

One guy is from Charlotte. You could never tell what part of the country he is from. While the other guy from the backwoods taks laik hes reel frum north kakalaka.

So when an American says they don't have an accent, they probably mean their accent is indistinguishable from the accents of those from most big cities and the west coast.
December 5th, 2007, 01:59 PM
TATY

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

I think when an American is talking to another American or someone they think might have a slight grasp on the geography of the American lower 48, when they say "I don't have an accent" it means they speak more or less, like they are from the west coast.

Georgia (or any southern / eastern) state is a good real life example.

I had a friend at my last base from Atlanta, and from his "accent" you couldn't tell he was from the south. Because in the city they speak with "west coast" accents. While you drive 20 miles out of the city and you can hear strong Georgian accents.

The same thing with 2 people I know here from North Carolina.

One guy is from Charlotte. You could never tell what part of the country he is from. While the other guy from the backwoods taks laik hes reel frum north kakalaka.

So when an American says they don't have an accent, they probably mean their accent is indistinguishable from the accents of those from most big cities and the west coast.

Yes I know what she meant. People do the same in England; peopl with South-East English accents think they speak 'normal' and everyone else has an accent. My point was accents are all relative, if you think someone has an accent, that means that to them you have an accent yourself.
December 5th, 2007, 02:06 PM
TATY

Quote:

Originally Posted by giovanni

Quote:

Originally Posted by YuliaVolkovaFan

Quote:

Originally Posted by xRoosterx

What part of Tennessee you from, bro?

East Tennessee, but I have no accent, I used to have a Southern accent, but I moved to Hawaii, and lost my accent

to lose it, you have to get your mouth used to sounds you might have never used.... an accent is the accustomment of the mouth to a certain way of speaking. All you have to do is loosen it up so you can make the sounds of a native.. (i know i probably make it more simple than it is, but it works for me) so just practice, when you hear a word, repeat it over and over, it will help

It's not that simple. All babies have the potential to learn the sounds of any language. But at a very early age, I think it's like 4 years or something, the sound system the child makes becomes fixed. So a teenager or adult finds it much much harder to learn unfamiliar sounds.

Accents are not the "accustomment" of the mouth to a certain way of speaking. It's actually more to do with the brain. My mouth, tongue, throat can move into the position of all the sounds of any language. But my brain doesn't know how to tell all my vocal organs how to move in the right position, time, sequence, ect. to produce that sound.

Like when I started learning Russian I heard the sound Ы which doesn't exist in English. I heard the sound but my brain didn't know how to exactly recreate the tongue position and such in my mouth so that I could make the sound myself.
December 5th, 2007, 08:09 PM
giovanni

Quote:

i will try, thank you soooooo much! This really helps me. and yeah dad threatens me by saying that if i give my age out on the internet, I will lose my internet, my games, my christmas gifts priveliges this year, and so much more! But thank you!

Yeah, i hear ya! My parents did the same thing.... but they are also in the italian mob, so its apparently "dangerous" to even talk to people on the internet! :| (oh, and i never said that! :lol: )

but the bee thing really really works man. I was speaking spanish before russian... and you need to roll the r's. I could always start them, but never carry on the sound, you know? I read something that there are 3 levels of rolling. People who cant do it, people who are like me and cannot hold it, and people who can do it. If you are level 1, you need to work to just get the initial sound of it rolling, not holding it. Once you are there, you do the bee thing, and it takes time!

Can you kind of make the sound? If you say "air", can you kind of hear the r?

but for encouragement, here is a quick story! (i know i talk too much, sorry!)

My family has been trying to adopt 2 girls for 3 years, and its a hard process for us! I was studying russian for about 6 months, but i came to a point where i realized that i couldnt speak russian without rolling the r's. So i tried and tried, and everyone told me its not possible to learn how to do it. Finally, i was so discouraged, i was lying on my bed, and i gave it one last try. I could start to feel it coming, and i kept going and going, and finally it came. Maybe it was divine intervention! I ran around the house rolling my r's for 30 minutes straight! My parents were screaming at me to "frena parlando!", because they couldnt take it anymore! But all is well now, and i actually went to russia last week to see the girls! I should be having 2 new sisters in 2 months! I cant wait!

and i love pretending to have an accent like you said (or to not speak english at all)... I ALWAYS walk into stores in amurika and pretend not to speak english... its hilarious! If i speak italian, people say to go make a pizza, if russian, they say "go back to the soviet union you commie!" I must say, i get a sick kick out of doing this! Amurikans are definatly the best people to do it on. Because if you were in italy and pretended to only speak english, they would start talking to you in english! (I have YET to find an italian speaker at a store here...)