Quote Originally Posted by kib
Yes, iCake, I think you've been too severe. On an early stage of learning, you just can't help comparing the rules or features of your native language with those of the language one you're learning.
Quote Originally Posted by patchman123
I have problems with Russian that I have been having for years
I think there is nothing to dispute now? Don't you see the source of the problems now?

Quote Originally Posted by kib
I think you've been too severe
I think I haven't. I was just a bit unclear.


Patchman, look back at your studies, you've been learning Russian for years and still ask questions that clearly show that you still compare Russian with English, and this is the source of all your problems. Stop doing that. Otherwise nothing good is coming out of that.

Percieve Russian as a completely new thing to comprehend. Don't draw any analogies between languages. Even between words. You have to know a word's meaning, not its translation! Try to picture a word's meaning for a start, then you'll find that you don't need to do that nor do you need to translate the word, you'll know what it means, the moment you hear it.

The next step will be to start forming Russian sentences while actually thinking in Russian, not thinking in English and translating the thought into Russian as you go along, but this will come naturally if you do the first step