Thread: How do I start again?

It's been a couple of months since I actively stopped learning Russian. Am wondering how do I start again?

I been learning Russian for about 5 years now and today am familiar with roughly a few thousand words but not able to really use them effectively. My listening skills are still poor.

Any suggestions guys?

Originally Posted by tohca

My listening skills are still poor.

Any suggestions guys?

Watch Russian movies.

Originally Posted by tohca

It's been a couple of months since I actively stopped learning Russian. Am wondering how do I start again?

I been learning Russian for about 5 years now and today am familiar with roughly a few thousand words but not able to really use them effectively. My listening skills are still poor.

Any suggestions guys?

I watch Russian TV every day and listen to Russian podcasts. When I started I heard "blahblahsadlfkjsldfsdlfjblah" as time goes on I still don't understand most of what I hear but do hear separate words now. Sometimes I even understand a few words!

Scott

Originally Posted by fortheether

When I started I heard "blahblahsadlfkjsldfsdlfjblah" as time goes on I still don't understand most of what I hear but do hear separate words now. Sometimes I even understand a few words!

When you have a text where you can see what people say, what "blahblahsadlfkjsldfsdlfjblah" in fact is, the progress is much more appreciable.
It's a mistery why foreign students find downloading some Russian movie so hard.

Hi Scott and Оля. It's really tough to get time to study lately. But one consolation is that my reading of Russian is a lot better than my listening or speaking skills. I now have about 15 minutes a day to keep up with my Russian. Hope to one day be able to go to Russian speaking country and live there for a couple of months to improve my listening.

Originally Posted by tohca

Hi Scott and Оля. It's really tough to get time to study lately. But one consolation is that my reading of Russian is a lot better than my listening or speaking skills. I now have about 15 minutes a day to keep up with my Russian. Hope to one day be able to go to Russian speaking country and live there for a couple of months to improve my listening.

To improve my listening skills I watch Russian TV and listen to Russian podcasts. It's a lot cheaper then going there!

Yes I do that a lot too. Am able to catch most of the words but not the full meaning of the whole sentences, unless it's just the very common short expressions.

There are plenty of intermediate learner's resources out there, for example Pimsleur Russian III, that would help you get from where you are to the point where you can understand enough spoken Russian to make watching movies or listening to radio stations a more rewarding and less frustrating experience.

It's like a song, sometimes you hear a song and you don't know what they sing. You search for the lyrics and from then you now the text.

Same with music-movie, I try to listen to russian music and see some russian clips.

I am from belgium and we had a journalist who went to Siberia and made a documentary about it. That was really nice because it had dutch subtitles.

For example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2nrv...eature=related

How I do wish I can also go to Siberia or any other Russian speaking place and live there for a while. Maybe I will get lucky one day, but until then do pray for me. Thanks.

Watch Russia films with subtitles. I learn english so.

Yes I watch Russian movie all the time. Alas it's not doing me all that much good, but I do enjoy the movie nevertheless.

Try to learn any song by heart, then you will be easily recognizing known words.

Originally Posted by tohca

Yes I watch Russian movie all the time. Alas it's not doing me all that much good, but I do enjoy the movie nevertheless.

then more communicate with Russian people. learn new word with ABBYY Lingvo. you know that's really simple.
Начинай общаться с нами по-русски в конце-концов.

Thanks for the suggestions folks. I do know a couple of Russian songs well. And can sing them too. However, there are really very few Russian where I live. Got some practice speaking Russian when I was in Pattaya, Thailand, last week. It's like a mini Russia there.

One podcast i highly enjoy is a newscast in simplified russian, each one is accompanied with transcript, translation and a quiz to test your comprehension. Great stuff. THey also have a complete archive, which adds up to hours of listening.

http://nclrc.org/webcasts/russian/

For "blahblahsadlfkjsldfsdlfjblah" russian, try bbc russia podcast. It blows my mind each time I listen.

I do know a couple of Russian songs well.

Найди еще какие-нибудь, которые тебе нравятся. (:

Originally Posted by bbfee

Начинай общаться с нами по-русски в конце_концов.

+1. Необязательно с нами. «Скайп» (Skype) есть? Найди кого-нибудь, кто согласится разговаривать с тобой на русском пару раз в неделю (и сможет заставить себя говорить не очень быстро), пусть даже по 15 минут. Обмен текстовыми сообщениями в этой программе тоже есть, так что если кто-то кого-то и не понял или не расслышал, во время разговора можно отправить сообщение «я имел(а) в виду то-то и то-то». Конечно, это тормозит общение, но если у одного из собеседников не очень высокий уровень, паузы — обычное дело.

Originally Posted by fortheether

I watch Russian TV every day and listen to Russian podcasts. When I started I heard "blahblahsadlfkjsldfsdlfjblah" as time goes on I still don't understand most of what I hear but do hear separate words now. Sometimes I even understand a few words!

Scott

The same situation with me, but vice-versa: When i listen english movies or radio i hear unceasing speech... and didn't can separate words
But Satellite HotBird 13E helps me to learn english