Thread: How long does learning Russian take?

Fluency - the quality of being facile in speech and writing

Guess you do need to be able to spell, eh? I thought that the spelling thing was part of literacy, but if it says that's the definition of fluency, I'll believe it.

By the way, I haven't met anyone who has become fluent in a language in a singal year, even people completely immersed in the language they are learning, so I can see where joysof is coming from, because unless you hang out with lingual geniuses, JKDMan, I don't think you know anyone who learned a language in a single year.

If I am an idiot, that still makes me better than you, because you are an arrogant asshole JOYSOF.

Saying you are better than someone else automatically makes you not better than them, heh.

Let's just focus on learning the language now, instead of flaming each other. It's much more pleasant, and productive.

unless you hang out with lingual geniuses, JKDMan, I don't think you know anyone who learned a language in a single year.

The fact that you have never met such individuals does not mean they do not exist. Perhaps you should get out more. I am joking with you, but trust me they are out there. Maybe I should not use the term fluency, as it may not meet your "textbook definition". Even though most people would say they are fluent, I henceforth will no longer use that term to describe individuals I know who can carry serious conversations with native speakers after several months of language immersion.

I do believe Russian is a fabulous language worthy of years of study. I want to make that clear, and I can't knock anybody who dedicates themselves to perfection when it comes to their language pursuits. I just have certain goals for myself when it comes to languages. That's just me. I do see myself continuing to try and improve my Russian after one year's time, but it will probably not comprise the bulk of my study time after that point.

I don't like to trade insults (or flames, as you call it), as it is not my nature. But if somebody takes what I see as a cheap shot at me for no real reason, I will hit back. God gave me a rather unfortunate temper.

OK, end of rant. It will suit everyone here if this board went back to a friendly discussion of the Russian language. I can certainly learn from many here. Carry on...

if he doesn't want to waste 7 years on russian. then get mad at him and call him an idiot.

Whether or not he wants to 'waste' his time on this or that language is up to him. What I objected was the attitude put across in his post that difficult, time-consuming things are not really worth bothering with.

That said, there was no need for the ad hominem. Apologies.

did a russian goth make fun of your pinstripe shirt today or what ?

How did you know about my pinstripe shirts?

I wish you the best in your forty year attempt to master another language. By then, I'll be on my fifth.

And I'm sure you'll be able to order coffee and chat about the weather in all of them. Good luck to you. Personally, I don't think language-collecting is a particularly worthy thing: most people who claim, for example, to be 'fluent in five languages' actually have no knowledge of any of them - including their own - beyond the superficial. It's the intellectual equivalent of driving a cheap sports car. Or several cheap sports cars, come to that.

I agree with joysof. By the way, JKDMan have you ever thought of the fact that learning a language gets harder and harder when you're older? I don't know how old you are, but unless you're super-intelligent you can't 'master' any language above the age of ~35. You can try, and you can get very good, but you'll never be fluent and it'll take a whole lot longer than one year.
I speak as a -see sig- myself. I'm not saying I'm a genius, but I have learnt a lot in the past 8 months. But I'm not pretending I'm ever going to be fluent if I don't emigrate to Russia...

Originally Posted by EffMah

Fluency - the quality of being facile in speech and writing

Guess you do need to be able to spell, eh? I thought that the spelling thing was part of literacy, but if it says that's the definition of fluency, I'll believe it.

By the way, I haven't met anyone who has become fluent in a language in a singal year, even people completely immersed in the language they are learning, so I can see where joysof is coming from, because unless you hang out with lingual geniuses, JKDMan, I don't think you know anyone who learned a language in a single year.

This all rather amusing. I haven't been around lately, as I've been "rockin' up a storm" with my band(look out for our CD "Welcome to Aeroflot" sometime soon ). But I could throw in a sarcastic comment or two.

BTW, Effmah, speaking of spelling, perhaps you mean you don't know of anyone who has become fluent in a single year.

I think Jasper described me very well. You could say I'm good for someone who's never attended a day of Russian classes, but I couldn't compare to someone who's been at it for 4 years in university. And they're probably not fluent either.

I wouldn't say that after 40 years speaking a language you're not fluent just because you discover new things about it. I can speak....er...passing English, but as Dogboy said I hear about new words and expressions every day. But I'm fluent in English, if I do say so myself. Heh. It's always funny when people say "if I do say so myself..."

But of course you can't get fluent after 1 year of self-study. The best of them(Jasper) after 1 year of self-study usually end up being able to read and write at an intermediate level(S-2+ to S-3 if you use that US government scale thingy), speak about a level or so below that, and their listening comprehension usually sucks. Badly. Unless they get to be immersed in the language. Of course, if that is enough for you, that is enough, especially if you never really plan on using it other than in tourist situations.

I wouldn't say that after 40 years speaking a language you're not fluent just because you discover new things about it.

Did I say that?

Well, mutual compliments aside, Pravit, I must tell you that I can understand more radio now than at the time I told you I sucked at listening.

BTW, Effmah, speaking of spelling, perhaps you mean you don't know of anyone who has become fluent in a single year.

Simple mistakes. I must have been thinking of "signal" at the time. I won't say what the signal was though...

And if you are going to correct me, I would like to point out that you need a question mark at the end of your sentence.

Originally Posted by EffMah

BTW, Effmah, speaking of spelling, perhaps you mean you don't know of anyone who has become fluent in a single year.

Simple mistakes. I must have been thinking of "signal" at the time. I won't say what the signal was though...

And if you are going to correct me, I would like to point out that you need a question mark at the end of your sentence.

ERRRT! Wrong again, Eff-sister! If I had the question mark, it would be more of a suggestive type thing. I used the period to make it a statement. Perhaps the "perhaps" threw you off, but just because that word is present doesn't mean you need a question mark.

Perhaps my mother will go to the mall today.
Perhaps EffMah spelled "single" incorrectly.



Joysof: Whoops, remembered your post wrong.
Jasper: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm still better than you.

Beim Weg, it was a rhetoric question anyway, and those don't even need question marks.

ok...this is now a flame fest...i think it should be locked before someone pulls out a gun.

Eh, what's that? This "flame fest", which was a rather mild one, if at all, took place between people who generally like each other, and has been over for quite some time. Rest assured that anything which really needs locking will be locked quickly.

I've just started

Well, come this April I would have been learning for an entire year! Using just Pimsleur too. I do about 30 minutes a day, and tend to go through the same lesson about 5-6 times, Its taken me about a year to get to lesson 12 on the second course, how people have done through it all in 3 months and taken it all in? I have no idea. I can have conversations with Russian inside what the program teaches, I need to be corrected sometimes but overall I've been told I am doing well. Learning a language is a seriously long term thing. I expected it to take about 2-3 years before I could have a 5 minute conversation with someone. One thing that has really helped.. is that my girlfriend and her family is Russian, so I end up speaking more Russian than most people learning I guess.

That's the second biggest necromantic bump I've ever seen! No...no wait... that IS the biggest necromantic bump I've ever seen!

bump lol
bury again