Thread: How much harder does it get.

I am about to finish my first semester of Russian and am debating if I should take the second half in the spring. So far Russian has been pretty difficult, and I'm wondering just how much harder does the language get. Just when I think I've finally mastered a grammar or spelling rule, a new grammar rule or noun case, etc. jumps up.

So far I still have to learn two more cases. I've got the basics down but I'm still not quick with it.

I don't quite know the answer..BUT it seems to me the longer you are in a language the easier it gets. Because you use what you know (and get that down) and you already have a basis in the language as you learn more. Just seems that way to me at least..I'm still new.

By all means finish if you've been doing decently in the first semester. Noone is quick only after a couple months learning any language. Of course, if all the rules are already over your head, perhaps you could consider stopping(or at least really going over everything before the next semester starts).

And yes, it does get a lot harder. After you've mastered your cases, you've got to get all the declensions and verb conjugations down, and then you've got to learn several thousand vocabulary words as well as learn proper word choice and style. But, that will all be spread out over a couple years

I know this may sound like a silly question, but what is the difference between a noun case and declension?

I know what conjugations are: Yu-first person singular, et-third person singular, etc. But I'm wondering if what I've been learning are noun cases or declensions-the course just calls them "grammar rules" though my teacher did say we have 2 more noun cases to learn in the spring.

Originally Posted by she's on fire

I know this may sound like a silly question, but what is the difference between a noun case and declension?

I know what conjugations are: Yu-first person singular, et-third person singular, etc. But I'm wondering if what I've been learning are noun cases or declensions-the course just calls them "grammar rules" though my teacher did say we have 2 more noun cases to learn in the spring.

Cases show the relation of a word to another word. For example, the possessive case in English shows belonging: John's hat. The genitive case in Russian shows that something is "of" something. The accusative case in Russian shows that something is the direct object of a verb.

Declensions are the way a word is changed to show that it's in a certain case. When you see "'s" after a noun, you know it's in possessive case. Likewise, when you see "-а" after a masculine noun, you know it's most likely in genitive case. These little changes to the word based on case are called declensions.

For example: Feminine nouns ending in -а, like "девушка", change to -у when they are in the accusative case. This is a declension. Я увидел девушку. I saw a girl. Girl is in the accusative case because it is receiving the action of the verb; it is the direct object.

Anything else?

Oh I understand now, thanks.

Actually I just finished learning the accusative and genitive cases. Now if I can just get used to pronouncing all those syllables in some of the words...

ur so lucky to have a teacher.. wouldnt quit if i were u..

I'll say. But there is a certain joy to learning languages by yourself, especially when you end up knowing this language better than the languages you're taking in classes. It's like "HAH! I'm better than the system..."

I have been learning russian for about a year and a month, although, i havn't really learned anything besides the word "туча" since october. Короче... after awhile, it just gets easyer.

Once you have about 3,000 words in your vocabulary (i know it sounds like a lot, but it's really not that hard, you pick up alot subconciously and you don't even know it) The grammar is definetely the hardest part, i still learn little tid-bits here and there, but for the most part i have it down... everything exept participles. Короче, i'm thinking of taking a russian class at the local Uni next semister too, it will be nice to have a teacher for a change. But, my advice to you is to not give up, it really does get easier, and when you start thinking thoughts, and even having coherrent dreams in russian, it really starts to pay off.

(V said he started posting again, is this true ?)

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

I have been learning russian for about a year and a month, although, i havn't really learned anything besides the word "туча" since october. Короче... after awhile, it just gets easyer.

Once you have about 3,000 words in your vocabulary (i know it sounds like a lot, but it's really not that hard, you pick up alot subconciously and you don't even know it) The grammar is definetely the hardest part, i still learn little tid-bits here and there, but for the most part i have it down... everything exept participles. Короче, i'm thinking of taking a russian class at the local Uni next semister too, it will be nice to have a teacher for a change. But, my advice to you is to not give up, it really does get easier, and when you start thinking thoughts, and even having coherrent dreams in russian, it really starts to pay off.

(V said he started posting again, is this true ?)

Somebody came back, I see
Once you have about 3,000 words in your vocabulary, then...what? But what Dogboy meant to say is right. Once you've got a couple thousand words down, you can start learning new words by inference or by recognizing roots. And the best way to learn these 3,000 words is to read Russian things every day - books, websites, etc.

As for V, he came back and posted once, but he didn't say too much. I assume he has already risen to glorious heights of Russian well beyond this forum

Hey everyone, i just wanted to say that im russian & if you have any questions, feel free to ask me,
i'll try my best to help you out

thx,
bye

I decided to continue and it only gets harder and harder it seems. I didn't think languages could have so many different grammar rules. Perfective and imperfective verb forms only adds to the mess. The harderst part isn't learning them as much as remembering them when the teacher calls on me in class to say something.

BTW Pravit, are you Chinese? Your profile says you are from the Fujian Province. Just wondering because I speak a dialect that is in the same category as Fujian (Min) called Chao Zhou (Known as Teochew in Thailand, Cambodia, and other Southeastern Asian countries).

Pravit is chinise =P, but he doesn't live there .

WHAT do you find so hard about russian ?? Maybe ask a few questions on the forum ?? instead of just saying "i dont get it"... what don't you get ? It seems you might not have the best teacher.

Just wondering because I speak a dialect that is in the same category as Fujian (Min) called Chao Zhou (Known as Teochew in Thailand, Cambodia, and other Southeastern Asian countries).

Wow. Pravit'll have a field day. I believe he said his parents speak precisely that dialect as well.

OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! Yes, my family speaks Tae Chew, they're from Thailand. Unfortunately, I hardly know anything about this dialect. Except "haw"(good) "jie"(eat) "haw jie"(tastes good), "ba"(like Mandarin "ma"). Where are you from?

Originally Posted by Pravit

Cases show the relation of a word to another word........is in the accusative case because it is receiving the action of the verb; it is the direct object.

Anything else?

Pravit,
I am just adding your post to my personal notes. when I has seen an explanation so clear. Immediately after I am copying and pasting to my own notes. Thanks you all, particularly to Jasper, I has already dowloaded many postes of him that generously are sharing with us all.

By the way, she's on fire tha is a pity to leave sstudying russian now.I suggested to you taking a rest . In my case, I begun studing russian last september, the 3 first months I had not got much motivation, afterI found this forum and it has risen so much.

i guess i'm lucky because my husband is russian so he's there to answer all of my questions...
this helped me a lot: he made me a cd with some russian music - agata kristi, keno, zemfira, etc. and then i looked up the russian lyrics online and i got him to translate for me. now i can listen to the song and read along. it helps me to read in russian faster and to pronounce the words better. plus, the song phrases get stuck in my head and i go look up the meaning of the words, and i can see all the uses of the cases and verb conjugations in the sentences...
i just started learning russian 3/16/04 and already, i have learned the alphabet and pronounciation, all of the uses for the cases-( i haven't learned the endings for the words, but if you give me a sentence in english, i can tell you what case the words would be in in russian), i learned about gender agreement, memorized about 100 vocabulary words (not really on purpose, it's just that i had to keep repeating them to learn the pronounciation! and in the process, i learned a lot of words that i might not even use, like how to say chemistry, quinine, avant gard, etc. in russian), and i've learned all of the case forms of Кто and Что. i've also picked up a few verbs, but i don't know how to conjugate them yet.
the case/gender agreement word endings are really scary looking, but i think if i keep reading the russian songs and doing the excercises in my book, i'll figure it out. my husband says that it should be easier for me to learn russian because i took 4 years of spanish in high school and 1 semester in college...sorry for the long post...had too much Кофе!!

Don't let the case endings scare you - many people from the ex-republics, especially the Caucasus, hardly ever get their case endings and genders right - we don't mind. I think vocabulary is more important. You'll learn case endings and gender with time, and even if you never get them right in most cases, people will still understand you as they understand the non-native speakers from the ex-republics. It would be nice if a foreigner used his/her cases correctly, but I imagine it can be easy for some students to get bogged down in them and never get along with other grammar and vocabulary, so don't dwell on them for too long, rather move on to do other stuff but do come back to them again later on in your studies when you have learnt some more vocab, some fixed phrases, etc.

Don't let the case endings scare you - many people from the ex-republics, especially the Caucasus, hardly ever get their case endings and genders right - we don't mind. I think vocabulary is more important. You'll learn case endings and gender with time, and even if you never get them right in most cases, people will still understand you as they understand the non-native speakers from the ex-republics. It would be nice if a foreigner used his/her cases correctly, but I imagine it can be easy for some students to get bogged down in them and never get along with other grammar and vocabulary, so don't dwell on them for too long, rather move on to do other stuff but do come back to them again later on in your studies when you have learnt some more vocab, some fixed phrases, etc.