Thread: Introduction / Advice Requested

First, I'm learning Russian at the moment "because it's there", but more importantly because I know that it's fairly universal among Eastern Europeans in their mid-20s and older, because they were required to learn it in school under the Soviets (if this is incorrect, for the most part, insight would be nice). The family I stayed with when I was an exchange student in Eastern Germany only spoke German and Russian (except the student who stayed with my family as well), but while my German improved exponentially, I learned very little Russian and promptly forgot what I did learn. I plan on moving to Europe some time this year from Florida, but most likely to Spain (I have family there). I enjoy learning languages almost more than anything else, but unfortunately I have fairly little opportunity to speak anything but Spanish here in central Florida.

I picked up the "teach yourself" series "Beginner's Russian", which explained Cyrillic in an easy to understand manner, and I can read it now, but it takes me awhile to sound it out. I also got the $20 Pimsleur "Russian Conversation" which is the first 10 lessons of their Russian 1 program. I've used their Spanish and German $20 models, too, and find them really useful.

Now, where should I go from there? I'm only about 30 pages into the book (it's chock-full of excercises, and is a great language book in my opinion...so far, at least) and have just recently completed Lesson 3 of the Pimsleur CDs. Should I just purchase the Pimsleur Russian 1 program, and perhaps grab an Intermediate Russian book?

Thanks in advance!

Dear Honey-Hun-Hun,
I've got a lot of questions and I want them answered immediately...

Preliminary PAR Test A
---------------------------
First, are you male or female?
Second, how old are you?
Third, do you prefer eating "BLT" sandwiches with mayonaise or some sort of vinegar-based dressing?
Fourth, who is your daddy, and what does he do?
Fifth, do you prefer writing in pencil or pen? If so, what color ink?
Sixth, when eating, do you smack your mouth loudly?
Seventh, if you were given a birdcage, what would you do with it and why?

Now, as to your questions:
I would highly recommend you not to buy anything more from Pimsleur, for reasons which can be found scattered throughout the forum, but mainly because it doesn't work as well as simply sitting down with a book that has audio accompaniment. That, and it is terribly expensive.

I think you should continue using your Teach Yourself book, although I haven't gotten a chance to look at their Russian one yet. But it sounds good as you say it's "chock full" of exercises.

Current PAR:
Pnct +1 Grm +1 Spl +1 Pol +1 Pim-3 = 1 (Neutral)

pravit......? what are you talkin about...hahaha.. the questions ... im confused..? fill me in why are you askin this poor child so many questions?

Oh hun-hun, I just enjoy watching people's reactions to being asked pointless questions. And I like hearing the answers even more.

Pnct +1 Grm +1 Spl +1 Pol +1 Pim-3 = 1 (Neutral)

Hey, I'm game! I consider myself a bit of a "weirdo" as well, so here we go.

1) Male
2) 23 (24 in March)
3) I prefer mayo
4) His name is Bill, and he works on the Space Shuttle! (really) Alas, it is not the Buran
5) Pen, black ink
6) No, I'm a fairly polite eater
7) Promptly sell it on eBay...I'm hurting for money

OK, no more Pimsleur...but so far I've really enjoyed them and because there isn't an audio component to the "Teach Yourself" book, I use both of them in concert, though that does require some thought on my part. I'll check into more book/audio combos.

El Casey, would you like me to help you? Write me a letter rasim /att/ rambler.ru

pravit......? what are you talkin about...hahaha.. the questions ... im confused..? fill me in why are you askin this poor child so many questions?

I got bombarded with a few of those questions myself. Although they weren't as straight forward. Ya know what? I hardly know anything about this "mysterious" Pravit.

So Pravit my man, wanna answer a few questions for everyone?

1 ) are you male or female?
2 ) how old are you?
3 ) do you prefer eating "BLT" sandwiches with mayonaise or some sort of
vinegar-based dressing?
4 ) where do you live, and why?
5 ) who is your daddy, and what does he do?-hahahaha-
6 ) do you prefer writing in pencil or pen? If pen, ballpoint or felt tip? what color?If pencil, traditional or mechanical? If mechanical, which lead?.5mm, .7mm or something crazy like .9mm?
7 ) when eating, do you smack your mouth loudly? If so, is it only with certain foods? why or why not?
8 ) if you were given a birdcage and a ferret* named Edgar Millicent Bertha Totingham , what would you do with them and why?


*note: eating the ferret is not a valid answer

thanks bud

1 ) are you male or female?
You guess.

2 ) how old are you?
I've said it several times around here.

3 ) do you prefer eating "BLT" sandwiches with mayonaise or some sort of
vinegar-based dressing?
Vinegar based all the way. I loathe mayonaise eaters. By the way, El Casey's PAR has dropped -5 because of the mayonaise.

4 ) where do you live, and why?

The first part of this question can be answered by looking at my profile. As for why, I suppose it would be a more convenient place to live, than, say, the Arctic Circle.

5 ) who is your daddy, and what does he do?-hahahaha-
My daddy is a very smart man. He works at a top secret government facility. I'm not kidding you!

6 ) do you prefer writing in pencil or pen? If pen, ballpoint or felt tip? what color?If pencil, traditional or mechanical? If mechanical, which lead?.5mm, .7mm or something crazy like .9mm?
BALLPOINT PEN, dammit, and black ink, at that! I can't stand pencil users! And I especially loathe mechanical pencil users. Why use something that runs out so quickly and writes so crappily? A pen will last you a good month or so. A pencil will also last you a month, but you have to keep sharpening it. A mechanical pencil will last you a day or so before your lead breaks and you have to refill it because you have to use a really long piece. Felt tip pens are too exotic for me.
If I have to draw something though, I prefer pencil. It's easier for me to create the illusion of depth when using pencil.

7 ) when eating, do you smack your mouth loudly? If so, is it only with certain foods? why or why not?
No, I hate people that do that. Anyone who does this earns a -100 PAR from me. This includes people who do this when chewing on gum. In fact, regular gum chewers lose about 5 PAR just for being themselves.

8 ) if you were given a birdcage and a ferret* named Edgar Millicent Bertha Totingham , what would you do with them and why?
I believe I would train my ferret to do useful ferret-type things, such as alerting me of fires or killing game(don't ferrets do things like that?), and I would keep him in a very nice place. Wait a minute, ferrets are small furry quadripeds, aren't they? They're not birds, right? I always thought ferrets were birds. Anyhow, I would keep him in a nice place. To be honest, I would probably put the birdcage in my garage in a big box and forget about it. It would be too painful for me to sell it or throw it away, because I like hoarding things. See, I'm perfectly honest with my answer.

Oh, and I hate the term "pet peeve."

An explanation of the test: The first two questions are basic information. The third is to see if my tastes match with theirs and also to watch their reaction to a strange question(some people will answer with "uhhh....why are you asking me this?"). The "who is your daddy one" is to see if they will get insulted by using such a familiar term with their father, and also to see if they will get creeped out as I am asking about fairly private information. The pen and pencil thing is to identify tastes. As I said above, I hate people who smack while eating. The birdcage one is to determine honesty. When confronted with such a question, people will either

A)treat me like I'm insane
B)attempt to be funny by making up a really crazy answer
C)be witty, or try to
D)be completely honest

Of course, if they refuse to take the test at all, that tells me something about them too. All of this goes together to create the initial PAR. Of course, grammar, spelling, and punctuation(not necessarily in that order) count too. As well as the initial reaction to being called "hun-hun" by someone they don't know at all.

To keep this post's relevance, I translated the test into Russian:
1) Вы мужщина или женщина?
2) Сколько Вам лет?
3) Предпочитаете Вы есть бутерброд "БЛТ" с майонезом или с приправой из уксуса?
4) Кто Ваш папенька, и кем работает?
5) Предпочитаете Вы писать карандашом или ручкой? Если ручку, то какая чернила?
6) Когда едите, делаете ли Вы громкий "шмяк" со ртом?
7) Если Вы получили бы клетку для птицы, что Вы бы делали с ней, и почему?

And here is an extra qusetion just for fun:
Вы думаете я танцор?

Originally Posted by Pravit

To keep this post's relevance, I translated the test into Russian:
5) ..........Если ручку, то какая чернила?

Какие чернила

6) Когда едите, делаете ли Вы громкий "шмяк" со ртом?

"Громкий "шмяк" ртом" (а ведь хорошо перевёл!) называется "чавканье". Глагол - "чавкать".
6) Когда едите, чавкаете ли Вы?

Правит, просто... праздновать знание... где мой пар? я думаю он наверное в пол неба!!!

Твоего ПАРа, можно сказать, уже нету

Blasted Oxford Russian Dictionary didn't tell me that "chernila" is plural! Grr.... Thanks for telling me of such verb "chavkat'", I will add it to my mental Russian database.

Why thank you Pravit. I really have been wondering about the whole pencil pen thing. I guess I'm going to have to search for your age, because I don't have the slightest.

Whoa, wait India..I swear your location used to say Somalia. I'm either losing my mind, or you're having too much fun with Punjabi.