possibly a new approach to learn rus?
okay... this might sound crazy but i wanted to know what you all thought of it...
what about starting (since I am relatively new to Russian, only about two months of hobbyist-level practice so far) learning the language by way of children's books, written in Russian? Certainly it worked for me as a child, learning English... It seems like the learning would be pretty fluent from these sources, insipid as they might seem to some of the scholarly minds on this site.. and of course, there would be none of the faux-mis-teaching i've heard about from the faultier methods, such as Rosetta Stone or Pimsleur, both of which seem to have their own unique set of iniquities.... The thing is, it occurs to me because the method of learning Russian I am currently using is very, very disjointed and irregular... I have been voracious about collecting solid information I can find on the internet - this website and others like it have been extremely helpful... and that if I am going to succeed with this method, I need tools to fill the gaps... well, when learning English as a kid, children's books did it for me.
So that's my idea. Is it completely crazy? Or as hollywood says, "just crazy enough to work?" 8) Any ideas for books I should start with? Maybe there are Russian childrens' books and fairy tales (simply-worded texts) that you could turn me on to? Anyway thanks for listening..
luck /// life
Re: possibly a new approach to learn rus?
Quote:
Originally Posted by kidkboom
okay... this might sound crazy but i wanted to know what you all thought of it...
what about starting (since I am relatively new to Russian, only about two months of hobbyist-level practice so far) learning the language by way of children's books, written in Russian? Certainly it worked for me as a child, learning English... It seems like the learning would be pretty fluent from these sources, insipid as they might seem to some of the scholarly minds on this site.. and of course, there would be none of the faux-mis-teaching i've heard about from the faultier methods, such as Rosetta Stone or Pimsleur, both of which seem to have their own unique set of iniquities.... The thing is, it occurs to me because the method of learning Russian I am currently using is very, very disjointed and irregular... I have been voracious about collecting solid information I can find on the internet - this website and others like it have been extremely helpful... and that if I am going to succeed with this method, I need tools to fill the gaps... well, when learning English as a kid, children's books did it for me.
So that's my idea. Is it completely crazy? Or as hollywood says, "just crazy enough to work?" 8) Any ideas for books I should start with? Maybe there are Russian childrens' books and fairy tales (simply-worded texts) that you could turn me on to? Anyway thanks for listening..
luck /// life
No.
Firstly, young children's brains are completely different from older children's, teenagers, adults. The capacity to learn decreases with age. Secondly, learning a native language as a child couldn't be more different from learning a foreign language, let alone as an adult / teenager, whatever you are.
The fact is, learning a foreign language is not natural in essence as it requires effort. Children learn their native language passively, through absorbing the language from their local environment. You think you learn English through reading children's books? It probably contributed 5% to your language learning, if that.
There is a reason why people learn foreign languages through books, and through learning grammar, and that's because it's a method that has been used for hundreds of years and works.
If reading children's books in a foreign language actually worked don't you think everyone would be doing it? Also the language used would only be suitable for very basic things, you'd basically be taught "kiddy language".
That said, reading anything in a foreign language will help, but Russian children's literature contains lots of diminutives, i.e. affectionate forms of words and not the normal neutral ones.
The best way to learn (by yourself), is to focus on different areas separately. For example get a book that teaches you grammar, like Nick Brown's New Penguin Beginner's Russian. The examples they give also contain most of the essential basic vocabulary you will need. As your knowledge of the grammar improves you can then start trying to read basic texts, even children's books, in order to increase your vocabulary. The grammar books will also contain exercises to help you write in Russian. Maybe get another course that had CDs to practice pronunciation.
Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur are best avoided. But even they are better than "Learn Russian Through Kids' Books" :P
