Thread: Scheduling Help

I decided to learn Russia; so, I went ahead and bought the following study aids:

Pimsleur I
Grammar Book (Penguin)
Easy reader book
Princeton Russian course

I am planning to spend anything from 30 minutes to 2 hours daily. Also I am going to listen to mp3 podcast and watch Russian TV. Moreover, I will be meeting with a church group of native Russian speakers once a week for two hours. I know that I will succeed because my motivation is pretty high, and I am a self-taught student. The only question that I have is regarding, how should I schedule my time? Should I dedicate more time to grammar? Should I study grammar every day? If so, how much time should allocate for that? Pimsleur and TV are going to be in a daily basis … any advice on this will be greatly appreciated.

That's great that you are jumping into the Russian learning boat!

Everyone learns a little differently, so you'll have to see what works for you. The Pimsleur lesson are about 30 minutes each, so on a day you are using those you may not want to do much else. An important element to always keep in mind is that there are 4 language skills and they all need to be worked on: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Pimsleur will help with those last two, but not the first two. Be sure to take some time to practice writing Russian. My advice would be to copy out lots of things from your other texts. Practice trying to pronounce them as you write them. It will take a little time to become familiar with the alphabet, but if you keep at it it will become second nature before you know it.

In my opinion the amount of time you spend per day is not nearly so important as HOW MANY days you spend at it. A little bit everyday is much better than trying to cram things in for, say eight hours at a time.

One additional suggestion for material: once you start feeling a little bit familiar with grammar (you feel like you can get most of the noun and verb forms most of the time), grab a set of Vocabulearn tapes or CDs. They are a terrific way to expand your vocabulary, and they can be found VERY cheaply.

Good luck to you.

I agree with everything paulb said and here are some additions:

- make sure you learn print and cursive alphabet. At a minimum know how to read both and I think you will find over time that writing in cursive is easier.
- learn just the basics of grammar, don't go to deep. It's more important to get some vocabulary and simply practice.
- cartoons or kid shows are great for beginners. I find that if I watch anything else (especially news) it just goes in one ear and out the other. Make sure you watch tv/film where there is a lot of interaction and movement so that you can infer the meaning of words from actions. A great TV station in Russia is бибигон, which shows mostly kids programs.
- when you are starting to speak (but still have a small vocabulary) try to get into the habit of asking a lot of questions. If someone says a sentence you don't understand but you hear a few words you know, then ask about those words (in Russian of course), or ask them if they meant this or that. Try *not* to get into the habit of simply saying "я не нонимаю".

Thanks Paulb and Noheat for your reply. I already look on Vocabulary method recommended. Also I got the Russian TV station on my links ... I'll watching cartoons .Спасибо

I recommend Чебурашка / cheburashka. It's very famous and nice one

Originally Posted by noheat

saying "я не понимаю"