Thread: Starting out

Hi everyone,

I have started the process of learning Russian, but I am not so sure what to do and exactly how I should begin. My aims are to learn the language to a sufficient level so that when I attend a language course in Russia next year for approximately one month, I will have a head start in comparison to me not doing so. Already, I have aquired some simple words and have got to grips with the alphabet in terms of basic pronounciation and understanding printed and handwrtitten forms of letters. However, as many of you may well be aware, many beginners - especially if this is their first language attempted to be learned - have problems with rolling or trilling their r's for the letter p (err). Now, my question is: how to do I overcome this problem and learn to roll my r's and how do I pursue the process of learning this language. Just not being able to pronounce this letter is ruining any hope of learning this beautiful language because so many words contain this letter. I can somewhat fake its pronounciation by purring from the back of my throat, but it doesn't remotely sound like an authentic russian sound. I am not sure as to whether I should continue learning the language until I have mastered this sound, or shall I continue learning and hope that eventually the sound will come to me in the future.

Your help will be most appreciated guys

Daniel Trofimczuk

Hi Daniel,
Get a good book like the Penguin Russian course and work from there.
As for pronouncing "R", some people can physically not pronounce it. In this case, please say "L" in place of "R", and don't try any back of the throat German R's(that's the way my German teacher tries to pronounce rolled R's, and it's really irritating). They say 1 in 20 Russians has a problem with saying R too(so they say "L"). Even Lenin had a problem with saying R! Make the L on the tip of your tongue, and that's close enough(you can't even hear much of a roll in rapid speech anyway).

Originally Posted by Pravit

Get a good book like the Penguin Russian course and work from there.

Ahhh yes the beloved holy grail of russian text books...

Originally Posted by vbouldr

Originally Posted by Pravit

Get a good book like the Penguin Russian course and work from there.

Ahhh yes the beloved holy grail of russian text books...

Yes, so very true.....it's the best. Don't ever get the Power Glide Russian program....EVER . Get the Penguin Russian Course.

My work of propagating the True Word here is done, I see.

yeah, i got the russian penguin course book...there's some good stuff in there. i also got some CDs with another book called take off in russian.

I still wanna try to learn the proper pronounciation before giving up, becuase I may well possess the ability to do pronounce it...i guess I just need to find that ability...

Here's how I roll my R.
1)I curve my tongue up so it's almost touching my front teeth.
2)I exhale heavily and the tip of my tongue starts flapping from the air.
This will result in the "lightly trilled" R. Move your tongue lower and further back for heavier R's like in "theater German" or Scottish accents.

Some people's tongues simply don't flap, for whatever reason. So you can just say "L" if you really can't.

thanks dude, i have been practicing and I think I can do it now. Initially the trill was at the back of the throat, but I can now do it as little at the front of the tongue.

Spaseeba