# Forum General Introduce Yourself  Privet!  I'm Carol from US

## CarolUSA44

I learned my first real word the other night. Privet. 
Unfortunately I am not sure how to type Russian letters on my computer.  Still new to the computer, the internet and of course to this site. 
I want to learn some Russian, study Russian culture and history.  I found this site googling "Russian penpals".  I don't have a lot of money or resources to go to school for classes.  So I am learning on here a little. 
I live in CA, in San Diego.  I am 44.  I was raised in SD since I was 3 years old by my aunt.  My mother was around, but too ill to take care of me.  She passed away when I was 9.  My aunt is also passed, since 2009.  She was 67. 
I have lived in SD most of my life. 
I have always been fascinated with Russians, Russia, and Russian ways.  I love the way they talk and pronounce words. 
My fascination grew even more when I read Anatoli Boukreev's book, The Climb 2 years ago.  I also read Above the Clouds, his compilation of journals.  His climbing stories also fascinated me. 
I wish he was still alive. 
I look forward to learning more about Russians and Russia, maybe meeting some Russians. 
I joined the Penpals club last week and still hoping to make some pals as well. 
I am not married, but I live with a friend. 
hope to talk to some of you. 
Carol

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## heartfelty

Carol, the language teachers or editors in this forum are the most proficient enough for you not to spend money on formal education. Just click the basic ones first like pronounciation of consonants and vowels. If you are advanced enough to organize Russian sentences that are gramatically correct, browse in (type in search) "paralink2 translator" and it can teach you how to pronounce or read sentences. You can also borrow a Russian grammar book in the public library of San Diego.

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## CarolUSA44

thanks. 
I was wondering if I could learn some without sound on my computer? 
I am studying the alphabet now. 
I am learning some simple words, but dont' think I can type letters on the computer yet. 
Carol

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## heartfelty

Go to your control panel. Click languages and keyboard. Click Russian + . Then put a check on "Russian typewriter". Before you type Russian letter, press Alt & Shift at the same time or Alt first then Shift. Then put the cursor on the left. Press enter. Then type you first Cyrillic Russian letter. All of your English alphabet buttons have their corresponding Russian letters. I suggest you type and print them one by one to be informed. If you have a printer, better.
|№-/":,._?%!;
йцукенгшщзхъ)
фывапролджэ
ячсмитьбюё 
These arrrangement represents all the positions of English alphabet buttons which are the same as Russian cyrillic. 
If you have an idea of Russia's Theatre of the Absurd, it would be more interesting. 
(I know of three people in San Diego. Do you like to know through email and see if you know them too?)

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## kvs

heartfelty, you the goodly asistent to IT. Good the description of perairing cyrillic.

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## kvs

sorry, preparing

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## maxmixiv

Carol, 
Also you could try typing with your mouse: Виртуальная клавиатура / virtual keyboard - translit.ru 
Button in the place of left Ctrl, which reads "русская" will toggle russian/american keyboards. Written text could be copy-pasted to anywhere.

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## Deborski

I am an American learning Russian and I also use Translit.ru - транслитерация - переводчик с транслита to write in Russian, plus Free Online Russian Spell Check Service to locate spelling errors.  Hope that helps!

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## SilverDragon

You can open  screen keyboard using WIN+U and type there by clicking on letters

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## CarolUSA44

Heartfelt, I can't find languages and keyboard.  Are you talking about control panel in my computer or control panel in my profile? 
Either way I can't find it. 
I will keep looking. 
Maybe your comp. is set up differently? 
I did find "regional and languages" on my computer control panel, and added Russian, but did not find much help on the "keyboard" icon. 
I also cannot find "WIN" on my puter, just the windows symbol. 
I am lost. 
Carol 
Carol

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## Julienovich

Carol, you can add Cyrillic symbols to your laptop keyboard. There are stickers for keyboard buttons. And after you can turn on Russian language on your laptop. So, it is the easiest way of typing Cyrillic.

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## heartfelty

Carol, yes the Control Panel. Languages and regions...etc. Once you've placed a check on the "Russian typewriter" press all OKs, then press Alt-Shift. Then Enter. Then press all keys and see their equivalents in Russian. My computer is Dell. I don't know others.

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## MrArtti

Я из России... Случайно прочитал название как "Я король из Юк.")
Приветствую, Carol.

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## CarolUSA44

did I just type my name, Carol? 
Сфкщд 
I changed my settings in Languages and Regions and have no idea what I am doing. 
I hope I wrote my name in Russian letters. 
Forgive the ignorance, please. 
I tried to follow heartfelt's directions and I am not sure I did everything. 
Some foreign letters did come on, but I am not sure I typed my name right. 
i think I typed the letters out of order.   
Carol

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## CarolUSA44

I think I did type them out of order. 
I need to get those stickers. 
Maybe I'll look at the alphabet on the site and see if I can match some letters to that alphabet and try to learn it that way? 
In time I will learn how to write in Russian. 
Carol

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## heartfelty

карол

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## virtuoz

> I think I did type them out of order.

 Yes, you did. 
Your name in Russian is Кэрол.

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## kvs

Congrats Carol!. If you are unable to set up Cyrillic, you too will learn Russian language.

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## CarolUSA44

thanks everyone.  ::  
esp the name in Russian.  Very nice of virtuoz. 
my learning is slow because of not having sound, being busy, and also medical issues. 
I will start writing Russian.  I will. 
Carol Кэрол  (still hunt and peck; tried to write my name.  Hope I did it right.) 
I am also finding 2 things about writing Russian: learning the letters and transliteration and I guess next I will learn actual Russian words.

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## maxmixiv

Кэрол, I still suggest to use your mouse to type Cyrillic chars until you get stickers (or may be just "Russian" keyboard, which has both English and Russian letters imprinted). 
In Windows 7 you just bring up "Run" dialogue (Win+R), type "osk", press Enter.
If I understood correctly, you already set up Russian as secondary writing language. Then, the same key combinations will work with On-Screen Keyboard, just as with regular keyboard.

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