Learning Russian

[Ghazban]

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I took three years of intensive russian in college, and i would not have considered myself a particuarly proficient speaker. it is a very difficult language with a pretty complex grammar (especially compared to english and spanish). My professor wrote what is apparently the leading textbook for introductory Russian (its called Golosa, fwiw) and I dont see how I could have done it without him. i think it would be difficult to learn a language like that w/o at least some kind of instructor to give you feedback.

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Thanks for your input. I have a friend I chat with on IM a lot who is a native speaker so I can practice on her and get some feedback but I don't want to put the burden of teaching me completely on her.

[kafkaFan1]

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I'd like to learn Russian

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Why?

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I like Russian literature, Russian music, and Russian opera. Reading stuff in translation has always irritated me. I'm going to Moscow in a couple weeks so that's gotten me more interested in the language, too. I'm obviously not expecting to learn much between now and then.

I'd like to learn French, Arabic, and Chinese too but one thing at a time.

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lol yeah me too : ). get a private tutor, it's worth it. knowledge is worth a lot, it's an investment. what also could work just as well is if you found a Russian person who wants to trade lessons with you, you could teach them english, spanish or music or whatever you ahve to offer (sex?)

[kutuz_off]

Livejournal is very popular in Russia; it has a pretty decent community of people trying to learn the language.

[Metamorphatory]

I've been married to a Russian for 6 years. Despite the fact that she emigrated from Russia when she was 2 yrs old she is fluent in the language. Every time we get together for a family occasion I remain eternally thankful that I do NOT speak it.

Having said that, you can download several learn to speak Russian programs from itunes which are rated pretty highly.

Good Luck.

[Dale Dough]

You want to learn Russian for the literature? Pretty much every foreigner I know that speaks Russian fluently still reads the translated versions. It's a pretty fn hard language as it is, but then those books are a whole other ballgame. You might wanna set the bar a little lower if you're just starting out.

The alphabet on the other hand should only take like 2, 3 hrs tops WTF?

[Ghazban]

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The alphabet on the other hand should only take like 2, 3 hrs tops WTF?

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Actually, the alphabet wasn't tremendously difficult but relearning how to type is killing me. It takes me an hour to type one word in cyrillic because I have to hunt and peck at my keyboard [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] My main problem with the alphabet is the letters that look similar to Roman letters but aren't pronounced the same way-- when I'm sounding out unfamiliar words, my first impression of the sound is always the Roman one.

[carol-ann]

Pimsleur's courses are the best by far.