Copious vocabulary is very important if you want to speak and understand the Russian language. But learning a large amount of Russian words that are not easy to spell sometimes can turn to a tough task, especially if you are busy with work, family, and other responsibilities.
In this article I will tell you some great tips on how to remember new vocabulary and phrases in a short period of time both based on my teaching Russian experience and learning foreign languages by myself.
I always tell my students that all words in your mind are divided into 3 groups:
Three Steps You Must Take Learning Russian From Scratch
So you have finally made up your mind to start learning Russian. Absolutely from scratch. Would you like to be fluent in less than half a year and have lots of friends among the native speakers? Here are three easy tips for you which will make these daring goals achievable.
1. Master basic phonetics.
There are three basic things you need to know about the Russian phonetics at the very beginning and these are the stress, the soft and hard consonants and the sound “ы”. It will take you less than an hour to become aware of these aspects so please take your time and look into the matter before starting to learn any vocabulary or grammar.
Learning another language is never an easy feat. It is very difficult to master a new dialect, especially when the language is Russian, which has significant differences in its grammatical structure and great variation of pneumonic guidelines from Standard English. However, there are a few different methods that can ease the process of learning a new language, and even make learning Russian fun. Some popular methods currently being utilized to learn Russian are the Pimsleur Approach and the Rosetta Stone. Each has its own benefits and style of educating people on the proper use of the Russian language, but the method that has endured as a timeless, preferred, tried and true method is learning Russian from native speakers. Consider the following when deciding for yourself which method one should use.
Method #1: Pimsleur Approach - Quick, but not too efficient. Although the Pimsleur Approach will have you speaking introductions and recognizing pleasantries, it does not teach reading or writing. It only teaches word recognition and ways to communicate the basic necessities. It is priced at around 15.95 for 4 audio cd's.
Online Language Partners: A Better Way to Learn Russian
Many people think of Russian as a difficult language to learn. Russian is certainly more difficult for English speakers than some other Western languages. However, exposure to the language in its natural form can have non-native speakers learning Russian in no time. The best way to get this type of exposure is through interaction with people who already speak Russian. The Internet makes it easier than ever before to get a Russian-speaking pen pal. Doing so is an effective way to increase proficiency in the Russian language, and it is also a lot of fun.
Of course, the best way to learn Russian, is to be born in Russia to Russian-speaking parents. After only a few years of intense study, you will be able to speak like a native. In fact, most people who speak Russian well, used this method. It is called immersion.
Even if you didn't have the foresight to be born there, immersion can still work for you. When you want to study a language, nothing works so well as surrounding yourself with people who speak that language. Before the internet, people who wanted to immerse themselves in Russian had to travel to Russia. Now, however, native Russian speakers are only a mouse click away.
Learning Russian can be quite a challenging endeavor. Fortunately, the rewards of speaking a second language make this a very worthwhile challenge. How wonderful it is to be able to communicate effectively with people from very different cultures! You can learn so much from people around the world, gaining a deeper understanding of humankind and becoming a part of a global community. In addition to personal growth, learning Russian can help in your professional life. Bilingual people have an extra advantage in the workplace. They can do business with clients and associates with whom other employees would find communication a struggle, if not impossible. Fluency in Russian makes you an asset to an employer.
There are numerous ways you can learn languages. These methods are dependent on what type of learner you are. Some people prefer to learn from books and others prefer more hands on approaches. However no matter which path taken you should have a native speaker you can reference to for assistance. This is especially true for languages that derive from different dialects than your native language, like Russian and English for example.
Communicating Across Cultures and Boundaries With Pen4Pals.com
Communicating across cultures and boundaries is universally important and highly useful in today’s globally social community. Modern technology has had an enormous impact on the way people think, interact, and behave amongst each other. The ability to learn a secondary or foreign language has grown thanks to advances provided by the internet and innovative language exchange service providers like Pen4Pals.com. At Pen4Pals.com, you will find a free and comprehensive opportunity to engage with native speakers to experience and learn a new language. This exciting service matches native speaking Russian members with members possessing a different native language to enhance the interactive exchange that is required when learning a new language.
With its complex grammar and strange alphabet, Russian may look like a very difficult language to learn. Don’t worry, though, as there are several proven techniques that can help you achieve the best possible results in a short period of time.
Get a solid grasp of the Cyrillic alphabet right from the start. This may seem like a nightmare at first, but even if you find yourself struggling to distinguish the letters between, keep trying until each of them becomes familiar and you can tell what character a certain symbol is without thinking too much about it.
There are 33 letters in all in the Russian alphabet and most of them are assigned different sounds. Whether you are learning the alphabet with the help of an old-fashioned grammar or online tools and apps, make sure you concentrate on accent and phonetics, as these will make all the difference in communication.
