| Russian |
Indo-European:Slavic |
ÐÐÐÐ |
| Fascinating language associated with cold,
communism, melancoly, raucous accents and a difficult grammar. Now that Russia is opened,
the chance to talk to thousands of russians eager to explore the other half of the world
or for us to visit them is an even better reason to learn this wonderful language, less
difficult than usually thought. Click for the pop-up window "10
reasons to learn russian" |
| Introduction
- ©www.micheloud.com |
Usefulness
definition |
Most russians don't
except you to speak their language, but "gifted" as they might be other
languages, speaking russian will help you greatly if you travel in Russia or through ex
Sovietic countries. |
Beauty
Definition... |
Russian is usually
considered a beautiful language, even if some consonants are a little hard on the ear. |
Chic factor
Definition... |
Speaking russian
fluently is as chic as can be, especially in Western Europe. |
Speakers
Definition... |
At least 170 mio speak
russian as their mother tongue, and a further 120 mio. use it as a communication language.
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Countries
Definition... |
Russia
Most of the ex-soviet union countries use russian as a communication language or at
least understand it. |
Travel
Definition... |
You can travel in dozens of countries
with russian, be it sea or snow that you're looking for. Siberia, Kazhakstan,
Turkmenistan, etc... |
Culture
Definition... |
A wealth of books and movies wait for
you, and many are accessible from the internet or at local shops if you live close to a
russian expatriate destination. |
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m |
| Difficulty
- ©www.micheloud.com |
Phonemes
Definition... |
Many strange
consonants, and one unusual vowel that stands between ü and i. Actually, about every
consonant has a "wet" counterpart, as if it were followed by an y (per versus
pyer). It's fine for the p but when you try the rolled wet r, things warm up. |
Syntax
Definition... |
Most words change with
their function, genus, number etc..., so you get a lot of freedom with syntax because the
relations between words are clear from the words themselves, so their position is mostly
irrelevant. Nice, but on the other hand, if you understanding of the case system is less
than perfect, you can have a hard time telling if it is Arkady who gave the apple to
Marina or the other way around. |
Vocabulary
Definition... |
Extremely interesting
if not easy, russian vocabulary can be divided in about 25% "free" words that
you already know (like prablyem for problem) and the rest which is built a little
bit like german : roots are assembled to make whatever word you need, even if the rules to
do this sometimes seem a little obscure. |
Orthograph
Definition... |
You can tell
"imported" words after one hour of cyrillic alphabet, (you will recognize them
behind the cyrillic disguise), but to pronounce correctly you'll need some time, mainly
because some letters are not pronounced and the accent (which is usually not written)
changes the pronunciation of most vowels. To write correctly is the last step, almost as
difficult as french. |
Overall
difficulty
Definition... |
I rate this language
as ÐÐÐÐ, that is,
difficult to learn. Grammar is not simple because of the case system that changes the
ending of most words according to their function (subject, object, etc...), their number
and sex. Neither orthograph nor pronunciation are their to compensate this, although some
parts of the grammar are really refreshingly simple. |
Time needed
Definition... |
I gave myself two
years to learn russian, and I'm at the end of year one. At my present level, I can read
any text with a dictionary and a bottomless pot of coffee, make a little small talk and
understand what is talked about. |
|
|
| Learning
material - ©www.micheloud.com |
Books
and tapes
Definition... |
There's a wealth of
material to learn russian. The best I found to begin with is :
- Pimsleur Speak and Read Essential Russian, 3
volumes, 90 lessons, 45 hours. The best deal is to buy through Amazon.com, as they are
even cheaper than the publisher, Simon and Schuster.
- Reading Modern Russian, a book that teaches you what
is say in no-frills, down to earth approach. Not fancy but clear and usable, and one of my
favorite books abour russian. Buy it from amazon for 19$.
- For advanced students, I recommend Barron's excellent Russian Slang & Colloquial expressions, well
researched and very fun.
- If you speak german and want to write in russian fluently, you
might find the Russisch
schreiben, aber wie ? useful. It lists useful expression in such a format
that you can find them easily when needed. Too bad they don't make it in english !
- A good book for conversation is the austere Russian as we Speak it, which I bought at the russian
bookshop near the Flatiron building.
- For people who want to check their flexions (declensions) or
those who want to learn grammatical cases by inference, 5000 Russian Words : With All Their Inflected Forms
is a must : it contains all the forms of nouns (Genitive plural, dative singular, etc...)
of the 5000 most common words in russian.
There is also a program developped during the cold war that
comes with many tapes and that you can use on your own. You can buy it from Audioforum.
Intermediate and advanced students should definitely get
their hands on books published by Russki Yazik in Moscow, cheap and
excellent. There are so many that I cannot recommend one in particular.
Note pour les francophones : les seuls livres d'apprentissage
du russe utilisables que je connaisse en français sont ceux édités à Moscou.
(I have tested every program or book I reviewed
here myself)
|
Schools
Definition... |
There are many schools
in St Petersburg and Moscow, so be picky. |
Links
|
- Russian Story lets you buy most russian
newspaper in electronic format in their latest incarnation and at a fraction of
newsstand's price. Click on the block here =>
(Link to russianstory.com)
- The excellent radio Voice of Russia has news
service in russian that you can listen to with real audio directly from Moscow.
- Deutsche
Wellen have a very good russian service where you can find the transcript of
many sendings, all accessible through their website.
- The BBC
has also a rather good russian program, as well as Radio Canada.
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