I want to learn Russian! Дa!

[Raziaar]

I love the russian language. I have listened to it for ages now... in movies, in video games. I think it sounds awesome.

Right now I'm in the very beginning stages, trying to learn the alphabet. So far things are going smoothly, and I can pronounce most letters of the alphabet, but some are currently quite tricky for me. It's only been a day or two since starting to learn it lightly, so i'm sure with time i'll be much better.

Same goes for speaking the words. I can read the words fairly well with a brief moment of thought on how it's pronounced, except for words that contain letters I don't know yet.

The biggest part for me I am sure, is going to be memorizing an entire new dictionary worth of words... since obviously russian words aren't just english words translated into russian.

Anyways... anybody here know russian? Anybody trying to learn russian? Have any tips for me, or tips to learning any language? This is the only language aside from english that I am trying to learn.

 

[bliink]

Tovarich, Da!

It's an ugly language, but a cool one.

 

[Raziaar]

For what reason do you think it is an ugly language?

 

[bliink]

Its got a very gutteral, lumpy sound to it. I'm not saying thats a bad thing.. you just wouldn't call it 'the language of love'.

 

[$kelet0r]

[Deleted]

 

[Raziaar]

Ahh... Yeah, I suppose so.


For anybody who knows... how the hell do I pronounce

One source says to pronounce it something like "uh-ee", said quickly. Is that it?

I am also having tremendous issue with some of the other letters... Well, maybe not so much on this one...

. I mean, I realize it's pronounced kind of like "sh-ch".


So much to learn! argh!

Learn Italian - the girls are hotter

I'm not in it for women. I'm in it to learn the language. I do want to learn italian too, though.

 

[Shippi]

.

 

[one]

Why do you want to learn Russian? Do you plan to live in Russia someday?

If your only language yet is English I'd learn Spanish, because it's not that difficult and it has probably even more native speakers than English!

And what about learning German? :cheese: I could help you with that. :bounce:

 

[DreamThrall]

And what about learning German? :cheese: I could help you with that. :bounce:

Speaking of ugly languages... No offense

 

[CrazyHarij]

Its got a very gutteral, lumpy sound to it. I'm not saying thats a bad thing.. you just wouldn't call it 'the language of love'.

so you don't find russian sexy, like most girls seem to?

 

[Raziaar]

Isn't russian a very common language in europe? Especially eastern europe? Even china isn't it?

I don't plan on living in russia... but I want to visit some places like Siberia and such... Russian is one of those languages that would help me.

 

[Costin]

Isn't russian a very common language in europe? Especially eastern europe?

Not quite....the hungarians are not a slavic nation,neither the romanian people(we are latins) I can't say that the whole Easter Europe is speaking russian.

 

[Raziaar]

Not quite....the hungarians are not a slavic nation,neither the romanian people(we are latins) I can't say that the whole Easter Europe is speaking russian.

I was going by something I read in wikipedia a long while back. You know what, let me find it again.



Oh... nevermind. It's not eastern europe... It's eurasia.

Russian (Russian: русский язык, russkiy yazyk, ['ru.skʲɪj jɪ.'zɨk] listen (help·info)) is the most widely spoken language of Eurasia and the most widespread of the Slavic languages.

A language of great political importance in the 20th century, Russian is one of the official languages of the United Nations.

 

[Solaris]

My mum speaks russian slovak french and english.
She spent alot of time in the soviet union.

 

[Evo]

Communist!

<3

 

[Remus]

She spent alot of time in the soviet union.

I pity her...

Raziaar, if you want to go to Europe I recommend you learn German and French it will help trust me.

 

[Raziaar]

Maybe after I learn russian!

Sheesh, with all these language reccomendations i'm going to have to be fluent in about half a dozen of them! Gah!

That boggles my american mind.

 

[Evo]

Welsh, learn it from Dekky

 

[destrukt]

I think Russian is the best looking language (As in, when written) and their national anthem freaking rocks.

I also want to learn it but I have a friend who went there for 2 years and says it is very hard. :x

 

[kirovman]

It's supposed to be a hard language to get started on. I suggest learn the characters first, get a beginners lesson, and CDs/tapes or even a learn Russian computer programme.

 

[Raziaar]

It's supposed to be a hard language to get started on. I suggest learn the characters first, get a beginners lesson, and CDs/tapes or even a learn Russian computer programme.

Hmmm... let's make a language!

Okay! Should it be an easy language?

No... let's make it difficult! It's supposed to be this way!

 

[ZeeM]

I speak Russian

Ahh... Yeah, I suppose so.


For anybody who knows... how the hell do I pronounce

One source says to pronounce it something like "uh-ee", said quickly. Is that it?

Its like saying just "uh" alone, with a liiiittle bit "ee" at the same time.

I am also having tremendous issue with some of the other letters... Well, maybe not so much on this one...

. I mean, I realize it's pronounced kind of like "sh-ch".

It's not sh-ch (this combination is used by other slavic languages, mostly Polish I guess and hardly ever -or maybe not at all- in Russian.
It's pronounced like the "sh" in "sh*t" (prounounced kind of "softly") as opposed to

which is pronounced like a heavy "sh" (like in "shoe" or more like the German "sch").

 

[CookieCuttah]

I speak Russian at a native level. It is amusing that one would say that it's ugly, because it borrows much from French which is commonly accepted as the love language. I myself have never in my life heard another person call Russian ugly or ungracious, but that's probably because I generally don't bother. It is much like when they say that German is a barking language- WRONG. I've heard my mother read many of the great poets and the German language is very flowing and intricate when used in such a way. I am not sure who you spoke with, but I can assure you that your impression of the Russian language is a mile off.

Second, the point about a difficult language is while comedic also completely off. For me, it was much easier to learn Russian than English. This is because Russia was an isolated culture for most of its existence taking only a few things from other countries. For a Russian English is as hard to learn as Russian is for you.

Third, the comment about the Soviet Union while a rather low blow is to me hard to understand. I am not quite sure what most people's beef is with the said country, because there were numerous things the USSR had which America still to this day lacks. By good measure I would say that 1950-1990 the USSR was one of the best places to live in. Not only were you provided with 2 houses, but you were also provided with free health care, free education (Including college) , free transportation and numerous other things. The tax money was actively at work and even small towns like mine were receiving new buildings every few months. It is also worth pointing out that the USSR had no homeless people and its percentage of jobless people was nearly 0. While it might not have wasted tons of money on its entertainment industry, it wasn't expect by the Soviet people to be entertained around the hour. It was expected that you could find something to do without celebs telling you.

In conclusion, good luck with your studies of Russian. If you need something translated/explained you can private message me.

 

[ZeeM]

Third, the comment about the Soviet Union while a rather low blow is to me hard to understand. I am not quite sure what most people's beef is with the said country, because there were numerous things the USSR had which America still to this day lacks. By good measure I would say that 1950-1990 the USSR was one of the best places to live in. Not only were you provided with 2 houses, but you were also provided with free health care, free education (Including college) , free transportation and numerous other things. The tax money was actively at work and even small towns like mine were receiving new buildings every few months. It is also worth pointing out that the USSR had no homeless people and its percentage of jobless people was nearly 0. While it might not have wasted tons of money on its entertainment industry, it wasn't expect by the Soviet people to be entertained around the hour. It was expected that you could find something to do without celebs telling you.

In conclusion, good luck with your studies of Russian. If you need something translated/explained you can private message me.

Well said The majority of the world has a wrong imperssion about Soviet Union and Russia and it's mostly based on propaganda spread by western TV

 

[Solaris]

Hurrah!

OOOOOO PARRRRTTTTY OFFFF LENNNNNINNNNN

 

[kirovman]

That's Mr. Lenin to you!

 

[Parrot of doom]

I'm learning French, using a piece of software called 'The Rosetta Stone'.

They do Russian as well as tons of other languages. Google it. Teaches via word association, which is basically how children learn to speak.

 

[Raziaar]

I speak Russian at a native level. It is amusing that one would say that it's ugly, because it borrows much from French which is commonly accepted as the love language. I myself have never in my life heard another person call Russian ugly or ungracious, but that's probably because I generally don't bother. It is much like when they say that German is a barking language- WRONG. I've heard my mother read many of the great poets and the German language is very flowing and intricate when used in such a way. I am not sure who you spoke with, but I can assure you that your impression of the Russian language is a mile off.

Second, the point about a difficult language is while comedic also completely off. For me, it was much easier to learn Russian than English. This is because Russia was an isolated culture for most of its existence taking only a few things from other countries. For a Russian English is as hard to learn as Russian is for you.

Third, the comment about the Soviet Union while a rather low blow is to me hard to understand. I am not quite sure what most people's beef is with the said country, because there were numerous things the USSR had which America still to this day lacks. By good measure I would say that 1950-1990 the USSR was one of the best places to live in. Not only were you provided with 2 houses, but you were also provided with free health care, free education (Including college) , free transportation and numerous other things. The tax money was actively at work and even small towns like mine were receiving new buildings every few months. It is also worth pointing out that the USSR had no homeless people and its percentage of jobless people was nearly 0. While it might not have wasted tons of money on its entertainment industry, it wasn't expect by the Soviet people to be entertained around the hour. It was expected that you could find something to do without celebs telling you.

In conclusion, good luck with your studies of Russian. If you need something translated/explained you can private message me.

Hi there!

Great response. I was wondering if maybe I could ask your help.

How do you pronounce the russian word that resembles the english X? Х

I'm also confused on how you pronounce Й when reading the alphabet. It comes after И... but doesn't it sound amost exactly the same? What is the difference? I know it alters other vowels... but pronouncing it by itself, I have no idea....

And those two signs which alter the pronunciation... the Ъ and Ь. How do those work? They're not making much sense to me. Any chance you can describe them in laymen terms?
Thanks in advance.

 

[CookieCuttah]

Hi there!

Great response. I was wondering if maybe I could ask your help.

How do you pronounce the russian word that resembles the english X? Х

I'm also confused on how you pronounce Й when reading the alphabet. It comes after И... but doesn't it sound amost exactly the same? What is the difference? I know it alters other vowels... but pronouncing it by itself, I have no idea....

And those two signs which alter the pronunciation... the Ъ and Ь. How do those work? They're not making much sense to me. Any chance you can describe them in laymen terms?
Thanks in advance.

Alright, let's go in order then "х" is pretty much a combination of a very gentle h and "э". Basically you would have hэ for the sound if that makes any sense.
"Й" looks similar, but is not. As you said it is indeed harder and would translate from the sound of ii to i-i' the last i being very hard and gluttoral. By itself it's just the same letter pronounced much harder on the second i.
Ъ and Ь are what we call "Soft character" and "Hard character" they serve the purpose of hardening or softening the letter before it. The softer one is much more common than the harder one, in general you know it's there because the letter sounds softer. Such as say Miller in Russian "Мельник" is Me-el-nik with the soft character, but without it would be Mel-nik.

 

[Tr0n]

In soviet russia, russian speaks for you...or something.

I was never good at the "in soviet russia" jokes.

 

[CookieCuttah]

In capitalist America, bank robs you!

 

[pvtbones]

In capitalist America, bank robs you!

true, now wheres the joke?