AAAAARGH!! I am never going to get this language!! - Russian Ukrainian Belarus Travel Music Woman Dating News

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AAAAARGH!! I am never going to get this language!!
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Posted by: gonlaz

dude, I am totally frustrated with myself right now. This Russian, Cyrillic, is extremely difficult.

without the lectures of having to know the language (she and I have discussed my hard time "getting it") for my first trip, someone have a nifty tool that is either hand held, cheap and hand held, or something online that is USER FRIENDLY for understanding all of those little signs and dots and stuff on all of their letters? I mean, I was online at a translator site and one of their "letters" was an entire freaking word, WTF? Of course, I do have another 40 days before I leave, I know I should be able to learn something to help me, should I be robbed, beaten and left in the cold, lol! (no I do not believe that's going to happen) "sarcasm smiley" here

sorry for the rant, please help a guy out?
Thanks!

Posted by: markgm

Quote:

Originally Posted by gonlaz

dude, I am totally frustrated with myself right now. This Russian, Cyrillic, is extremely difficult.

without the lectures of having to know the language (she and I have discussed my hard time "getting it") for my first trip, someone have a nifty tool that is either hand held, cheap and hand held, or something online that is USER FRIENDLY for understanding all of those little signs and dots and stuff on all of their letters? I mean, I was online at a translator site and one of their "letters" was an entire freaking word, WTF? Of course, I do have another 40 days before I leave, I know I should be able to learn something to help me, should I be robbed, beaten and left in the cold, lol! (no I do not believe that's going to happen) "sarcasm smiley" here

sorry for the rant, please help a guy out?
Thanks!

Practice, practice Practice. Практика, Практика, Практика

Try here mate.

http://imtranslator.net/

Posted by: markgm

Also for handheld devices go here these are the best available

http://www.ectaco.com/?refid=2

http://www.ectaco.com/main.jsp?do=p...&ln=15&go=Go%21

Posted by: I/O

Quote:

Originally Posted by gonlaz

Mate, if she is meeting you, forget about trying to learn to read Russian in the short term. Learn to speak a few basic phrases to start with and then your natural curiosity will lead you into learning a little cryllic.

Ya nee-panyeemayoo parooski..!! You will need this. "I don't understand Russian"

Somwhere here on the site there is a thread of phonetics which seems quite helpful. I can't find it right now, but search around a little and I think this is the best way to start.

Posted by: Khashyar

Hi gonlaz...

I think that the best way to learn Russian (or a language in general) is to absorb yourself in it, and then begin practice speaking.

Rent some Russian language movies (with English subtitles), listen to Russian language learning tapes when you are driving, and spend some time in a Russian language country.

It takes some time and patience, but you'll become more familiar with it.

Khashyar

Posted by: markgm

Quote:

Originally Posted by gonlaz

Hey Mate the best way i found to learn the language is do the same as when you were a kid learn to speak first then get into the written side of it.
But it all takes time.

Posted by: Ms.Smarty Pants

Gonlaz!
I am smiling now. You are smart student! Could you write about your intentions to know russian language? Only for trip in Russia?

Posted by: gonlaz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ms.Smarty Pants

Gonlaz!
I am smiling now. You are smart student! Could you write about your intentions to know russian language? Only for trip in Russia?

Short answer, yes for my trip.

Longer answer, russian culture is something I would have liked to study when I go back to school, but that won't be for a year I think. However, since I am traveling to Moscow to meet a girl I have been chatting with for 6 months now, I figured it would be important for me to know something, you know?

Posted by: Ms.Smarty Pants

Please, could you write here all your questions. I do understand your interest, your possible fears.

Posted by: gonlaz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ms.Smarty Pants

Please, could you write here all your questions. I do understand your interest, your possible fears.

I will write more tomorrow or the next day. I am about to go to sleep. Thanks for expressing your kindness

Posted by: chippie

Quote:

Originally Posted by gonlaz

Hey Gonlaz,

Before my first trip i listened to some CD's just to get an idea, and learned as much alphabet as possible. Once there I told Irina that she was my Russian teacher and she loved it. We went out an bought a small notebook that I could fit into my pocket, and as we spoke, I had her write down phrases that I heard more than once. She wrote it in russian, then english. I then wrote it phonetically as I heard it. It helped quite a bit. I also bought a fairly large dictionary (THe Oxford) that fit into my back pocket.
It was funny when I read I/O's post of "Ya nee-panyee mayoo" (I don't understand) I heard Irina's voice. She said it a lot, but we worked it out.

You'll have a ball!!

Chippie

Posted by: mistermopar

Hey Gonlaz,I use Paralink for my translations.
Some email do not support the Russian letters so it comes out strange looking.
I copy the letter and then past onto Paralink,and make sure I check the decode box and hit the button and it dose the rest.

Heres the site.
www.translation1.paralink.com/

Randy

Posted by: scotch

Quote:

Originally Posted by gonlaz

dude, I am totally frustrated with myself right now. This Russian, Cyrillic, is extremely difficult.

sorry for the rant, please help a guy out?
Thanks!

hey gonlaz,

I feel for ya mate .. when I first started I also thought "hell, no way Im ever going to be able to understand all those squiggly letters and backwards R's".

There are many people in the same boat but I found a good way to learn the alphabet, and I've copied this from my website. Hope it helps!

scotch.

---------------------------

Having problems with the Russian alphabet?

Note from the Editor:

There are many people who say that they are struggling to learn the Russian alphabet. You are not alone in this problem! It is hard at first, but it's not insurmountable. Some people can't sit down and just wrote-learn the alphabet, so they need a different learning strategy. So what follows is perhaps a slower but more interesting way to learn the alphabet.

First you need to get interested in the Russian letters and the alphabet .. don't just try to launch into the whole thing .. well, not at the beginning anyway.

Pick a word you really want to learn.

For me, it was 'Hello', and 'you are very beautiful' (obviously these weren't intended for Russia-Australia trade relations..

)

So I scoured the internet for some pages that would show me the Russian translation for these words.

For 'hello' I found Здравствуйте and Привет .. so I decided to investigate Привет (Здравствуйте just looked a little bit too scary

)

Then I looked up a site that showed me what each Russian letter translates into English:

П = p
р = r (what tha..?)
и = i
в = v (are they serious..?)
е = ye
т = t

put them together and you have "privyet"! This is the Russian word for 'Hi!'.

There I had my first Russian word..and some clue what each of the letters meant.

Then I looked up 'you are very beautiful' and found 'ты очень красивая' and commenced with the same procedure of translating each letter and forming complete words.

Using this method reduced anxiety about learning the alphabet because I was learning something useful that I could apply straight away.

After doing this for a while I still found that I wasn't able to recall all the letters. Some letters were easy, but others like 'ч' (ch) and 'ю' (yu) always seemed to slip my mind.

The only solution was to put in the hard work, and to be honest, if you don't put in some consistent practice at the beginning then you will struggle with the alphabet for longer than necessary. Don't kid yourself, you need to do some consistent, uninterrupted study on this.

So I made a Word document that listed the Russian alphabet down several columns (see previous webpage), with a space next to each letter for me to fill in the blank. Then I printed about 30 copies of this page and proceeded to wrote-learn the alphabet in groups of 3 letters. Three letters aren't hard to memorise. Some letters were already familiar to me, like "а, м, о, т", and others I learnt by writing them over and over again.

Really it's not too hard to learn the alphabet if you have the motivation and can follow this procedure. But it does take some work, perhaps 15 minutes a day for 2 weeks, until you can read each letter quite comfortably. But mix the wrote-learning with some words you really want to learn, because wrote-learning on its own can be tough for some people.

Don't expect to be able to read whole words quickly ..I still have trouble with this for unfamiliar words .. but once you can read each letter then you will feel like you have cracked the code and now belong to the select few English-speaking people who can decipher the Russian alphabet.

Good luck! You can do it! and please contact me if you need any further help.

---------------------------

Posted by: nocomfortzone

I don't know what others think about foreign languages to learn but my initial impression is Russian is possible if you put the effort and i sense easier than many because words are spoken how they are spelt. I would like to learn Russian but still at the baby steps but the alphabet i see as the starting point and i can probably read most signs to myself and things but knowing what they mean is another step altogether

I remember i was wonderign what this sign was i was seeing whilst in taxis

"CTOП"

then it dawned on me one day it read STOP and i laughed to myself as i realised i was alteast starting to get a bit of the alphabet right. I found myself looking at signs a lot trying to read them to myself

However a few days earlier in other city of Odessa i had i kept getting lost because in my head it had not yet sunk in that "P" was pronounced like "r" in Russian and "П" had the "P" sound.

There were two streets parallel to each other. One starting with P in english and another starting with r is english. I kept going up one street that started with "P" on it's sign and wondering why i could not find the building i was looking for at a certain number. I did not realise until much later i was up the wrong street because this was the one that would sound like "r" in english. I needed to be up the street with "П" at the start of it

Trial and error :-)

Posted by: GoingToRussia

What little Russian I know, I learned like Markgm and Scotch suggested. I bought a Russian-English/English Russian dictionary for $10. I picked a word I wanted to learn and sounded each letter out using the pronunciation guide in the dictionary. My now wife also helped me with some of the pronunciation. I also bought a phrase book.

Posted by: GoingToRussia

Quote:

Originally Posted by gonlaz

I will write more tomorrow or the next day. I am about to go to sleep. Thanks for expressing your kindness

Ms. SP is a very kind and helpful woman. She has given me some very good advice too. If I wasn't married I would definetly visit her in Samara ... if she would like me to visit of coarse!

Posted by: ira156

I used some CDS before my first trip, learnt the basics ..hello, excuse me thank you ect. When i was in Russia i made myself learn 2 words or phrases each day...My Nat was very impressed. I got to the point where i would string the words together to make a couple of sentences...worked great.....untill they answered me in Russian and i had no idea what they said. That where " i dont understand Russian" comes in handy. have fun

Posted by: mistermopar

I started off with a dictionary,Russian/English.
I then moved up to a book with tapes,but found it was a pain in the Popa rewinding and playing and rewinding and playing to try to understand what they were saying.

So I got my self a cd-rom called Instant Immersion Russian,I found it was helping alot.They would show a picture and say the word,much better for me.

I also around the same time found a book in the childrens section at the libary called My First 1000 Words in Russian,this also was working great,no English in it at all,they show a picture and the word in Russian,and how it is prononced.

So I guess I learn better with the pictures and words.

Randy

Posted by: GoingToRussia

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistermopar

I also around the same time found a book in the childrens section at the library ...

So I guess I learn better with the pictures and words.

Randy

... and crayons and color books?

Posted by: mistermopar

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoingToRussia

... and crayons and color books?

LOL,wise guy EH!

Randy

Posted by: chippie

I know that some of you will have answers to this question. I noticed that in KHashyar's new thread on goverment imtellegence that he used the acronyms in Russian. To be able to type the Russian letters do I need some special type of software, or what is needed. I am not a computer techie, but if told how I could do it.

Thanks for the info guys.

Chippie

Posted by: markgm

Quote:

Originally Posted by chippie

I know that some of you will have answers to this question. I noticed that in KHashyar's new thread on goverment imtellegence that he used the acronyms in Russian. To be able to type the Russian letters do I need some special type of software, or what is needed. I am not a computer techie, but if told how I could do it.

Thanks for the info guys.

Chippie

Probably the easiest and quickest way to do this is to go here and use this keyboard then cut and paste or copy to where you want it. Saves you changing your fonts over to Russian.

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/home...or/screen_e.htm

Posted by: GoeastLJ

Quote:

Originally Posted by chippie

Alternatively, go to this link -> http://www.translation.paralink.com/ and click on the keyboard icon and a keyboard will pop up. This has a drawdown menu and you can choose the Russian keyboard. Type your letter and then cut and paste. This could be slow, though.

Posted by: PaulGor

Quote:

Originally Posted by markgm

That Virtual Keyboard has 2 aliases to help people remember the Web address easier:

http://Kbd.RusWin.net or
http://porusski.net (brings you to Russian-language interface page but the link to English one is at the top left corner)

But if it's your own computer and you need to work with Russian a lot, then you may want to enable regular, system keyboard tools - it's very easy really -same way you enable say French or German keyboard tools.

System keyboard tools can be setup similar to the modes of that Virtual Keyboard - to use Standard layout or Phonetic (homophonic) one.

Activation of system keyboard tools for Russian typing is explained - for novices in computers -
in the "Typing Russian on any keyboard" section of the site
"Cyrillic (Russian): instructions for Windows and Internet":

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PaulGor/

(alias - http://RusWin.net )

Posted by: markgm

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulGor

It has been a great help to be able to use this online keyboard especially the Ukrainian that it can also do.

Cheers Mate.

Posted by: chippie

Quote:

Originally Posted by markgm

I knew you guys would have the answer!! Thanks so much for the info. It is appreciated!!!!

Chippie

Posted by: chippie

Has anyone ever used Rosetta Stone for learning Russian?? I am thinking of getting the "home school edition". Any thoughts??

Chippie

Posted by: scotch

Quote:

Originally Posted by chippie

Has anyone ever used Rosetta Stone for learning Russian?? I am thinking of getting the "home school edition". Any thoughts??

Chippie

Gday Chippie,

I have the Russian Rosetta Stone Levels I and II (lessons 1 to 19).

It's definitely good to have as part of your Russian learning library, and it teaches you in a way that really makes you think (no English at all, only Russian words and speech). Complete immersion. Good if you want to be immersed.

So you learn implicitly by looking at the pictures, you are never given any translation, and you end up using your own words in your head as a translation for the Russian words (which opens up the potential to be slightly incorrect).

The lessons are a challenge, and I guess that's why I don't use it as often as I should, because it really tests your memory (i.e., it's a little stressful). That can be good for some people, but for me when I get home tired after work it's the last thing I want to do.

It's not cheap (US$290 at amazon for I and II together), and I found that I don't really use the writing lessons, nor the speech recognition (it seems to have problems recognising my Aussie-Russian accent

)

I definitely wouldn't recommend it for the absolute beginner. Because everything is written in Russian you need to at least know the alphabet and perhaps have some familiarity with the accent and pronunciation.

All in all I am glad that I have it, and I do learn quite a bit .. when I actually decide Im in the right mood to use it, which isn't very often. Usually I prefer to look up a book to find a phrase I really want to know.

If you can pick it up cheap then go for it, but I wouldn't pay full-price.

Hope that helps!

scotch.

PS. I find that I use Pimsleur more than Rosetta .. seems more easygoing to me, and a bit more travel oriented.

Posted by: scotch

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulGor

Hey Paul mate,

Welcome to the RMP forums!

I'm glad you found this place as there are some good people here who are really interested in Russian culture and language, and especially Russian women

I hope you enjoy yourself and thanks for making the virtual Russian keyboard, Ive been using it for ages!

scotch.

Posted by: chippie

Quote:

Originally Posted by scotch

Scotch,
Thanks for the info. I already speak French fluently, so I am use to language learning. Total immersion was how I learned french. The reason that I asked about Rosetta Stone is I am a "Visual" learner. I can repeat and repeat, but unless I see it it just not seem to stick.. I like your site because besides repeating, I am looking at to pronounciation. I have also found that it helps for me to do some written exercises. I have learned the Russian alphabet already which is a good start. Since I am engaged to a Belarussian, I am more interested in the language and communicating than "touristy" things.
I actually was looking at the "homeschool" edition because of the workbooks etc., and you're right, it's not cheap at $339.00 a copy.

Could you tell me a little more about Pimsleur??

Thanks, Chippie