Learning Very Basic Russian - Russian Ukrainian Belarus Travel Music Woman Dating News

	The Russian Meeting Place: A place to meet people and talk about all things Russian... International Discussions about Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Travel, Music, Russian News, Ukrainian culture, Belarusian Dating, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kiev and other intelligent topics about life in the former Soviet Union.

Pages: 1

Learning Very Basic Russian
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: jbly

Hi guys, I just came across this girls video tonight on youtube. She wants some input to whether or not people would be interested in an online basic course in speaking basic phrases and what not. Check it out, log in and subscribe to her site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsi5...feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N1C...feature=related

I am trying to figure out if she speaks Russian or English as a first language, I assume it is English. I would be interested in some of your comments. Maybe this is a waste of my time. I am hoping I can get a couple of basic phrases down before my trip in October.

Da Sveedaneeya for now

JBly

Posted by: AkMike

Have you gotten the phrase book from lonlyplanet.com yet? It'll help with this basic stuff for all situations.. A must have for the first few trips along with a pocket russ/eng dictionary.

Posted by: jbly

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkMike

Have you gotten the phrase book from lonlyplanet.com yet? It'll help with this basic stuff for all situations.. A must have for the first few trips along with a pocket russ/eng dictionary.

Thanks Mike, I have not, but I look immediately and buy one. I have not seen the Lonely Planet web site either. I appreciate the heads up. I was starting to get worried when I found out I was pronouncing "Privet" wrong. A second language is not my strong suit.

Posted by: blucatz

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkMike

Have you gotten the phrase book from lonlyplanet.com yet? It'll help with this basic stuff for all situations.. A must have for the first few trips along with a pocket russ/eng dictionary.

I just checked lonleyplanet.com and can't find the phrase book you are talking about. Little help please.

Posted by: freebird

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbly

Hi guys, I just came across this girls video tonight on youtube. She wants some input to whether or not people would be interested in an online basic course in speaking basic phrases and what not.

I am trying to figure out if she speaks Russian or English as a first language, I assume it is English. I would be interested in some of your comments. Maybe this is a waste of my time. I am hoping I can get a couple of basic phrases down before my trip in October.

Da Sveedaneeya for now

JBly

I'm guessing she either came to the west as a very young girl or was born here. Her Russian is very good as far as the accent goes {I'm not a native but I speak Russian quite well}

Perhaps one of the native born Russians will rate her language ability....

Posted by: GoingToRussia

Learn the alphabet first and how to pronounce each letter. It will make learning Russian easier and you will be able to prononce most words from a dictionary.

Posted by: subcom117

Watch the Youtube videos of Dr. Victor Huliganov:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_li...2077C49F5A58BEE

The first 10 lessons go over the alphabet and pronunciation. The second 10 lessons cover grammar. They're very good and he is quite entertaining.

Posted by: GoingToRussia

Quote:

Originally Posted by subcom117

Watch the Youtube videos of Dr. Victor Huliganov:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_li...2077C49F5A58BEE

The first 10 lessons go over the alphabet and pronunciation. The second 10 lessons cover grammar. They're very good and he is quite entertaining.

Yes I've watched these videos. They are very entertaining and helpful to learn Russian at a basic level.

See you soon subcom!

Posted by: Jill

Well, I am not a native speaker, but I would say that her Russian is really excellent, the pronunciation is that of a native. I hear only the slightest accent in her English (which is my native language

), so perhaps she emigrated tot he US at a relatively young age as freebird said...

Posted by: AkMike

Here's the link to the pocket sized lonelyplanet.com phrase book I found very helpful. Sorry I did'nt toss up the link earlier.

http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/Primar...D=1214889296340

Posted by: EasyTarget

She is a Russian studying at university in the USA, so says her myspace page.

She speaks way too fast, I don't how educational it is, but if you have nothing.....I like Dr. H's videos better.

Posted by: blucatz

Quote:

Originally Posted by EasyTarget

She is a Russian studying at university in the USA, so says her myspace page.

She speaks way too fast, I don't how educational it is, but if you have nothing.....I like Dr. H's videos better.

I agree, way too fast for us newbies

, I often have to tell Jenya to slow down so I can understand how to say the word. Plus, my hearing isn't what it use to be and with the phone connections, its gets kinda hard.

Posted by: blucatz

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkMike

Here's the link to the pocket sized lonelyplanet.com phrase book I found very helpful. Sorry I did'nt toss up the link earlier.

http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/Primar...D=1214889296340

Thanks Mike, just placed my order.

Posted by: Dave1

The Pimsleur CD's are also very helpful with learning pronunciation and some useful phrases. I found the Lonely Planet phrasebook a little lacking for pronuciation instruction without an audio source. An example is the number 3: Lonely Planet says this is pronounced "tri". Thinking of tricycles and trimesters, I took this to be "try", but it is actually "tree" with a rolled r. Once you get used to some norms in pronunciation, the Lonely Planet phrasebook can be very helpful, and it has a nice little 2-way dictionary in the back. I found Pimsleur's Conversational Russian (16 half-hour lessons) slightly used at Amazon.com Marketplace for under $25.

Posted by: AkMike

BC,
I think you'll like it. It shows the phrase in english, then pronounced 'phoneticly' in russian, the written in russian. It made it alot easier to get to know each other in the early stages.
As Dave says it's lacking some but it's a great value to start off with.

Posted by: freebird

Or just marry a Russian woman, she will teach...

Posted by: Dave1

If you have a chain bookstore locally, they might have the Lonely Planet phrasebook. I picked one up at my local Barnes & Noble in April.

Posted by: Big wheel

The way that I'm learning some Russian is by association. ie... streekoza / street w/o T plus koza dragonfly

Posted by: freebird

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big wheel

The way that I'm learning some Russian is by association.

Sounds complicated...

Posted by: Big wheel

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird

Sounds complicated...

Its really not for some words. Sveta's son Al is teaching me this way. For me its a bit easier. I was a bit dialectic when i was younger and i still don't hear all the sounds the way they should. My grandmother would remember names this way

Posted by: EasyTarget

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big wheel

I was a bit dialectic when i was younger and i still don't hear all the sounds the way they should.

Dialectic? Strange!
I am more logical now that I am older. I don't if it helps to have a logical mind when learning a new language.

Posted by: stevo

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big wheel

The way that I'm learning some Russian is by association. ie... streekoza / street w/o T plus koza dragonfly

What a curious word to be learning! It reminds me of that Eddie Izzard routine about the useless French he learnt at school, and his attempts to casually drop the phrase "le singe est dans l'arbre" ("the monkey is in the tree") into conversations in France.

Posted by: disculmawsu

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbly

Hi guys, I just came across this girls video tonight on youtube. She wants some input to whether or not people would be interested in an online basic course in speaking basic phrases and what not. Check it out, log in and subscribe to her site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsi5...feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N1C...feature=related

I am trying to figure out if she speaks Russian or English as a first language, I assume it is English. I would be interested in some of your comments. Maybe this is a waste of my time. I am hoping I can get a couple of basic phrases down before my trip in October.

Da Sveedaneeya for now

JBly

I would suggest either http://speakrussian.blogspot.com/ (A spoonful of Russian one byte at time), taking a class either at community college or Russian cultural center.
While O works me on dialogs I work on the grammar from a textbook.

Posted by: Cheburashka

Here is a far fetched thought but it did wonders for me. Get satellite TV from Dish network. They have Russian tv channels like RTVi and HTB. Watch Saturday morning children's cartoons. They speak slower and use more simple words. And it will be like a mini-submersion class. Works wonders.

Or listen to Russian radio. Personally I like Silver Rain out of Moscow. Great music. Find it here. . You can stream it on your computer.

Posted by: scotch

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbly

Hi guys, I just came across this girls video tonight on youtube. She wants some input to whether or not people would be interested in an online basic course in speaking basic phrases and what not. Check it out, log in and subscribe to her site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsi5...feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N1C...feature=related

I am trying to figure out if she speaks Russian or English as a first language, I assume it is English. I would be interested in some of your comments.
JBly

Privyet JBly,

The girl in this video is Valentina and she pronounces everything as a native Russian - Ive never met a language student who can pronounce russian like this

She was originally from Kazakhstan and now lives in the USA.

Being an Aussie I can't notice any accent in her american english either.. she sounds like a native american to me too!

She is a good sport and gave me permission to link all her videos on the listen2russian website. In fact, I'd like to get a good collection going, so if you (or anyone else!) see any other ones that are actually helpful then please let me know .. probably on here would be best.

I agree with the other folks in this thread .. the Lonely Planet guide will serve you well, and has some amusing phrases you can say to your russian friends when you're not sure what else to say

I have 2 other pocket phrase books but I would choose that one above the others. I also find the Collins pocket dictionary really useful.

if you need any help with anything just let me know.

scotch.