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Archive for July, 2009

Russian Reading Videos – How to Read Russian Part 1

July 12th, 2009

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I devised a way to remember the Russian alphabet in no time flat, and I’d like to show it to you today. This is Part One of my Russian Reading Video Series. Learning to read the Russian alphabet really isn’t that difficult at all. You will find a link to Part Two of the series just below. After finishing both parts. You’ll want to check out the Read Real Russian Signs Videos #1 and #2 for a taste of what it is really like when visiting Russia.

Russian Reading Video Part Two
Read Real Russian Signs Video #1
Read Real Russian Signs Video #2

Compared to some languages (Japanese/Chinese) reading Russian can be easy… Sure, if your goal is to master reading to the point where you can face-off with a native speaker, then – true – you’ve got a lot of work ahead.

If you prefer video instruction, then watch the video above on how to read and pronounce each letter in Russian’s Cyrillic alphabet.

As I often do, I want to employ contextual learning to embed the sounds on a deeper level. The great thing about this method is it’s easy, natural, and the most effective.

All BIG BOLD CAPITAL LETTERS are Russian letters. The first round is easy because they look the same and sound the same as their English counterparts. Part one of the Read Russian video series covers approximately half of the letters. Let’s get started…

Мonday

Тuesday

Оpen wide, said the doctor, and say…

Аhhh .

Кiller!

So, the English word TAKOMA would be spelled: TAKOMA in Russian, as well.

Let’s note right here that the Russian versions of these letters have few if any variations in pronunciation. The same absolutely CANNOT be said of the English versions. How many sounds can you make with the English ‘O’ for example? Women? So and ‘o’ in English can be pronounced ‘ihh’? There’s only two variations in ussian for an ‘O’. Either the ‘Oh’ sound of ‘Open” or an ‘Ah’ sound, as in “Say ahh.”

Here’s the next batch…

БaseБall is perhaps the most popular sport in America.

Сeptember is my birth month, but…

Нovember is my favorite month.

Лaugh out Лoud!

Пretty Пlease, with sugar on top?

Рonald Peagan was the 40th President of the United States.

Вampires are scary!

Фotoshop is a great program.

Let’s play with these a bit before going on. The following will be English words sound out using the Russian alphabet. The answers are at the end:

СНО

БОН

ФАР

БАР

ПРО

ЛАМП

МАРС

How’d you do? Ok, let’s the next set…

Дavid and Гoliath

Гarden of Eden.

Хa Xa, very funny.

Read Russian Video Part Two

Resources
http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/mll/russian/read/readrussian.htm

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Posted in Read Russian Videos

Tags: learn to read Russian Read Russian Video Russian Reading

Russian Reading Videos | How to Read Russian Part Two

July 12th, 2009

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This is part two of my Russian Reading Video Series. The order in which you go through them is not critically important. But it’s probably best that you start with Russian Reading Video Part One.

In Part one of the series you learned aproximately half of the Russian alphabet. The show must go on.. so here goes.. Part II

The MiraЖ in Las Vegas is my favorite hotel.

Зippidee do dah!

Шotgun wedding.

Чinese Фood is delicious!

Яtzee is a game played with dice.

Уps, I Did It Again is Brittney’s best song!

Еsterday is the Beatle’s best song!

We’re almost done. One more round after this. Let’s play with our new letters. The answers, again, will be at the bottom:

ГАД

ЕС ОР НО?

ЧУ СЛО

ГАРАЖ

ФЛАШ

ЯДА ЯДА

ХОТ ДОГ

Here’s the final batch of Russian letters for you:

Ё dude, whassup! Or: My favorite toy is a Ё Ё .

Иk, a mouse! Or: Иster egg!

OЙ vei, what a headache! Or: G.I. Joe is my favorite toЙ.

Эpcot Center is better than Disney World.

Ю2 is a great group, but I’m not a big fan of Bono.

WhaЦ up, dude?

Ыk, another mouse!

LooЩ-ange

Let’s play with these newest ones, and then get to the answers:

ЭГ ЁЛК.

ЭКСКЮЗ МИ!

ТОЙ СТОРИ.

Ok, here’s the answers to all the words I wrote out:

СНО = Snow

БОН = Bone

ФАР = Far

БАР = Bar

ПРО = Pro

ЛАМП = Lamp

МАРС = Mars

ГАД = God

ЕС ОР НО? = Yes or no?

ЧУ СЛО = Chew slow.

ГАРАЖ = Garage

ФЛАШ = Flash.

ЯДА ЯДА = Yada yada.

ХОТ ДОГ = Hot dog.

ЭГ ЁЛК. = Egg yolk.

ЭКСКЮЗ МИ! = Excuse me!

ТОЙ СТОРИ. = Toy Story.

FINAL EXAM

Finally, here’s a few sentences written in English, but using Cyrillic letters to spell out the words. Think of it as a final exam. Give it a try:

Хай! Май нэйм ис Марк. Ай рили лайк стадиинг рашен. Рашен ис сач эй кул лангуэдж, донт ю агри? Уэл, ай хоп зис артикл хэлпд ю!

I hope you learned a bit about Russian pronunciation and how to read Russian.

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Tags: learn to read Russian Read Russian Video Russian Reading

Reading Russian Signs Video Part 1

July 12th, 2009

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I’ve put together this video that will be good practice if you have already studied my Reading Russian intro video part 1 and Reading Russian intro video part 2. This video covers reading real signs that you are likely to encounter in your every day life in Russia or Ukraine.

The Russian Sign Reading Video part 2 can be found here.

Read Russian Video Part 1

Read Russian Video Part 2

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Reading Real Russian Signs Part Two

July 12th, 2009

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This is the second video in the Reading Real Russian Signs video series, where I show you a variety of signs on the streets that you better know how to read if you are headed to Russia or Ukraine.

The Russian Sign Reading Video part one can be found here.

Read Russian Video Part 1

Read Russian Video Part 2

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Tags: learn to read Russian Read Russian Video Russian Reading

Is Learning to Speak Russian Easy?

July 9th, 2009

It’s funny how goals change.

When I first got into Russian, all I wanted was to know enough to order food, hail a cab, and buy tickets to the Hermitage. But as I fell in love with the language, my goals changed. I wanted to be able to talk with people. Have conversations. To really, truly communicate.

Boy, was I naieve.

Anyway, to answer the question at hand: Learning Russian can be easy. It can also be difficult. Let me explain.

To have a conversation means you don’t just give information or ask questions — you have to be prepared to receive information, to understand the replies.

In short, to have a conversation means:

You have to know a lot of Russian words.

If this is your goal, then it can still be easy, but it takes time. Of course anything worth doing takes time as you know. You’ll want to read my next blog, because I will list for you the sources I found to be most helpful when I started getting serious about learning Russian.

Here’s a few to help you get started:

Make flashcards. Write the English on one side and the Russian on the other. I know, I know, it seems like school but they are great for learning. Keep them with you, and any time you have a free moment, whip them out and test yourself.

Study a bit in the morning and a bit at night. A bit can be fifteen minutes, or 45 minutes, but either way, it’s better to break it up.

Practice listening. Use the rescources on this site, or better yet, MAKE YOUR OWN RECORDINGS of your own Russian speech. This allows you to critique your pronunciation, and let’s you practice listening to the words which are in your specific vocab.

Don’t worry about grammar, and about making mistakes. You will be understood and people find mistakes charming. It’s a win-win!

By the way, if your goal is (for now) just like mine was, to learn Survival Russian, just the most important, most useful words, then definitely watch the 30 PowerPhrase videos on the site and you’ll see that learning Russian doesn’t have to be difficult. It can even be fun! Just follow the step by step process, and keep in mind the tips above, and learning to speak Russian can be easy.

Cheers from Sevastopol,

Mark

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Posted in Learn Russian - How to

Tags: easy Learn Russian - How to speak russian easy

Want to Know the Most Useful Russian Phrase?

July 3rd, 2009

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Power Phrases Lesson #1
All Power Phrase Lessons | All Russian lesson audio & mp3 downloads

Let me give you a little history about how I came across what I believe to be the most useful of all Russian phrases.
I love the Russian language. It’s more poetic than English, more beautiful than French, and can be as aggressive sounding as German. And it’s compact, meaning it can say a whole lot with very few words. And it’s just…

…plain…

…cool!

I got into it in 2004, teaching myself from a variety of books and CDs I bought. Why? Well, I’m a very independent guy and wanted to visit the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, and didn’t want some tour guide telling me how long I could stand in front of Rembrandt’s masterpieces. If that meant learning enough Russian to rent an apartment and hail a cab, then so be it.

And then a funny thing happened.

I fell in love.

With the language, I mean.

I know what you were thinking. And yes, I fell in love with the women, too. Let’s put that right out there, right at the start. The women here are incredible, and I won’t pretend I wasn’t motivated by the affect my speaking Russian had on them. (I say “here” because I moved to Sevastopol, Ukraine in May 2008.)

But this blog is NOT about the women.

It’s about the system I created to help me learn Russian

. The problem I was having was this:

I just couldn’t remember the words. They were these alien sounds which had no connection in my mind to their actual meaning. That was one problem.

The other problem was pronounciation. I know, I know you should listen to native speakers

…but that wasn’t helping me. I needed to hear an American pronounce them, but I found no such tapes. So I used my ear. I’m a professional guitar teacher by trade, with a good ear to transcribe the sounds myself. And that is what’s doubly cool (I think, anyway!) about my system for learning Russian:

It helps you remember the word in Russian, and helps you pronounce it.

As you’ll see, the system uses stories which contain within them the sound of the Russian word, and it’s meaning.

That’s it. Memorable sentences. Sometimes whole stories, sometimes just a quick phrase. Like this:

In America, trains are poised to make a comeback.

The Russian word for train (as in, Amtrak and railroads, not “to prepare for a mission”) is поезд, which sounds very much like the word “poised” in English. The main difference is that there’s a bit less of an ‘ee’ sound in the Russian word. (If you listen to yourself say the word ‘poised’ slowly, there’s a clear ‘ee’ sound. That ee sound becomes more of an ‘eh’ sound.)

Still, even if you say poised, you’ll be understood. And that’s all we care about. We will never speak without an accent, and it doesn’t matter — neither will they. I know Russians who’ve been living in the U.S. for twenty years, and though they speak English fluently, they still have a thick accent!

Heck, what does it even mean anymore, to speak English without an accent? Which is the true pronounciation? Brooklyn? Boston? Kentucky? Texas? Maine? London? Austrailian? South African? As long as we are understood, that’s what’s important.

But getting back to the system:

If you want to learn Russian, and are wondering what Russian word you should learn first. I suggest…
The most useful Russian phrase: May I. Have a look at the first video and you’ll see just how useful it can be.

In the first video, yo’�ll see that I make a promise: If you watch each video, and make the flashcards as I describe (and study them a bit each day), YOU — WILL – LEARN — RUSSIAN.

Isn’t that encouraging? Aren’t you psyched?! I am! I’m excited for you, because learning Russian is good for your brain, good for your self-esteem, and good for your love life. (Even if your partner speaks English, you can still talk to him or her in Russian and it will be very sexy!)