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Hello and apologies to all Russian speakers.

I´ve been given a short-term opportunity to follow a 5-week "beginners" (no precisions), intensive (30hours/week) Russian language course in a Russian-speaking city. I am a real beginner, who doesn't know a lot of words past привет, спасибо, до свида́нья, and a few words picked up at parties with Russian friends or during my stays in Eastern Europe.

Most importantly, I´m not completely familiar with the Cyrillic alphabet and the Russian pronunciation (I never learned any other Slavic language).

In my situation, is it a good idea to begin learning Russian this way ?

Dmitry Alexandrov
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Yves
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  • Which country will it be? – Yellow Sky Jul 28 '14 at 02:22
  • The question is hardly language-specific but very individual. Would a five-week intensive course in a English-speaking country be a good way to begin learning English for you if you were a real beginner? The same answer applies to Russian. – Dmitry Alexandrov Jul 28 '14 at 02:59
  • @YellowSky I wonder what difference it makes. – Dmitry Alexandrov Jul 28 '14 at 03:11
  • Well the question is rather about the Slavic languages because of the proximity and differences of the cyrillic and Latin alphabet, as well as the pronunciation. As a matter of fact I did that kind of course to learn English, but I could already read and write the Latin alphabet without any difficulty. – Yves Jul 28 '14 at 04:40
  • One could rephrase and say "Is an extensive study of the Cyrillic alphabet necessary, before trying to learn Russian or any other Slavic language ?" – Yves Jul 28 '14 at 04:42
  • People in different countries have specific accents. It's like going to Ireland or Australia to learn English. – Yellow Sky Jul 28 '14 at 10:33
  • @Yves Well, I'd recommend focusing on the alphabet, vocabulary and making youself familiar with the basics of grammar and morphology (no need to go all grammar now, just flip through pages to know what to expect). The thing is, no matter how intensive the course is, there are things that can be picked up fast and there are things that take time. Reading a foreign alphabet and learning vocabulary (the boring everyday stuff) takes time and doesn't really require you to leave your country. So, well, try something like BaBaDum :) Only be warned that "шухляда" is an extreme regionalism. – Shady_arc Jul 28 '14 at 10:46
  • As for the vocabulary — well, to do well in a variety of situations, you have to know about 1500-2000 words. Given that your course is 5 weeks long, it would have you learn 50 new words a day — a bizarrely unrealistic expectation unless you invest in advanced mnemonic techniques. So this is the area where time is the limiting factor. – Shady_arc Jul 28 '14 at 11:14
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    @Yellow Sky they thrain spyes in Ukraine now, so I am sure the country is Ukraine. Also notice that Yves is a sailor, and Belarus has seashores only in the imagination of Jane Psaki. Possibly this is some kind of collaboration between the fleets of France and Ukraine, connected with the ongoing war. – Anixx Jul 28 '14 at 12:45
  • btw BaDaDum is way too easy... lol ""шухляда" is indeed German for "pushable drawer". – Yves Jul 29 '14 at 18:16
  • @Yves if you know most of what BaBaDum has to offer, I'd say you are pretty safe vocabulary-wise. They have about 1500 words, though the choice does seem questionable at times (the mentioned Ш-word is only used west of Russia: I had to look it up in dictionary and, of course, did not even find it there; also I noticed some weird errors, like a picture of a snail for "happy"). – Shady_arc Jul 30 '14 at 09:42
  • Well i recognize the words, but it doesn't mean i know them or I can conjugate or decline them. A lot of words are similar to French, Greek, German, Latin etc. A surprinsing lot of French slang words are similar to their (perfectly polite) Russian counterparts. – Yves Aug 07 '14 at 16:40

4 Answers4

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If you chose between

  • Spending 5 weeks in a Russian speaking country
  • Not spending 5 weeks in a Russian speaking country

it would be a very good way to begin your studies!

OTOH, if you chose between

  • Spending 5 weeks in a Russian speaking country NOW
  • Spending 5 weeks in a Russian speaking country LATER

I would say that you should wait a bit, and get the basics under your belt first. That way you'd be able to profit a lot more from your time abroad.

MEMark
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Being a Russian language teacher, I personally think that it is a good way to start learning Russian because it is an intensive language immersion, that can be very useful sometimes (it is something really individual though). After this intensive course, you will be able to continue learning Russian at your own pace.

However, I would recommend you to learn the Cyrillic alphabet, the phonetics and the basic reading rules first.

RussianTeacher
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It depends on the way you learn, but speaking generally, such a course would be a good way to begin learning.

Please not the bolding! It's about beginning to learn a language, not learning a language. Unless you're a language genius, or you're a fluent speaker of some other Slavic language (at best Ukrainian or Belarussian), it's unlikely you'll learn the language good enough to being able to read books or watch TV.

But, when learning a language completely different that yours, it's a very good idea to start from the contact with the 'real' language, it's accent and prozody, because it can prevent you from acquiring some bad habits, which happen when you learn from the book or from the non-native speaker.

But if you want to really profit from such course, you must carry on learning the language afterwards.

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From the comments I understand the country you are talking about is Latvia. First of all, it is NOT Russian speaking country although some 27% of residents there are indeed Russians.

So, I would say, that's not good idea to go to Latvia to study Russian, since you won't get enough exposure there - everything there is Latvian, not Russian. Latvian uses Latin alphabet and is not related to Russian so learning Russian alphabet there would be problematic too. Most people there indeed can speak Russian but I doubt they will be happy to help with a foreign language since it is foreign to them as well.

On the other hand, going to a truly Russian-speaking country for 5 weeks will improve your Russian skills definitely. There are only two such countries in the world: Russia and Belarus.

Rilakkuma
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    Thank you, I know Riga a little bit, and many places where Russian is spoken rather than Latvian (not even speaking of Jurmala). Even in the Cetri Balti Krekli (awesome) nobody expects you to speak Latvian. I know it is a sensitive point (they have a "Latvian Museum of the Occupation - 1938-1990") but I don't remember having come across someone in Riga who didn't speak Russian (I was always there with Russian speaking friends), even in local surburban groceries. I don't really expect to speak like a true Moscovite after 5 weeks. – Yves Jul 30 '14 at 03:12
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    In fact I can also go to Minsk or St Petersburg or Moscow (still not decided yet but Riga is the less expensive) (they also have courses in another town I don't remember), but as I said, it's a sudden opportunity, so I don't think I'll get a Visa to Minsk in time, even if Russia wont be a problem. As a matter of fact, we even have some days in Sankt Petersburg (two hours away, there are buses every day). Also, accomodation in Riga would be in a Russian family. Anyway this has little to do with my question. – Yves Jul 30 '14 at 03:19
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    Latvians tend to be nice and speak the language you both share. Which means - if you start speaking Russian they probably will answer in Russian. However, as correctly stated, this is really a sensitive matter and is pretty much like going to Israel to learn Arabic. It will definitely work to some extent but not the best idea at all. :) Also, it is very important to note that most Russian speakers in Latvia do not use correct Russian and their language is heavily influenced by Latvian, Yiddish and German. They do not notice it, but when compared to the "real" Russian in Russia it is noticeable – Rilakkuma Jul 30 '14 at 03:21
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    Pretty true. I remember describing what I understood of Latvia's modern history to German friends "Where do I sign up to fight against Russians" (even if it involves siding with other Russians). – Yves Jul 30 '14 at 03:32
  • @Yves Even if you don’t have friends in Latvia, Riga should be a best choice since, as far as I know, that is one of the most English-speaking city amongst Russian-speaking cities. I believe, this is quite important in your situation. It’s pretty useless to try to make yourself understood in English with a shop assister or minibus driver in Moscow (they’d rather understand Uzbek :-), while in Riga you’d have more chances. – Dmitry Alexandrov Jul 30 '14 at 13:01
  • @Yves As for amount of Russian-speaking, Rilakkuma is manipulating statistics a bit to dissuade you by some reason. She provided percentage of people who consider themselves ethnic Russian all over Latvia. You don’t interested in countryside of Latvia, do you? In metropolitan area native Russian-speakers is definitely a majority. – Dmitry Alexandrov Jul 30 '14 at 13:27
  • Dear Dmitry, please do not try to accuse me of data manipulation. I clearly said that most Latvians can speak Russian. In Riga itself there are much more Russians than the average Latvian 27%, however this does not make neither Riga, neither Latvia Russian-speaking entities. Russian does not have any official status there and in fact is not the language of majority. Go to Daugavpils and you will hear mostly Russian on the streets, go to Liepaja and you will hear no Russian at all. Riga is somewhat in between with Latvian slowly overtaking national minority languages. – Rilakkuma Jul 30 '14 at 15:52
  • It's not worth fighting, as I said I already know Riga a little bit and I think you both have right arguments supporting your points of view, I'll tell you mine in 4 weeks when I'm finished with the course. The teachers are Russian, a lot of tourists are Russians, host families are Russians, we hear people talking in Russian in every café (even if I wouldn't say it's most of them). Probably going to Daugavpils (big city, 80% Russian) next week end, but for the moment i'm practically only able to order coffee in Russian so it doesn't make a big difference. – Yves Aug 07 '14 at 16:28
  • btw Riga can sometimes be a ridiculously hipster city, and people tell me I haven't be in the "real hipster" neighbourhoods yet. – Yves Aug 07 '14 at 16:33