Posts Tagged ‘Consonants’

Advice if you Want to Learn the Russian Language Quickly and Easily

December 11th, 2009

Russian language learning classes should be top of your list of things to do if you want to get the most out of travelling or working in Russia on any one of the dozens of Russian speaking countries.

There are about 150 million people in the world that speak Russian as a first or second language so it certainly won’t be a waste of your time putting in some effort to pick up at least a basic level of conversational skills.

Learning to speak Russian means learning specific pronunciations of the consonants and words. You might want to start by learning the constructs of the Russian Language, for example the alphabet followed by the different genders of nouns such as neutral, masculine and feminine. Learning the different meaning of words and phrases in Russian is important if you want to make sure you avoid conversation mishaps.

What Is The Best Method To Learn Russian?

There are a number of option open to you for learning Russian. One of the most popular methods these days and a great starting point of any research is using the Internet.

Online Courses

There are plenty of online courses that are designed to help you learn Russian accurately and fluently. A website called byni. com (Before You Know It) offers a free software download so you can start learning straight away. Online courses and software programs are great lower cost option. You have the opportunity to work and learn at your own pace and finding these programs is easy. All you need to do is visit Google or Yahoo and type in “Russian Language Learning”, you will be provided with a variety of results that can help you. Many sites, such as MasterRussian. com offer a variety of different ways to learn. For example, you can take lessons in nouns, numerals, pronouns, adjectives, vocabulary, cases, verbs. They also provide you with great tips and tricks for learning quickly.

Attending Classes

This is a great option if time and money are not a constraint. Classes can be found in two places. You can learn in your own country or you can learn Russian in Russia.

This can be a viable option for you because it allows you to experience in class demonstration of the language and get a better feel for how to form the words and pronunciation.

To find classes in your area, you can look in your phone book or even call your local high school to see if they have any resources. Individual Tuition An even better, all be it more pricy option is One on One Tuition. This is a great way to learn as it is completely personalised to your style and speed of learning. This gives you specialized attention and even more opportunity to speak and interact in the language. Of course, it is always a good idea to choose a tutor that is fluent in both Russian as well as your own native language to get the best results.

Finding a Russian tutor can be a little easy or difficult depending on where you live. You might want to place an ad in your local newspaper asking for a tutor or you can even call a college or university in your area to see if any students are willing to help you.

Books

You local bookstore shouldn’t be overlooked as a helpful resources. Reading up of some of the famous Russian cities, such as St Petersburg or of course the capital, Moscow will help you get an idea of what to do when you get there. A Russian to English dictionary must have and should be one of the first things you pick up during your tip to the bookstore.

Having Fun Is Key To Learning

Of course, many people find learning a new language such as Russian to be easier if they are having fun doing it at the same time. Some sites, such as the one mentioned above, offers fun ways to implement your learned skills. This includes word games, quizzes and downloadable MP3 music tracks.

If you are looking to learn a little faster, there are some ways you can accelerate your learning. For example, you can simply visit any Russian speaking country. Ukraine, Latvia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are some that you might consider in addition to Russia of course.

Visiting these countries will almost force you to pick up on many aspects of the language in a short period of time.

Pen Pals and Forums

If you would rather learn more before your arrival, why not get yourself a Russian speaking pen pal. They can often teach you the right and wrongs of the language.

You could also join forums, watch movies in the Russian Language, watch Russian television, or even listen to Russian radio. The choice is yours.

No matter why you want to learn the Russian language, it is important to understand that you have many different avenues of going about your learning. Some may be better suited to your learning style than others. It’s key that you select a course that matches your style of learning, how much you can afford and your time and work constraints.

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How To Learn German The Easy Way

December 10th, 2009

I’m so tired of people crying out that “learning German is so hard and so time consuming” you basically hear those guys and girls everywhere on the Internet and you have to wonder: what the heck are they doing wrong? German is one of the easiest languages to learn if you are already familiar with English and if you’re reading this, I’m pretty sure you are at least moderately familiar with it, otherwise this is just a random string of characters to you and you don’t know what on Earth I’m talking about anyway.
The German and English languages have a lot in common, due to the fact that they share the same Anglo-Saxon language base. Grammar rules are almost the same, they have many look-alike words and although German may seem a bit “rougher”, with more focus on consonants, that barrier can be easily overcome after a few language lessons. If English is your mother tongue, ironically, it will be slightly harder to get a good grip on learning German, since all your grammar rules are natural and have never really been “learnt”, but rather acquired through practice. Someone that has learnt English as a second language, will find it a lot easier to learn German afterwards (or vice versa) since these basic rules have already been assimilated the hard way.
The trick to making the German language learning process easy is to keep everything simple and fun. Yes, those two ingredients, simple and fun, make a great language learning soup. Start out slow even if you’re an adult, start out with “children techniques”. Learn the basic words, numbers, colors, months, days and so forth and familiarize yourself with the writing style, pronunciation and try to find links between these words and their English counterparts (what does the “Montag” day of the week look similar to in English? Etc). The natural progression in any language learning process is to get the grip on some grammar rules after you’ve accustomed yourself with the language through the basic words. Like I said above, this will be easy for an English speaker.
Next up, work on increasing vocabulary in German. Use language games, flashcards, mnemonics and everything in between that can stick a word to a picture. The word-picture combination is a great way to memorize words as they will be absorbed faster by your brain, they’re fun and most importantly, your brain will hardly forget the picture, leaving you with a sidewalk to the word in case you forget it.
One last thing worth noting: this is a general tip but it applies great to learning German. Don’t forget to revise what you’ve learnt, otherwise you will just assimilate new stuff and forget a good part of what you learnt earlier. If possible, try to expand what you learned earlier and not go for a different subject (for example, if you just learn the basic words in the “vegetables” field, try working your way from there to the “kitchen” or “farming” fields so you’ll still use the words you assimilated earlier). Make sure you don’t over-revise either. It won’t hurt, but you will lose precious time for nothing and that time is better spent to improve vocabulary, focus on the grammar or working on pronunciation and spelling.
I’ve seen some disputes as to whether or not “natural language learning” is beneficial or not. It involves learning a language through direct contact with it, instead of taking it step by step. For example, watching a TV show in German, reading a book in German or simply hearing two people speak the language is considered natural learning. The advantage of natural learning is that you can easily grasp new words out of the context. If you understand 70% of what a person is saying, you’ll be able to decipher the other 30% and what those particular words mean by a natural deduction. This is a great way to add words to your vocabulary and if you can’t get a new word out of the context, or you’re not sure what it means, simply write it down and check the dictionary for it later.
The disadvantage of this method is related mostly to TV shows, audio tapes and so forth (less with books and magazines): sometimes the speakers will talk a German dialect or they’ll talk with an accent, making it very hard for you to learn anything constructive from them. That’s why you should always choose the shows or audio tapes that feature someone talking “clean” German as much as possible.

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