Posts Tagged ‘Pronunciations’

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.

Much Importance Should Be Given To The Accent And Pronunciations While Learning Chinese

December 10th, 2009

Definitely, the spirit may be there to learn, but Chinese is a bit complicated to teach yourself, to say the reality. Chinese language emerged from a variety of tones and sounds which are not familiar to American speech patters. It is an appreciable effort for many to learn to speak and write Chinese language. There are a wide variety of books, CD-ROMs, and other formats available to help them along the way, if anyone has the inclination to learn how to speak Chinese Mandarin should get ready to purchase them. Actually, I don’t think so. Comparatively grammar in Chinese is much simpler than that of the European languages. English speakers sometimes complain that languages like Spanish have a complicated grammar (masculine and feminine genders, verb conjugations, etc), whereas the Chinese language has little or no bound morphology and there are no grammatical paradigms to memorize. Verbs do not take prefixes and suffixes to show the tense or the person, number, or gender of the subject as each word has a fixed and single form. Prefixes or suffixes showing their number or their cases are not taken by nouns. I’m not trying to tell you that Chinese has no grammar; what I mean is that due to the lack of inflectional morphology, Chinese grammar is mainly concerned with how words are arranged to form meaningful sentences. Plus each Chinese character pronounced in one syllable, that’s why when watching Chinese movies, you find that a few words can be translated into a syllable mapping in the English subtitle. Learning Chinese can be achieved with a grand wealth of books available out there from learning Chinese the ‘fast and fun way’, to Chinese for Dummies to Chinese ‘made easy for kids’. Of course, there are a wealth of basic courses on beginner’s Chinese, and let’s not forget a massive number of Chinese phrases and Chinese language dictionaries. However, these books are not produced at an economical price and the format is not comfortable for users . Now, would those all above relieve you a little bit in your Chinese language study? Hope so, but do not misinterpret this. I am not in any intention to convince you that Chinese is very easy to learn or other languages like English are much harder. What I mean is that Chinese is not as difficult as you imagined or heard about, but different from your mother tongue, but difference does not mean tough necessarily, Isn’t it?What it means is that Chinese is certainly simpler than you imagined or heard about, it’s just very dissimilar from your mother tongue, but dissimilar does not mean difficult necessarily, Doesn’t it? And that hard Chinese idea won’t be of any help in your study. Believe in yourself, the language is certainly not that tough to learn once that fear factor is overpowered. Wish you good luck with your Chinese language study. Many people who have spent hundreds of dollars on multiple Chinese language learning materials often wish they could utilize the services and expertise of a private tutor to help them grasp the many nuances and rules involved in speaking Chinese. Many people think it is expensive to engage private tutors and those who live in rural areas and want to learn Chinese language do not find them at all. The ideal way to learn any language is to be able to communicate with someone who speaks that language.