5 Tips to Make Learning Russian Easier
Posted: Sunday, January 30, 2011
by Liudmila Culicova
1. Don't Be Afraid of The Scary Russian Alphabet
A lot of people who learn Russian are realy afraid of learning the Russian alphabet. Yes, it looks a little funny, but it's really pretty easy.
First remember that many of the letters in the Russain (Cyrilic) alphabet, both look the same and sound the same as English letters. These are letters like. T, M, A... etc.
In English this sound is relatively uncommon, but in Russian it's very common, since it begins the Russian word for woman. Fortunately you already know how to say the sound, you just need to remember to say it when you see a letter that looks an X with an additional vertical bar in the middle.
Yes, there are some Russian letters that either just sound different than they do in English or look and sound much different but these are really easy to learn.
Learning the alphabet is easy, fast, and there are a lot of good Russian Alphabet pages that will help you.
2. Don’t Be Afraid to Look Silly
I remember my first “live” English language experience, when I asked a cup of coffee. I was afraid of communicating with a stranger, as I simply didn’t feel my English was good enough. But I had to ask: “May I have a cup of coffee?” It was a huge relief when my cup of hot coffee appeared!
3. Start With Something Simple
It’s important to start with something small and manageable, such as common phrases “privyet” ( hi). As soon as you have mastered some common greattings learn to say something disarming like, "I love Russia" in Russian.
4. Talk to Other Russian Learners
One of my big fears of speaking foreign languages is talking with native speakers of English. You all speak English very fast! I still feel more comfortable speaking English to non-native speakers. They speak slower and are easier to understand. Besides, their vocabulary usually isn’t very extensive. So, if you picked up the basics of Russian try talking with non-native speakers in addition to talking to native Russians.
5. Feel Free to Make Mistakes
Have you ever avoided an opportunity to speak to someone in aforeign language out of fear that you would make a mistake? To cope with this fear, accept the fact that you will make a lot of mistakes. Mistakes are normal in any learning process. When you aren't worried about what others think about you, you'll relax and learn faster.
Fortunately it's now easier than ever to Learn Russian. It's an important language that will make your life a lot better. Good luck!
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