What is the general method people us to learn Slavic languages?

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Serpent
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Re: What is the general method people us to learn Slavic languages?

Postby Serpent » Sun Jan 14, 2018 12:19 am

Arnaud wrote:Okay. In russian, there is a "class" of imperfective verbs that you can use as a "double perfective": I went to the shop (one perfective action) then returned home (second perfective action)=> imperfective verb. (home->shop->home)
It's working also for sentences like "I opened the window" (but now it's closed), etc...(closed->open->closed)

Cool, I had no idea what the explanation was :D
We recently had a thread on the Russian imperf/perf here btw: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... ead#unread

As for "I opened the window", I guess it might have to do with how проветрить (to air) sounds somewhat formal. so instead of saying "I've aired the room" we just say "I've opened [and later closed] the window" with the benefit that this doesn't imply a responsibility over how cool/fresh the air has become :D the perfective does strongly imply being confident about the result :P

Despite this i'm not sure Russian is really more complex than BCMS in any areas apart from the spelling/devoicing and probably adjective endings :P
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Re: What is the general method people us to learn Slavic languages?

Postby Daniel N. » Sun Jan 14, 2018 7:58 am

Aspect boils down to a simple distinction: what is more important? The process, or the successful completion of it?

But the devil is in details. The English articles also boil down to a defined individual vs "one of" (indefinite), but after more than 30 years of using English, I'm not using the articles in (a? the?) native way, because of all tiny details. But I can read English, have read many books, use English when I travel, for my job, write in it, and so on.

If your goal is to be indistinguishable from a native speaker, it requires moving to a country where that language is used and living there for years. And I've been in England only once for 3 days :D
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Daniel N.
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Re: What is the general method people us to learn Slavic languages?

Postby Daniel N. » Sun Jan 14, 2018 7:48 pm

Serpent wrote:Despite this i'm not sure Russian is really more complex than BCMS in any areas apart from the spelling/devoicing and probably adjective endings :P

This is my list of "harder things in Russian" (compared to BCMS):

- 1st pers. sg. present tense form of verbs unlike others (and often different stress)
- no real possessive pronouns in the 3rd person
- more noun forms (more different endings in plural)
- more stress shifts in nouns (water etc)
- the particle se (sya) fused with verbs (s')
- generally, more complex spelling and pronunciation

Easier things in Russian
- no stressed vs unstressed forms of pronouns and verb to be, no order of enclitics
- no tone (but tone is not mandatory in spoken BCMS, at least in Croatia)
- no long vs short vowels (but it's also optional in Croatia, and becoming optional in Serbia, when unstressed) :D
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Re: What is the general method people us to learn Slavic languages?

Postby William Camden » Mon Jan 15, 2018 5:29 pm

I don't think there is anything special about Slavic languages that entails using different methods from those for other L2s. Exposure to languages with case systems, like German or Latin, might be a useful introduction, however.
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William Camden
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Re: What is the general method people us to learn Slavic languages?

Postby William Camden » Mon Jan 15, 2018 5:36 pm

One method I did use for Russian was to work through a word frequency dictionary as a way of building up my vocabulary, starting with the most common words. I have resorted to word frequency dictionaries and glossaries with other languages since, not just Slavic ones.
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