Russian Study Group

An area with study groups for various languages. Group members help each other, share resources and experience. Study groups are permanent but the members rotate and change.
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MamaPata
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Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby MamaPata » Mon Oct 23, 2017 8:00 am

aaleks wrote:
If you do listen to it, don't worry about the introductory first few lines - they seem to be more tongue twisters. But if anyone knows what they are, feel free to comment and let me know - I can't make out all of them.

Yes, it's tongue twisters. For example, https://echo.msk.ru/sounds/2078194.html :
1. Вилли с Молли, Молли с Вилли все тарелки перебили
2. Фараонов фаворит на сапфир сменял нефрит
3. Эники беники ели вареники

but there's some background noise and I had to listen to the first one two-three times to catch it.

BTW, this podcast reminded me how after Revolution 1917 some people started to give their newborns fancy 'revolution' names. If a boy got lucky he could be called, for example, Владлен, and a girl - Октябрина. These names at least sound OK. But less fortunate children could be named Трактор (tractor) which, as a name, sounds ridiculous or, pardon, Драздаперма (Да здравствует первое мая/Viva May 1) that sounds practically as a swear word. Of course, poor childeren changed these awful names when they grew up.


Thank you!!
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Corrections appreciated.

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ophelia
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby ophelia » Tue Oct 24, 2017 7:37 pm

I hope this isn't too late in the forum to introduce myself! I just started studying Russian (by which I mean I started literally four days ago), and I haven't studied a language in any kind of regimented way since taking French classes three years ago. So I'm hoping that spending time in a community with a lot of other people learning Russian will help keep me on track! :)

For now, my priorities are improving reading and listening comprehension. I'm working on vocabulary with Lingvist and doing Duolingo every day, and I'm hoping to get ahold of a copy of the New Penguin Russian Course sometime soon. I've never really self-studied a new language, so I'm trying to build a strong foundation for understanding Russian (both spoken and written) before I move forward. My long term goal is to be able to read some Russian classics in their original language and to be able to speak fluently enough to live and work in Russia for a year or two.

Is there anyone else here who has studied mostly or entirely on their own? Are there any standout resources that you all would recommend? It's great to meet all of you; it seems like this forum is a really fantastic resource and I'm really excited to explore it more! :D
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Ogrim
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby Ogrim » Wed Oct 25, 2017 7:56 am

ophelia wrote:I hope this isn't too late in the forum to introduce myself! I just started studying Russian (by which I mean I started literally four days ago), and I haven't studied a language in any kind of regimented way since taking French classes three years ago. So I'm hoping that spending time in a community with a lot of other people learning Russian will help keep me on track! :)

For now, my priorities are improving reading and listening comprehension. I'm working on vocabulary with Lingvist and doing Duolingo every day, and I'm hoping to get ahold of a copy of the New Penguin Russian Course sometime soon. I've never really self-studied a new language, so I'm trying to build a strong foundation for understanding Russian (both spoken and written) before I move forward. My long term goal is to be able to read some Russian classics in their original language and to be able to speak fluently enough to live and work in Russia for a year or two.

Is there anyone else here who has studied mostly or entirely on their own? Are there any standout resources that you all would recommend? It's great to meet all of you; it seems like this forum is a really fantastic resource and I'm really excited to explore it more! :D


Welcome to the forum. Russian is a challenging, but beautiful and very interesting language, so I wish you the best of luck!

As for resources, there is quite a lot out there, and you will need to find the kind of course which fits your learning style. I learnt the basics of Russian wholly on my own and only started taking classes after two-three years of self-study. For this I used Colloquial Russian by Routledge and Assimil. They complemented each other nicely, as Colloquial is better for learning grammar and Assimil for the audio. But I am sure others here can give you more tips.
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Josquin
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby Josquin » Sun Oct 29, 2017 9:50 pm

Дорогие друзья,

I have a question for you: Do you know where I can get Russian audiobooks over the Internet? I mean, of course, I could order CDs at ozon.ru or whatever might be the best site for that, but I tried ordering there once and it took like forever for the parcel to arrive.

I'm sure there are sites out there, where I can buy Russian audiobooks as MP3s, which would be my preferred data format, but I just don't know them. I checked LibriVox, but they have very few titles available. What about Spotify or iTunes? Does Amazon sell Russian audiobooks? How do you access Russian media like films, books, music, series in general?

Thanks for your advice!
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Oró, sé do bheatha abhaile! Anois ar theacht an tsamhraidh.

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ophelia
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby ophelia » Sun Oct 29, 2017 10:15 pm

Josquin wrote:Дороиге друзья,

I have a question for you: Do you know where I can get Russian audiobooks over the Internet? I mean, of course, I could order CDs at ozon.ru or whatever might be the best site for that, but I tried ordering there once and it took like forever for the parcel to arrive.

I'm sure there are sites out there, where I can buy Russian audiobooks as MP3s, which would be my preferred data format, but I just don't know them. I checked LibriVox, but they have very few titles available. What about Spotify or iTunes? Does Amazon sell Russian audiobooks? How do you access Russian media in general?

Thanks for your advice!


I know that Audible has a pretty decent selection of Russian language audiobooks! It's mostly classics and children's books with some fiction and nonfiction in translation. Amazon is their parent company, and they do a free trial so you can download a book and decide if it's something you want to continue using. I think you can also order audiobooks on CD via Amazon, and I'm fairly certain I've seen Russian editions. I haven't really poked through Spotify too much, but there are some user-made playlists of Russian rap music if that's something you like (some of it is really good!). Netflix has an option to search by subtitles (just type "Russian subtitles" in the search bar) and they have a section of international movies, though not many in Russian as far as I can tell. I'm also finding that Youtube is a really great option. There are a lot of full copies of Russian audiobooks and movies, although the quality can be pretty variable sometimes. Hope that helps! :D
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neofight78
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby neofight78 » Mon Oct 30, 2017 1:40 am

litres.ru

I bought plenty of ebooks with matching audiobook from there.
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Josquin
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby Josquin » Mon Oct 30, 2017 12:14 pm

Спасибо большое! :D
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Oró, sé do bheatha abhaile! Anois ar theacht an tsamhraidh.

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IronMike
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby IronMike » Wed Nov 01, 2017 11:37 am

neofight78 wrote:litres.ru

I bought plenty of ebooks with matching audiobook from there.

I second Litres. Easy peasy.
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Ani
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby Ani » Fri Nov 03, 2017 2:03 am

So this is kind of a lame question, and I feel a little embarrassed to ask after I was supposed to be studying Russian all year and I haven't really gotten far enough to know the answer myself.

I've been eyeing up the Dowling method for learning latin. http://www.wcdrutgers.net/Latin.htm
I'm using it, slightly modified to teach my daughter.
The basic idea is to learn a simple explanation of the use of cases, memorize declension tables, and read a graded reader.

So I am wondering if there is a similar strategy for Russian (or why not) and what set of case tables could I find that would be of use. I saw one guy printed out the blank table 200x and had it bound and then filled in his ready made workbook by hand. That actually seems like an oddly satisfying endeavor but I still don't know enough about Russian grammar to know if this could work. Any thoughts ? (quit trying to game the system Ani and get back to your text book! )
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Teango
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby Teango » Fri Nov 03, 2017 3:06 am

Ani wrote:...what set of case tables could I find that would be of use.

I find it handy to keep some type of simple grammar "cheat sheet" nearby, not only to serve as a quick and easy reference guide while studying or reading, but also to memorize one small part at a time before going to sleep at night. I currently use a colorful double-sided A4 laminate, which I picked up in Дом Книги when I was last in St Petersburg. I don't usually make a habit of learning whole declension tables off by heart, but in the (excuse the terrible pun here) case of Russian, it has proved quite invaluable.
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