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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Systematiker
Blue Belt
Posts: 823
Joined: Tue May 10, 2016 6:09 pm
Languages: ENG (N); DEU (C2+) // SWG (~C1); BAR (~C1); SPA (4/3); FRA (~C1); SCO (~C1); NLD (~B2*); LAT (Latinum Bavaricum); GRC (Graecum Bavaricum); CAT (~B2*); POR (~B2*); SWE (~B2*); HBO (Hebraicum); DAN (~B1*); RUS (~A2); KOR (~A1); FAS (still a raw beginner)
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7332
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby Systematiker » Mon Jan 30, 2017 8:34 am

Brun Ugle wrote:I'm butting in on your nice little group here because I just have to know: is it really all that common to keep poisonous toadstool juice in your fridge in Russia? :shock: Though it does remind me of a Finnish novel I read once.


I saw the notice you'd written here and thought you were joining us :lol:

Teango wrote:@Brun Ugle
It was a Gift from an eccentric relative...

(I can't believe this is the post that earned me a green belt. @.@)


I read this, groaned, checked your languages to make sure you were making that joke, then groaned again.
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blaurebell
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Location: Spain
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby blaurebell » Mon Jan 30, 2017 11:47 am

Teango wrote:
blaurebell wrote:I also need to be able to speak to my relatives about all sorts of complicated stuff so as not to offend anybody or poison myself.

And a little tip...if you ever open the fridge and find a bottle of liquid labelled "мухомор" sitting next to the квас, be sure not to confuse the two (for those who don't know, the latter is a tasty fermented rye drink, whilst the former, poisonous toadstool juice!!


Yeah, that sure does sound like my village dwelling relatives too! My aunt is the kind of person who still goes to work on the fields when she needs surgery, even though she could just buy the potatoes in the shop. And of course no man is allowed to touch a frying pan!

Teango wrote:
blaurebell wrote:I also need to be able to speak to my relatives about all sorts of complicated stuff so as not to offend anybody or poison myself.
Good luck completing your PhD and learning Russian to the level you want to achieve this year, and I love the idea of watching Star Trek in Russian (my wife and I have watched all the episodes and series in English over time, so I imagine it would be a fun way to practice my listening skills in Russian). I wonder if I'll be able to order this from the US...?


We just finished watching all of them a few months ago too, apart from DS9 - husband doesn't like space stations. It was like the 4th or 5th time I watched the whole of Star Trek. I might just know Voyager and TNG by heart which obviously helps when trying to watch it in a different language ;) Buying the dubs in the US might be tricky since you'd have to buy DVDs maybe and then it will be region coded to the wrong country. Short of getting a second DVD player set to the right region code it would be a problem, because you can only change the region code a limited number of times. There is this Georgian website with Russian dubs though, they should have it for streaming. I don't have the link to hand, but I can look for it if you want. Don't expect the dubs to be of the quality of other language dubs though. In soviet times it was just some dude speaking for all the voices and usually in the most monotonous drone. I remember watching kungfu movies dubbed like that when I was little. Nowadays they have at least different voices for all the characters, but I wouldn't call them "voice actors" either. Maybe not as horrific as Spanish voice actors making children's voices - super creepy -, but not exactly good either. Also, with Russian dubs you still have the original sound in the background which means you have to make an effort not to listen to the English!
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Brun Ugle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby Brun Ugle » Mon Jan 30, 2017 11:51 am

Systematiker wrote:
Brun Ugle wrote:I'm butting in on your nice little group here because I just have to know: is it really all that common to keep poisonous toadstool juice in your fridge in Russia? :shock: Though it does remind me of a Finnish novel I read once.


I saw the notice you'd written here and thought you were joining us :lol:

I've been lurking, but now that Teango has tricked me into revealing myself, I might have to consider it. A lot of temptations have been thrown my way recently, so it might just happen.

Systematiker wrote:
Teango wrote:@Brun Ugle
It was a Gift from an eccentric relative...

(I can't believe this is the post that earned me a green belt. @.@)


I read this, groaned, checked your languages to make sure you were making that joke, then groaned again.

I love bilingual jokes. :lol:
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blaurebell
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby blaurebell » Mon Jan 30, 2017 12:27 pm

MamaPata wrote:Welcome! It's great to have you on board. Out of interest, what's your PhD in? (If you don't mind me asking!)


Thank you :) I don't mind at all. My PhD is in cultural studies and it's a comparative study on the experience of exile. It's somewhat interdisciplinary between literature studies, phenomenology and some French philosophy of science madness. Originally I wanted it to be German exile 1933-45, Argentinian exile 1976-1983 and the first wave of Russian exile right after the revolution. However, then I got so stuck with learning Russian that I decided to drop the Russian stuff from the official list and let it flow in as a bonus with translations as sources. My supervisor would probably be ok with it. He thought that German + Argentinian exile is more than enough anyway - I already need German, English, Spanish and French for those sources alone! I proposed the Russian part myself though, so it would be damn ridiculous to take it out after insisting on adding it in the first place. Silly pride getting the better of me I suppose ;) But then I've been wanting to learn Russian for such a long time I might as well try again now that I found a language learning method that seems to work for me!
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: 20 / 100 Дэвид Эддингс - В поисках камня
: 14325 / 35000 LWT Known

: 17 / 55 FSI Spanish Basic
: 100 / 116 GdUdE B
: 8 / 72 Duolingo reverse Spanish -> German

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Systematiker
Blue Belt
Posts: 823
Joined: Tue May 10, 2016 6:09 pm
Languages: ENG (N); DEU (C2+) // SWG (~C1); BAR (~C1); SPA (4/3); FRA (~C1); SCO (~C1); NLD (~B2*); LAT (Latinum Bavaricum); GRC (Graecum Bavaricum); CAT (~B2*); POR (~B2*); SWE (~B2*); HBO (Hebraicum); DAN (~B1*); RUS (~A2); KOR (~A1); FAS (still a raw beginner)
*Averaged for high receptive skill
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7332
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby Systematiker » Mon Jan 30, 2017 1:53 pm

blaurebell wrote:
MamaPata wrote:Welcome! It's great to have you on board. Out of interest, what's your PhD in? (If you don't mind me asking!)


Thank you :) I don't mind at all. My PhD is in cultural studies and it's a comparative study on the experience of exile. It's somewhat interdisciplinary between literature studies, phenomenology and some French philosophy of science madness. Originally I wanted it to be German exile 1933-45, Argentinian exile 1976-1983 and the first wave of Russian exile right after the revolution. However, then I got so stuck with learning Russian that I decided to drop the Russian stuff from the official list and let it flow in as a bonus with translations as sources. My supervisor would probably be ok with it. He thought that German + Argentinian exile is more than enough anyway - I already need German, English, Spanish and French for those sources alone! I proposed the Russian part myself though, so it would be damn ridiculous to take it out after insisting on adding it in the first place. Silly pride getting the better of me I suppose ;) But then I've been wanting to learn Russian for such a long time I might as well try again now that I found a language learning method that seems to work for me!



Minor thread hijack: I would actually be super interested to read this, or at least know more about it.
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blaurebell
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby blaurebell » Mon Jan 30, 2017 3:15 pm

There is tons of stuff out there, which is one of the main problems of doing a comparative study. I had to restrict myself a lot within each region of origin to get to a proposal that was remotely doable. Even now I'm considered as somewhat insane for attempting this. Already the 4+ languages I need make people shake their heads. Not to mention the 3months+ archive work in Argentina, since that's only barely researched yet. I like doing impossible things though. There is a lot of satisfaction in proving the naysayers wrong ;) That said, obviously I won't do it in 3 years unless I can get all the language learning out of the way upfront. Every now and then I do some content work already, but I think I'll only get to the main bit next year.

I can point you to a few good books about German and Russian exile in German to get a rough overview if you like. Argentinian stuff is very harsh, maybe not a good place to start. I need to take breaks from it because it's just so horrific. German stuff is scary because it always reminds me of what's going on right now. The Russian stuff is nice though, literary circles in Berlin and Paris, it's super interesting and basically the fun part. That's another reason why I don't want to skip it.
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Teango
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby Teango » Mon Jan 30, 2017 10:14 pm

blaurebell wrote:And of course no man is allowed to touch a frying pan!

Haha...the first time I tried to do the dishes after a meal, мама looked at me like I was an alien and бабушка almost had my guts for garters! (they both forgave me in the end though) :)

blaurebell wrote:In soviet times it was just some dude speaking for all the voices and usually in the most monotonous drone.

I remember that guy! The fact that he did ALL the voices in the same weary monotone voice was somewhat jarring and utterly confusing: "Коламбия Пикчерз представляет...".

blaurebell wrote:Maybe not as horrific as Spanish voice actors making children's voices - super creepy

I totally agree. Surely anything beats fully grown adult actors doing creepy children's voices. Every time I hear this type of thing, a subconscious red flag raises itself in the back of my mind and wanders around like a scared child in a scene from the movie Poltergeist: "Cross over children. All are welcome. All are welcome. Go into the Light." Thanks, but no thanks! *shudder*
Last edited by Teango on Tue Jan 31, 2017 11:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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blaurebell
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby blaurebell » Tue Jan 31, 2017 10:39 am

Teango wrote:Haha...the first time I tried to do the dishes after a meal, мама looked at me like I was an alien and бабушка almost had my guts for garters! (they both forgave me in the end though) :)


My aunt was at some point telling my Mum off for not cooking my Dad a better breakfast :D My dad chuckled of course, since he's actually the better cook of the two and he wasn't allowed to cook.

Teango wrote:I remember that guy! The fact that he did ALL the voices in the same weary monotone voice was somewhat jarring and utterly confusing: "Коламбия Пикчерз представляет...".


Boy, he was like a very bored robot. Even Marvin shows more emotion than that guy! Still, summer, the smell of the plants in front of my бабушка's hourse, kungfu movies and this dude's drone, that's like my most vivid childhood memory!

Teango wrote:I totally agree. Surely anything beats fully grown adult actors doing creepy children's voices. Every time I hear this type of thing, a subconscious red flag raises itself in the back of my mind and wanders around like a scared child in a scene from the movie Poltegeist: "Cross over children. All are welcome. All are welcome. Go into the Light." Thanks, but no thanks! *shudder*


Hahaha, every time I think that surely they must have some child actors who can read in Spain! I think French dubs have actual children's voices, I certainly haven't had the Poltergeist feeling with those. Or maybe I just haven't watched anything dubbed with children in it. Might well be, I've been mainly watching Buffy.

And since we're talking about voice acting: Can it be that Russian audiobooks most of the time are read as if they're reading a nice little story to a little child even when it's Anna Karenina? I was browsing the other day on audible and it was almost impossible to find anything that was not in this silly over-modulated "story telling voice". Also does anyone have a good source for free Russian audiobooks? And with this I don't mean copyrighted stuff, just those ones where normal people sit down and record themselves reading a classic.
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Pilikku
White Belt
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Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2017 1:15 am
Languages: Finnish Native
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby Pilikku » Tue Jan 31, 2017 11:33 am

Hey,
I will join your group today!
I am studying Russian at the University, but it's been 2 years since I last used it.. So I think I am back to the novice level. I have noticed that I have forgotten my vocabulary, as if Russian words aren't hard enough, I have to relearn bunch of them.
I am here to do some spying about people's studying habits and tips.
Nice to meet you!
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MamaPata
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Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
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Re: Russian Study Group

Postby MamaPata » Thu Feb 02, 2017 8:42 am

As a side note, I have a list of the textbooks I have used for Russian here.

Textbooks
Russian the Easy Way - Gulnara Useinova. This was the first textbook I used to learn Russian, which my tutor (and boss' wife) asked us to use. It's not cheap if you want to buy it in the UK though. It's very non-threatening (i.e. lots of empty pages, big photos, not too much information crammed on a page). But also the two textbooks work really well together, giving you a chance to practise new vocab and grammar. I loved it and actually worked the whole way through it, which I never do!
New Penguin Russian Course. I really liked this and have worked most of the way through it. I wouldn't use it standalone, but it's a good way of getting used to the grammar.
Passport to Russia/Russia for Everybody. This is the textbook I used while studying in the Netherlands; it's a translation from the original Dutch. This does have its issues: some words aren't translated (even in vocab lists) and some early exercises are designed for Dutch speakers (e.g. one is showing nautical vocabulary that was taken from the Dutch. I have no Dutch knowledge so couldn't guess the words, and no desire to learn boat related words!). However, it's a useful textbook in that each chapter starts with a dialogue which introduces new vocabulary topics and grammatical structures. I haven't particularly kept on with it, but it might suit other people.
Rus': A Comprehensive Course in Russian. This is the textbook we used in the UK. I hate it. It's a massive book (and we had to bring it in to all our classes), it's weirdly organised, the grammar explanations are unclear... I really don't like it and nor do several of my teachers.
Russian in Exercises - S.A. Khavronina This is pretty much what it says on the tin. It's a Soviet textbook designed to build on your grammar, through exercises. There are no explanations, but it's very useful if you want to simply work through grammar practice. I'm finding it very helpful, but it is obviously very dry!
Colloquial Russian 2 - I think this is a pretty decent textbook for those at A2-B1 level. I've never figured out how to use the sound for it, so that might make it less useful for some people. But it's a great textbook for learning a little about culture and improving your reading. Every chapter starts with a short text on that topic, then moves on to grammar, then another text. I sometimes find the reading comprehension questions a little irritating, but I do like it a lot overall. I have also created a memrise course for the vocabulary used.


It would be great to get other people's experiences too - I know there are a few people using Michael Thomas and Assimil, which I have never used.
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