A language learners’ forum

Another new Russian learner turning in, just wanted to thank you on all these awesome resources!

I started to learn Russian six weeks ago and I’m currently in lesson 40 in Assimil and halfway through the Michel Thomas beginner course. I am in process of adding the vocabulary from Assimil to my Anki deck since I feel like the lessons are getting harder and I am starting to forget vocabulary. I have not dared to try communicating in Russian although I have a couple of Russian friends on Tandem. Perhaps I feel more confident after the Michel Thomas courses.

Saps wrote:Another new Russian learner turning in, just wanted to thank you on all these awesome resources!

I started to learn Russian six weeks ago and I’m currently in lesson 40 in Assimil and halfway through the Michel Thomas beginner course. I am in process of adding the vocabulary from Assimil to my Anki deck since I feel like the lessons are getting harder and I am starting to forget vocabulary. I have not dared to try communicating in Russian although I have a couple of Russian friends on Tandem. Perhaps I feel more confident after the Michel Thomas courses.

Welcome to the forum and to the Russian group! And good luck with your Russian studies, it is a great language and worth the effort.

I'm spending some time browsing this topic from the start. So if anyone is getting likes for old posts... that's me

Sooo I've browsed through the whole thread and I am now reviewing my own approach to studying Russian. (I also found my first seriously outdated post on page 18 )

My main methods are:

- Evening classes once a week. I'm pretty happy with them. We are advancing at a decent speed (so at least feel like I'm always improving/learning new things), and our teacher is excellent. In class we work with Паспорт в Россию, which is not a bad method. I like that both the class and the book use Dutch as a base. The only complaint I have about our classes is that we have 'too many' people in class (8-9 usually), and spend a lot of time on grammar and not enough time on speaking/listening.
- Memrise. I am using Memrise to study Паспорт в Россию vocab, and have made a course for other vocab that pops up during class.

We've got a three month long summer break right now, so I've got time to add some additional study materials. I want to keep focus though, so I don't want to do too many different things at the same time.

- More Memrise courses. I am thinking of starting the Top 10.000 words course to increase my vocabulary. Anyone's got experience with it?
- Duolingo. I started Duolingo before I took classes, but quit pretty soon (the moment I signed up for class). However, it's a low effort way to study a little Russian every day alongside Memrise, and I'm a sucker for gamification. I will definitely study the Duolingo Russian Memrise course alongside it.
- Lang-8 or iTalki. I revived my old Lang-8 account, but might switch to iTalki.
- Super Challenge: Watch stuff. TV series, movies, musicals... then watch more stuff. Also get in some reading, somehow.

I also have a few questions:

- Does anyone have good source material to use for shadowing? Or other pronunciation tips? In class we don't speak nearly enough, and pronunciation is my weak point, so I can really use some help... I just don't know where to start.
- Can anyone recommend a good iTalki teacher? I haven't decided whether I'll actually use this, but I'd just like to have the option... I am still very much a beginner (A1 (or A1.2 as my course calls it) at best). I mostly want to get in some speaking practice. I want to be able to actually say the things I already know. Current speaking level: virtually non-existent.

I have had some great italki teachers, who I suspect would be really good with beginners. Remind me in a fortnight or so and I will spam you with links.

brilliantyears wrote:I also have a few questions:

- Does anyone have good source material to use for shadowing? Or other pronunciation tips? In class we don't speak nearly enough, and pronunciation is my weak point, so I can really use some help... I just don't know where to start.
- Can anyone recommend a good iTalki teacher? I haven't decided whether I'll actually use this, but I'd just like to have the option... I am still very much a beginner (A1 (or A1.2 as my course calls it) at best). I mostly want to get in some speaking practice. I want to be able to actually say the things I already know. Current speaking level: virtually non-existent.

- I like the Assimil course for shadowing. The slow audio is perfectly suitable for beginners.
- I had a good italki teacher in the past, but she has reduced her schedule and is only working with old students. It was great, because she typed our entire classes on googledocs. I still take classes ocasionally in order to stay motivated. Besides I have tried other tutors and teachers and usually they are good and type my mistakes in the skype-chat-box. I never took speaking classes at a such lower level, so I do not know exactly what you are looking for.

There is a PC program called workbookaudio which lets you listen to short sections of audio and even loop it while you shadow. Don't have the link I am on the phone. But Google is your friend.

Common Russian mistakes!

A little humour to help with the process!

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