Russian Day 35: Russian is Surprisingly Adorable

“Cute” is never an adjective I thought I would apply to Russian. I had previously considered Russian the perfect language for angry shouting. I think it’s all those consonants. Especially the harshness of consonants without a vowel to break up the tension. I have yet to encounter another language that considers back-to-back consonant combinations like “zd” and “nr” a good idea (although I’m sure Russian isn’t alone in this).

But the more I study Russian, the more cutesy it is. How adorable is Russian? Let me count the ways:

(1) When you ask someone if they speak a language, you might get the response “чуть-чуть”(choot choot). This means “a tiny bit” or “a little.”It sounds like a little kid making train sounds, but what really sells it is the repetition. Repetition is key for cuteness.

(2) Russian diminutive names. It’s like nicknames, but extra adorable. It’s an affectionate name used by those closest to you. For example, Alexander would go by Sasha and Anna would go by Anya. From what I’ve read, the Russians are mad for diminutives and everyone has one (is this true? does every person in Russian go by a diminutive to their friends and family?).

(3) Russian uses diminutives for lots of words. According to Russian Made Easy, Russians like to make words sound cute by adding “eek” or “ka” to the end. So if you want a small salad, instead of saying салат (salat), you can say салатик (salateek). Or for little blinis (Russian pancakes), you can call them блинчики (bleencheekee). I am at cute overload here. This is the verbal equivalent of watching videos of baby pandas.

(4) According to Assimil, to say “yum” in Russian, you say ням ням (nyam nyam). That repetition. It slays me.  

 

Russian Day 31: Not Russian to Move On

I went into January planning to stick to my one-and-done monthly schedule with Russian. But my newly awakened love for the language makes it difficult to give up. Plus, I’ve been making slow but steady progress, and I want to learn more before letting it lie dormant for another year. So I’m Russian into February with Russian (I’ve also decided to step up my pun game…).

My favorite resources this month have been Living Language Russian (I’m about half way through the first book) and the Russian Made Easy podcast (I finished all 30 lessons). I’ve also gotten through 30 lessons in Assimil. It doesn’t look like I will get through all 100 lessons this year, but I think I will benefit by repeating it next year.

For February, I need to get back to Russian Step-by-Step, which stalled this month. And after finishing Russian Made Easy I wanted more podcast episodes to listen to, so I signed up for a month of Russianpod101 (which I had not planned to use at all this year!). And I’m going to keep going with Living Language Russian, Duolingo, Pimsleur, Youtube, and Assimil (plus continuing to reference The New Penguin Russian Course). My goal is still simply 10 minutes a day of active study,  but I like having lots of options.

Russian Day 25: Learning Russian With Dramas

I had no plans to watch Russian dramas this month. I didn’t think my language levels were anywhere near good enough to make watching a drama helpful, so I was going to stick with kid’s shows. After watching a couple kid’s shows I realized that the language really wasn’t much easier than what I would probably get out of a drama – and at least the drama would have real people and not cartoons.

Luckily for me, quite a few Russian dramas are available on Youtube, courtesy of StarMediaEN. Star Media is a TV content producer in Russia and while I have no clue why they offer their programs for free to English speakers, I’m grateful.

I decided to go with Minus One, for no particular reason. Turns out, it was everything I could hope for and more.

Russian Day 21: The Beautiful Economy of Russian

Russian is a beautifully concise language, at least in the early stages where I am. To wit:

• There are no definite or indefinite articles (that is to, the equivalent of “the” or “a”)

• You usually leave out “to be” in the present tense- so you just say things like “I student” instead of “I am a student.”

• To make a word negative, you just add “не” (which is a fairly common occurrence – just adding one word of negation, except in French, which brings us ne…pas).

• To make a yes/no question, you just change the intonation (no switching around the word order or adding extra words like “Do”).

• You can say one word and express whole ideas. Like, Скажитe means “Tell me.” So if you want to ask someone for directions instead of going into the long spiel of, “Excuse me, could you please tell me ~” you simply say “Скажитe пожалуйста” (Tell me please). So much easier! And if you want to start a new topic, instead of saying, “Oh, by the way…” you say кстати. I love it!

It feels like it takes half the words to say the same thing in Russian as in English. I wonder why Russian developed this wonderful economy of words. Is it because it’s so cold? Is it because life was hard and it took all their energy to get through the day, and they didn’t want to waste much of it on speaking?

Russian Day 17: Pimsleur Earworm

The first time I ever really used Pimsleur was for Russian. I’ve had about three cycles of studying Russian with Pimsleur (in January 2015, January 2016, and January 2017). I think the phrase я немного говорю по русски (“I speak a little Russian”) is burned so deeply into my brain that even if I was bludgeoned in the head, I could still blurt it out. This is a phrase that is taught in the first lesson and then continues to come up. I cannot even count how many times I’ve repeated this phrase over the years. And I’m glad I did, because that phrase is now in my mind forever – I will always know at least that bit of Russian.

The thing that sets Pimsleur apart from other audio language courses is that it’s not just a phrasebook. It breaks down each phrase and teaches you one word at a time. And then has you put sentences together yourself. It is also a SRS (spaced repetition system), which is what makes it such an effective earworm. You don’t just learn a phrase once and move on – it comes up again and again.

Russian Day 15: My Top Russian Resources

I feel like I am finally making real progress with Russian, after several stuttering attempts. I’m attributing at least part of that to finding some resources that really work for me. I am concentrating on resources that: (1) have a strong audio component, to train my “Russian ear” and (2) are designed for the self-taught student – which means providing practice exercises (and an answer key!).

Russian is not as resource rich as, say, Spanish, Mandarin, or German, but there plenty of great resources out there, including the best podcast I’ve ever used for any language.

Russian Day 8: More Fun Than I Remembered

My goal this month was to do a little bit of Russian every day. That is what I want every month, of course, but my specific stated goal is to get through X chapters of a book or Y podcasts or Z Duolingo lessons. This month, my goal is to simply study for 10 minutes a day. I set a timer and start. If I feel like giving up after 10 minutes, I stop. If I want to keep going, great. If I miss a day, then I add 10 minutes to the next day. It’s such a small amount, it is easy to squeeze in on even a busy day. So far, it’s been working fantastically. I’ve done at least 10 minutes of Russian every single day. Most days, I get inspired and do much more.

I’ve also found Russian more fun than ever before. What has finally turned the tide? Is it that I’ve gotten better at learning how I learn languages? Is it that after a few years of studying Russian little by little, it’s finally starting to click and feel less overwhelming? Is it that I have better resources this time around? I honestly don’t know. But I’m glad I can finally give this language the love that it deserves.

 

Russian Day 2: My Language Everest

My first attempt to study Russian was about four years ago. A native speaker was offering a free weekly evening class for interested learners. Free language class? I was in. The classes lasted about a month, before the teacher abruptly moved away. We rushed through the alphabet, greetings, numbers, and had just started nouns (and those pesky cases) before the classes ended. A couple of my friends had also attended the classes, and we tried to keep learning on our own, but did not make it very far. One night, we encountered some friendly Russians at a bar. The Russians congratulated my friends on their pronunciation. They declared my  hearty Здравствуйте (“hello”) incomprehensible. Clearly, I had no natural talent for Russian.

Latin Day 10: What I’m Using to Learn Latin

As expected for an ancient language, most of the resources for Latin are texts. I cannot find a Latin podcast. There are very limited Latin Youtube videos. I haven’t found any good apps. There’s no Latin TV or movies. There’s no Duolingo course for Latin (yet).

BUT there are (surprisingly!) three tutors on iTalki who offer tutoring in Latin. Dwane Thomas offers DVDs to teach kids Latin with Visual Latin (I haven’t tried it but the reviews are very positive – here’s a sample of a lesson). And the fantastic William Linney has recorded lectures based on a century old Latin textbook called The First Year of Latin). I listened to the first hour of Linney’s lectures at the start of the month – very informative, but a little advanced for a newbie. Latin textbooks pulled no punches a hundred years ago.

Clearly, my usual method of language learning (a textbook or two, in conjunction with other media such as podcasts, Duolingo, Youtube, etc.) is not going to fly so much with Latin. Instead, it’s all textbooks all the time (I’m hoping to get far enough that I feel ready to use Linney’s lectures as my main resource when I come back to Latin next year). But what textbook?

Latin Day 4: Why I Love Latin

Why learn a dead language like Latin? The fact that it is a dead language is exactly why I like it so much. And it’s not quite dead yet – I don’t think I’ve ever heard Ancient Greek or Babylonian, but Latin shows up in movies and TV (however badly spoken) semi-regularly.

So why exactly do I love Latin? Let me count the ways:

1. It’s the perfect language for introverts – Speaking a foreign language conversationally is the end-game of my language learning. And it’s also the most anxiety-inducing part. You can speak Latin and I definitely would like to have a Latin conversation one day. But unless I hang out with priests of classics professors, I don’t think it’s likely to come up. The end-game for Latin (generally) is to read Virgil and Caesar and other Roman writers. No expectation of conversation is honestly very freeing. And perfect for an introvert like me!