Russian is the most widespread of the Slavic languages and the 6th largest in terms of the total number of speakers. Therefore, many people strive to learn Russian for work and career prospects, some need it for education, and others want to get to know Russian culture better.
In this article we will give you 10 practical tips that will help you learn Russian and make this process interesting and exciting.
1 - Start with the simplest
The first step to learning Russian is to master its alphabet. The Cyrillic alphabet, unlike the Latin alphabet, is based on the Greek alphabet. Because of this, many letters, although similar, mean different sounds, and some are completely unique. So, for example, the Russian letter “P” is similar to the English “R”, and the Russian “N” is nothing more than the English “N”. If you spend enough time on the alphabet and basic phonetics from the very beginning, further learning of many aspects of the language will become easier and will progress much faster.
Children's fairy tales are well suited for teaching reading; a list of them can be found on Wikipedia. They are written in simple and correct language and are easy to understand. This kind of reading will help you get a feel for the basics of the language and learn how to construct sentences beautifully and correctly. More complex things are best left for later.
2 – Repetition is the mother of learning
So says the old Russian proverb. Glue leaves with Russian names on pieces of furniture, appliances, dishes and everything that surrounds you in all the places where you spend a lot of time: at home, in the office, in the car. This will help you always keep new words before your eyes and, over time, remember them without resorting to boring memorization.
3 - Write everything down
You shouldn't always rely on your memory. Especially if you are in another country and everything that surrounds you is often new phenomena. Always keep a notebook or mobile phone handy so you can quickly and conveniently take notes. At the end of each day, review your notes; there will certainly be something worth remembering.
4 - Always stay in touch
VKontakte is the Russian analogue of Facebook, which in many post-Soviet countries is much more popular than its older brother. Russian-speaking users are happy to make new acquaintances with foreigners, which can be very useful for language practice. Thanks to communication on social networks, you can quickly improve your knowledge of spoken language and learn someone else's online culture. In addition, sometimes friends and acquaintances during such informal communication can explain some phenomena and concepts much better than teachers.
5 – Cinema and music
For many, the most interesting way to learn another language is watching movies and listening to music. In the case of the Russian language, it will be an excellent help official channel of the Mosfilm concern, where all the old Russian films are collected. The channel has a separate playlist with films with subtitles.
Far From Moscow is an excellent platform where you can find a lot of Russian music from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other countries. All genres and trends are represented here, and there is a lot of content that can be legally listened to and downloaded.
These resources will help not only improve your language skills themselves, but also find new topics for conversations with friends.
6 - Read in Russian
Reading develops language skills very quickly. Try to read as much Russian as possible, such as news sites and Russian-language blogs. This way you will improve your language skills and be able to delve more deeply into the Russian mentality, culture and everyday life. In the end, it’s just interesting to read how the same events are written about in different countries.
7 - Never refuse invitations
Russians sometimes seem not very friendly and cold, but this is only until you find yourself at their home. If you are invited to a party, or just for tea, then rest assured that you will be treated to the best food and the most unusual stories will be shared with you. Such lively and relaxed communication is a great way to improve your speaking skills, learn new things about the culture and make friends.
8 – Visit a Russian-speaking country
Complete immersion in the language environment is the surest way to start speaking Russian quickly. In the vast expanses of the former USSR, the Russian language is very widespread; it is not necessary to go directly to Russia - you can find cities in other countries where Russian is one of the main languages of communication. Such a place can even be found in the European Union. For example, the city of Daugavpils in Latvia: for 80% of its residents Russian is their native language, and 96% of residents speak Russian fluently. In Daugavpils, standard modern Russian without any accent is used as the main language for communication, which makes this city a very attractive place to study it.
If possible, it is better to live not in a hotel, but in a family where the main language of communication is Russian. Many language training programs provide this opportunity. This way you will never fall out of the language environment, and you will be forced to speak Russian, which will certainly bear fruit over time.
9 - Find someone to talk to
Finding an interlocutor for whom Russian is a native language is not so difficult. You can use social networks, but if you are in a Russian-speaking country, be sure to find someone to spend time with. This will not only help you make new friendships, but will also help you get involved in learning the language faster.
The main thing to remember is that if your goal is language, then you should not forget about the need to write down and remember everything new. Analyze your meetings every time, learn new words and expressions. Thus, with each subsequent “lesson” you will feel more confident, which means you will be ready for more difficult things.
10 - Find a new hobby
Do you like to cook? Ask your friends to teach you how to cook some traditional dishes. Are you into music? Learn several traditional songs and some popular modern Russian compositions. Dive deeper into Russian culture. This will make you an even more interesting conversationalist and allow you to better understand the Russian mentality. This way you will be able to quickly find a common language with Russian-speaking people and gain much more conversational experience.
Russian culture and the language, which is an integral part of it, are incredibly interesting and, therefore, attract many. We are confident that the tips we have given you will simplify the process of learning Russian. If you are interested in courses to learn this language, which provide a unique cultural experience and practice, be sure to check out the information on our website. Don't be afraid of difficulties and learn Russian!
You will need
- 1. a reference book on Russian grammar by any author (fortunately, they are now available in abundance);
- 2. Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, edited by Dahl or Ozhegov.
Instructions
The most difficult thing is to master Russian spelling. Open the appropriate section of the Russian grammar reference book. It is better to study spelling in the following order:
Noun (its change according to gender, number, case);
Adjective (its change by gender, number, case, interaction with a noun);
Verb (conjugation, mood, perfect and imperfect form, tenses, changes in gender, person, number);
Pronoun (its change according to gender, number, person);
Adverb, gerund, participle, conjunction, preposition, interjection.
Pay special attention to the declension of nouns and the change of verbs by tenses, types and moods. These are the basics of Russian grammar.
Learn punctuation. This is necessary for mastering written language. B are often used. They contain punctuation marks (commas, dashes, colons). Read in your grammar reference book what the differences are. The Russian language is also a storehouse of various kinds of interjections and rhetorical questions, which, as a rule, end with characteristic punctuation marks (a question mark, several question marks, an exclamation mark, a combination of an exclamation mark and a question mark).
The vowel sound "ё" is always stressed.
In all other cases, you need to check the placement of stress in an explanatory dictionary of the Russian language.
It is important to expand your vocabulary. Read more Russian classical literature. Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Mikhail Sholokhov are especially good for this.
It is also necessary to communicate with native Russian speakers who are fluent.
Perhaps you never had an inclination for the Russian language, or you persistently skipped dictations at school. However, the ability to write correctly is necessary in many professions, and not everyone is qualified to be a secretary. If desired, deficiencies in education can be quickly made up for.
Instructions
Take school textbooks and manuals off the shelf. Of course, there are people with an innate ability who, without knowing a single rule, can write perfectly. However, most still have to learn in which cases adjectives have one and in which there are two “n”. If you really want to learn, then with intensive training you will be able to master the program in a couple of months. Write down the rules that you most often make mistakes in a notebook so that you always have them at hand.
Everyone at least several times in their life doubted how to pronounce a word correctly, where to put the emphasis, because the Russian language is one of the most difficult languages.
Difficulties arise for several reasons.
In the Russian language there is no general rule for preserving stress; it can appear in any part of the word, unlike, for example, the French language, where the stress is always placed on the last syllable.
Stress plays a semantic role. Depending on the stress, the meaning of a word changes; this can be observed in homonym words, or rather, in homographs (words that are spelled the same but sound differently): p A smoke and steam And yeah, A tlas and atl A s, cr e dit and cred And T.
Our language has a lot of foreign words borrowed from other languages. This, on the one hand, enriches the language, but, on the other, creates difficulties in pronunciation and writing. Particularly often, difficulties arise with the letter “e”: it is written “e” and pronounced “e” (parterre, sex, dash).
There are many territorial varieties of the Russian language - dialects - which also affect pronunciation. So, in St. Petersburg and Moscow they call meat cooked on a spit differently: shawarma and shawarma.
Communication with Slavic “brothers” has a huge impact on Russian speakers. Even television announcers began to pronounce many words in the Ukrainian manner, thereby making speech errors. Most often I hear such errors in verb stress: n A chala instead of started A, P O nyala instead of understood A etc.
But despite the many factors that negatively affect the language, we must strive to speak correctly, since speech is the calling card of every person. By the way a person pronounces words, you can tell a lot about his origin, upbringing, and education. And if native speakers, those for whom Russian is their native language, do not treat it with care, then who will preserve the language?
Let's speak correctly!
With this article I open a series of texts devoted to correct pronunciation.
For starters, here it is a set of words that cause difficulty in stress.
One of the most common mistakes is the emphasis on feminine past tense verbs (I already wrote about this above, but I’ll repeat it):
Wrong: began, understood, took, took, created.
Right: began A, Understood A, took A, took A etc. But in the masculine gender: n A chal, p ABOUT nyal, with ABOUT built
It is considered bad form to say they are calling, they are calling. Correct: ringing AND ugh, ringing AND t, ringing I T.
You can buy wed E dstva and use wed E by means, but not by means.
A child in childhood needs balls A t.
In Kyiv they speak Ukrainian AND nskoy language.
The confectionery shop sells t ABOUT mouths, and the data is entered into the directory ABOUT G.
And what the key is hung on is called keychain, not a key fob.
And another 40 words:
| apostrophe | aristocracy | bows | genesis |
| denim | dispensary | contract | napOta |
| envious | CONSPIRACY | become moldy | seal |
| serrated | Spark | quarter | whooping cough |
| flint | more beautiful | kitchen | hunk |
| crowbar | briefly (glimpsingly) | garbage chute | naked (naked) |
| intention | security | facilitate | wholesale |
| funeral (at funeral) | reward | force | plum |
| in-depth | dead | phenomenon (phenomenon) | Cotton robe |
| hosts | scoop | scarves | sorrel |
Tell us about which words cause you difficulty in pronunciation. Maybe some words once or now surprised you with their emphasis?
Instructions
Watch television programs in the language. This method will help well if you do not often communicate directly with native speakers. However, choose not only entertainment programs. Intellectual programs have a much richer vocabulary, which will help increase the number of familiar words. Also watch political programs - you will know what is happening in Russia, and this is one of the possible topics of discussion.
Listen to Russian-language radio. Try to turn it on as often as possible - both at home and in the car. Radio announcers have good diction and pronunciation, so listen to their manner of speaking especially carefully. Repeat words and sentences out loud, sing along. Analyze your speech, repeat one phrase several times to achieve the desired pronunciation.
Sign up for Russian language courses. In many Russian cities, linguistic schools offer this service. Specialists from different countries come to work in Russia, so such courses are not only a way to learn to speak English better, but also an opportunity to meet like-minded people and new friends. In addition, group classes are good motivation and support.
Organize your Russian language classes. Don't go through everything, make a schedule and stick to it. For example, one day you listen to the radio, on another day you watch a Russian TV show. On the day of the training courses, complete the homework assigned by the teachers. It's better to learn to speak without accent gradually - do not rush yourself, this way the acquired knowledge will be better absorbed, and the result will not be long in coming.
Communicate with native speakers. This is the best way to learn to speak without accent. Ask one of your Russian friends to help you. Let a friend correct your speech and point out your shortcomings. Don't be afraid to look funny in the eyes of others, because your goal is to get rid of accent, so try to achieve it in every way. In a company, do not remain silent, express your opinion, speak as much as possible. The Russian language is rich, you can study words and phrases all your life, but you can improve your accent literally in a year if you make an effort.
To have a certain popularity in any company, you need to be able to attract attention and evoke positive emotions. A healthy sense of humor can help you with this. If you are not sure that you have it, you need to develop it. In order to speak funny and be funny, there are several techniques.
In order to speak in a high voice, helium is used; it makes it possible to change the tone for six seconds. Sulfur hexafluoride, on the contrary, lowers , and it becomes not only brutal, but literally demonic. The most convenient way is to fill a balloon with gas and inhale a little through your mouth. The voice will change immediately, but you still shouldn’t abuse this trick.
Verbal aikido is also a great way to make your speech original, bright and funny. There is nothing more boring than asking the same questions every day and hearing the same monosyllabic answers to them, realizing with horror that it is terribly boring for both you and your interlocutor to observe verbal ceremonies, but you cannot do without them. In order for the annoying and overly curious to lose the power of speech and no longer touch on sensitive topics, you need to be able to improvise. For example, to the question: “Are you married?” It’s easy to answer: “Temporarily – no!”
The Russian language is one of the most complex and unique languages in the world, so learning to speak it correctly is quite a difficult task even for a native speaker. But nothing is unattainable, especially if you set a goal and put in a certain amount of effort. So how can you master it perfectly?
You will need
- Methodological manuals, fiction, practice.
Instructions
Read books, both traditional paper and electronic. As a rule, the best people to communicate are those who have read a lot of different literature in their lives, from classic masterpieces to encyclopedias and modern fiction. In addition, reading improves written literacy, which is important. Currently, audiobooks have become widespread, by listening to which you can significantly expand your vocabulary and learn a lot of new and interesting things about the peculiarities of Russian speech.
The ability to express oneself competently lies not only in the lexical compatibility of words and the correct placement of stress. It is necessary to learn to highlight the main thing from a large amount of information.
Imagine that you are watching an interesting TV series that your friends have been telling you about so enthusiastically. After the tenth episode, the most interesting part begins, and the producer, as luck would have it, stretched out this moment and hid the climax behind a bunch of unnecessary details. After a few more episodes, you will stop watching and switch to a more informative film.
The same thing happens with speech. Opponents are not interested in hearing a story with a lot of minute details. The story should be concise and logically connected. Boring repels interlocutors and kills interest.
Step #2. Increase your vocabulary
Avoid using words whose meaning you do not understand. An explanatory dictionary will help you expand your knowledge of Russian speech. If the meaning of foreign words is unknown, refer to the World Wide Web. Such actions not only help to express oneself in a variety of ways, but also contribute to joining different segments of the population. After a month of regular practice, you will be able to find a common language with teachers, dancers and professors. Make it a habit to learn the meaning of 3-4 words a day. It is important to learn, understand and remember the aspects learned.
Eliminate words that do not carry any semantic meaning. These include “not the month of May.” May is a specific period called a month. It cannot be a year or an hour. Also common examples that do not represent separate information are considered to be “step back”, “raise up”, etc.
Step #4. Retell the information received
Psychologists advise standing in front of a mirror and talking to the reflection. Of course, this technique makes sense to try. But there is another way that allows a person to learn literacy. Once a week, gather your friends together (at least 4-5 people) and retell to them the knowledge you have previously acquired. Have you watched an interesting movie? Highlight the essence and try to present the plot in an interesting, concise manner, without unnecessary preludes.
Watch the audience's reaction. If listeners yawn, lower their eyes, or ask questions that are not related to the topic, they are bored. In this case, you have 2 options: independently analyze what exactly you did wrong, or contact your opponents directly. A common mistake new “retellers” make is the excessive use of pronouns instead of calling the characters by name.
Step #5. Avoid tautology
A tautology is a figure of speech when a speaker uses words that are close in meaning or have the same root. Such phrases make it difficult to understand, so they should be avoided. An example of a tautology can be considered “oil oil” or “similar analogue”. Remember, this rule is fundamental to competent speech.
To learn how to select appropriate words, you can watch announcers on radio or TV, and then analyze their mistakes. People who have a main job should take a closer look at the remote activity of writing articles. Copywriting forces you to select words that are identical in meaning but different in pronunciation.
Step #6. read books
Classical literature is rightfully considered a model of artistic speech. Unconsciously, you will begin to adopt words and expressions from books that are ideal for a certain situation. Don't expect that 15 minutes of reading every day will make your speech literate. This process must be allocated at least 2-4 hours a day.
After a month, the information you read will make itself felt, you will no longer experience difficulties in choosing words and constructing sentences. People who learn through mastering fiction are called well-read. This happens for the reason that a person begins to express himself in words that he once learned and learned at the subconscious level.
Step #7. Watch your speech
There are a lot of slangs in the Russian language that are intended for specific situations. In an official setting and during public speaking in front of the highest strata of the population, it is necessary to use professional vocabulary. When talking with friends or “ordinary” people, you should give preference to youth slang. Regarding expressive jargon, avoid it altogether. The words “hut”, “bucks”, “car” do not intersect with literate speech in any way.Video: how to learn to speak beautifully
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