Learning Russian is not as difficult as you think!
Learn to Read Russian
The first thing to realize when learning Russian is that it's NOT difficult to learn to read Russian. Do NOT waste any time learning the alphabet or studying the phonetics, simply begin reading. Listen and read. Let your intuitive mind take charge and you WILL learn, I guarantee.
The best way to learn to read Russian is to have the audio for a simple dialogue like the one on the right (below) and read along, out loud. With a dialogue, there's a natural repetition and 'spiralling' of words. Words are repeated frequently while new ones are added.
Here's a video of our Lesson 1 which gently introduces you to your very first words in Russian. To use the 'active text' feature and 'speed control' in order to practice your speaking, go to Russian Lesson 1
And here's a new video series that quickly and effectively introduces 5 new words to your vocabulary. Plus it begins introducing you to the Russian alphabet but in a natural and easy to grasp manner.
By having several different 'series' of material, each of which start with your very first words in Russian, you automatically get the repetition you need to learn Russian well, without it feeling repetitious or boring. Of course, you will likely want to repeat some lessons several times, and reviewing material later, after moving on to other material, is also extremely beneficial.
You'll quickly decide which ones you like the best, and you can pick and choose which material you're "in the mood for".
Another series that focuses on new vocabulary is our "10 Words a Day" material. It introduces 10 new words, along with sample sentences using ONLY the words learned already.
10wpd_01 : Your first 10 Russian words
Day 1 with 'active text' and 'speed control'
(click to open in new tab)
We later wanted an 'audio series' that you could comfortably listen to while doing other things like driving, exercising or working around the house. We're now working on that with a new series called 30-30, which introduces 30 new words in 30 minutes of audio. Here's the first of that series.
30-30_01 : Your first 30 Russian words
Audio 1 with 'active text' and 'speed control' (click to open in new tab)
Hopefully you're beginning to understand just how complete our program is. While learning Russian myself, I soon realized that it wasn't enough to go over things just once or twice. Russian isn't a 'simple' language, like Indonesian. For learning Russian, I needed to approach it from many angles until I became completely familiar with it and no longer even had to think about it.
We also strongly believe that grammar comes second. First you have to become familiar with things, simply by doing, then you have the necessary 'skills' to be able to understand the grammar. It's much the same as learning a sport or a musical instrument. Simply learning basic physical skills is the first step. Getting deep into the theory comes much, much later.
Here's a sample of how we begin to introduce Russian grammar.
Basic Russian Grammar BRG_01 (click to open PDF in new tab)
And here are the first four chapters of a guide for learning Russian that we made for EURO 2012. Of course it also comes with audio.
EURO 2012 - Chapters 1-4 (click to open PDF in new tab)
Now, I could go on and on telling you about our program, but it would be a lot simpler if you just joined us and found out for yourself how enjoyable and effective learning Russian can be. It's only $10 to get full access to all our material, and you can cancel your subscription at any time.
So far we've had a 100% satisfaction rate with our members so I don't expect you'll be any different. Come on! Jon us! We'd love to have you!!
If you have any questions, please send me an email Brian.
Learn to Type Russian
Learning to type in Russian is also not difficult if you don't do it in the traditional manner. To make my first lesson, I had to learn to type, so after getting my keyboard set up I made a template on a piece of paper by checking to see what letter each key was.
Yeah, pretty crude, but it was good enough. Then I started some drills like I remembered from learning to type in high school. fff jjj f.. Oh man, this is WAY too boring!!
So, I just started making my first lesson: What's this? What's that? (Что это?)
I knew some basics and had a textbook from a course I quit because it was too boring, so I started typing:
Что это? Это книга. (What's this? It's a book.) ...and so on.
Sure, I was typing VERY slowly but after just 2 hours, I knew the whole keyboard! I couldn't hardly believe it, but it was true. And for letters that aren't used often, if I tried to remember (with my conscious mind), always wrong. If I relaxed and said, "Okay fingers, where is it?", letting my intuitive mind take over... Bingo! Always right.
That was my first concrete proof that all this intuitive learning stuff really was true.
I've since tried it with several people and all of them knew the keyboard within 1 to 3 hours.
Please try out new pages to help you learn to type in Russian.
Steps to Learn Russian
Below is a sample of the progression in exercises to begin learning Russian or any other language.
The first step is to read and listen to dialogues where new words are introduced gradually, with definitions provided, and words and expressions are repeated in a natural manner and often enough to allow them time to 'sink in'.
What's this / that? | что | : (shto) : what | |||
What? [Where?] |
| где | : (g'dyea) : where | ||
This. / That. |
| это | : (eta) : this, that | ||
It's a book. |
| книга | : (ke'nee'ge) : book | ||
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Who's this / that? |
| кто | : (k'toa) : who | ||
Who? |
| Кто? |
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This. / That. |
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That's Stephen Jones. |
| Это Стивeн Джонс. |
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Very, very quickly you will learn the key words 'что', 'кто' and 'это'. Your conscious mind will become busy trying to remember the words for 'book', 'magazine' and 'newspaper', and it's really not important how long it takes to remember them. Meanwhile your intuitive mind will be locking in the foundation elements of the language.
Next, using the same dialogue, you can try an exercise where you select the appropriate word. It's intentionally made very, very easy in order to simply 'draw out' what has already been 'absorbed'.
What's this? |
The next step is to try typing in the missing word. Each student is encouraged to progress at whatever speed they feel comfortable with.
What's this? | Что ? |
The final step is to give the entire dialogue in the opposing language. Again, students can spend time with which ever exercise they wish and teachers will guide them where needed.
What's this? |
If you follow these steps with material that has been specially prepared to carefully lead you step by step, word by word, idea by idea, then you will make very rapid progress in learning Russian.
Ready to get started? For just $10 per month you get everything you need to learn Russian.
As a final note, I'd like to add that although a good system can make learning Russian much easier, and learning the basics is quite easy, learning to speak and understand Russian well is actually very difficult and will take quite a lot of time and effort. Which is all the more reason to have the best program you can find to help you with such a difficult task. Good luck!
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