I want to learn Russian

[LynnDel]

I want to learn Russian for an upcoming mission trip. Someone told me Rosetta Stone is the best. It's certainly the most expensive. Anyone with experience using any language learning program? What do you recommend?

LynnDel

[Doug]

Rosetta Stone is really good. I used it for Spanish, but I lost the original CD ( an earlier version that cost only $20). If you don't want to get the CDs you can also get the subscription service for less.

[Gail]

I agree, the library might have something basic for you, if time or cost is of the essence.

Have read good about Rosetta Stone as well :)

[fccool]

My advice would be to learn vocab and phrases. Your goal is to be initially understood. You will sound "funny" no matter which course you take, so I suggest start by learning single words and phrases. You can then catch up on some language rules once you have enough basic vocab.

Rosetta stone is good for that, but it just does not go at a pace that I like to learn a language. You may find the same thing to be true.

I guess, being a pragmatic person I am... I'd like to ask three things. Firstly, how long is your missions trip? And secondly, what is the purpose of the trip? And, lastly... when are you going?

The reason I ask is you have to understand a couple things about culture.

1) Most of the people are required to take English as a second language. You will find many know it well enough to be able to communicate with you (especially younger generation). Some may even ask you to speak English with them for practice.

2) It may sound a bit harsh, but there's a long going stereotype of Americans trying to speak Russian unsuccessfully. During the Soviet era, much of Russian portrayal of Americans was that they are "stupid". This is certainly not true, just as American portrayal of Russians being "cold blooded" is not true.

While it may be a nice gesture for you to attempt speaking foreign language, you may end up better off speaking English to people who would like to polish their English language knowledge. I don't want to by any means to discourage you to learn Russian. In fact... I would say, go for it, and it may impress many... BUT, keep the above two in mind in terms of the purpose of you going there.

As far as a better learning material... the best one I've seen I found in Barns and Noble's book store. The name escapes me (Something about Learn Russian 10 minutes a day), but it looks like a 3rd grade book. I was going to buy one for my wife, but I did not for some reason. What the course does... it teaches you Runglish... by inserting Russian words in English sentences. I find this approach to be very effective, as you will learn the words in context of your own language (including proper subjugations). So, I highly recommend it. If you are not sure... it has bunch of word stickers inside.

And we all know... stickers are fun!

[GreatLakesGramma]

"How to Learn Any Language in a Flash" by Frederic Patenaude. With this method, you can learn any language well enough to communicate with native speakers within 3 weeks, or even less. It takes longer to become fluent. Patenaude has taught himself many languages with this unconventional method.

In one of Patenaude's language course emails, he told the experience of one of the men who inspired the development of Patenaude's course. This professional man, using this method in an airplane on the way to Germany, learned German well enough, with no previous knowledge of the language, to present his seminar in German, with no interpreter, and be completely understood. This, of course, is the experience of one who had already learned several languages. With this course, the more languages you learn, the easier it gets.

The course is much cheaper than Rosetta Stone, and the method can be used for any language you care to learn. You will need to buy a good Russian dictionary to use with the course materials, but the course includes links to many internet resources for free language education that will help you with hearing, pronunciation, and grammar of your chosen language. Personally, I also use other, inexpensive study materials for those specifics.

And even though this course consists entirely of downloadable ebooks and other materials, Patenaude does offer a money-back guarantee. If you buy the course and find that it just isn't for you, you can get a refund.

Patenaude himself, a French Canadian, was a complete failure at learning English from his school classes. He taught himself using a less refined version of this method, and was told a year or so later by the English class teacher, that he didn't need the class any more.

[phkrause]

What's the matter? Don't have the gift of tongues? hahahahahaha Just kidding. Rosetta Stone I've heard is very good. But Fccool has some real good advice.

pk

[Liz]

Around homeschooler's Rosetta Stone is the bee's knee's, too bad you need to take out a second mortgage for it.

I think I am going to go look for Fccool's books at B&N's and see if they have other languages too. Those sound really doable; and stickers are fun.

[GreatLakesGramma]

Fccool, Patenaude's course does just that. It gives you the core vocabulary that makes up 90% of all conversation. You look them up in your foreign language dictionary, write them in the chart, along with the pronunciation and word associations to help you remember the correct word. Just working on the language chart has built my French vocabulary tremendously.

Along with what I had learned about sentence structure, pronunciation, and verb conjugation from the early lessons of the Power-Glide course I had been working on previously, plus the irregular verb conjugation tables in the back of the dictionary, I feel I have everything really I need. Power-Glide uses the diglot weave method of teaching vocabulary, where new words are inserted into a mostly English story, in a context which makes the meaning obvious. The more vocabulary you learn, the less English in the stories.

Power-Glide is expensive too, though not so much as Rosetta Stone, but I bought my course on eBay. It was used, but only the first few lessons were filled in in the workbook, and it is the old course, which is on cassettes instead of CDs. It cost me less than $15, including shipping, but I had to wait for it to turn up on eBay. Of course, the links given in Patenaude's course would probably cover all that it does anyway.

[LynnDel]

Thanks to everyone for the valuable information. This is for my third mission trip to eastern Ukraine in June, where they speak Russian. One of my goals, besides communicating with those I meet, is to be able to order meals and understand the price of items when shopping.

During my previous trips, I have not met very many people who know English, especially American English (spoken much faster and less distinctly than British English, so I'm told) but that may be because we've been working primarily with the country/farming people. When I visited the SDA church there, even the well-educated pastor and his wife did not know enough English to carry on a conversation, and the children that I've worked with in the orphanages have not learned English. I had learned a few Russian words before going, and they appeared thrilled and were very complimentary to me for my sad little efforts.

I think I've mentioned before that when trying to discuss where I'm from, they recognize "America" and tell me they know about Schwarzenegger (done with much pantomiming of muscle-man poses)!

[Doug]

http://www.livemocha.com/

[fccool]

Thanks to everyone for the valuable information. This is for my third mission trip to eastern Ukraine in June, where they speak Russian...

!!! I'll be going home to visit my parents and finally show off my wife. They only talked to her on the phone, and they were denied entry Visa for our wedding .

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Russian...31873109/?itm=4

Here's a link to that book. So next time you are in B&N, check it out.

[Liz]

Thanks for the site, Fccool, I am going to check out the Spanish one.

[GreatLakesGramma]

Doug, I've bookmarked Livemocha, and will be using it when I finish my French vocabulary chart and get back into studying.

[Leagnus]

Hi! Feel free to call me by Skype. I talk both languages. My Skype name is theyapetra. I live eastern Ukraine (it's Luhan'sk city). My timezone is GMT +2. Skype phonecalls is free if you use PC or notebook.

[Stan]

Amazon just put it on sale

Sell it on eBay when you are done and you should be able to get your money back :)

[fccool]

I still don't think it's worth it, but it's just my opinion. Or like Will Hunting would put it. "Why pay 120k for education that you can get for 5$ worth of late fees in your local library?"

[fccool]

Hey LynnDel,

I was looking for a site for my wife to learn russian... and this one is pretty good.

http://www.russianforeveryone.com

Check it out.