teach me russian!

[rachberk.livejournal.com]

I want to learn Russian (and I've tried), but I am completely incapable of the pronunciations. Can anyone recommend a good way to get started learning Russian independently without getting hung up on pronunciation? Thanks!

Comments

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

hmmm... did you mean that you wanted to be able to read Russian, but not to speak?

[rachberk.livejournal.com]

No, I definitely want to speak it.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Then, how do you want us Russians to understand what you say? ;-))
I know that Russian phonetics are TERRIBLE. But you have to master it - otherwise you're just going to sound indecipherable for most native speakers. American English phonetic system is too far from Russian, I know that (I'm the opposite case -- a Russian who happened to speak some English, so I've had enough bad times with English pronunciation, he-he.) But you have to get through it. Listen to Russian radio stations online, find a Russian channel in your local TV cable, download Russian MP3s (try www.zvuki.ru) -- and try to imitate the people you hear speaking (singing.) Get you a good audio course (Pimsleur isn't bad.) I dunno... find a local Russian to speak with :) One can only master a language when he/she is able both speak and read/write... I happened to knpw many people here in Russia who read English pretty well but were unable to speak because they didn't knew how to pronounce words the right way...

[kahala.livejournal.com]

Seconded. As an English speaker of Russian, it is difficult to get the pronounciation right - but then, most foreign languages are difficult, because they're foreign. I know it's offputting, but I genuinely don't understand what you mean by a way of learning Russian where you don't actually have to speak it correctly...

[rachberk.livejournal.com]

I never said I wanted to learn Russian without pronunciation; I said that was the element of the language which gave me the most trouble. I am quite experienced in foreign language study, being proficient in Italian and approaching proficiency in Spanish quite rapidly. I fully understand the necessity of oral communication.

[kahala.livejournal.com]

Sorry. On re-reading, that sounded kind of rude and snooty. Didn't mean it to be!

[rachberk.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for Russian mp3s website, that should help. I'm just trying to bend my tongue so I can make the sounds correctly. I have a Russian friend at home, so I may force her to speak it to me.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Well, the most probably you'll never be able to make the sounds EXACTLY the way the native speakers do, but the closer you are the better the communication is :) In fact, to REALLY MASTER the pronounciation you not ony have to live in Russia, you have to live there since the age of 10, max. 12. After that, the accent remains in most cases. Native speakers can always tell a foreigner from a Russian. But this is not the point. The goal is quite easily reachable: to sound understandable. Picking up the pronounciation from the songs, movies, TV (especially from the commercials, however stupid they are!) is normally enough.

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

A past professor of mine could actually pass as a native speaker among Russians (although they thought he was from St. Petersburg, heehee). But he's middled-aged and has been speaking Russian at least since he started college - for decades. And he's a linguist, so he has a better understanding of the mechanics of how the sounds are formed.

So it's possible (but highly improbable) to learn not to have much of an accent at all. I have no hope for myself, personally. =)

[oscar-6.livejournal.com]

I think the best way to learn how to speak Russian is to watch Russian movies.

"Night Watch (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0403358/)", for example.