....just started learning Russian.

[scullydu.livejournal.com]

Hi, I just started trying to learn Russian. I picked up a book on tape to self-teach myself Russian. I am not very far along at all: Currently I am just trying to recognize characters and some spoken words from the tapes. I have set my LiveJournal to read in Russian, and I was wondering how I might be able to type in Russian.

Thanks,
Scully

Comments

[nah-nah.livejournal.com]

www.translit.ru

[scullydu.livejournal.com]

Спасибо :)

[nah-nah.livejournal.com]

Пожалуйста:)

[oryx_and_crake]

I don't think that learning to write in translit is such a good idea; I would recommend enabling Russian on your computer (Control Panel->Regional and Language options->Advanced) and buying a set of stickers with russian letters to put on your keyboard (this is available from the nearest Russian bookstore; if you live in a city with some Russian population, there should be at least one such store).

[scullydu.livejournal.com]

heh... if there is a Russian population anywhere near where I live, than that is news to me. The closest Russian population that I might know of are the scientists in my building... but I don't really know what language they speak nor what country they are from.

As soon as I get to a computer that is completely my own, I will look into reseting the language. ^_^ I do not think that my family would appreciate typing important documents in Russian :)

Спасибо :)
~ Scully

[oryx_and_crake]

Sorry, I think you did not understand. When you have multiple languages in your computer it means that you can switch into one of them and back into English (or whatever language you use) using a certain key combination (e.g. Alt+Shift). It does not mean that once you have Russian enabled in yur comp you lose English forever. And it does not in any way affect the ability to type in English.

If you have Russian-speaking students/scientists around you, by all means contact them, they will tell you where they get their keyboard Russian stickers - I don't believe they do without. They might even provide you with some books in Russian and/or advice etc.

P.S. Foreseing the next question - those stickers are transparent and you will still see the english letters unobstructed...

[scullydu.livejournal.com]

Sorry for my being slightly on the dense side, I have never had but one language on my computers so I was a little unfamiliar :)

And upon returning to my dormatory, I did find that I knew some people who speak Russian. All I had to do was start informing my friends that I started learning Russian, and I found a few people who do, which is pretty cool. Now I'm not learning it for no practical reason and have folks to converse with. :) I'm still not sure, however, what language the scientists speak... they are likely from many different countries and probably speak several different languages: The only one I can recognize is English :)

Spasiba :)

[oryx_and_crake]

На здоровье :-)

Удачи! (Which means good luck.)

[kart.livejournal.com]

When you configure your computer, you may find options to choose, for instance, (A) a phonetic cyrillic version of the US-English keyboard, or (B) a real Russian cyrillic keyboard layout.

(A) gives you Г when you press G, and Р when you press R, and so on. This makes the initial learning curve easy. However, it is not "correct" and you will become frustrated if you learn this way and then find yourself at a real Russian keyboard.

(B) gives you the standard layout, which you can learn and then use on 99% of Russian computers anywhere you go. This layout also places the common keys on the home row like the latin Dvorak keyboard layout.

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

Didn't the Dvorak keyboard place all vowels on the home row? Or something like that? And I don't think ф is common. По-моему, it's the least used letter and most unRussian of them all.

[scullydu.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

I'm not sure I'll ever have to type at a real Russian keyboard. I'm mostly learning Russian for the shear pleasure and disapline of learning the language: but one never knows what they will need such things, so I will learn from the Russian Cryillic... I just have to get myself to at least a minimal stage of recognition. :)

[melange-fiesta.livejournal.com]

This makes me wonder... where in the world is the key for a period? o.o

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

I agree with kart, and you might want to take this course online instead. It helps if you have DSL.

http://www.alfatyping.com/index_en.php

It's honestly the best thing/free thing out there. It has me typing at 20 words per minute! (As opposed to the previously blind-sided 2 words per minute)

[scullydu.livejournal.com]

^_^ Thank you :)

It looks very interesting :)