How?

[krepsen.livejournal.com]

How can you say "I'm learning Russian" in russian?

In advance thanks for the help!

Comments

[arnold3.livejournal.com]

Я учу русский язык.

Russian

[educho.livejournal.com]

Я изучаю русский язык.

[mr-uef.livejournal.com]

язык can be easily omitted in both cases.

[belaya-mishka.livejournal.com]

Я учу/изучаю русский язык.

[atranotte.livejournal.com]

Я учу русский.
Я учу русский язык.

[ester-n.livejournal.com]

"Изучаю" is better, more correctly. :)

[la-dy-ashley.livejournal.com]

I guess if the original is I´m learning it´s still учу. Изучаю will rather be ¨study¨. At least that´s what they tell us un class. To me both sound fine.

[ester-n.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I know English very bad, and I don't sure, that I can explain correctly :( But I know Russian. :) Both sound fine, you are right, but "учу" is spoken usually by schoolboys: "Я учу уроки". "Изучаю" something - is more... intelligent. :)

[archaicos.livejournal.com]

Nah, I think "учить" and "изучать" have slightly different meaning.
The former one normally uses when talking about the memorization process like in "я учу стихотворение". If you apply "изучать" to a verse, that'd mean that you're not trying to memorize it but rather you're analyzing it, trying to find something peculiar or otherwise interesting about it, maybe find some obscure meaning, structural feature or similarity with other verses by the same or different author(s). Either "учить" is more colloquial (with respect to a language or homework) or it's used for historical reasons, that is, because in the past a lot of things used to be learned not by understanding (which is what studying is mainly about) but by pure memorization. Remember the various books and movies about the old times, where pupils had to memorize the psalms (or whatever they're called) , with the infamous "Отче наш, иже еси на небеси..." and the poor guys were beaten up by the teacher for not memorizing well :)

[smolit.livejournal.com]

-what are you doing now?
-I'm learning Russian.

-Что ты сейчас делаешь?
-Учу русский.

[upthera44.livejournal.com]

I've heard conflicting accounts on this question. A 20 year-old Russian guy I met who had recently come to America told me "no one says 'Изучаю русский язык' it sounds stiff and formal, like 'I am conducting research on Russian language' but instead people almost always use 'Я учу русский язык.'"

On the other hand my Russian professors always said to use изучать, so I generally use that. Is учить more common in casual conversation? Or is it decidedly low-brow?

[la-dy-ashley.livejournal.com]

Just imagine a phrase, Я изучал английский 4 года (в школе, универе, на курсах) - don´t tell me it sounds all right. It´s simply awful, nobody would say it.

Since I´m a linguistics student, our teachers tend to use изучать, but I've never heard a "civilian" person say it... For a philologist or an interpreter (i.e. someone who deals with languages professionally) it would be natural to say, "Я занимаюсь русским".

[upthera44.livejournal.com]

Hmm... several others said Я изучал английский was the better way to go, and you say it is "awful"... anyone else want to weigh in on this? I don't feel any closer to understanding.

[malim-praedari.livejournal.com]

"Я изучал английский 4 года" does sound completely unnatural.

[la-dy-ashley.livejournal.com]

Я учу уроки is hardly ever used now. Today most children say Я делаю уроки. Phrases like "Ты выучил урок?" (along with "Отвечай урок" etc.) can be found in old books, XIXth century or some Soviet ones.

[la-dy-ashley.livejournal.com]

meaning exclusively both speakers know that, for example, you musy learn by heart a poem or a list of words for tomorrow. I guess the word "now" should be omitted...

[upthera44.livejournal.com]

Is it just because of the 4 года that this is unnatural or are the phrases "Я изучал английский" or "Я изучаю английский" also unnatural? In what context is изучать used?

[malim-praedari.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I am now like that centipede that was asked to explain how it walks. The more I think about it, the less I can intuit what's approptiate and why.

I believe "4 года" is indeed what makes the phrase above sound unnatural, perhaps because it implies a fixed duration and thus action with clear time boundaries. By the way, "учил" sounds fine to me both in a continuous-action and time-bounded-action context. "Изучать", on the other hand, besides sounding rather formal, doesn't seem to go with time-bounded action. Here's an example where I think it's would be okay: "В 1984 году я изучал английский в институте X. под руководством профессора Иванова". Very formal, with no definite end to the action implied. In any other context, use "учить", it's much more universal.

[upthera44.livejournal.com]

Ok, thank you for the explanation.