Question about CD's

[velocityb0y.livejournal.com]

Hi all! I've just started down the self-teaching path, and I've got a question.

I want to learn to read and write Russian, so I bought a book. But after going through the first couple of chapters, it quickly became obvious that it would be hard to get the pronunciation right without hearing it. I was afraid that if I spent a lot of time just studying the written language, that I'd be hurting my ability to listen or speak later on.

So I went out and picked up the small version of the Pimsleur course. The instructions that came with it seem to imply that I shouldn't be referring to any written materials while doing the course, for fear that that would interfere with proper learning of pronuncation.

What are people's opinions on this? I could obviously spend a long time on the Pimsleur course, especially if I start on their real course after I finish the introductory one. Am I going to be impeding my own progress if I study the written language, grammar, etc. concurrently?

Any suggestions welcome. Thanks!

Comments

[nemica.livejournal.com]

It seems to me that it's question not about Russian language but about language learning in general.

I think that it's better to get some basic skills in grammar before you start speaking and pronunciation lessons but it depends of your learning abilities.

Anyway, Russian language pronunciation and rules of reading are much easier than in English, so good luck to you. ;)

[rebenok.livejournal.com]

I can"t agree. Russian language has a different articulation base than english. This is the main dificulty. The same about rules of reading.

[squodge.livejournal.com]

I also disagree with nemica on lots of things.

First of all, I disagree that it's important to learn to read and write. After all, we don't expect kids to be able to read and write before they speak. I know parents often give picture books to their kids and expect them to learn to read from it, but it just doesn't work like that.

Secondly, I disagree that English reading and writing is harder than Russian. Russian has endless verb and noun endings to learn. There are 7 cases in Russian, 3 genders, not to mention the perfective/imperfective thing; all this renders the grammatical aspect of Russian at least 20 times harder than English.

Thirdly, Russian is pronounced the way it looks ONLY IF you know where the stress goes on the word. So do you think the average person would know how to pronounce 'horosho' (=well) if you didn't tell them where the stres was? Do you think another person would know that the word pronounced 'harasho' is the one that's spelled 'horosho'?

However, getting back to the point of velocityb0y's question, I would suggest you go back to your original textbook after you've completed at least Level 1 of Pimsleur Russian (all 30 units). Also, depending on which version you have, the Pimsleur Russian course might come with a grammar/glossary booklet, which is about 50 pages long. I have Sybervision's "Speak, Read & Think Essential Russian", which comes on 16 cassettes (the 16th cassette is basically all the reading units rolled into one).

GOOD LUCK with learning Russian... it'll open up a huge range of Russian literature ^__^

~ squodge ~

[velocityb0y.livejournal.com]

Thanks everyone! The last suggestion makes the most sense to me. I'll get through the version of the CD's I have, then I'll continue with the textbook and make a decision on whether or not to get the next audio course.

Talk before reading

[bhv.livejournal.com]

I want to strongly agree with Squodge and with his recommendations. Learn to talk Russian first, and learn to read it later. If you start by reading you guarantee that you will have a thick American accent. If you do the Pimsleur course it's possible to have a perfect Russian accent for the words and phrases that you know.

For example I bought my first cheap Pimsleur Quick and Simple Russian course on February 29 of this year after going to a Russian Symphony concert and not knowing how to talk to any of the musicians. Since then I have completed all 30 of the Pimsleur Russian I lessons. Last Monday I went to a Russian concert here in San Diego. I greeted the man next to me in Russian and asked him in Russian how long he'd lived here. Next I asked him in Russian if he understood English and we switched to English.

When I told him in English that I was trying to learn Russian, he didn't belive me at first because my Russian accent for those few phrases was perfect. He really had thought that I was Russian. Right now I am going through the reading booklet and learning to read words you already know how to speak is really very easy.

There is absolutely no way you can learn to speak Russian with a good accent by reading it. Too many of the consonants are pronounced somewhere between for example a P and a V.

I checked with the Sybervision people and they are a dealer for the Pimsleur Russian classes made by Simon and Schuster so the current versions will be the same. However Squodge has an older version that may in some ways be better than the current versions, so don't hesitate to buy a used version off of E-Bay.

[nemica.livejournal.com]

*Secondly, I disagree that English reading and writing is harder than Russian. Russian has endless verb and noun endings to learn. There are 7 cases in Russian, 3 genders, not to mention the perfective/imperfective thing; all this renders the grammatical aspect of Russian at least 20 times harder than English.*

But genders, cases etc. are part of grammary, not pronunciation. If you know the Russian alphabet you can read *every* Russian word. The only problem is stresses, but it's not all so clear with them in English language either. And I can't even imagine like little children learn to read in English, with all these rules of reading and their countless exceptions. :O

As far as I know English speaking people often have problems with "ы". I remember my teacher in England couldn't pronounce "сыр", all he could make was 'sssssiiiir'. It was very funny. :)

Anyway I'm Russian and Russian pronunciation sounds for me much easier than your "th" and "r".