Learning Russian language

Thread: Learning Russian language

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  1. jandros's Avatar

    jandros said:

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    Quote Originally Posted by tim2286 View Post
    I almost spoke too soon. I checked a certain website (don't want to post it here) and it basically gives you a lot of info on languages. Bulgarian and Ukrainian are 90% transparent to a russian speaker. I have not had any exposure to bulgarian so this is the best I can do.

    PS dont know if ure much of a basketbal fan but GO UNC
    Thanks tim. And yes, I'm a BIG basketball fan, and UNC is my favorite team!! I don't want to distract from this topic too much, but I want to post just one small image

    Last edited by jandros; 03-04-2009 at 10:30 AM.
    Having problems with vertigo for 2-3 days ... it's temporary, a mild case and it will pass, but for now I can't stay on the computer as much as normal :-/ ...
     
  2. Bolonka's Avatar

    Bolonka said:

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    Quote Originally Posted by tim2286 View Post
    Bulgarian and Ukrainian are 90% transparent to a russian speaker.)
    I would strongly disagree with this!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    I speak fluently in both Ukrainian and Russian and also in Polish but believe me Bulgarian is very different!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it is very hard to understand it!!
    The same is for russian people - they don't understand Ukrainian
    Be careful what you wish for cause you just might get it!!!!
     
  3. PROPEL's Avatar

    PROPEL said:

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    yes bulgarian is VERY different from russian. quite different actually.
    and bulgarian is VERY hard to understand, much harder than Russian.
     
  4. Bolonka's Avatar

    Bolonka said:

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    Maybe it is not that difficuly but the sentence structure is very different. The words sound familiar but for someone who had never anything to do with this language they mean nothing!!!!!!!!!!!
    Be careful what you wish for cause you just might get it!!!!
     
  5. viciousz_love's Avatar

    viciousz_love said:

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    Hey I need help learning Russian, I can help with English or Spanish if needed ^_^
     
  6. tim2286's Avatar

    tim2286 said:

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    @bolonka and propel: like I said i've seen that on another website (maybe they confused bulgarian and belorussian, i dont know), so it wasn't really my opinion.

    @vicious_love: Welcome to the forum, I am pretty much in the same boat as you but I am trying to take my russian up one notch (pretty good - very good).

    @jandros: Good thing I didn't said unc and not duke , watch some basketball but not a diehard fan.
     
  7. vuoklis's Avatar

    vuoklis said:

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    uhm. well we (those who know russian at least more or less) can try to place some info on grammar, some excercises here if there is someone who needs it :P i mean, this is the LEARNING RUSSIAN topic, let's learn it
     
  8. Suzan's Avatar

    Suzan said:

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    Hello everybody )))I can to help with Russian Language))I from Russia))If U have a quastions U may ask me)))
     
  9. s_jazz's Avatar

    s_jazz said:

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    viciousz_love, just ask)
     
  10. viciousz_love's Avatar

    viciousz_love said:

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    okay like i'm the guilty 3rd generation russian-american who can't speak russian.

    so far i'm having no problem learning the basic grammar with nouns and such.

    but i'm so horrible with certain letter combination pronunciations.

    like ль, нь, сь, ий, ей, and when the a and o are in different positions they change sounds. i'm okay once i get going, but i need lots of repetition with the pronunciation.
     
  11. boubou said:

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    Could you please explain what "постой" means?
    If possible I'd like a couple of phrases-examples with this word, in order to understand the meaning better!
    Imagination is more important than knowledge.
    A. Einstein
     
  12. tim2286's Avatar

    tim2286 said:

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    the dictionary says: "stand" "wait" "stop". but in my opinion,(and in most cases this is infact the case) a better choice would be to use the phrase "hold on/hang on". A good example would be "hold on let me tell you the story" then you can sort of see why it says "stop" "wait" . The "stand" is there because the root word of "постой" is "стоять" (to stand).
     
  13. boubou said:

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    Quote Originally Posted by tim2286 View Post
    the dictionary says: "stand" "wait" "stop". but in my opinion,(and in most cases this is infact the case) a better choice would be to use the phrase "hold on/hang on". A good example would be "hold on let me tell you the story" then you can sort of see why it says "stop" "wait" . The "stand" is there because the root word of "постой" is "стоять" (to stand).

    Наконец-то!
    tim2286 большое спасибо!
    Sometimes things are simpler than what the dictionary says... I was confused by the its explanation.
    Now I got it
    Imagination is more important than knowledge.
    A. Einstein
     
  14. tim2286's Avatar

    tim2286 said:

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    glad to help
     
  15. PaCanCHiK said:

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    Hello всем))
    I don't speak english, but i want leant(( Help me))
    Просто мне хочется выучить английский , может кто поможет??
     
  16. s_jazz's Avatar

    s_jazz said:

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    Quote Originally Posted by viciousz_love View Post
    okay like i'm the guilty 3rd generation russian-american who can't speak russian.

    so far i'm having no problem learning the basic grammar with nouns and such.

    but i'm so horrible with certain letter combination pronunciations.

    like ль, нь, сь, ий, ей, and when the a and o are in different positions they change sounds. i'm okay once i get going, but i need lots of repetition with the pronunciation.
    Viciousz_love, do you still need help with sounds? I found some links, so "л" and "ль" you can find here: http://www.logoped.ru/zv-l01.htm I'll translate

    Звук л - согласный, звонкий, твердый.
    The sound "л" is voiced hard consonant
    Звук ль - согласный, звонкий, мягкий.
    The sound "ль" is voiced soft consonant.

    Правильное произношение звука "л":
    The right pronounciation of the sound "л":

    * губы раскрыты, занимают нейтральное положение или принимают положение последующего гласного звука;
    * The lips are opened in neutral position or take position of the next vowel;
    * зубы незначительно разомкнуты;
    * The teeth are opened a little,
    * язык - узкий кончик языка поднимается и упирается в верхние резцы и их десны, средняя часть языка опущена, боковые края тоже опущены;
    The narrow tip of tongue is raised and set against upper cutting teeth and their gum, the middle part of the tongue is lowered down and the sides of the tongue are lowered down too;
    * между боковыми краями языка и коренными зубами остается щель, через которую выходит воздушная струя.
    There is a glottis (hole) between the sides of the tongue and molars, which the air-blast comes through.
    * голосовые связки напряжены и вибрируют, давая голос.
    Vocal chords are tensed and vibrate, giving a sound.

    Мягкий звук ль отличается от твердого л следующим:
    The soft sound "ль" is different from the hard sound "л" by:

    * губы растянуты в стороны, как при улыбке;
    The lips are streched to the sides like you are smiling;
    * язык - кончик языка поднят несколько выше и упирается в альвеолы ("бугорки") за передними верхними зубами, средняя и задняя части языка подняты и продвинуты вперед, что и дает смягчение.
    The tip of the tongue is raised a little bit higher and set against alveolus (teethridge) behind upper foreteeth, the middle part and the sides of the tongue are raised and moved a little forward, so their position gives the sound the softening.
     
  17. s_jazz's Avatar

    s_jazz said:

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    "Н"and "НЬ" sounds:
    I think "Н" is very similar to the english "N", but I'll try to describe "Н"and "НЬ" myself.
    "Н" is a hard consonant and "НЬ" is a soft consonant.
    So...when you pronounce "Н", you lips are opened in neutral position (or take position of the next vowel), the teeth are opened a little, your tongue is flat and soft, the flat tip of the tongue is between the teeth and touches the upper cutting teeth and their gum, the middle of the tongue is relaxed and doesn't touch the palate, and the air-blast comes through the nose.

    The difference of "НЬ" pronounciation:
    Almost all the tongue (especially the middle of the tongue) is clasped to the palate, it gives the soft sound.
     
  18. s_jazz's Avatar

    s_jazz said:

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    About vowels:

    The sound "A" is similar to the english "u" like in the word "cut".
    "O" is like "a" in the word "ball".
    But note: unstressed russian "O" sounds like unstressed russian "A".
    The russian "E" is similar to the sound of the first syllable of the word "year".
    The russian "И" is like [i] in english word "tip".
    Note: unstressed "E" sounds like the sound between "E" and "И", closer to "И".
    The russian "Ё" = british "your"
    "Ё" is always stressed sound.
    The russian "У" is like in the word "pull".
    The russian "Э" is like in the word "pen", but more hard.
    "Ю" = "you"
    And "Я" sounds like "ya" in "Yankee".
    Last edited by s_jazz; 03-12-2009 at 05:58 PM.
     
  19. tim2286's Avatar

    tim2286 said:

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    an example of the "НЬ" sound. The word neither is a good example (there are a couple of pronunctions of this word but i say nEEther) well anyway the "n" in is softer compared to "done" or "man". hopefully this helps
     
  20. s_jazz's Avatar

    s_jazz said:

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    Tim2286, you're right

    And I found something about "СЬ" sound...
    It's known, that russian "C" is like "S" in English. To make the soft "СЬ" sound, your tongue must be more tensed, and the tip of the tongue is set against lower foreteeth.