The whole reason I'm learning Russian because of the amazing music and poetry. So what I do is get my favorite songs and translate them line by line. I use a dictionary and only translate one word at a time. This is a really good tool for me, the amount of words I learn per song is pretty good, and because I'm constantly replaying these songs I keep going over the words in my head over and over again. Sometimes there's some weird grammar that I don't quite understand when translating, but suddenly clicks while I'm repeating it in my head. And then I go on the Russian internet to look at the fans of the songs I like and see how they speak. Of course, I started with Duolingo to get that foundation into the language.
this is indeed a great method. although the sentence order can get some pretty wide poetic license when it comes to songs, just the fact that you're listening to those words repeatedly helps a bunch. creating word/sentence pictures on your head along with the song is great for memorization too.
I was doing the same for my Russian, but I was memorizing songs and poems and not putting enough time or effort into understanding them or exercising an understanding behind them. Over time I was literally able to sing songs and recite poems but strangely enough, hardly able to know what I was saying and the only utility I felt was that of having stronger memorization skills and pronunciation. Now, when I like a song or poem I have to put some serious effort into liking it not only for its sound but also meaning -- writing about in English or Russian really gets you to nail it down for a more complete appreciation. The more you do it the easier it becomes to like a song or poem.
Sometimes words do not translate and there are also words in slang as well that only true Russian speaker's understand you really need to speak it all of the time to truly understand.
my problem was REMEMBERING, if you have a problem remembering words, what really really helped me was to to learn the keyboard and I mean LEARN it, I found it easier to remember a word if I knew how to spell it, if you know how to spell it, it will be easier to read it, therfore, it will be easier to remember))
I started learning russian in highschool for 2 schoolyears and was very lucky that our school did offer this language because other schools in my city did not (germany). i graduated in 2020 and since then didnt really make new progress. I though did speak and practice my russian from time to time a little bit due to the loads of russian speaking friends i am fortunate to have. For about two month tho i restarted the learning and that quite intense (with that i mean about 1-2 hours a day and if i dont have enough time i do at least a little bit on duolingo , which actually really helps me memorizing words and phrases. I am also living near a refugee-camp and one day about a month ago i was driving in my car and saw one grandpa that seems to have missed the bus at a bus station, so i stopped and picked him up. He entered my car and said "спасибо" and i therefore new it was a russian speaking ukrainian дедушка. He asked me if i could bring him to the refugee camp and the whole 10 minute drive we had a pretty decent conversation about various things about me and him ONLY in russian. that was my first ever real "stranger-russian-conversation" encounter and i was so hyped afterwards. I was keeping up pretty decent with the conversation fortunately, but i only understood like 70% of everything, which is more thаn okay for me, but it shows how important it is to learn vocabulary, because i am quite good with grammar and writing in russian, but i rarely speak and learn vocabulary. This situation tho was pretty out of nowhere and really cool, i made a new friend, even if we will never see us again. this type of stuff is what motivates me to keep learning. It is really cool to be able to talk with a stranger in such situation, where there would otherwise be a language-barrier! Thank you for your videos, they're really helpfull AND entertaining! Пока пока
Amazing connection between Russian language and my native language Tamil . 1) рис / Rice / Arisi . 2) Ананас / pineapple / Anasi . 3) кофе / coffee / kapi . 4) медленно / slow / mellama . 5) новый / new / Naveena . 6) Арбуз / watermelon / Tarbuz . 7) Бог / god / bhagvan . Still many word . But learn Russian language by connecting to ur native language having a similar words .
Russian is indo-european, so it's not surprising for me. If you look deeply into sanscrit you will find much more ;) But ome thing amaze me very much: яма in russian is a hole/den in earth, in japanese it's a mountain, in sanscrit it's god of death.
@@zavulon422 sanskrit is nothing but Anatolian language . Which is second oldest language . While Sumerian is considered to be very oldest language in the world ( now both Sumerian and sanskrit got extinct . ) . Dravidian language derived from Sumerian . I felt Russian very easier when I was studying in 1st year medicine ( 2006) . I do speak , write and learn Russian , Tamil , Hindi , Marathi , (Telugu & kanada to the extent of speaking) , learnt to speak polish , Czech. Polish is similar to Russian , but with difficult spelling suffix .
@@seshadrideepak Syria is not in Anatolia, either. And I have to say I still don't see its relevance. Are you suggesting that you learnt Russian more easily because Sanskrit originated in Syria?
I’m def not fluent but also not quiet a beginner. In my experience, the hard part isn’t the alphabet or the grammar or whatnot, the hard part is the damn pronunciation Also like you said in regards to books, at least in the US, we are taught to writing differently than we speak. They push for us to write more professionally. For example, if you write “gonna” on your essay, you’ll get points deducted even tho that’s essentially how “going to” is said nowadays
My biggest mistake in learning Russian is that I borrowed from my musical training (violinist) and refused to develop bad habits from the start. "I won't speak it till I'm perfect!" I told myself. That didn't work. It's like what's-his-face says. (Say your name like a professional, please. It's a very polite way to help yourself and others.) Trying to speak the language creates a stronger desire to know what you lack. Memory always does better with a stronger, emotional desire. Someone should also create audio stories that are SPOKEN (not just written out) in both languages, one sentence after another. New vocabulary could be introduced at each chapter and repeated ad nauseum. I can write stories, what's-your-face. Want to help translate? This is a business proposal. I'm already published.
Totally agree, I found Russian words unpronounceable before learning the alphabet. I'm still a total beginner, but being able to pronounce the words is a great start! 👍
Great video, also the editing was on point! I will admit that I first started teaching myself Russian with some books, and what you described basically does happen. You learn things very strictly: Plain words and grammar, but you can't actually know how to pronounce the words or communicate if you do it by yourself. However this information really helped me learn quickly when I got to university! It allowed me to focus more on speaking and rely less on a rigid learning structure, and I finally felt like the process had come around full circle. Learning Russian in this gradual and flexible way is part of the reason I love the language (and probably other languages in the future).
For me books have been an effective way to improve at Russian, but only after reaching an intermediate level. The key is finding books that are actually enjoyable to you and at an appropriate level. I started by reading Boris Akunin books adapted for students of Russian, and read a couple of these before finally reading the books in the original. Of course they have to be supplemented with listening and speaking practice, but books can be a really powerful tool.
When I first started learning Russian I was self-teaching myself, it was with a dictionary, book and well... Laskoviy May, Laskoviy may was why I decided to dedicate myself to the language after loving the whole culture, the people, and finding out I'm part Russian ♥ Now, I have tutoring, converse with people, have exchange partners but have to find a better way for fluency. 14 years and I'm still going, because even in fluency you'll never be 100% in a language
Weeelllllll blyat....2:25 "books dont work because people dont talk how they write". But one of the most important rules of my language is "write as you speak, read as it is written" 😆 That being said, i am very lucky to have met a group of likeminded Russian people in a chat group , where we talk about all sorts of different topics and i have to translate it in order to understand. It is a mix of written and spoken chat, so sometimes i ask them to write down what they said so i can translate it, and this has turned out to do wonders for me. I turn to videos like yours to gain solid structure of the language, and then i try my best to communicate with people in real time which helps alot with getting used to the language, understanding how it is used in everyday life and learning how to be fluid and open to mixing things up while speaking it. Thank you for the effort you put into these videos, much love to you from Serbia ❤
B.F. I really like your channel, but I'm not sure I agree with your conclusion that a structured approach does not lead to fluency (how much fluency?) I am a language geek, fluent in several languages and conversational in a couple more. The best language course I ever took was an Ojibwe class taught by a native speaker. For about the first month we just worked on a rather long conversation. Chunk by chunk we worked our way through until by the end we had a rather long conversation that we performed each session. As the month progressed he taught us new words we could substitute for the ones in the original conversation. For example, perhaps we might learn how to substitute "a moose" in the sentence "I am hunting a deer." Often the substitution would involve a mutation in a word--the verb for example- and he would explain the underlying grammar. So by the end of the first month we had this long conversation -what our names were, our age, our clan (he explained that everyone has a clan, must have a clan and must never marry within one's own clan), names of parents and grandparents, brother, sister, friends month when we were born, to which tribe we belonged, likes and dislikes, on and on. So after our test on this conversation, he began to deconstruct the conversation along the lines of, "Oh, did you notice that I was born" is not like the other verbs we have in the conversation? It's a past tense." So then he'd show us how to say "My sister was born in the month of ..." and eventually we would be able to conjugate the verb in the past tense. Then we practiced the same formation- with variations- on other verbs in our conversation. And so it went month after month as we discovered that the conversation contained not only things to say about ourselves, but it also provided the key to the basic structures of the language and that together with new words and possibly grammatical variations, we had acquired an elementary grasp of the language.. We also had developed the knack of knowing where we could substitute words and the changes the substitution might require. So we actually had a fair amount of flexibility of expression. It was a great course! And I didn't even mention all the Ojibwe culture he taught us. Too bad it was only one year. .
I've been using the LingQ method for learning ukrainian and i feel spending the time to become intimate with the language before speaking. I translate various documents and listen to how it's pronounced and try to mimic it. It's been a month and a half and i can barely speak it but regarding how much *of* the language i know, and how close to it i feel personally and emotionally is much greater than my speaking. I find that when i recognize ukrainian in text or audio, i just immediately connect and hear the individual sounds and words even though I don't understand it. It's quite amazing how different this method is. It's taking me much longer than most people would take using other methods but i feel connected to the language and i feel motivated to learn it all the way to fluency. I believe this is the best way to become fluent in a language.
As an autistic person, the problems of the person you use as an analogy seem VERY relatable. Even if they are not a highly intelligent and high masking autistic person (they may be, but possibly even undiagnosed lol) these are autistic struggles which I have to battle against every day while exploring my special interest in written language. I love grammar, especially when it is structured but complex - requiring you to learn rules and memorise patterns (like with the Russian case system) but lots of the time there isn't a set path to follow to fluency, and this can be overwhelming for autistic people. When I learn some new words with Duolingo but I don't understand something it can make me feel like crying. I used to actually cry but my emotional regulation is improving. Nevertheless I have a gargantuan obsession with languages. I just wanted to share my experience to try to reduce the stigma surrounding autism and hopefully inform you, or maybe you even relate.
I like a way to also visualize with the idea of learning a language is like building a brick house. You get your cement, bricks and tools (like a trowel) to create your own structure in that language. You use your trowel and tools (learning tools) to spread out the cement (practice) of what you are building upon (current knowledge), place a brick down (New vocabulary/sentences) and repeat. You can build your own brick house and structures however you want and how you want to build it all up.
Thanks again Fedor you are very creative. I didn't think of these methods! You are a lifesaver! Instead of calling Russian friends all the time, I will use Google translate to practice pronunciation more frequently. Looking forward for your next videos!
Someone has been watching Film Booth videos! Your editing looks slick. Great advice, it really comes down to trying a lot of things, talking a lot and figuring out what works for you.
Hii , thanks for this video , i have 16 years old and i'm mexican , i learn a little bit of English,but i want to learn russian now , it's a little more dificult but with You is more easy for me спасибо
I come from San Francisco area. It has a Russian neighborhood called Russian Hill. Cyrillic letters are like a secret code, with backwards letters to English. Also, there was a Zodiac Killer there who also used complex codes, similar to Russian alphabet. Spaseba Fedor.
I learn basic stuff from your specific Fluency lessons.. You teach very specific nuance... BUT when you put it into context of a basic sentence, I learn the Nuance AND the specific lesson.
My opinion as a native speaker. In no case do not start learning Russian from fiction books. Such books are needed for advanced language learning. It's like starting to learn English with Shakespeare. In books, the author will try to surprise you with the knowledge of the number of synonyms for the same words, unusual sentence constructions, sometimes exploding the brain even to the speaker, i.e. there will be everything that is used in everyday life either by language fans or at the level of very educated people (their speech you will not be able to understand soon) or to show off in front of friends. It may seem strange, but for the very start it would be a good idea to communicate with those who already know Russian, but are also native speakers of your own language. The fact is that in Russian there is a very peculiar manner of forming sentences. Every native speaker of Russian who knows it very well sounds like Master Yoda, which can cause additional unnecessary difficulties in mastering the language. That is, in Russian you are free to start a sentence with any part of speech that first came to your mind. Including in the sequence adopted, for example, in English or Japanese. This means that it will be easiest to start speaking in the accepted sequence in your language, and learn juggling later. Here I would like to say "Easy to learn, hard to master", but I understand that the word "easy" here would be a deception. The Russian language provides a huge number of opportunities, but does not oblige you to use them. You can only use the simplest verbal constructions just like in English and that will be fine. Probably, this is how the Russian of a tired person sounds, or a person who tries to answer almost without hesitation, without getting involved in a conversation.
You described the situation with books very correctly, since most people begin learning Russian from books of the 19th or early 20th century. These books have a literary style of storytelling, which no one uses nowadays. Despite the many synonyms of different words, people often use the same words in communication. Instead of reading old books to learn the language, it is best to watch Russian videos with subtitles. Russian Russian dubbing movies can also be watched (the dubbing industry is well developed in Russia) with Russian subtitles. I used a translator for this text, so it may be incorrect in some places)
I use duolingo and russian TV series also I try to call things in my house by the Russian names and my voice translation to practice speaking also talking to my russian fiancee 😂 I am a kindergarten level so far 👍
I've only just discovered this channel. The videos are pretty good and the tips are helpful. However, I personally would not avoid books when learning a new language. Books are good for expanding vocabulary and help to memorize the routine of syntax in sentences in the desired language. And especially in Russian, it is (I estimate) 95% of all words are pronounced as written (unfortunately this is not the case with many languages). 📚Written documents should simply not be the only learning tool, but a supplement to the others. I have learned German this way and am in the process of learning English. Have a nice day and good luck with learning
Actually I do good in systems, too. That's why duolingo and RU-vid combination work for me. I learn vocabulary and expressions from duolingo and write down in my notes the grammar topics I can't understand from duolingo then I go to RU-vid to learn the grammar topics from channels like this one. And then, duolingo provides me with what to learn next. I also want to clarify that at first I learned the letters from RU-vid and that when I started using duolingo, I was watching a Russian course for the basics on RU-vid, too.
Fedor: У меня ворос. What happens if after your analyze your recording, you realize that what you need to learn is WAY beyond your level. Take this sentence: "Рынок в моём районе закрылся в воскресенье, и никто не знает, когда он откроется снова." For some, that sentence could be a nightmare. 1) you have the -ся verbs; 2) you have double negatives "никто не"; and 3) you have some time markers "в воскресенье". Or take this rather simple sentence: Я положил книгу в сумку. In this case you need to remember that the book and the bag both need to be in accusative. So, I totally hear what you're saying, but sometimes I fear I'm in a situation where I'm ... бежать впереди паровоза. Not sure how to say that in English. So, my question is: what happens when you realize that your mistakes are too grammatically advanced to tackle at the moment?
I agree with everything you said here, Fedor. Books are useful if you want to quickly get an explanation for a grammar structure or if you want to expand your vocabulary. But input and speaking is far more important. I would actually argue that input is more important than output especially in the beginning. When you think of it, we spent probably a year just taking in input as babies before even speaking our first words in our native language. I would place understanding as the most important than speaking. Luckily we live in a time where content is easily accessible especially in terms of hearing native speakers (just go on RU-vid).
read a book work pretty well but you need to be more than a real beginner first step we need vocabulary and vacabulary and comprensible input .. in a book there is all you need all you need .. letter -> syllabus -> word -> phrase -> history pointer -> double pointer -> triple pointer
one thing that i *really* hate about language books is how they try to mimic natural learning through immersion (which obviously won't work). they will offer you very diluted grammar that sounds unnatural on it's own and a bunch of vocabulary specific to one certain topic at each chapter with a bunch of "natural day to day phrases!" as if that's anywhere near "natural learning" and that's extremely counter intuitive for me. grammar is the very basis for understanding *how* a language works, vocabulary is completely secondary. maybe that's just my linguist brain speaking but i'd much rather look at pure grammar to really get a grasp at how this language is thought and spoken and then start testing it with whatever random word i think is useful to my vocabulary. (of course one step at a time. usually i'd go for sentence order + simples tenses + negatives + questions first, but that can change from one language to another since grammar can be quite diverse) or well, at least that's what i've noticed when learning russian, korean, and chinese: russian and chinese i followed language books with a teacher for 1+ year; korean i went for pure grammar on my own + learned basic vocabulary along the way with the grammar examples i wrote for about 6 months, and guess which one i remember best? yep, korean. of course that's what works for me, a linguistics nerd. learning the grammar of another language requires you to understand the basics of your own language's grammar which ain't for everyone. but on that i can assure you one thing: learning your language's grammar is much easier and interesting when doing it to learn another language, than it is to do when studying for a school grade. in fact i sucked in grammar at school. lol
im a russian learner myself. i learn it 100% completely from free (no paid) sources that i can find on the internet. for example i watch a russian streamer on twitch and read all of the chats. that way you can learn more of daily words that you wont able to find in a textbook or courses)
Would not agree totally about books or reading not helping on the path to spoken Russian--or any language. Two of the best ways to learn how people actually do speak is through comic books or newspaper commentary/opinion sections.
I swear Fedor reads my mind and does videos just what I am thinking about.. LOL 😆 I will be doing another 8 week course with the Be Fluent Camp again to hone my skills and learn(or re-learn) more Russian....
Поздравляю ! "Congratulations?" (Im not relying so much on translators (which i use only for words..) Congratulations on your videos . Your work has improved a lot back then when you recorded videos writing down on paper i thought: "omg this guy has the balls to do something which he looks confident enough to, but kinda lost.. exactly like when i thought about teaching english online some 10 years ago before english teaching in brazil became overwhelmed.. and the internet has taken something from us teachers... Кажется мне что у нас есть несколько секунда на интернет, тогда люди думаете 《если или ними нравятся учитель или нет》 *argh I can't! . Sorry I typed something absurd of offensive (since I'm not checking translations) Seems to me that on the internet.. people can "instantly identify" like or not a teacher or method in like 3 seconds. Just like any other regular digital content. It's like before where students had their first class with that teacher and things change over the course of time.. Example: A student once told me she pictured me as "a very strict teacher" regarding to "no native language speaking in class and no translation whatsoever rules" we had in class.. and later she thanked me after realizing it helped her think .. or , more precisely "NOT TO THINK", just speak or try.. (like I've seen you recommend) Because she (the student) had she had the option to choose a less-demanding teacher, she wouldn't have had changed her view about language learning and would probably be stuck the same way We don't have this anymore i think... if someone willing to apply for a course, especially online, if you "don't look good enough" in the first few seconds they'll just scroll over or whatever... I really don't know why i am writing this. Yeah, because I think your work is inspiring and you have improved a lot ( I mean... The video editing/cut thing... this is very time consuming and can lead to nowhere) but for me. I think you were not concerned or at least it hasn't prevented you from recording the first video class) one of the videos I like the most is when you talked about the cultural biases / mentality differences west east. I think we underrate the teacher's role of talking about cultural background. It is of utmost importance to hear from a native speaker teacher his/her knowledge about culture. Otherwise why are people learning a second (maybe third or fourth language) anyway? Maybe that's why Id never tried to be an online teacher by myself. It takes more than being a native-speaker and charismatic (which I'm none) but some students sure had fun , I mean, they're not coming back if classes are boring... - which today is the least bad outcome out of a "terrible things that can happen in class" list... Congratulations on the hard work, courage and authenticity. Looking forward to joining your course. Sorry for the long post . (It has become my signature on RU-vid comments)
I slightly disagree with what you said about reading. No, reading doesn't boost your speaking, but it really goes a long way for your reading comprehension, you get used to the way sentences are formed and you build a lot of vocabulary! After forcing my way through a book called не навреди, my reading got much better and my listening profited too. So I say: Do read, but not with the expectation of speaking better afterwards.
When I was trying to learn French and more Spanish, grammar always tripped me up. And I was terrified of making spoken mistakes so I was better at understanding simple things than speaking. I don't know any Russians any more to speak to. But when my Russian landlord lady many decades ago would try to teach me and I got it wrong she'd get impatient. I told you a hundred timed why can't you understand! Well excuse me! I didn't learn English in one gulp, I still make grammar mistakes and I don't need to be humiliated to the point where I turn off. And I'm hearing impaired so it takes me longer to understand every sound. I get parts of a word. Then the word is never used again and boom I forget. I had two Spanish teachers who thought I knew the whole language just because I knew a little more. Mom was a language major and I learned later from dad that Spanish not English was my first language as a toddler which I don't remember. I never could roll my R's because she never said it enough expecting perfection. Because I have no accent in Spanish teachers thought I knew the language and would be harder on me turning me off. They literally would stop teaching me. If we're not supposed to say a certain thing don't introduce a word that we're not supposed to say as an example of what NOT to say. It's confusing. Let us make mistakes! It may take me a thousand times to say hello properly if I knew any Russians. Last thing I need is them laughing at me or yelling at me. It's natural for English speakers to speak it in a foreign language in structure. For instance in English we'd say white house. In Spanish it's house first then the color. In the beginning it was confusing. But if I said it in the English order in Spanish being yelled at or laughed at doesn't make one want to speak to anyone. An English speaker in Russian will make a thousand mistakes. But at least we try. There's a difference between correcting, explaining why and correcting just to criticize. I learn by making mistakes. Learning word games in a language. Learning letters and numbers. Repetition. Grammar was always hard because a teacher would introduce a word, only give one tense and then never mention the word again. It's frustrating. I didn't learn to conjugate when I was learning English as a toddler. I learned the sound. Then the word, then the meaning then how to use it. With repetition. I don't know lay from lie. What difference does it make. One knows what I'm trying to say. Don't get why there are two for the same word in my own language. Gender for words is foreign. I only know he and she. A table is a table. Why does a table or other inanimate object in a foreign language be feminine or masculine. I need to know the why! Easier to remember. Not just well that's how it's done. English doesn't have that. Very confusing.
This is good advice! My problem is that this language is so different from the other languages I speak, I have to memorize russian sentenced by making references. I know the alphabet and I am really hyped, but my brain just resists it. It is so frustrating. I have many words in my russian vocabulary, but I struggle with making sentences.
I never put a comment under this channel, but i wanted to say i'm really impressed by all the progress that has been made ( the montage that mix entertainement with education ) И сейчас я здесь, спасибо за всё работу конечно Из Франция ))
One time a native asked me where is terminal so and so in an airport, and I was able to help and speak well. But there are natives that are my neighbors that when I try to speak fluently I just cannot. I by no means see myself as a Russian-Language speaker, but I know that I try to get there. But still, pretty nice experiences
Итак, почему в тестах по русскому языку большое внимание уделяется правильному использованию грамматики? Я часто разговариваю сама с собой по-русски, но я чувствую, что мои выражения не всегда очень идиоматичные. Поэтому я часто общаюсь с русскими с помощью Telegram... Но есть русские, которые делают много опечаток...:)
I find I can understand English Russian Speakers quite well.. YOU speak VERY quickly... Which is fine as you are all about Fluency! I just have to rewind your videos more than others.
Quick Question! Are there some Russian SONGS that contain Often used sentences that we could listen to to help us learn? It is a known fact that Jingles, Nursery Rhymes and Songs help us to remember sequences?
*C1/C2 words* From this vid i will post in comments some C1/C2 words. The first one is моросить: 1 to drizzle 2 kind of talking, say a lot of unimportant/unnecessary words. Don't know how describe it properly (even in russian). Luis from Ant man and Ruby Rhod from Fifth element talk that way. Они моросят.
I have two problems when it comes to learning Russian. First, I have no one to talk to. I talk to myself and use whatever Russian I know. Second; I am so confused with the 6 grammar cases.
So, the one thing that stops me from speaking Russian is not being able to pronounce the r. Like, I've tried, I've watched all the videos, practiced with family (_all_ my family members can trill their rs) ... big nope. But I'm fine. I'm learning languages in order to consume media. 😛