TIPS FOR LEARNING RUSSIAN ONLINE
We placed a link to the article on the Lessons page because this is an important article for all Russian language learners written by a native speaker of Russian. The tips contained in the article will be helpful to anyone learning Russian no matter what your native language is. The purpose of the article is to make learning Russian more effective and reasonably fast.
The article is based on two major factors:
- Our teaching technique, and
- Special nature of the Russian language
Moving from A to Z
Due to the nature and complexity of the Russian language, we recommend starting with simple subjects mastering more complex subjects as you move forward. That is, start with Lesson 1 and move forward until you hit the last lesson in the lesson list.
If you already have the basic knowledge of the Russian language, we recommend starting from the beginning, which might cause you to rethink your technique for learning Russian and look at some subjects at a different perspective.
Practice makes perfect
Due to the fact that all lessons are recorded in English and all the Russian examples are voiced by a native speaker of Russian allows you to practice practically everything you see in the lessons. The more you practice the better results you will get in the long run. Try to repeat every Russian word you see and hear in lessons.
Multiple repetition
The Russian language offers quite a complex and at the same time a perfect way to connect words into sentences. We use different endings to connect words into collocations and sentences. Therefore, every Russian word might have a dozen endings, which are used to show relationships between words, and consequently convey a specific meaning.
When you start learning the Russian grammar you realize that you have to learn a number of endings because you cannot connect even two words in Russian without changing their endings and it really may drive you away from learning Russian because it might seem to you that you won't be able to learn all those numerous endings much less use them fluently selecting the right ones on the go. In reality, it is much easier and not that frightening. Yes, the Russian grammar may seem way too difficult as compared to that of the German languages at the same time Russians themselves manage to learn it and speak it quite fluently. The trick is that we don't pay any attention to the endings when we speak Russian. That is, if you ask a native speaker of Russian if he thinks what endings to use when speaking, the answer will be NO. We don't think about selection of a proper ending at all because we focus on forms with different endings, rather than on the endings of those words. For instance, we know a basic form of the word - проблема (a problem) and if we need to connect it into a collection - решение проблемы (solution to a problem), to you it might seem that we changed the ending from -а to -ы to show a meaningful relationship between the two words but from our perspective we used a different form of the word, a genitive form of the word - проблемы. We did it without thinking, intuitively because our brain offers a word form, which is much faster. You might have a question how our brain learned to do it so fast? The answer is that we create patterns in our brain by multiple repetition of the endings for a certain period so it could come up with proper word forms intuitively. That's why multiple repetition is so important in mastering certain grammar subjects. You teach your brain to do the work for you. If you focus on learning endings, rather than on making your brain do most of work for you then your speech will be very slow and you will use a lot of energy speaking Russian.
So, don't be afraid when you see a bunch of endings, simply give your brain enough samples to build patterns and he will do the rest of work for you. We take the fact into account in our lessons and give you the best samples repeated as many times as necessary to build the patterns. All you need to do is to understand how the thing works and repeat the endings as many times as needed to build a pattern in your mind.
Stick Russian words to images
Most people have difficulty memorizing new foreign words because they are not associated with anything in our brain. When you learn new Russian words try to assign the new words to images. Our brain memorizes images better than textual information because this information is natural to us; we see images from the first moments of our life while textual information is something that we acquire through multiple repetition. Normally it takes me 3-4 times to run into a word in the context in order to memorize it and use it fluently. When you invoke an image in your mind that is associated with a particular word your brain returns it with a blink of an eye while trying to recall a particular piece of the text might take you longer or return nothing.
Learn associated words
Whenever you learn words try to learn them in collocations, for example you need to learn a new Russian word - решение (solution). When looking up your dictionary you may see a number of collocations with the word, for example,
решение проблемы (solution to a problem)
находить решение (find a solution)
These are all genuine pieces of the living language that are perceived as native elements by Russian speakers and you may rest assure that you will be understood. In other words, collocations are native pieces of the languages that you may put together to make your sentences sound really native and idiomatic. I call collocations lively implants that save us a lot of time because they are ready to use and all you need to do is to integrate them into your sentence.
Another reason to learn new words in collocations is that you learn how to put words together and spend less time on processing relationships between words when making your own collocations. For example, Russian speakers will connect the two words with the cases of nouns or by using a genitive form of the word - проблемы while English speakers will use a preposition - to in order to connect the two words examplified above.
Don't make prolonged breaks between lessons
It is very important that you learn Russian consistently and constantly without prolonged breaks. Learning Russian 15 minutes every day is much more effective than learning it 1-2 times a week even if your class lasts 1-2 hours. It is a proved fact that we lose our focus after 15-20 minutes of digesting new information. Like any other mscle our brain may get tired as well. For this reason we offer short lessons that will allow you to keep your focus on the subject.
Three steps forward and one step from scratch
As you move forward when learning new things you might catch yourself thinking that you've already forgot something that you already learnt at the beginning of the process, which might cause you to slow down or learn new materials less effectively. You won't be able to build effective pattern for one sitting, which means you will need to go over the same materials 2-4 times. I recommend building the learning process in the following way. When you feel that you have difficulty recalling and using the things that you learnt at the beginning it means that it is time to start from scratch as you keep learning new things. For instance, if you're at lesson 50 I suggest that you listen to lessons 50, 51 and 52 and listen to lesson 1. You will be moving forward but at the same time you will be recalling and practicing the things that already faded in your memory.
Be ready to go an extra mile
Even if you digested too much information and feel like closing the tab with the site be ready to put a little more efforts in order to complete learning a particular subject. That will allow your brain to get enough details to process new information. Speaking in images, you will never be able to enjoy the entire picture until you put the last piece of the puzzle.