Archive for 'Russian for beginners'
Derivative prepositions (производные предлоги) and how to get them right Posted by bota on Jul 23, 2020
Prepositions (предлоги) are functional words that work together with nouns, noun phrases, and pronouns to show direction, time, and relation to other objects. Other wonderful blogs on this platform have covered prepositions (Russian prepositions of direction, prepositions of time, “в” or “на”) and provided great guidance on when to use them and even how to…
15 Funny English Phrases To Help You Learn Russian Expressions Posted by Nadya on Jul 9, 2020
The Phonetic Association Method is a way to make vocabulary learning easier. The strategy is based on the selection of resembled sounds. With it, you can memorize up to 30-50 words per day. It is a life hack, when in a short time you need to learn a large number of words. Using this method…
Мягкий знак “Ь” (soft sign) or the Charlie Chaplin of the Russian alphabet Posted by bota on Jun 22, 2020
What can the 30th letter of the Russian alphabet have in common with the icon of the silent film industry? Let’s find out together. Many beginner Russian learners find the soft sign (мя́гкий знак) to be one of the most intriguing letters of the Russian alphabet because it doesn’t have its own phonetic meaning but…
How to sound Russian in less than 4 letters Posted by bota on Jun 1, 2020
An interjection is, ironically, a big name for the little words we use to express emotions. Here are five such utterances that have less than four letters. These interjections will help you feel and sound more Russian than saying babooshka over and over again (with the exception of Kate Bush, of course.) Эx [ˈɛx]…
Why Reading Russian is Better Than Relying on English Transcriptions Posted by Maria on Nov 21, 2019
For speakers of languages that use Latin letters, the Cyrillic alphabet is often the first obstacle for learning Russian. There are some crutches beginners can, such as relying on recordings or Latin transliterations, but these workarounds have some significant drawbacks. I’d like to share why actually learning to read Russian will help you in the…
5 Russian Phrases To Get Past Comprehension Barriers Posted by Maria on Aug 14, 2019
Some approaches to learning a language, such as the communicative method, encourage teachers and students to only use the target language in the classroom. What do you do if you don’t understand what was just said or lack the vocabulary to ask the other person to repeat or explain? This post will equip you with…
Why You Should Learn to Read Russian Vowels Posted by Maria on Feb 7, 2019
The Russian alphabet is one of the first challenges a prospective student runs into. We have posted some advice for learning the alphabet on this blog, but if you don’t know where to start, start with the vowels. Learning to read and pronounce Russian vowels is a manageable task that has many benefits. Only 10…