Tag Archives: learning languages
Why Are (Most) Russians Bad At Speaking Other Languages Posted by Maria on Jan 9, 2019
Several people who visited Russia told me they were surprised to discover that relatively few people spoke or understood English, even in the service industry in large cities. Generally speaking, the educational system and the environment in Russia contribute to this state of affairs. Largely Monolingual In a 2014 survey by the Levada Center pollster…
Fear of Speaking a Second Language Posted by Jenya on Nov 4, 2015
I can remember back to when I began learning English in school about 10 years before actually coming to America. It was fun, exciting, and quite difficult. My parents had always told me that I needed to learn English in order to have a brighter future. Before I’d graduated our version of high school, I’d…
Learning Russian After English Posted by Maria on May 4, 2015
We are continuing last week’s discussion of how learning a different second language first may have helped — or impeded — you in learning Russian. Since English is the most commonly studied foreign language, it’s only natural we discuss it next. I would guess for speakers of other European languages Russian may seem infinitely more…
Maria joins the Russian blogging team Posted by Maria on Feb 3, 2014
Hello everyone! Всем привет! My name is Maria (Меня зовут Мария), and I will be joining the Russian Language Blog as a contributor. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and remind you of how you can introduce yourself and talk about your biography in Russian. I was born in the Russian…