Learning Russian is not easy, but I am having a lot of fun trying, alternating between youtube tutorials and a couple of textbooks. It is especially fun when textbook writers choose amusing inadvertent phrases to explain things like vowel reduction. I find that sounding out words in Russian is a little bit like "sounding out" music--perhaps a little bit like playing a familiar piece on a new instrument or in a new clef.
My favorite phrase so far comes from The Everything Learning Russian Book by Julia Stakhnevich:
Сумасшедший Вегетарианская
Something which I, of course, am (a crazy vegetarian).
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3 comments:
I studied Russian for four semesters in college some 30+ years ago and took my first trip to Russia only a few weeks ago. I had some fun trying to review and use it a little but it is a tough language. I admire you for taking it on.
I stumbled on your blog while searching for some advice about Beethoven's late quartets. That post (6/5/10) is wonderful, and I look forward to exploring more of your writing and music. I'm an optical engineer, singer-songwriter, and a fan of languages such as French, Japanese, and Russian, among other things (sometime blogger).
The search for the late quartets was triggered by Kim Stanley Robinson's SF book "2312" in which one of the characters in that year has a special love for the late quartets.
I hope you enjoy your journey through the Beethoven Quartets. Since you enjoy things Russian, there is some Russian folk material sprinkled in the Opus 59 Quartets (sometimes referred to as the middle quartets) that I'm sure you will enjoy.
Well done Elaine, it's a tough gig to learn Mighty Russian. You are very courageous.
Just a tiny correction to your spelling of "crazy vegetarian":
Сумасшедшая вегетарианка
(note the second word is a noun and also feminine)
PS. I discovered your blog just recently, it's thought provoking and so freshly different. I'm enjoying it a great deal.
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