Top 6 Russian Learning Tips
There are many different resources and methods a student could use to learn Russian when beginning an introductory Russian course. When it comes to language learning, there is indeed a right way and a wrong way. Some habits will hinder the learning process while others will accelerate it. For that reason, today we are going to be separating the good habits from the bad.
Tip #1: Commit to half an hour a day of study
Consistency and patience are your friends. Mastering a language is a long-term endeavor that will take time. If you commit to the goal of studying for at least a half hour a day, in half a year, you will likely have already built up a 3,000-word vocabulary that will allow you to explain yourself in pretty much all situations. Of course, there are some days when you just don’t feel like studying, but sometimes you just have to overcome barriers to achieve a goal, and 30 minutes is quite a small commitment that you can manage. A lot of the time, you will end up wanting to study for a lot longer than that.
On the flip side, what you shouldn’t do is try to learn all the words in one day, two days, or three days and then abandon it for weeks. Consistency is proven to be effective at memorizing things long-term, something that any Russian teacher will emphasize, whether in an intro Russian, Russian intermediate, or Russian advanced course
Tip #2: Vocabulary over Grammar
The most important thing in learning any language is the words themselves – the vocabulary. Russians will understand whatever you’re trying to say in the majority of situations as long as you have the vocabulary down. If all you know well is the grammar, it’ll be impossible for them to understand you. For that reason, grammar can and should always be dealt with later. You should certainly not be worrying about grammar while you’re in the middle of a sentence as this will paralyze you’re speaking. Grammar should only be dealt with while you’re sitting down with a textbook and should be dealt with gradually, not right away. Your initial introduction to Russian should only feature minor grammar details.
Tip #3: Oral Practice over Written Practice
The way that speech originally evolved was through oral, not written, communication. Until a few thousand years ago, humans didn’t even have a written communication system. Our ability to learn languages and memorize words reflects this, as do any quality online and study abroad Russian classes, such as those TransEurope teaches. Oral conversation is an active form of conversation while written communication is passive.
Subtitled Movies
For that reason, one of the most effective, popular ways to learn Russian is by watching subtitled movies and TV shows. Students who study abroad in Russia usually already watch movies or videos anyway and it’s easy to learn a language by doing something you already enjoy. You should choose something in the genre or on a topic that interests you. While watching, you will get to hear the proper way that words are pronounced and learn proper sentence constructions.
Meanwhile, if they miss what was said during a movie, students who study Russian abroad or online can just check the subtitles. Even if your vocabulary is rather limited, these will help you understand the meaning of a particular word based on the context and start using it yourself. It’s important not to just rely on a dictionary as many of those words may not be used often at all while TV shows will show you what words and expressions you’ll likely want to know to understand modern speech.
Music
Music is arguably even more useful for understanding oral Russian speech than movies, since the sounds are often pronounced very clearly. If you find songs that you really enjoy, you will end up listening to them over and over and over too. It will be never hard not to memorize those words, and you can look up the lyrics to find out what they mean. Then sing them yourself.
Tip #4: Try Thinking in Russian
Trying to think to yourself in Russian will give you extra practice and will certainly speed up the language-learning process. Words will become more familiar to you and the speed of your speech will increase. There are all kinds of phrases you use and encounter in your daily life, which your Russian teacher can tell you in Russian. If you’re a pilot, when you see an airplane, you can think “самолёт” to yourself, then when you see the engine, you can say “двигатель”. If you have to get up early all the time, you can think “слишком рано” (“too early”). When something great happens, say “круто!” (“cool!”).
Tip #5: Practice in Person
One important reason why reading alone at home is a less effective way to study is because emotion is very important in the process of memorization. When you just sit at home reading isolated words on a piece of paper, it’s not going to stick in the same way as if you encountered those sentences in a specific story from your Russian tutor online or when approaching locals during a program of study in Russia. When you hear somebody talking in person, you will hear them better and practice.
Meanwhile, you will gain confidence in your own ability to use the language and pronounce sounds correctly. On top of that, both of you will be speaking with emotion and that will help the word stick in your mind. Therefore, going out and meeting people will go a long way. You’ll also get to enjoy the aspects of the culture. In the case that you’re at home just trying to memorize words (such as doing homework for a regular Study in RU-101 program), imagine something that the word will remind you of. For example, for the word старый (“stary”), which means “old”, imagine an old man look up at the stars on a starry night.
Tip #6: Hire a Russian Teacher
This is the best option for learning Russian, and the reason is you need to have an established plan to be able to reach a certain level within a certain period of time. Otherwise, you may never learn to speak properly or continue to postpone learning Russian until later. You are also going to want to deal with a teacher in the Russian language who can explain your strengths and weaknesses and encourage you.
TransEurope is one of the leading language schools teaching Russian online as well as in Moscow. Our in-person and online Russian tutor staff take a tailored approach to every one of our students and tell them by which date they will achieve a guaranteed level in Russian, based on the specific goal they have in learning Russian, whether for travel, meeting people, business, education, or something else.
Send us a message using the contact form today and try out your first Russian class.