10TIP

S FOR

LEARNIN

G

RUSSIAN

By Steve Kaufmann    www.lingq.com

1 Take an interest.

Discover thefascination ofthe Russianworld, itshistory, itsculture, its

achievementsand itspeople.

2 Recognize.

Recognize that Russian is the lingua franca ofthe countries of a former Empire, stretching

from Eastern Europe to the Pacific.

3 Learn the Russianalphabet.

Learn theRussian

alphabet rightaway. It is

almost parallelto the Latinalphabet, withjust a few extra

letters.

4 Read as much asyou can.

5 Listen a lot.

Russian is a beautifullanguage. Don’t let thepronunciation intimidateyou. Gradually you will hearthe language better, andbe able to pronounce

more clearly.

6 The threegrammar issues.

theissuesthree

cases aspectof verbs

verbs ofmotion

The difficulties of Russian grammar

revolve around three issues,

The rest is a breeze.

Get acquainted with these three

but don’t expect to understand

nor remember much at first.

Don’t spend too much time

trying to memorize rules and tables.

Your grasp will grow gradually.

7 Tenses.

8 Personal pronouns.

Personalpronounsare not

always usedand wordorder isflexible.

9 Questions.

QUESTIONSare often a matter of

intonation.

10 Recognize.

Recognize that the journey is alonger one than for Romanceor Germanic languages (unlessyou already know a Slavic

language), but it is definitely,definitely, worth it.

@lingosteve

www.lingq.com