My name is Valentim (I think spelled Валентим?) and I'm a native English speaker who is trying to learn Russian. Do you have any tips? I'm sure you've gotten asks like this before but if you want help studying English I'm more than happy to help.
Hi! Thanks for the interest in my blog and in the Russian language. I'm not a professional teacher, but here's what I could advise for those who are just starting to learn Russian.
1. The Alphabet. We have many letters. Some of them aren't pronounced but still influence how words sound. I think you can find videos on YouTube to hear how it all works. In general, the Cyrillic alphabet we use is different, so you'll just have to get used to it.
2. Start with basic phrases – "привет/здравствуйте" (hi/hello), "спасибо" (thank you), "как дела?" (how are you?), "я не понимаю" (I don't understand), "повторите, пожалуйста" (could you repeat that, please), "сколько это стоит?" (how much does this cost?), "где… (что-либо)?" (where is… (something)?) and so on.
Makes a note to write a post about this later.
3. Verbs are the foundation of any language. So, take a few of the most common verbs and learn their conjugations. Start with the present tense. For example, the verb "говорить" (to speak):
я говорю, он/она говорит, ты говоришь, они говорят, мы говорим, вы говорите.
You'll have to repeat it a lot, and memorize a great deal. And some conjugation rules you'll just have to accept – they don't follow logic, even from a native speaker's perspective.
4. If the ever-changing verbs haven't scared you off yet, Russian has another surprise in store: nouns change according to case. There are six in total. Finnish has eleven, if I remember correctly. Maybe this info will help you not to give up on Russian halfway through. To begin with, it's enough to focus on learning the Accusative and Prepositional cases. Here, a grammar textbook that explains it better than I could would probably help. Or an AI.
5. Universal advice – watch, read, and listen to everything you can in Russian. YouTube, music, movies, cartoons. But I have a small personal recommendation: in my opinion, it's best to start with Soviet-era cartoons and films. The reason is simple – they have very clear diction; all words are pronounced distinctly and correctly. I, for example, stopped watching modern Russian films and series a long time ago because I sometimes find it hard to make out what people are saying.
6. Don't be afraid of difficulties and try to speak more! Even without knowing the correct noun case or the proper verb conjugation – you will be understood! I sometimes refer to myself using the masculine form simply because it's shorter, even though it's considered a mistake. For example, "ya poyel" instead of "ya poyela". In our culture, we tend to be delighted by any foreigner who tries to speak Russian, so welcome! (But it's better not to use Chatroulette as a means of communication – there's a high chance of running into toxic jerks).
