Best site for learning a language?
Best site for learning a language?
I want to learn how to speak Russian and have for years now, but have no idea where to begin. I don't think finding an actual tutor to help is really an option and I've used Duolingo in the past but don't really find it too helpful.
Anyone had any experience with learning Russian or even any language online?
LingQ is pretty good. It depends on your goals really. You should establish what level of fluency you want to achieve on what timeline and work backwards from there. The following is based on the Refold method. I don't know much about Russian, but if I had to take a guess, a comprehensive plan to get to CEFR C1 fluency (advanced speaker, above B2 functional fluency) might look like:
- Figure out mechanics of the language: pronunciation and writing system. These basic mechanics of the spoken and written language are your foundation for the rest of your journey, so make sure you understand the phonemes (~sounds) and graphemes (~letters). I'd guess you could figure this out in a month or two.
- Take a formal course to learn the most common 1500 root words of the language. This is where duolingo (most courses finish at around this level) or something like that will be really handy in helping you learn the core of the language without it being too boring. Probably takes 4-6 months. This is the elementary level and will probably let you understand ~80% of easy content.
- Now you need to learn something like 5 - 15k words in the target language to overcome the "intermediate plateau." This is where sites like LingQ come in or graded readers and listeners if you can find them. Your focus should be listening and reading Russian and picking up new words as you read. Probably will take 1 - 2 years.
- After overcoming the intermediate plateau, you now start really transitioning towards fluency. The pace of unknown words should slow down as you learn enough, so you can start comfortably immersing yourself in Russian. This will let your acquisition of the language take off since you're now able to get through so much content so quickly without having to slow down to learn lots of new words. The key is for your brain to have developed a "Russian language machine" via massive amounts of content you understand. After that, you should be able to express yourself at a very high level of fluency.
best of luck! this probably sounds intimidating - the key is to have fun along the way and enjoy the process. it's fairly deterministic, and personally I think it's rewarding to "feel" your understanding increase little-by-little over time.
I really enjoy learning languages. I have learned a little russian, but not enough to consider myself even close to fluent.
Not everybody necessarily works through things the same way, but I like to start with learning the fundamentals of a language before I go heavily in on vocabulary or grammar. In the case of Russian, you would want to learn to read/write Cyrllic and have an idea of the basic sentence structures. Then, like azanra4 said, get a grasp of the sounds that are used regularly in the language. If you have no background in eastern slavic languages, it might take longer than if you already spoke Ukranian or Belarusian.
I would definitely reach out and see if you can find any actual tutors. You might be surprised by the availability of a russian tutor if you were just looking for one. Even if one isn't available locally, I guarantee you can find someone online. Engaging with a native speaker early on can help cull any bad habits before they form (especially with pronunciation), and prevent you from falling into sounding like you learned all your language from a textbook. At the same time, I wouldn't start day 1 with a tutor. Get some of those basic fundamentals out of the way so you can bring questions to your tutors.
I alos like LingQ, just because I think finding something within the language you really enjoy is pretty important to sticking with it. Nobody learns a language by reading a dictionary or memorizing vocabulary. The good news is Russian is a major language with a lot of speakers and media available.
How do you find tutors? And like is it in-person usually or virtual?
And uh, if there are financial constraints what would you suggest?
I live in a more rural area so I go more virtual these days, but I prefer in-person still if it is an option. In my country there are actually free magazines published that have a language exchange section in the back people can post classifieds, I used this for when I was studying Korean, but you could do the same with somethings like craigslist if it is available in your area.
I generally have always paid money, I find both parties are more invested that way, but that isn't the only option. Language exchanges exist, where you offer your own time as a tutor in your native language for them. It can be rewarding and teaching your own language can actually help you learn others more effectively (people do not always understand their own native language in the same way that a language learner would). Just be aware that your learning time is also going to be split with teaching.
Memrise has courses for different languages and mostly focuses on vocabulary instead of grammar. You can also check out the Easy Languages on YouTube, which has a channel for Russian and some videos on the main channel for smaller languages that don't have their own channels.
I had good experience with Mango languages a while back. It’s free with a valid library card I believe. Currently I use Duolingo just because it’s easier to keep me doing it daily with their reminders. I’m also learning Russian so I would be interested in seeing other responses
Really depends on the language. Besides the obvious big players there are often websites dedicated to self-learning for a single language. Have you checked them out? I'm sure there should be a bunch of those for Russian.
I just want to add, that if you understand a few words and sentences, you can also watch old soviet cartoons for children. I knew once a person from Georgia who learned to speak Russian this way. It was enough to have a simple conversation