EntranceHow to quickly learn Russian. Individual Russian language training
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The Russian language, as well as speech culture, are one of the main subjects in school programs. However, knowledge is not always acquired by students properly, and even more often it is simply lost over the subsequent years of life. Meanwhile, knowing the Russian language and being able to not only express yourself correctly, but also write correctly is very important. It’s funny and sad when you hear TV presenters or politicians talk some kind of nonsense, pronouncing words completely incorrectly, or when you read seemingly serious and useful articles in newspapers, magazines or the Internet, but you see that the words in them are written haphazardly , for example, instead of “obvious” they write “on the face”, instead of “to mom” they write “to mom”, instead of “bad weather” they write “bad weather”, etc. But, in fact, it doesn’t matter what goals and objectives you set for yourself, you need to know the Russian language, if only for the simple reason that by doing so you express respect for your native speech and culture, show respect for yourself and the people around you .
And today we will talk about how an adult can do this. But before describing the ten ways we have prepared for you to close knowledge gaps, we would like to point out one extremely important point.
In fact, improving your literacy is quite simple, but you should understand that you won’t be able to do this in a week or two. At best, this process can take you several months, or even years. Therefore, having decided that you really want to properly master your native language, make sure that books such as a grammar reference book and a dictionary of the Russian language become your faithful companions. It is not necessary, of course, to always have them with you (although you can download them to your tablet, laptop or smartphone), but you should definitely make them your desktop aids.
And if suddenly in some situation you experience difficulty, for example, you are not sure exactly how to spell a word or what it means, do not neglect to use a dictionary. Likewise, when you learn a new term, take a moment to find out its exact definition. By doing this, you will always improve your literacy and expand your vocabulary.
So, if you're ready, here are ways to close the Russian language literacy gap.
10 Ways to Close Literacy Gaps
Each of the presented methods is interesting in its own way. You can use them either individually or in combination. By the way, if you give preference to the second option, your successes will be more impressive, and the process itself will go much faster.
Method one - read
Reading is perhaps the best and the right way improving literacy in the Russian language. But taking into account the fact that many people are accustomed to being intellectually lazy, they receive most of their information by listening to the radio, watching news, topical programs, movies, etc. This, of course, is good, but unfortunately, it does not make it more intelligent (in the literal sense of the word). Increase your knowledge level native language Reading will help you improve your spelling.
The fact is that books contain an incredible number of words. And while reading, a person receives several advantages at once: firstly, his vocabulary expands, secondly, the skill of combining and combining lexical units develops, and thirdly, when reading, the brain visually records the correct spelling of various terms and concepts, thanks to which reduces the number of spelling errors in a letter (by the way, if you read ours, you can pass a short spelling test). And another significant advantage of reading is broadening your horizons.
The second way is to write
Although reading lessons (sessions) are extremely useful, spelling specifically can be improved by writing more. Spend at least 30 minutes every day on this, and very soon you will notice that you have gained confidence when writing various words. In addition, this allows you to study all sorts of subtleties of punctuation. But, of course, this method will only work if you always check what you write (the correct spelling of words and punctuation marks).
If you are concerned about the question of what exactly to write, then absolutely everything will do here. You can write a short story from your life, describe the past day, present it in short form content of your favorite movie. Keeping a journal is also helpful. By the way, if for some reason you don’t feel like writing with a pen on paper, use a text editor on your computer. If you wish, you can even set the goal of starting your own blog on the Internet at interesting topic(and if you like it, over time you can make it one of your sources of income or even your main one).
Method three - check and eliminate doubts
Good ways to learn Russian are not only reading and writing, but also constantly testing yourself and clearing your doubts. You are probably familiar with the situation when you write something or even just talk about something, and you have doubts that you wrote or pronounced it correctly (this also includes the question of the semantic correctness of the use of terms and concepts).
So: such situations should not be considered something out of the ordinary; everyone faces them. But the question is what will you do about it. We recommend that you spare no time and devote it to finding answers and eliminating doubts. Look online or open a dictionary to make sure you haven't made a mistake. By the way, it is precisely such cases that allow you to remember information best, because even a slight uncertainty about something is always microstress, accompanied by emotional reaction. And, as you know, what evokes emotions in a person is remembered for a long time. Thus, by eliminating doubts, you will internalize the lessons learned for life.
Method four - use online services
Today, almost every person has access to the Internet, and if ten years ago it could be called a curiosity, now having a tablet, smartphone or laptop at hand has become as natural as brushing your teeth in the morning. In addition, access points to World Wide Web is currently available in many public places and institutions.
Firstly, you can find specialized Russian language courses on the Internet. These include 4brain, as well as materials from such platforms as “Universarium”, “Intuit”, “Lectorium”, “PostNauka”, “Lectorium” and others (you can read more about them). And secondly, there are many “lightweight” services where it is possible, for example, to simply enter a word and find out its spelling or meaning. Also, such resources often offer checking for grammar, punctuation, etc.
Therefore, when any difficulties arise, feel free to contact sites such as gramota.ru, therules.ru, online.orfo.ru, text.ru, languagetool.org and others. These are, of course, not Russian language lessons, but still good ways studying.
Method five – install the “Word of the Day” application
The Word of the Day application is a very simple and at the same time effective tool for replenishing vocabulary. By the way, Igor Mann wrote about him very well in his book “”. The application is completely easy to install on your computer or gadget - here it is.
Once you install it, your vocabulary will increase by one word every day. Some might say that there is nothing special about this, but that would be wrong. The fact is that every day we all communicate, using for the most part only words we know, and we learn new ones only by accident. Therefore, “Word of the Day” will be a good alternative to these “accidents”.
And if you carry out simple mathematical calculations, then in a year you will learn 365 new words, in two years - 730, in five years - 1825, etc. Agree, not a bad result? Thus, after even one month, you will notice that your speech has become richer and your writing style has become more perfect. Plus, looking at a word that appears on the screen, even one you know well, you will remember its spelling.
Method six - learn the rules
If Russian language lessons are a stage you have already completed, and, for example, a tutor is irrelevant for some reason, but you need to improve your literacy, learn the rules yourself. Ideally, this method involves learning one rule every day. But if you take into account the fact that, most likely, you have a job, hobbies, family matters and everything else, and the rules need to be not only memorized, but also learned, you can devote two or three days to studying one thing.
You can, for example, learn today, practice a little, and tomorrow repeat the rule and practice again. And the day after tomorrow - perform several exercises without repeating the rule.
If such methods of learning the rules of the Russian language become an integral part of your life, over time you will master this subject to perfection. And if you have nowhere to rush, do it calmly, because even a slow walker will reach his goal while crowds of onlookers stand and watch. And you can learn and study these same rules using the same textbooks, collections of rules and online services.
Method seven – reread and edit
This method is very suitable for those who, for some reason, are forced or simply like to communicate with friends, family, colleagues or partners through special programs like Skype, ICQ, QIP, Viber, WhatsUp or even social networks such as “VKontakte” and “Odnoklassniki”. It sounds somewhat unusual, but even from such communication you can benefit from improving your literacy.
While most people prefer to express themselves using “pasibka”, “mne lira”, “sps”, “priva” and “dosvidos”, we advise you to approach the process of online communication consciously. Just write competent and correct messages. As soon as you have written something, do not rush to press Enter, but re-read what you have written, correct errors, add the appropriate punctuation marks and only then send.
It may take you a little more time, but you will learn to write correctly. And if you dig a little deeper, the newfangled abbreviations so beloved by many simply worsen the culture of speech, reduce brain activity, and have a detrimental effect on attentiveness, concentration and the development of thinking in general.
Method eight – study with a tutor
Tutoring is one of the the best ways improving literacy in any subject, including the Russian language. A competent tutor always uses an individual approach to teaching, taking into account the characteristics of his student and his existing knowledge and skills. If something is not clear, he will explain it clearly, help eliminate gaps and deal with difficulties. Among other things, a professional specialist can significantly speed up the educational process.
Note that you can hire a tutor at any age, and there is nothing wrong with that. On the contrary, if a tutor helps you, then you are interested in receiving new information, correcting mistakes, your education, in the end. For this reason, if you do not want to engage in self-study, feel free to hire a personal teacher and study with him.
But still, we note that such classes can hit your pocket, because the services of qualified teachers are not cheap. And if you work with unqualified specialists, it may end up wasting money. However, if the issue of costs does not bother you much, finding a professional will not be difficult.
Method nine – Russian language course from 4BRAIN
Separately about our Russian language course. If we consider different ways studying the subject, it occupies far from the last or even ninth (as in this article) place among them. It was compiled professionally - the best teaching materials and the experience of our colleagues were used in its creation. And we approached its preparation with all seriousness and the desire to create truly useful, concentrated material.
The course includes trial testing, which allows you to identify problem areas in Russian language proficiency, an individual training schedule that allows you to optimally distribute time and workload, many daily short lessons and various methods of intermediate control of material mastery. In total, the program allows you to improve your Russian language quite well in just three weeks.
The Russian language course from 4BRAIN is designed for people aged 10-12 years old who are familiar with the basic rules, but are experiencing certain difficulties. To learn more about the course and get more information, go to. We will be happy to offer you a complete and adaptive program training.
Method ten - other options
In conclusion, let's say a few words about other options for eliminating problems with the Russian language. Among them are such ways of studying and testing knowledge as solving crosswords and scanwords - this allows you not only to learn new words, but also to remember their spelling. This also includes all kinds of tests, rebuses, puzzles and anagrams that develop cognitive and intellectual abilities.
And if you want to combine business with pleasure, you need to watch more documentaries, speeches by speakers and public people. This way you can learn to speak correctly, learn new words and notice the mistakes that others make.
Remember that it doesn’t matter which ways of learning Russian you like best: a tutor and private lessons, online classes, reading or anything else, the most important thing is to work on yourself and strive to improve your results. We wish you success and unwavering motivation in this endeavor!
Have you been learning Russian for several months now, but you still can’t say a word, and watching movies is out of the question? You're probably just learning Russian incorrectly.
Let's talk about simple but effective rules that will help you speak Russian in just a few lessons!
Rule 1. Learn Russian using the immersion method. Listen to the radio, watch movies, look for video lessons in Russian. An intermediary language prevents you from concentrating on the language you are learning and, accordingly, slows down the process of mastering Russian. If you want to speak Russian or understand this language, communication technique will give you much more than any grammar guide.
Rule 2. Try to memorize phrases rather than individual words. Along with the phrase, you also learn grammar. How to use this or that word in this context and in this situation, how to construct sentences, how to ask questions - all this comes not with cramming the rules, but with memorizing the most used phrases in the Russian language.
Rule 3. The aspect of the language that you focus on most when learning will be the one you develop best. For example, if you only do grammar tasks, inflect words, conjugate verbs, you will be a master in this matter. But you will never speak if you don't try to speak. Do you want to watch Russian films? Watch movies! Do you want to talk to Russians freely? Try to talk, find a teacher or someone to talk to and practice, and you will start talking! You can't play on musical instrument, if you only watch others play. Practice required!
Rule 4. Spend at least ten minutes on Russian language lessons, but every day. If you hear Russian speech and try to speak, the results will not keep you waiting. Repeat the material you have covered, try to talk to Russians. Regularity is very important in the process of language acquisition.
Rule 5. Find your motivation. If you don't know why you need Russian, you'll give up your lessons very soon. Read Dostoevsky in the original? A great reason to learn Russian! Travel all over Russia alone? Great, you need to know at least basic phrases to survive. Watch Russian comedy programs and understand the Russian mentality? Wonderful motivation. Or maybe you want to find your love in Russia? Or conquer Russian speakers distant relatives your family? Look for your personal motivation, and you will not give up learning Russian!
Listen, speak, read and join our large Russian-speaking family!
For everyone who wants to learn how to teach Russian to foreigners: a distance course
Conversational Russian for beginners and foreigners continuing to study Russian should be studied using Russian communicative dialogues. On this page we will explain why it takes foreigners a long time to master spoken Russian, and we will also give practical recommendations how to practice dialogues in Russian language lessons for foreigners.
Why is it so important to include work on dialogues in Russian language lessons?
How to get the most out of learning Russian through dialogues?
Conversational Russian for foreigners
The foreigner understands everything, but cannot say
Often, foreigners studying Russian do not feel free in real life situations: they cannot maintain a dialogue, they cannot express their thoughts - do not speak spoken Russian.
Why is this happening?
If the lessons of Russian as a foreign language are carried out as usual: we read - translate the text, do grammar exercises, answer a small number of questions about the text, then the foreigner’s brain works in the mode that is necessary for this type of activity, i.e. a foreigner learns to read, translate, search for answers to questions in the text, while remembering new words slowly (to the extent that they are necessary for understanding the text).
When studying the Russian language in this way, a foreigner learns to take tests, but this does not mean that he learns to SPEAK Russian, since it is impossible to master spoken Russian.
What to do to make a foreigner speak Russian?
To start speaking Russian, a foreigner needs to develop completely different skills than to read and perform grammar exercises. A foreigner must, firstly, learn to understand Russian speech by ear, and secondly, quickly respond to the remarks of his interlocutors in various life situations; it is necessary to develop automaticity in speech.
What should a teacher do? Russian as a foreign language?
In a lesson of Russian as a foreign language, you need to simulate an environment close to the real one language environment. For this, most literary and journalistic texts will not help us, because they use vocabulary that we do not use in colloquial speech in everyday communication.
Therefore, it is so IMPORTANT to use communicative dialogues in Russian language lessons for foreigners, from which foreigners can learn the necessary vocabulary, and also learn how to correctly construct phrases that they can use in real life, in everyday conversation.
How to work on dialogues in Russian language lessons for foreigners?
When working on dialogues in Russian language lessons for foreigners We recommend following the following scheme:
1. The teacher needs to read the dialogue, separating the lines different people over longer time periods. If you have a strong student, then it is better for a foreigner to listen to the dialogue for the first time without looking at the book. If the student is weak, then he can listen to the dialogue and follow the text.
2. Now the foreigner must read the dialogue from the book and translate it (if this is group classes, then foreigners read the dialogue in roles). The teacher needs to draw the foreigner’s attention to those places in the dialogue that the foreigner did not fully understand (explain vocabulary, grammar, sentence construction models).
3. After this, you need to ask the foreigner to close the book. The teacher reads the remarks of one of the participants in the dialogue, and the student must respond to the remarks in accordance with the situation in the dialogue. The student does not have to reproduce lines from the dialogue verbatim. If a foreigner makes mistakes, then the teacher must explain to the foreigner why this cannot be said and how best to express this idea. (If a Russian language lesson is taught with a group of foreigners, then the foreigners respond to the teacher’s remarks one by one).
After this, the teacher changes roles with the student, i.e. the teacher reads the remarks of another character in the dialogue (the foreigner’s book is closed!).
If your student says that he understood everything and wants to move on without working through the dialogue (without answering all the teacher’s remarks from the dialogue with a closed book), then the foreigner needs to be explained what to understand - few, this is only the first step: in order to speak Russian easily and with pleasure in real life situations, it is necessary to develop automaticity in speech. And this exercise will help you do that.
If a foreigner makes a lot of mistakes in a dialogue, then this dialogue must be returned to at the end of the lesson and in subsequent lessons, until the foreigner can quickly and without errors respond to cues.
4. Discuss this dialogue with a foreigner: for example, ask the foreigner what he would do in the characters’ place. If this is a dialogue in a store, ask what he usually buys, whether he often goes to stores, what stores he goes to, whether he likes to cook and eat at home or prefers to go to cafes and restaurants for lunch, whether he prefers to buy tasty products or healthy products etc.
For example, look at how this principle is implemented in the textbook published by our Center “ New Russia: 127 live dialogues and the most important verbs for communication":
Download dialogues for foreigners learning Russian - page 12
Download dialogues for foreigners learning Russian, continued - page 13
Download questions for comprehension and discussion - page 14
Download questions for comprehension of the text and for discussion, continued - page 15
If a Russian language textbook for foreigners or a study guide does not contain questions for understanding the text, you definitely need to come up with and ask questions to foreigners to make sure that they understand the meaning of what they read correctly, and can also express their thoughts. After this, you need to discuss the read text with foreigners (for example, use pages 12-15 of the textbook published by our Center “New Russia: 127 live dialogues and the most important verbs for communication”).
If in Russian language lessons for foreigners you follow these recommendations when working on dialogues, then foreigners will learn maximum benefit from Russian language lessons, they will be able to learn spoken Russian and develop automaticity in speech!
Russian language textbooks for teaching spoken Russian to foreigners
Teachers of Russian as a foreign language are faced with the fact that there are quite a few textbooks and teaching aids in Russian as a foreign language, which present interesting dialogues from real everyday life, phrases from which foreigners can learn and use in everyday communication in Russian.
Our Center has published a communicative textbook of the Russian language for foreigners, containing Russian dialogues in conversation topics: .
Distance course Methods for those who want to learn how to teach Russian to foreigners:
The Russian language rightfully takes the place of the most complex language in the world. Russian speaking students language schools Those who stubbornly study German, French, English and other languages probably do not fully understand how complex and vast the language they already know is. It is worth approaching the study of Russian in a multi-faceted way and with all the attention.
Learn Russian Language
The channel contains detailed materials for learning Russian as a foreign language, which are suitable for beginners in the Russian language and those who already have basic knowledge. The channel boasts a rich archive of educational videos with subtitles, which is updated weekly. Videos are provided in the form of a monologue by the presenter or in the form of understandable presentations. These lessons are suitable for those who have just started learning and want to learn Russian without rushing. For those who have mastered the basics of the language, there may also be useful materials. The channel presenter actively practices colloquial speech and dialogues.Lingua-Baikal
Channel of the authors of the Russian as a foreign language textbook. Here you can find several educational lectures recorded in the classroom with students and an experienced teacher. Students act as students, during the lecture they answer the teacher’s questions and complete pronunciation tasks. For advanced students. During the lectures, the student will be able to correct pronunciation and expand the vocabulary necessary for a foreigner planning to visit Russia or Belarus.
RCT for everyone
The main emphasis in the material presented is on the most difficult thing - the grammar of the Russian language, which is presented in illustrations and clear examples. The authors of the channel try to present the material in such a way that it is understandable to students with different levels of knowledge. Information is conveyed through clear presentations with audio. Students will study numbers, cases, pronouns, adjectives.
Free apps for learning Russian as a foreign language
To make language learning as effective as possible, you should devote every free minute to the process of learning or repetition. Mobile apps can help with this.
Mondly: Learn Russian FREE- a versatile application that trains writing, speaking, reading and listening skills. Both those with elementary and advanced levels of study will find the application interesting; it will be useful when traveling and in business. Download the application for, for
Learn Russian with Babbel– offers to study Russian through short lessons designed to qualitatively improve the level of language proficiency of a potential student. It will be useful for beginners and continuing students. The authors of the lessons are experienced teachers and native speakers. Pronunciation training is possible through the speech recognition function. Download the application for, for
6000 Words - Learn Russian Language for Free- an application created to replenish a student's vocabulary and has a rich vocabulary library. For ease of use in the application, the words are divided into difficulty levels and topics; you can listen to a new word. Mini-games have been created to make memorization easier. Download the application for, for
Knowledge and Skills
Learn Russian grammar.
I write with errors. And this worries me. I started studying Russian language textbooks many times, but abandoned and forgot all the rules I had learned.
In this goal, I will pay attention to grammar and punctuation; I will take on stylistics after completing this goal.
Lesson format:
On Monday, repeat all the material from the previous week. (1 exercise for each rule without repetition + work on mistakes. (Checking completed exercises)
Repetition of the previous lesson. (1-2 exercises)
Learning a new rule
Completion Criteria
Write a complex dictation without errors.
First lesson
I will teach the first lesson on November 27, 2014. In the morning. The lesson will be decisive. I will understand how much time I will have to devote to studying grammar.
Choose a textbook that I will use
Choose 1-2 textbooks that will be convenient for me to study.
Determine the time it will take me to study the textbook.
Keep a notebook for notes
Keep a notebook for exercises
Get a notebook for writing vocabulary words
Divide the training program into stages (weekly)
I will study from Monday to Friday. Saturday and Sunday are closed.
On Monday, repeat all the material from the previous week. (1 exercise for each rule without repetition + work on mistakes.
Lessons from Tuesday to Friday are structured as follows:
Repetition of the previous lesson, checking exercises from the previous lesson and working on mistakes. Because I check myself using the Internet, this will greatly facilitate the assimilation of the material. And of course, before I go online, I will explain to myself why I chose this particular spelling option.
Learning a new rule
Reinforcing a new rule (1-2 exercises)
And good luck to me.
Week 1. from 12/1/2014 - 12/5/2014 Let's remember the basics.
12/1/2014 - Parts of speech. noun, adjective, verb, participle, gerund.
12/2/2014 - Parts of speech. adverb, preposition, postposition, particle, numeral, etc.
12/3/2014 Case, declensions, tenses (well, let it be?)
12/4/2014 Prefix, suffix, ending, root.
5.12. 2014 - still free
Week 2. 12/8/2014 - 12/13/2014 Vowels
12/8/2014 Repetition of week 1. (Checking exercises)
12/9/2014 Unstressed vowels at the root of a word
10.12 Unchecked unstressed vowels
11.12 Alternation of vowels in the root
12.12 Vowels о-е(е) after sibilant consonants
13.12. Vowels after the letter c
Week 3. 12/15/2014 - 12/20/2014 Vowels and consonants
15.12 - Review of week 1. (Checking exercises)
16.12 - Letter e
17.12 - Letters th -i
18.12 Spelling of consonants: Voiced and voiceless consonants
19.12 Unpronounceable consonants