How do you say "Happy New Year" in your target language? It'a question I've had to ask myself as I saw in New Years past in Wales, Germany and Russia. The answers remind me, first, that direct translation is not always the name of the game in language learning. As we explore a few New Year's phrases, we'll get a quick glimpse of some of the linguistic nuts and bolts holding … [Read more...]
Russian TRKI 2nd and 3rd Certificate materials reviewed
If you want to pass the Test of Russian as a Foreign Language Second or Third Certificate exams, you need to get good at Russian across all four language skills (reading, writing, listening and reading). You also have to train up for exams themselves. Russian learners at all levels will find that there are far fewer materials than for comparable widely-spoken languages (German … [Read more...]
Russian language exams: a guide
In this overview guide to Russian language exams, I’ll show you the Russian language exams available for adult independent learners and give you some practical information as to how to go about taking one. You may need a Russian exam as a prerequisite to matriculation at a Russian university. Maybe you want to live and work in the Russian Federation or another country … [Read more...]
A2 Russian: the upper beginner skills, vocabulary and grammar that you need
In this post, we'll set out the speaking, listening, reading and writing skills that you need to succeed at "upper beginner" or "A2" level in Russian. We'll look at how much Russian vocabulary you need for A2 and how much Russian grammar you should know. This is the first in a series looking at the different "staging posts" on the journey to fluent Russian. But why look at … [Read more...]
The TRKI 4 advanced Russian exam: successful candidate interview (3)
Advanced Russian learner Aga has been telling me how she passed the top official exam in Russian as a foreign language, the dreaded Test of Russian as a Foreign Language 4th Certificate (ToRFL or TRKI 4) (Тест по русскому языку как иностранному Четвертый сертификационный уровень (ТРКИ 4))... Is the Fourth Certificate really as fiendishly difficult as it's rumoured to be? How … [Read more...]
The TRKI 4 advanced Russian exam: successful candidate interview (2)
The TRKI 4th Certificate or Тест по русскому языку как иностранному Четвертый сертификационный уровень (ТРКИ 4) is the top official Russian as a foreign language. My earlier interview with Daria, a successful TRKI4 candidate from Poland, provided some scarce first-hand information about an exam that is seemingly shrouded in mystery and rumoured to be fiendishly difficult. I'm … [Read more...]
“Dr Popkins Method?” How I learned Russian
This is the story of how I got fluent in Russian. It's post number four in my new “Dr Popkins Method?” series of articles. I got the idea for the series when I was down in Tenerife with some of my fellow language learners and teachers, bloggers and vloggers. They challenged me to help you better by sharing more my language learning journey. If you prefer video, you can … [Read more...]
Language learner’s update (May 2018)
I haven't done an update on my own language learning is going since my review of 2017-18 in late December. It's time to catch up. I also want to flag up what's been going on the site....and what's coming up. Back in Germany I'm writing this from Berlin at the start of a twelve day period in the German "Sprachraum". I'm here to celebrate the joint 50th birthday of three … [Read more...]
How to improve your written Russian: sounds, spelling and word formation
My experience preparing for the writing paper of an advanced Russian exam was a comedy of errors. It threw up a lot of mistakes connected with the differences between how Russian sounds and how it's written. They're the mistakes of somebody who has spoken and listened to vast amounts of the Russian over the years, but hasn't had nearly as much experience writing Russian. You … [Read more...]
How to pass an advanced foreign language writing exam or “writing Russian right” for the Test of Russian as a Foreign Language Third Certificate
Слава Богу! Praise be! I've finally passed my advanced foreign language writing exam in Russian. In this post, I lift the lid on how I did it and how you can too. If you're planning on taking the Test of Russian as a Foreign Language Third Certficiate (that's the TRKI 3 - Тест по русскому языку как иностранному, третий сертификационный уровень) or another of the higher TRKI … [Read more...]