This post is aimed mainly at beginner and lower intermediate Russian learners. True, most of the channels have something for all levels but as an upper intermediate and advanced learner, you’ll also want to look at channels aimed at native speakers (check out my recommendations here). Scroll straight on down for the list, but if you’re new to using YouTube in your language learning, check the tips in the next section before you start.

Things to look out for as you choose a YouTube channel to learn Russian

Part of the enjoyment from YouTube comes from getting to “know” the personality in front of the camera, so a lot of your choice will come down to chemistry. I would choose two or three of the channels that “click” for you, subscribe, hit the bell and follow the creators regularly. Check out a few vids first (I’ve included one example vid for each channel below, but each channel offers a lot of variety). An easy way to start to get a sense of the types of content on a channel is to click the channel “Playlist” tab to see themed groups of videos.

But personality and content style aren’t the only important variables.

What do you want YouTube for?

Do you want a free channel to be your main go-to Russian learning resource or (more recommended) will you use it to supplement other materials and work with an exchange partner, a teacher, a self-study book or online course?

More things to consider when you choose your YouTube channels for learning Russian:

• How much English is spoken in the videos and will this help make things clear/speed up the learning process or take away from Russian thinking and listening time?
• Are there embedded subtitles that you can’t turn off do you have a choice with the YouTube on/off subtitles. Are the subtitles in Russian and English or just one language
• Does the creator have a podcast? Do they have presence on other social media (this can be a great way to feel connected, get more exposure to the language and hear about new YouTube vids as they appear).
• Are there paid options from the creator, that could augment your experience. For example a Patreon scheme that unlocks goodies such as a downloadable pdf transcript or worksheets, an offer of tuition or courses from the creator?

Now, straight to the list (in alphabetical order):

1. About Russian in Russian

As the channel name suggests, Ira teaches Russian through Russian. No English here (not even auto-generated subtitles). Many of the lessons are simple in form: explicit instruction to camera from Ira, standing by her whiteboard. She covers a range of beginner and intermediate topics (The past tense, a series on individual prepositions, How to use svoi. For intermediate and above there are slice of life and travel vlogs (Trip to Kaliningrad region, travel blogs from St Petersburg, Murmansk, Sakhalin). There are videos on method and also on taking Russian language exams. Advanced students will enjoy the “lives” with advanced level learners from various countries (including one with Raffi whom I’ve interviewed here on at Howtogetfluent).

Link to channel home page: About Russian in Russian

2. Be Fluent in Russian

One of the largest channels in the field. Many of teacher Feodor’s lessons are in English with the points being taught shown as text on-screen in Russian only. The format is good for focussing in on a particular point that may have been bugging you (How do natives use li in Russian; Useful phrases with мне in Russian; How to use себя in Russian). The vids flagged as “podcast”, “Super Easy Russian”, “Real Russian” and “Fast Russian” are in Russian only (after a brief intro in English). There are also a handful of method advice videos in English about how to learn Russian (How not to get overwhelmed with grammar; How to make amazing flashcards with ANKI).

Link to channel home page: Be fluent in Russian. Example video:

3. Comprehensible Russian

Inna aims to teach your Russian through Russian directly with the help of gestures and pictures on a whiteboard (no embedded subtitles).

This is the “comprehensible input” method associated with the applied linguist Stephen Krashen. If you’re at the very start of your Russian journey, go for the videos marked “Zero Beginners”. There are vids on many of the essential vocabulary areas: Body parts, food, rooms and furniture… Maybe then move on to the vids flagged “Beginners”. Now she’s covered a lot of the usual beginner topic, Inna has moved on to add lessons on aspects of Russian daily life, culture and history, without compromising on the comprehensible input approach. There’s a video of her making the popular salad “Herring under a fur coat”, one on the end of the Stalin era, even one on the Mongul invasion of old Rus’ in the 13th century. All great for widening your knowledge of Russia and the language and altogether, a unique learn Russian YouTube channel.

Link to channel home page: Comprehensible Russian. Example video:

4. Easy Russian

The “Easy Languages” franchise began with Easy German and channels for other languages have the same brading. The format is usually interviews with passers-by on the streets of Moscow or St Petersburg on a wide range of (safe) topics (What’s your favourite city, The most annoyingly catchy Russian songs).

There are also some monologues to camera and some explicit in-Russian only lessons (e.g. 10 situations where Russians use the genitive case). The Super Easy Russian playlist is very useful for beginners and there are also hand playlists of the grammar and vocabulary lessons.

Anya and Ira front many of the videos but there are several other presenters.

You have no control over the subtitles, unfortnately, as they are embedded in Russian (larger font size) with English (smaller font size underneath).

Link to channel home page: Easy Russian. Example video:

5. Real Russian Club with Daria

The largest channel in this line up, is Daria, a Russian teacher now based in Colorado. There’s a mixture of content and styles here. At one end, there are some live lessons on grammar and delivered mainly in English (for example, looking at the different cases). There’s a recent series on individual verbs, with conjugation and example phrases (each vid is mainly in Russian). Another format is longer vids (over an hour) in which Daria reads a children’s story, stopping to explain words and phrases and showing the relevant pages with illustrations on screen. There are vids about Daria’s life and travels just in Russian, both pieces to camera (Why I moved to Slovakia) and in a vlog style (Ukrainian doctor fixed my neck, Burnt village in Belarus).

Link to channel home page: Real Russian Club. Example video:

6. Russian Progress

The channel is run by Artyem, himself an accomplished language learner whom I know from the Polyglot Gathering. Many of the videos are pieces to camera (also released as a podcast). Artyem may be talking about something in his life (A week in Hong Kong, My experience learning Polish) or teaching a particular expression. Very useful transcripts are available for some videos (and for all for Patreon supporters). There are also vlogs where Artyem shares his thoughts and impressions as he walks about in various places, interviews and less formal, unscripted conversations (Artyem’s babushka is a regular guest).

Everything is in Russian only, making this channel a must for intermediate learners and above. Very helpful thematic playlist.

Link to channel website: Russian Progress

8. Russian with Dasha

Dasha is from St Petersburg. Vlogs cover what’s going on in her own life (My district, Summer Camping, My tough Siberian Babushka), Russian traditions (Mushroom Hunting, Beekeeping in Russia) and vids shot on the road (Karelia in winter, Exploring Kronstadt). The channel’s strap-line “Culture, Language, Travel” is thus right on the money.

Besides the vlogs, you’ll also find more formal grammar, vocab and phrase-focussed lessons here, some taught in English (try the vid on Survival Russian and see Dasha’s Russian for Beginners playlist).

Link to channel home page: Russian with Dasha. Example vid:

9. Russian with Max

Max is a warm and communicative on-screen presence who thinks like a vlogger. The channel coheres well with clear thumbnail labelling and well-curated play lists helping is find our way through a wide mix of thematic lessons (Twelve Russian Idioms, Let’s talk about friendship), one-to-one conversations on the sofa between Max and his partner Julia (including one where proposed to her in one video) and out-and-about vlogs (including most recently in exile in Yerevan). It’s great that there’s a strong emphasis on comprehensible input and teaching through Russian in the videos aimed at beginner. For the more recent vids on the channel, you can get pdf transcripts and vocab if you join the lowest level of Max’ Patreon.

Link to channel home page: Russian with Max. Example vid:

9. 1420

Vox-pop vids from a young guy called Daniil Orain. Russian passers by are on screen while Daniil remains off camera asking the questions. Each video has a set subject, these range widely, from the trivial through public opinion, including the risqué and topical questions: How beautiful are you from 0 to 10? Russians name a country they don’t like. Russians react to LGBT flag on US embassy, What do Russians think about “Z”? and so on.

Vids are often only about four or five minutes long: a real plus if you’re lower intermediate and looking to listen through several times or maybe try a dictation exercise (which you could then correct with a teacher) but you’d have to block out the embedded English subtitles. Cover up that part of your screen!

Well worth watching for an unfiltered cross-section of Russian public opinion in all its frightening variety (not suggesting that opinion elsewhere is any less so!).

Ling to channel home page: 1420. Example video:

Over to you

That’s my round up of learn Russian YouTube channels. Are you already a fan of any of my choices? If so, why? Are there any channels I’ve missed? Why should I add them to the list? How do you use YouTube in your Russian learning? Share your thoughts in the comments below. I can’t wait to read them!

Related posts

Why learn Russian?

How to learn Russian fast

How I learned Russian

Learn the Russian alphabet in an afternoon

Get Russian verb aspects right every time

Russian language exams: a guide

Best Russian YouTube channels (upper intermediate / advanced)

The post Top Learn Russian YouTube channels appeared first on How to get fluent, with Dr Popkins.

First, back to basics: a verb is a word that expresses an action (such as to eat), process (such as to develop) or a state (such as to be). In Russian.

In this post, we’ll assume you’re already familiar with the Russian verb tense system: how verbs change to show the past (я говорил, я сказал) and how they conjugate to show the present (always imperfective aspect: я говорю) or the future (always perfective aspect: я скажу). You’ll also have learned how to form the imperfective future with быть  imperfective infinitive, e.g. я буду говорить).

“Verbal aspect” is different from tense, as we’ll see in this post.

We won’t focus here on how to form the imperfective and perfective aspects of the Russian verb.  If you just know one verb of an aspect pair, there are unfortunately no hard and fast rules to discover the other. There are common patterns of pairs, but that’s a topic for another day.

The focus today is on using Russian verb aspects correctly.

Ask this question to get the Russian verb aspect right

So, to business: 

To get increase your chances of getting the Russian verb aspect right, first ask this simple question:

Is the focus on the completion (result) of an action?  On its one, single end? 

If the answer is yes – if the message is that an action is completed already or will be done and dusted in the future – the verb will be perfective. 

If the focus isn’t on the result, the verb will be imperfective (the aspect for an ongoing state, regular, or repeat actions or just for naming a state or action in general. Nothing is said about the end. It could have one single ends – repeated or habitual actions – or no end at all – incomplete action or action in progress). 

That’s it!  

Thanks for reading. 

Do visit the site again sometime….

Erm, hold on a moment. Not so fast! 

While that rule of thumb will answer the question most of the time, you need some context to get the hang of how to apply it. 

So, let’s look in a bit more detail! 

When to use the perfective aspect in Russia

There’s no present tense form for perfective verbs. Results either have happened or will happen. If they are happening at the moment, they haven’t fully happened yet and Russians use the imperfective as the action is continuing at the current point in time. 

1. To talk about a completed action or result (past or future)

The perfective aspect puts the focus on the result: a change of state or a completed action. 

Она умерла – She died

Я прочитал книгу – I read (and finished) the book yesterday evening. 

Sometimes, a the perfective will “happen” while another action is going on in the imperfective (“in the background” as it were):

Когда она прощалась с ним, она уронила ключи  – When she was saying goodbye to him, she dropped the keys.   

In the future, perfective verbs indicate an express or implied intention to complete an action at some point in the future.

Я отдохну – I’ll relax (an intention to complete/result). 

В следующий четверг мы отдохнём на пляже – Next Thursday we’ll relax on the beach 

Я пойду на экскурсию – I’ll go on an excursion

90% of the time the perfective is used to express the future. The imperfective is only used if the action will be unfinished, ongoing or if repetition is involved:

Я буду отдыхать – I’ll be relaxing (Emphasis on duration, process).

Во время каникул, каждый день мы будем отдыхать на пляже  – During the holidays, we’ll relax on the beach every day 

Во время каникул, каждый день я буду ходить на экскурсии – During the holidays, every day I’ll go on excursions every  

2. To show a sequence of finished events

The perfective is the aspect for moving a story forward. Each action is finished before the next takes place. LIfe, as is sometimes said, is “one damn thing after another”   

You could have an imperfective followed by a perfective, with the imperfective showing attempts or a process and the perfective showing that the result is finally achieved:

Она сдавала и сдала экзамен – She sat and passed the exam.

3. To indicate the beginning of an action

Perfectives with the prefix за- (and a handful beginning по-) often indicate the beginning of an action: 

Она заболела – She fell ill

Он запоёт – He will start singing 

Other examples of verbs with the “inceptive” meaning are заплакать – to start crying, закурить – to light up a cigarette, замолчать – to fall silent. 

The emphasis here isn’t on the duration of the action. The action is the starting up, a one-off change, itself a kind of result: wasn’t crying, burst out crying so now I am. Cigarette wasn’t lit, I lit up, now it is….. 

4. To express an instantaneous action

Many perfective verbs with the suffix вз/вс-  раз/рас- у- -ну- indicate an instantaneous action.  It’s over before you know it (result again!). 

Вдруг я увидел лису – I suddenly saw a fox 

Ночью вспыхнули сразу три автомобиля – In the night three cars suddenly burst into flames

Крупные пожары вспыхнули сразу в трех регионах страны – Large fires suddenly broke out in three regions of the country.  

Мгновенно раздался взрыв – An explosion rang out instantly

Сзади раздался шорох. Я мгновенно обернулся – There was a rustle from behind. I instantly swung round. 

5. To show that an action went on for a short time

Perfectives with the prefix по- often suggest that something is done for a short while (usually with verbs with no imperfect equivalent): 

Он поспал – He had a nap  

Я покурил пять минут – I had a quick smoke for five minutes 

Она хотела поговорить с другом – She wanted to have a word with her friend (Compare with сказать, the normal perfective of говорить).

Again, the emphasis is on the limits of the action. It’s completed, not on-going (even though it may not be instantaneous, unlike the perfective verbs we saw above that express the beginning of an action).  

“По-  perfectives” can be reinforced by a word like “немного” (a little).  

It’s worth mentioning the prefix про- here as well e.g. прожили (they lived for a period) – here the duration may be very long but the emphasis is still on completion (of a chunk of time). 

6. When an action is repeated in rapid succession

Russians usually use the imperfective aspect for repeated actions because the imperfective indicates continuity, duration, habit.  That said, if the emphasis is on completion of a whole action in rapid succession in rapid succession, they use the perfective:

Таксист просигналил дважды – The taxi driver honked the horn twice

Птица вылетел, чирикнула четыре раза и улетела  – The bird flew out, chirped four times and flew off.  

The actions are seen as multiple parts of one complete action. 

It follows that if the repeat actions are spaced out, we’re back to the imperfective:

Она несколько раз перечитывал “Войну и мир”  – She read “War and Peace” several times

7. As a negative to show the failure of an expected action to take place 

If something was expected to happen but didn’t use the perfective. You evoke a complete, finished action, and negate it:

Вера не позвонила – Vera didn’t phone  

The sense is that Vera was expected to telephone but that expected result failed to materialise.  

We can contrast this with:

Вера не звонила – Vera didn’t phone

This is a neutral statement of fact usage of the imperfective (discussed further below). There is no sense of an expected result that didn’t happen.  

This is a subtle contrast and we’ll look again in the section on the imperfective.  

Speaking of which…..  

When to use the imperfective aspect in Russian

Russian imperfective verbs basically “name the action” (or a state).  It’s for expressing continuity, duration or habit in the past, present or future.  

Verbs in the imperfective aspect do not imply the idea of completion or result that are so central to the perfective aspect.  

So, use the imperfective for everything other than to focus on the result (and the other subsidiary uses of the perfective that we saw above). 

1. To express a state rather than an action

Usually, an enduring state will be in the imperfective aspect.

Они жили в Самаре – They lived in Samara

В Вологде вы будете жить у моего деда (In Vologda you’ll live/you’ll stay with my grandfather). 

Через месяц я буду в Сочи – In a month I’ll be in Sochi  

2. To state a fact, with no emphasis on completion

If completion is irrelevant, use the imperfective. The used this way, the imperfective makes a bald statement of fact, with no more detailed context and no focus on whether there was a result. 

Мы уже встречались – We have already met

Она писала ему – She wrote to him 

There’s a bald fact here, in a contextual vacuum. 

If you fill in more detail, the perfective would be used:

Мы встретились в прошлом году в Москве – We met last year in Moscow

Она написала ему письмо – She wrote him a letter 

Here are some vague factual questions: 

Вы звонили ему? Да, звонил – Have you phoned him? Yes, I’ve phoned.

Вы читали “Войну и мир”? Да, читал –  Have you (ever) read “War and Peace”? Yes, I have.

Вы встречали Анну? Думаю, что встречал   Have you met Anna? I think so. 

These questions are general in the sense of “Have you ever….?”. If you’d instructed somebody to read “War and Peace” or they’d told you that they were going to meet Anna last night, you’d check up on the result with a question using the perfective. 

3. To talk about an action in progress

If the action is in progress, with no focus on completion or result, you’ll use the imperfective: 

Мы читаем книгу – We are reading/read a book

Он спит – He is sleeping/sleeps

The action in progress could be in the imperfective in the past, present or the future tense.. 

Strictly speaking, all actions in the present are ongoing, so they are all in the imperfective and the conjugated “present” perfective forms of Russian verbs talk about the future.  

90% of the time, we use the perfective to talk about the future. That’s because we’re usually contemplating concrete, complete future actions or results (things that “will happen”). 

It’s only if there is no focus on completion or result in the future that you’ll use the compound быть + imperfective instead of the perfective:

Завтра он будет работать – He’ll be working tomorrow

4. To talk about an action that is repeated an unspecified number of times  

Here the emphasis isn’t on the result, it’s on the repetition of the action (including habitual actions):  

Она несколько раз перечитывал “Войну и мир”  – She read “War and Peace” several times.

 Я буду звонить часто – I’ll phone often  

As in the example above, adverbs of time can be used to reinforce the sense of a habit: часто (often), обычно (usually), всегда (always), иногда (sometimes), раз в месяц (once a month) and so on.

As we saw in the section on when to use the perfective aspect, if the repetition is in rapid succession such that the actions can be seen as multiple parts of one complete action, rather than spaced-out, separate actions, we use the perfective: 

Таксист просигналил дважды – The taxi driver honked the horn twice

Птица вылетел, чирикнула четыре раза и улетела  – The bird flew out, chirped four times and flew off

5. For an action in the past that was completed but is then undone  

The imperfective indicates an action done but then reversed.  

Он надевал костюм – He put on a suit (implied: was later taken off)

Кто-то включал свет – Somebody switched on the light (implied: was later switched off)

Почему в комнате холодно? Я открывал окно – Why is the room cold? I opened the window)(implied: window closed again)

Compare this last example with:

Почему ты открыл окно? – Why did you open the window? 

In the second case, the window is still open. 

Сосед брал у меня эту книга – A neighbour borrowed this book from me (and has returned it)

Сосед взял у меня эту книга – A neighbour borrowed that book from me (and still has it)

These are quite subtle differences you probably won’t want to worry about until your Russian is moving into upper intermediate.  

However, don’t wait to get used to this common use of the imperative to convey the idea of a “round trip” in the past:

Позавчера приходил мой сотрудник – The day before yesterday my colleague came (implied: and has now left/round trip)

Они уезжали на прошлой неделе – They went away last week (implied: and have now returned)

Verb + infinitive: imperfective or perfective aspect?

The infinitive of the verb is the basic, unconjugated form (that you’ll find as the main entry in a dictionary, for example.  In English, it’s the form we can put “to” in front of: to eat, to think and so on.  

If a Russian verb is followed by another verb in its infinitive, what about the aspect of that second verb?

Sometimes, a verb in the infinitive could be in either aspect, depending on meaning: 

Решать/решить (to decide): 

Он решил читать книгу – He decided to read the book (spend some time reading it – not implied that he’ll finish it)  

Он решил прочитать книгу – He decided to read the book (whole book, to the end)  

With (За-)хотеть (to want), ask yourself whether the  “want” is general (imperfective) or a specific result/for a little while (perfect):

Мы хотим работать – We want to work (i.e. we want a job) 

Мы хотим поработать – We want to do a bit of work/work a while  

Я хочу говорить по-русски – I want to speak Russian (general desire) 

Infinitives following verbs of starting, continuing, finishing will ALWAYS be in the imperfective infinitive:

Начинать/начать (to begin):  

Он начал искать работу 3 месяца назад  – He started looking for work (continuing) three months ago 

Продолжать/продолжить (to continue): 

Она продолжала петь песню – She continued to sing the song 

Заканчивать/закончить  (to finish):  

Когда вы закончите думать об этом? – When will you stop thinking about that.

The action that is starting, continuing or finishing is seen as ongoing.  

With verbs like учиться/научиться (to learn to), привыкать/привыкнуть (to get used to) любить/полюбть (to love) отвыкнуть (to get out of the habit of) the main verb will also be in the imperfective as we’re talking about an activity not a one off event:

Они научатся петь – They are learning to sing

Ты привыкнешь танцевать You’ll get used to dancing

Она любила работать – She loved to work/working

It’s the same with уставать/устать   надоедать/надоесть  запрещаться

Игорь устал говорить  – Igor got tired of speaking

Я надоедаю говорить – I am getting board of speaking

Запрещаться курить – Smoking forbidden/No smoking   

The perfective infinitive is common after verbs of intention, advice:

Я советую тебе прочитать эту статью – I advise you to read this article 

Я собираюсь написать ему письмо – I intend to write him a letter 

The logic is clear: the focus is on the result. Remember, we’ve been talking about the second verb (the aspect of the first verb will be decided on the usual principles – are we talking about a one off action or a process?).  Notice too that the English translation doesn’t always use the “to” infinitive.  We can say “I like to eat” or “I like eating”, we have to use the -ing form after “to get bored of”. 

The aspect of the verb after Russian modals (necessity, obligation, possibility)

Modals express the attitude or standpoint of the speaker towards a state or action, often connected to desire, possibility, likelihood, ability, permission or obligation.

They are used in relation to verbs which express the state or action itself. 

The perfective infinitive is found particularly often with the modals надо, нужно должен/должна/должно/должны, хочеть, мочь when talking about a single action which is not viewed as repetitive:  

Мне надо сказать… – I have to say…. 

Он должен сделать это – He should do that 

Она должна встретить его – She ought to meet him 

Я хочу понять – I want to understand 

Ты можешь взять ключи – You may take the keys  

Можно войти? – May I come in 

But use the imperfective with modals надо, можно if “it’s time to” (пора) is implied:

Восемь часов! Надо (implied пора) вставать – It’s 8 o’clock, you must/should get up  

Сейчас можно (implied пора) начинать – You may start now

The imperfective is also used with не нужно (there’s no need to); не надо (you mustn’t/shouldn’t):

Не нужно вызывать врача – There is no need to call out the doctor 

With нельзя use the imperfective if something is forbidden (think: that’s just the way it is – continuing state of affairs): 

Нельзя входить – You can’t go in (not allowed) 

Отсюда нельзя звонить – You’re not allowed to phone from here. 

По этой дороге нельзя проезжать – It is not permitted to drive along this road

Use the perfective with нельзя if something is impossible (you can’t get a result):

Нельзя войти – You can’t get in (think: we’ve lost the key/this result is not therefore possible). 

Отсюда нельзя позвонить – It’s not possible to phone from here 

По этой дороге нельзя проехать – It’s not possible to drive along this road, e.g. because a fallen tree has blocked it/the result isn’t possible, это сделать не получится).

With мочь in the negative the imperfective expresses “need not” (doesn’t have to) and the perfective expresses “might not” (it might not happen).   

Он может не уехать – He might not leave

Он может не уходить – He doesn’t need to leave/He doesn’t have to leave.  

The negative не должен/должна/должно/должны followed by the imperfective suggests “is not obliged to”.   

Она не должна делать покупки – She doesn’t have to do the shopping

If the perfective follows, the sense is “is unlikely to”:

Она не должна забыть – She shouldn’t forget (I only told her this morning). 

Imperative and verb aspect – positive commands

1. Command to perform a single action – perfective

Use the perfective for commands to perform single action (we’re ordering a result): 

Сделай это! – Do it!

Закройте дверь! – Shut the door!

2. Polite invitation to perform a single action – imperfective

Unless it’s an invitation, then use the imperfective: 

Заходите, раздевайтесь, садитесь! Кушайте! – Come in, take your coat off, have a seat! Have some food!

Here the imperfective politely softens the impact. It’s as if we’re emphasising the process by which the person we’re speaking to gets comfortable, not ordering a result.

3. Commands to perform a repeated action – imperfective

Commands to do repeated action are imperfective too: 

Пейте молоко каждый день! – Drink milk every day! 

Три раза в день принимайте лекарство! – Take the medicine three times a day! 

4. Commands to repeat an action in rapid succession- perfective

But repetition of an action in rapid succession would be perfective (because the focus isn’t on repetition or continuity but on a rapid succession of results): 

Повтори эту фразу несколько раз! – Repeat this phrase several times! 

5. A request to continue an action – imperfective

 A request to continue an action will, logically enough, be imperfective: 

Продолжайте! Я вас слушаю – Carry on! I’m listening

Imperative and verb aspect – negative commands

1. A simple negative command – imperfective

Use the imperfective aspect if a negative command is a prohibition: “Don’t!” 

Не закрывайте дверь! – Don’t shut the door!

Не разговаривайте! – Don’t talk/chat! (E.g. teacher addressing class).

2. A negative command as a warning – perfective

But if the negative command is a warning of the consequences (Mind you don’t!) use the perfective. You’ll typically hear this with verbs like забыть (to forget), опоздать (be late)  упасть (to fall):

Не забудь это сделать! – Don’t forget to do that! 

Смотри, не упади! – Mind you don’t fall! 

The focus is on an undesirable result,  “Or else!”.

Russian verbal aspects and English continuous/non-continuous tenses compared

English like Russian has verbal aspect. In English, we distinguish between actions in progress (continuous verb form -”ing”) on the one hand and an enduring state or a habitual or one-off action on the other (non-continuous verb form): I am living, I live.   

As a result, you can be confident as a good rule of thumb is that If you would use a continuous tense in English (verb + ing), then you’ll use the imperfective in Russian (past, present or future tense), because both put the focus on an action in progress : 

We were watching television > Mы смотрели телевизор 

They are going home > Они идут домой 

He’ll be working tomorrow > Завтра он будет работать

However, as we’ve seen, the Russian imperfective it encompasses not only actions in progress (like the English continuous) but also states and habit, both of which are expressed with non-continuous verb forms in English: 

Они жили в Самаре – They lived in Samara (state) 

Она всегда надевает юбку – She always puts on a skirt (habit) 

Mы долго смотрели телевизор – We watched the television for a long time (duration) 

Они разговаривали всю ночь – They talked all night (duration)  

Russian thinks “there’s no completion/result here”, and defaults to the imperfective.  

In contrast, English defaults to the non-continuous aspect and would only be shaken out of the default to stress that a state or act was in progress, for example for a particular period or as it was interrupted: 

They were living in Samara, when he died – Они жили в Самаре, когда он умер

She is putting on a skirt now – Сейчас она надевает юбку 

We were watching television when he telephoned – Мы смотрели телевизор когда он звонил 

They were talking when I called by –  Они разговаривали когда я зашёл 

Compare both sets of sentences and notice how the underlined imperfective verbs in Russian have stayed in the imperfective in the Russian in the second set of examples, despite the change of aspect in English.

Russian perfective or imperfective? Summary and tips to go

• The imperfective has past, present and future tense forms. The perfective just has past and future forms and the perfective future is  much more common when talking about the future than the imperfective future. 
• Remember the fundamental idea behind Russian verb aspect is that the perfective aspect expresses a single, completed action, often with the focus on the result. It moves the action forward. This happened, then that happened, then the other happened. 
• The imperfective denotes an on-going state, an action that is continuing or in progress or is repeated (often as a habit).  

Nine times out of ten, this basic analysis will get you to the right aspect. 

That’s the case not just with simple examples but also, you’ll have seen above, when a verb is used as an infinitive after another verb, is used with a “modal” or used in its “imperative” (command, request) form.   

That said, don’t forget the secondary functions of the perfective aspect: some verbs in the perfective express the beginning of an action or that it is instantaneous (though this is really just a type of result). Others (mainly with the prefix по-) show that an action only happens for a short period of time.  

As you listen to Russian and read in Russian, pay attention to the verb aspect chosen. If you can’t understand the choice of aspect by asking “is the focus on a completed action or result or not”, look again at the discussion in this post to find the explanation. 

As you speak Russian, don’t stress it! 

You’ll get better at applying the rules with practice and the more fluent you get, the more your natural “feel” for what’s right will develop. 

Master Russian verbal aspects with Dr P’s revision course

If you’re an upper beginner/lower intermediate Russian learner take a look at Dr P’s Focus in Five Russian grammar revision course.

It’s a series of engaging five video tutorials, delivered weekly with full notes and self-correct exercises.

Just the thing to help you get on top of Russian verb aspects and a whole lot more of the grammar you need as an upper beginner or lower intermediate learner!

Check out the details on the course information and enrolment page.

Related posts

Why learn Russian?

How I learned Russian

Russian language exams: a guide

Learn the Russian alphabet in an afternoon: three tricks

The post Get Russian verb aspects right every time appeared first on How to get fluent, with Dr Popkins.

But should you even bother to learn the Russian alphabet?

Is it important to learn the Russian script? 

Yes! 

Sure, when you start a language like Chinese or Japanese with a more complex system, there’s a strong argument to postpone learning the script. 

Not so with Russian.   

If you’re going to learn the language, start with the alphabet and with a run through of the sounds of the language.

True, if you’re just visiting Russia, you’ll probably get by without learning to read Russian writing. I travelled in China without knowing the Chinese characters, after all. On the Moscow metro, you’ll find signs in Latin script. It’s the same at the most popular Russian tourist sites, in major hotels and menus in quite a few restaurants and cafes. 

But, hey, traveller! You want more than just to get by, don’t you? 

If you follow the instructions in this post, you’ll have learned the script in no time and you’ll at once feel so much more of an insider. 

It might just stop you ordering the wrong thing at a cafe or getting on the wrong bus!  

How difficult is it to learn Russian script? 

The Russian script is easy to learn for three reasons. 

First, just like the Latin symbols used for English and all other central and Western European languages, it’s an alphabet. That’s to say, it’s writing in which one symbol represents one unit of sound. So, you don’t have to grapple with an unfamilari system such as symbols that stand for the consonants only (Hebrew, Arabic) or a symbol representing an abstract idea (Chinese). 

Second, a lot of the symbols are already familiar. 

Five letters have roughly the same basic sound value as in the English alphabet: А, Е, Ё, К, М, О, Т. Another six are “false friends”: В, Н, Р, С, У, Х. Their sounds are unexpected but the symbols, at least, you already know.  Others still will be easy to remember if you know Greek (or the Greek letters used in mathematics): Г, Д, Л, П, Ф). We’re left with a “hard core” of only 12 really alien symbols (Б, З, Ж, И / Й, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ, Ъ, Ь, Ю, Я).  

Third, the relationship between how words are written in Russian and how they are pronounced is relatively regular. Some letters represent different sounds depending on where they are in a word and whether they are stressed, so the system isn’t perfectly phonetic. That said, written Russian is much more phonetic than English. So much so, that native English speakers have to spend two more years learning to read than Russian children, so estimates the linguist V. K Zhuravlev (that’ll soon be В. К. Журавлев to you ).   

Russian alphabet in overview, alphabetical order, names of the Russian letters 

There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet. That’s ten vowels (а, е, ё, и, о, у, ы, э, ю, я), 21 consonants and two, erm, signs. 

Here they are in alphabetical order (upper case followed by lower case). We’ve also their rough, basic equivalent of the sound in English and of the name of the letter. I’ve also rendered the Russian name of the letter in a make-shift phonetic way.

Remember, these are rough equivalent sound values. Not all the sounds overlap perfectly with their nearest English equivalents and sometimes the way a letter is pronounced changes (due to stress, position in the word). But those are concerns for another day. This post is all about learning the basics.

How to learn the Russian alphabet: the three tricks

To help you learn the Russian alphabet in next to no time, we’ll use three tricks: 

First, learn the letters in logical groups rather than in alphabetical order.  

Second, use mnemonics. By finding an image to remind us of the x of the 33 letters that don’t stand for more or less the same sounds as identical English letters.  

Third, focus on cognates. That’s to say, for each letter, work from the known to the unknown by first trying to decipher some words that are the same or similar in Russian and English. This will help you concentrate on the symbol/sound relationship without having to worry about the meaning. 

Now, before we get stuck in, do I really believe that you can learn to read Russian in an afternoon? Yes…., but….  

How long does it really take to learn the Russian alphabet? 

You certainly could learn the Russian alphabet in an afternoon.  

The well-known Russian teacher Betty Lou Lever has described how she teaches the alphabet in twenty minutes by focussing mainly on cognates. 

But, what’s the rush? 

If you use the techniques recommended in this post and take time to build in some review, you can comfortably learn the Russian alphabet and the rough and ready English pronunciation approximations in a week.  

The next stage, if you’re going on to learn Russian is to fine tune the pronunciation. For that, check the second post in this series (coming soon).

Here’s the “but”.

Your early steps in Russian literacy won’t be like reading in English.

Sure, you’ll be able to “decipher” a Russian word, letter for letter but it’ll take a lot or reading practice until you can “hear” the sounds in your head.

It’ll take even more practice until you can read naturally and with ease by taking whole words at a glance so taht it otfen doens’t even matetr if the lerttes are in odrer for you to udnsanedt.  

Just like it did with English.

Let’s get stuck in and learn the Russian alphabet. For each letter, I’ll give you a basic approximation – the nearest equivalent sound in English (sounds don’t overlap completely in the two languages), an mnemonic image or two that will help cement the letter and the associated sound in your memory and some cognate words (identical or almost identical the Russian and English) for you to practise reading straight away.

Now, let’s start with what we already know.

Friendly Russian letters that look like English and sound the same (or very similar)

А а  (=A) as “ah” in “father” or “car”. 

Cognates: Африка (Africa); диета (diet); зоопарк (zoo – literally zoo park).

Е е (=Ye) as in “yes.”

Ok, this isn’t quite the English “e” but the symbol is familiar and the sound very close.

Cognates: Европа (Europe) университет (university); инженер (engineer).

К к  (=K) as in “kind”. 

Cognates: критика  (criticism); балкон (balcony); танк (tank); цирк (circus).  

М м (=M) as in “man”. 

Cognates: мама (mum); лампа (lamp) шампанское (champagne).

О о (=O) as in “port”.

Cognates: опера  (opera); глобус (globe).

Т т (=T) as in “tank”.

Cognates: танк (tank); лифт (lift i.e. elevator) диета (diet). 

Trickster Russian letters that look like English but sound different

To learn these quickly, associate each one with an English word that begins with the same sound.  

В в = V as in “vet”.

Think of half a violin.

Cognates: виола (viola); Киев (Kiev); Европа (Europe). 

Ё ё = Yo as in “yonder”.

Not quite “yo” as in egg “yolk” but think of the dots as two yolks atop an egg.

Not a cognate but remember the common Russian word ещё (still). 

Н н = N as in “never”.

Like a No Entry sign and the first letter of the Russian for no: нет! 

Cognates: нуль (null, zero); балкон (balcony); танк (tank); Нью-Йорк (New York).

Р р = R. It’s a “trilled r”.

It looks like a poor old R, rudely robbed of one leg.

Cognates: рис (rice); опера (opera); инженер (engineer); And, if you’re over a certain age, you’ll remember the old CCCP (EsEsEsEr = USSR. Not SeeSeeSeePee!).

С с =S as in “soon”.

A bit like a handless sickle: very Soviet! Originates in Greek sigma Σ.  

Cognates: суп (soup); рис (rice). And, if you’re over a certain age, you’ll remember the old CCCP. (EsEsEsEr = USSR. Not SeeSeeSeePee!).

У у = U like oo as in “fool” but a little shorter. 

A “moose” with two sets of antlers and a tail.

Cognates: университет (university); нуль (null, zero). журнал (journal).

Х х = Ch like “kh” in Scottish “loch” or German “Bach” or “hoch”. 

Imagine the white cross on a blue background of the Scottish flag of St Andrew. It’s also quite close to a “h” and looks like a target you have to hit. Originates in Greek (letter “hi”).

Cognates: Христос (Christ); хоккей (hockey); яхта (yacht).

Talking of Greek….. X doesn’t mark the only spot!

Russian letters borrowed from Greek

The Russian alphabet is a variety of the Cyrillic alphabet which at its inception drew heavily from Greek. So, it it’s no surprise to find some letters that will give classical buffs – and mathematicians – an unfair advantage. 

Г г  = G as in “gallows” or “gun”….

….and it looks like both! Symbol from Greek gamma. 

Cognates:  глобус (globe); генерал (general); грамм (gram(me)).

Д д = D as in “dark”.

Looks like a doughty, stubbly legged dancer who’d be better performing in the “dark”. Symbol form Greek “delta” Δ.

Cognates: диета (diet); идеа (idea); парад (parade) . 

Л л = L as in people.

Two legs. The left leg has a tapping foot. (Greek lambda Λ).

Cognates:  лифт  (lift); балкон (balcony);  журнал (journal); генерал (general).

П п = P as in “pip”.

A portal or a podium or a pair of pillars. From Greek pi).

Cognates: парад (parade); опера (opera); грамм (gram(me)); шампанское (champagne).

Ф ф = F like in “farm”.

A flapping flamingo or your favourite flower. It’s the Greek letter “phi”.

Cognates: лифт  (lift); Африка (Afrika). 

New letters, familiar sounds

Б б = B as in English “boy”.

Looks similar to a lower-case “b” but if you have difficulty remembering, think of a boy with his neck and head tilted downwards. Or, is this the letter with a big bulging belly?

Cognates: балкон (balcony); бизнес (business); глобус (globe).

З з = Z as in zero, zebra or zoo.

Think of three zebras in the zoo (in as compromising a position as possible).

Cognates: зоопарк (zoo, literally zoo park); зона (zone); бизнес (business); менеджер (manager).

Ж ж = zh pronounced rather like the “s” in “pleasure” or “measure”. 

One of the cognates for this word is журнал (journal). Think of the pages of your secret journal all blown open in the wind for every body to see.

Cognates: журнал (journal); инженер (engineer); менеджер (manager).

И и = long “e” similar to “ee” in “see” or “cheap”.

Like three letter capital “i”s, the walk was so long that middle one fell over and the other two are trying to prop it up. Or the word “IN” backwards (which would sound something like nee). Or is it simply a twisty eel?

Cognates: идеа (idea); критика (criticism); Киев (Kiev); виола (viola).

Ц ц = ts as in “its” or “gets”.

A face with the tsongue or a tsigarette hanging out of the mouth.

Cognates: цирк  (circus); эволюция (evolution); эмоция (emotion). It’s always hard (can’t soften) like Ж and Ш. 

Ч ч = ch like in chair.

Looks like an upturned chair.

Cognates:  Чечня (Chechnya); чек (cheque/check (for payment)). Also, remember Russian Что? (What?)

Ш ш = sh like in sheep.

Did you know when sheep fall on their back, they can’t get up and will die? Even harder for a poor three-legged sheep as it waves its legs in the air. Some see here the three masts of a ship. This letter also looks like the Hebrew “shin” ש‎.

Cognates: шампанское (champagne); шоколад (chocolate).

Щ щ  = shch a bit like in “fresh cheese” or “Welsh sheep”.

Yep, that sheep again, but imagine the little downwards line at the right a “soft sign” merged into it because this sound is always soft.

Cognates: щи (shchi – Russian cabbage soup); щека (cheek). Remember Russian ещё (again).

Э э = E as in “bed”. 

Letter E reversed, so let’s say E got out of bed on the wrong side!

Cognates: эволюция (evolution); эмоция (emotion). эффект (effect).

Ю ю = Yu as in “universe”, but a slightly longer yooh.

This is the alien “ET” from another universe, with his squashed head, long neck and body, but he’s fallen over on his side as he tries to get used to gravity on planet Earth.

Cognates: юмор (humour); юбиляр (jeweller); Нью-Йорк (New York).

Я я = Ya as in “yard”.

It’s the mast of a yacht moored in Yalta.

Cognates: яхта (yacht); Ялта (Yalta); идея (idea); эволюция (evolution); юбиляр (jeweller).

The vowel bender 

Й й is close to the “y” in “toy”.

Aside from foreign borrowings like Нью-Йорк, this letter is only found after another vowel, it turns the preceding vowel into a diphthong (a single sound in which one vowel that merges into another). The English “y” after a vowel sometimes works in the same way: contrast the purer “a” in “bat” with the diphthong in “day”, for example. 

In Russian, а + й is like “y” in “sky”: май (May – the month);   о + й is like “oy” in “boy”: мой. (my); е + й: рейтинг (rating); хоккей (hockey); ё + й; у + й; ю + й.

The sound of “ы” doesn’t change after й, though, so the pronunciation of the common adjective endings  -ый and -ий are the same. 

Vowel + й is one syllable whereas other vowel combinations are pronounced separately as one syllable:  оо, аи,  ое,  ая and so on.   

One new sound

Ы ы (=i) similar to the “i” in “it” or “bit”.

We need to pause a little here as this sound doesn’t exist at all in English. It’s a “back vowel”. The tongue further back than the “i” in “bit”. The tongue is in the position for “boot” but don’t round your lips, instead, the lips should be like for “beet”. Crazy, no? 

No cognates for this sound, then, but remember these two very common words: мы (me) and быть (to be).

Pronunciation symbols

Ь ь – the soft sign.

Used after some consonants to “soften” them. The effect is like rolling the consonant into a “y”, for example what happens to the “n” in canyon. When the L softens, it’s pronounced with the tip of the tongue just between the teeth. Consonant softening like this isn’t really a thing in English at all, but it’s very important in Russian. If you use a hard consonant instead of a soft one, it can change the meaning of a word.   Example in a cognate:  альтернатива (alternative).

This softening also happens when a consonant (except ж, ц, ш) is followed by the vowels that we represented with an initial y (ya я, yu, ю e yo ё) and also и. Ж, ц and ш are always “hard” which brings us to….

Ъ ъ  – the hard sign.

If a consonant comes before one of the “glide” vowels (ya я/ya, yu, ю/yu, e, ё/yo, и/long i) the hard sign is added to show that the consonant retains its original “hard” sound.  The full “y” can be heard with the following vowel.  Example in a cognate: объект (object).

Takeaways

Well done! You’ve completed your initiation into the world of the Russian alphabet.

Unless you really want to, don’t put yourself under pressure to learn the alphabet in an afternoon. Take a week….or two.

Use the three tricks we’ve set out in this post:

• break down the task by learning the letters in logical groups, starting the letters that are the same as in English, then moving to the “false friends” and the “Greeks”. Then the gaggle of “aliens”….not forgetting the soft and hard signs.
• vividly imagine the letters using the mnemonic images I’ve suggested (and if you come up with better ones, share them with us all in the comments below).
• practise reading the example cognate words out loud.

If you’re starting to learn Russian, your next step is to fine tune your pronunciation of the letters.

If you’re just learning for tourism or to impress your friends, you’re ready to roll!

Related posts

Why learn Russian?

How to learn Russian fast

How I learned Russian

Get Russian verb aspects right every time

Russian language exams: a guide

The post Learn the Russian alphabet in an afternoon: three tricks appeared first on How to get fluent, with Dr Popkins.

If you prefer video, you can scroll straight to the bottom for the link to the companion vlog about my experiences learning Russian (and, in the second half, German). This post covers roughly the same ground, but has a bit more detail (and only covers Russian. German will be up next.).

Beginning to learn Russian? Experience the power of StoryLearning with "Russian Uncovered": click here for deal info.

First steps learning Russian

I started learning Russian in late 1988 or early 1989 for my upcoming graduate studies in history…..I was half-way through a graduate gap-year in Wales when the main focus was supposed to be getting fluent in Welsh.   

Now, I don’t advocate trying to learn two languages at once… There was a risk that this foolhardy enterprise would ruin my Welsh year and leave me no further forward with the new language….On the other hand: my motivation was high…..There was a clear need on the fast-approaching horizon.

When I’m working on a language, I like a one-volume “complete course” textbook in the sense of one that covers all the main structures and core vocab.  In Wales, following a recommendation from a retired linguist I’d met on my intensive summer Welsh course, I started working through the Penguin Russian Course by John Fennell.  

I made flashcards of the vocab and key phrases to learn using spaced repetition, just as I’d done with French and Welsh.   

I was also working though another textbook, Horace Lunt’s Fundamentals of Russian. 

“Lunt” appealed to me as more comprehensive than the Penguin. It had short sentences and many more exercises.  I gave that the flash card treatment too. There was no audio at all, though.

These two books introduced me to all the structures of Russian and gave me a core vocabulary.  What I didn’t yet have was any speaking practice (or any listening beyond the muffled cassettes you could get to go with the Penguin course).  

What was difficult as I started Russian…and what was easier

The new alphabet had turned out not to be difficult to learn at all.  The language was spelled phonetically.  The chief challenge then (as now) as the difference between hard and soft consonants and a new “i” sound.  

There were familiar international words (mainly Latin or Greek) but, as in Welsh, there were far, far fewer of these than in French.  

What was most challenging was learning a language in which nouns, adjectives pronounce and demonstratives declined across three genders and six cases.  

Then there was the complex Slavic verb system…..Let’s move swiftly on

Lunt tells it like it is

Back to Oxford to specialise in Russian history

Back in Oxford, I moved from Hertford to St Antony’s, an all-graduate college.  

It was a very international and multilingual place.  I was there at an exciting time.  That Autumn, the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet puppet regimes in eastern Europe fell one after the other.  It seemed like East European Studies was the place to be.  

As a first year research student I had two tasks: to define my thesis topic and to get good enough at Russian to be able to research it.  

Doctoral studies in Oxford were very unstructured. A lot depended on the informal relationship with the supervisor and an inexhaustible ability just to get on with stuff on your own without any positive feedback. 

For me, there was the added challenge of needing to get a pretty solid reading knowledge of Russian before I could even get going.  

Inspiring help with my Russian

One of my supervisors was Professor Stone, who was known for his linguistic prowess.  He was of view that anybody could pick up a working knowledge of a language in six months.  He’d cheerfully taken me on to study Russian history without Russian where a more cautious don might have sent me away and told me to go off an learn the language first.  

His can-do approach – on top of my previous self-study success with Welsh and French – gave me the self-belief to make it with Russian.  

This was all the more important because there was no framework for beginning graduate students to learn Russian intensively at the university.  

All that was on offer was a Russian reading class aimed at graduate students of Soviet Politics.  The focus was on the turgid, formulaic language of Soviet newspapers. I told the teacher straight out that it wasn’t for me. 

During the year I used to call on the professor once a week for one-to-one help with Russian.  This mainly involved us sitting at his kitchen table while him correcting my exercises from Lunt.  I was also doing translations from Russian Prose Composition, by Borras and Chritianson.

There was a small community of Soviet graduate students in Oxford on an exchange programme funded by the Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros.  

Alexei from Kiev was one of them.  He’d been an outstanding undergraduate linguist and was doing doctoral work on the origins of Islam (and had the languages necessary for that).   

I also took weekly lessons with him in his room, paying him five pounds (which I could barely afford).  He helped me with my spoken Russian, though I still couldn’t say very much.  I remember one particular low, when it emerged I still hadn’t learned the word for “Russia” in Russian.  

That all changed in summer of 1990 when I was Alexei’s guest for a couple of months in the Soviet Union.   This was when things started to move with my conversational Russian, thanks to constant practice.  

Beginning to learn Russian? Experience the power of StoryLearning with "Russian Uncovered": click here for deal info.

The challenge of listening practice in the pre-internet era

On this first trip to the Soviet Union, I found understanding was actually more difficult than speaking.   I think that was due to inadequate listening practice before the trip.  

Nowadays, if I were to start Russian, I’d be getting hours of audio exposure on MP3 and the net and lessons with native speakers on Skype.  

Then, the technology just wasn’t there.  

The college had just got (somewhat temperamental) satellite TV and you could book in to watch the “Vremya”, the evening news programme.   

I also tried to listen to broadcasts in Russian on my crackley shortwave radio receiver.  One evening when I was doing this, Alexei called round, heard the broadcast and informed me that it was the Ukrainian service.   

Amazing hospitality and lots of practice: my first trip to the Soviet Union

The summer trip started in Leningrad, where I stayed with his wife’s cousin and her mother in a wonderful old Imperial period apartment on Chernyshevskii street  

We then went to Moscow where there were still a lot red flags a-flutter. There were very few adverts or bill boards (just Communist banners and slogans), hardly any western brands.  The shops may have been empty, but the museums, theatres and concert halls were full.  We stayed in run down dacha about forty minutes out in the country as guests of a typical Moscow intellectual and academic architect who lived off ideas (and fried potato and onion, black bread and tea, cigarettes and vodka) and who gave me a copy of his latest lavishly illustrated volume.    

Next, on by train to Kiev. For a month I stayed with Alexei’s parents in their large apartment in very centre of town.  Looking back, that was quite an imposition and I remain extremely grateful to this day.  Neither of his parents spoke any English.  I  saw all the sights and was also invited for several long meals at friends of Alexei’s among the Kiev intellectual elite – both Russian and Ukrainian speaking.  

By end of summer I could had functional conversational Russian.  Sure, that was in no small measure due to all the exposure and practice.  That wouldn’t have got me nearly as far without all the previous eighteen months’ work on the basic vocabulary and structures, though.  

Don’t go to a country with basis in the language hoping to pick it up.  You’ll get further, faster, if you’ve already done serious groundwork.  

I was travelling and making real progress with my Russia and that was about to get even better.  In my second year, I started learning German and in January 1991 went off for eight months to Freiburg in Germany on the Erasmus student mobility scheme.   

Struggling with life as doctoral researcher

In terms of morale, I really needed these exhilarating wins.  The thing was, for the first two years, there was next to movement at all on the academic front.

I’d say that the first two years of my time as a doctoral student were far more difficult than my later period of intensive study at law school and the stresses of working as a junior lawyer, pulling all nighter on multi-million pound financings.  

I several times came close to giving up the research.  

It was only well into the third year, half way through my time in the Russian archives, that I could see that success had became only a matter of time.  

One early problem was the lack of structure of the doctoral student life or of any meaningful feedback (because I wasn’t producing anything to give feedback on).  

It didn’t help that the college was full of much more self-confident students one- or two-year masters courses in economics or international relations.  Some of them already had jobs lined up in UN or the World Bank.

Among the handful of serious, research-focussed Russianists, I was the only who wasn’t already fluent in the language at the beginning and didn’t have a masters degree in either in it or in wider Russian studies.  It felt like I was running to catch up.

Money worries dogged me during the first year.  With no debt from my undergraduate years (student fees were twenty years in the future) and a three-year post-graduate maintenance grant from the British Academy, my position was much better than it would have been today. 

All the same, I was having to earn extra money just to make ends meet (even though technically this breached the rules of the (inadequate) maintenance grant.  I took on quite a lot of paid teaching work. I enjoyed this, but it was hugely time-consuming, slowing up my work at Russian and on the history.  

I also started working several evenings a week at a news company which took advantage of the latest fax technology to produce a daily type written brief on world affairs for leading decision makers.  I had two tasks.  One was to cut up out the foreign news reports from the day’s papers (ready for analysis by the writers the following day).  The other was to fax out that day’s report to the clients.

By now it was Christmas 1990.  I was over a year in (with only two years funding left).  I was ok with conversational Russian but I still couldn’t read my sources.  My “research”, which at this stage mainly involved digging out and photocopying printed materials in the Bodleian library but not actually reading and analysing them.  

Eight months in Freiburg

In Freiburg I started to read the main source I’d collected from Oxford library: decisions from the “Governing Senate”, Russian Empire’s highest court. 

These were stilted reports in nineteenth century Russian legalese.  Each was about a six hundred words long.  While I could now read something like that in, erm, about thirty seconds, it used to take me a day to read one or two and make notes on record cards.  Sometimes I’d have to look up the same words again and again.  

By this stage, I was no longer actively studying Russian…..It was just a matter of ploughing through the texts and noting vocab as I went (and doing spaced recall on it with flashcards).

On 18 August 1991 my Freiburg time came to an end.  By this stage I also had intermediate German, but that’s a story for another post.  

The next stop, in September 1991, was to be Leningrad on a British Council scholarship for my “archival year”.  

First I’d planned a two or three weeks turnaround in the UK. 

The abortive coup launches my media “career” in Welsh

I awoke on 19 August 1991, my first day back in England, to the news that a coup d’état was underway in the Soviet Union.  In a last roll of the dice, Soviet hard-lines staged a putsch, seizing power and arresting Mikhail Gorbachev at his dacha in the Crimea.  

It briefly looked as if the game was up not only for Soviet reforms, but also for my hopes of a year working in the archives in Leningrad. 

It was at this point that my career as a media pundit took off, in Welsh   Well, yes, that’s an exaggeration, but somehow BBC Radio Cymru got my number and I started doing commentary on events in Russia.   

I continued during the year and then when I was an academic back in Wales. 

The coup collapsed on 22 August and on 1st September, I flew out to Leningrad according to plan.  I was one of the last to go on the old British Council/Soviet exchange programme that had been set up during Khrushtsev’s thaw. 

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A year in the USSR….Erm, make that the Russian Federation

That year I was mainly working in the Central State Historical Archive in Leningrad.  Until the late 2000s, the archive was in the Senat-Synod building on the banks of the Neva, next to Catherine the Great’s famous Bronze Horseman statue of Peter the Great (the building is now the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation).    

I was mainly reading files from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.  They were written in copperplate script, which really wasn’t too difficult once you got used to it.  Then, in 1906, the Ministry got typewriters  

I also worked in the National Library on Nevsky Prospekt, where I was mainly looking at newspapers from the 1860s to 1917.  

I also spent some time in the Leningrad provincial archive.  The last month – with the Olympics in full swing in Barcelona – I flew south-west for a month in the provincial archive in Tambov.  

In these local archives, my main sources were hand written village court records from the period 1861 to 1917.  These were pretty difficult to decipher….even for the Russian archivists.  By the end of the year, I was better at it than they were.   

The year was extremely eventful in Russian history and the history of the other former Soviet republics. At the end of 1991 there was a vote for independence in “the Ukraine”, as we then called it. (I still think it should be called “Ukrainia” in English if we’re going to drop the article, as in “the Argentine”/”Argentina” but I suppose Ukraine does rhyme with cheerfully un-articles Bahrain.)

In December the Soviet Union was formally dissolved.  In early 1992 prices were freed as part of the Gaidar government’s “shock therapy” economic reforms.  It was tense and difficult time for Russians.

 In retrospect, perhaps I should have ditched my studies and just gone around with a camera and tape recorder, recording the rapid changes that were taking place and people’s perspectives on them.

Making more Russian friends and travelling to Moldova and Crimea

After a couple of abortive (though story-rich) starts with accommodation, I finally ended up living in the Academy of Sciences Hall of Residence in the north of the city, where I was exposed to a lot of, erm, colloquial Russian.

In spring 1992, one of my friends from the hall of residence invited me to travel down to his home town of Kishinev.  The sleeper train snaked down through Belarus and through the self-proclaimed Prednestrovia Republic, where fighting was taking place (I didn’t see anything, but we weren’t allowed to get out at Tiraspol). 

From Kishinev we went on to Odessa and Crimea.  

I was speaking only Russian at the accommodation and on such trips.  I was also only using Russian with the archivists and academic historians.  I was speaking quite a lot of English and some German too with fellow foreign students (ten Americans and a German).

At the Bakhchisaray Fountain, Crimea, spring 1992

To Finland and then Heidelberg

On 1 September 1992, a year to the day after my arrival, I left Russia by train for Helsinki, where I’d secured a Finnish Ministry of Education scholarship to work in the Slavonic collection of Helsinki University Library and at the Renvall Institute.  

In summer 1993 I moved on again, this time to Heidelberg.  My other supervisor, Professor Löwe, had just got the chair in Russian history there and had offered me a part-time post for a year as a research assistant. 

I stayed for two and a half years, working as a waiter and English teacher once the research job came to an end.  All the time, I was analysing my archival notes and other materials and writing up my thesis.  

Teaching Russian history (in Welsh) and more research trips to Russia

I’d handed in my thesis in summer 1996, though I wasn’t examined in March 1996.  In January that year, I’d left Heidelberg to become a Welsh-medium history lecturer in the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. 

As well as lecturing and tutoring on Russian, Soviet and wider history through the medium of Welsh, I was, of course, also expected to continue research and to publish.  

My ongoing research provided a reason to returned to Russia and I made three or four such trips during 1996 to 1998, each time for a month or two.  I would always go back to the archives and libraries of St Petersburg and, during summer 1997, I also worked in Samara and Tambov.  

These trips provided more chance to use my Russian.

Living in Moscow as an international finance lawyer

In August 2000, I chucked my dream job in Aberystwyth to train as a lawyer.  

When I chose to be a lawyer it was very much to continue my engagement with Russian culture, but to engage in a different way. 

The immediate transition period 2000 to 2004 turned out to be the least active period in my Russian.  I was busy at law school and then as a trainee solicitor, and still doing some writing and attending conferences in Russian history on the side. 

Once you get to a solid upper-intermediate level with a language, though, my experience is it doesn’t go away.  Yes, you may go a little rusty, but it all comes back remarkably rapidly with use.  

In September 2004, eight years after my last visit, I returned to Russia.  This time, to work in Moscow as an international lawyer.  There I stayed until April 2009.  

I didn’t actually need Russian for my legal work in the law firm and most of my ex-pat colleagues didn’t speak it.  

I chose to speak just Russian with the support staff, though, and used the language quite a lot informally with lawyer colleagues (so long as I could win the battle of wills and stop them switching to English).  

An active social life on the upper intermediate plateau

My social life was overwhelmingly in Russian.  

None of my old academic Russian-speaking friends were based in Moscow, but I was still in touch with them and paid visits to Kiev, Kishinev and St Petersburg to catch up.  

I met a lot of new friends in Moscow, too.  With them, I had a very active social life, tempered only by the exhausting long hours at the law firm (working most evenings till midnight, occasionally all through the night and more but, luckily, only three or four weekends a year).   

There were also new renewed opportunities to travel round Russia.  I made trips to Vladimir, Suzdal’, Tver, Nizhnii Novgorod and Kazan’. I still haven’t been to Siberia, though.    

I also went to the cinema and theatre quite often, watched a certain amount of television and  listened to lots of Russian radio.  

My Russian was consolidating all the time but on something of an upper-intermediate plateau.  

Force of circumstances (long days spent in front of a screen reading and writing in English) meant that I wasn’t reading much Russian for leisure or writing at all. I certainly didn’t want to spend my precious free time in active study.  Nor was I getting any corrective feedback on my spoken Russian.  

The Kazan’ kremlin, winter 2008

Back in the UK and working on my Russian again

My time in Russia came to an abrupt and unexpected end in early 2009 when my mum deteriorated and died after a late cancer diagnosis. I decided to take a break from the law and return to the UK.

My Russian stayed as it was, until 2015-6, when I started actively studying again (for the first time since the mid 1990s).  I started taking one-to-one lessons and did summer night class in London.  

I began to use exams as  a motivational goal and to provide an objective yardstick, however imperfect.  In summer 2015 I  did the TRKI/Test of Russian as a Foreign Language upper intermediate (B2) second certificate and then the advanced (C1) TRKI third certificate.  

Since then, I’ve continued to engage with the language.  I’m not having lessons at the moment.

I’m not really speaking much at all either and I’m not writing at all again.  Those are things I need to sort out yet again.  When the time is right, a new phase will begin.  

In the meantime, I am reading more than ever and still listen to the radio a lot and watch Russian drama, comedy and follow Russian YouTubers.

It’s nine years since I was last in Russia.  That’s the longest gap since I ventured to the Soviet Union for the very first time back in 1990.  A return to Russia, or another Russian speaking land, is long overdue and I hope to remedy this, even if only for a holiday, in 2019.  

As with French and Welsh, learning Russian has been an on-off project for me…but one that has become a serious, long-term strand in my life.  It’s opened me to all manner of life-enriching and perspective-widening experiences and there’s still so much more to learn and discover.

I’ve written quite a bit about Russian on the site in the past, but there’ll be more to come for learners of all levels.  Are you learning Russian or thinking of doing so?  Let me know in the comments below how your experiences have gone so far (or drop me an email with your comments or questions – address under the “About” tab).  Do you already see parallels with mine or things that have been (or you plan to make) completely different for you?

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The post “Dr Popkins Method?” How I learned Russian appeared first on How to get fluent, with Dr Popkins.

Over the last two months, my work on Russian has mainly been practising writing each of the three types of written work required and going through my work with my teachers (online via italki, using Skype and Google Docs).  I’ve been simulating exam conditions (time limits, no English-Russian dictionary).

Regular readers will recall that I passed the other four TRKI third certificate papers last year.  The level corresponds to C1 (the lower of the two top levels) on the scale of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.  If you fail one paper, you can retake it within two years and get the full certficiate (if you fail twice, it’s back to a full retake of all five papers. No pressure there, then.  Gulp).

Below, I log the pieces of written work that I’ve done.

For each of the three questions, I’ve also include two of my attempts, showing the corrections.

Quick takeaways from my advanced Russian TRKI third certificate writing sub-test experience

Have a look below for an in-depth report but, first, here are those takeaways:

Mistakes are part of the process.  You’ll see from the track changes that I’m making a lot: grammar mistakes, spelling mistakes, mistakes with choice of words and how they are combined in collocations by native speakers.

You learn by making mistakes.

Yet mistakes can be more irritating the higher your level.  You demand more of yourself and your linguistic horizons are wider than ever.  There are few quick wins by the advanced stage and often no real sense of progress.  That’s how if feels for me at the moment with my written Russian.

Plus, there are mistakes and mistakes.  In the context of an exam, too many can be fatal.  I could certainly do with fewer of the elementary spelling and grammar howlers that liberally pepper my work.

If you’re studying intermediate/advanced Russian (especially if you’re an English native speaker, have a look at the sort of errors I’m making.  Some of them are quite basic, which is a real concern for me at this stage.  Others are more excusable (style, collocation).  There are patterns of error and I’ll come back to this in a fuller post after the exam.

When it comes to exams, there are also mistakes of exam technique which you want to avoid at all costs.  At the moment, like last year, I’m finding it really difficult to keep my pieces short enough for this exam.  The result that I create my own timing difficulties and don’t even have time to check them through.

Logging and sharing are great for motivation and accountability.  Below I’ve listed all the pieces of written work and the date written.  I will update the record until we get to the exam.

I’ve extolled the benefits of logging before: you build up form and don’t want to break your run.  The motivational benefits can be especially strong if people are watching.

If you’re in a group learing situation, you have the added incentive of “not wanting to let the team down”.

Another logging plus is that, later, you can look back and see where all the time went.  This will be useful if you fail but also a reminder that you deserve that pat on the back if you pass.  It’s amazing how quickly we can stop appreciating our achievements and forget just how hard it was to acquire new skills.

Don’t be intimidated by appearances.  When you catch a glimpse of some of those languages aces out there, gliding like swans across the surface of a smooth pond, remember that their legs are either paddling furiously just below the waterline, or that they were for a very long time.

I’m more ugly duckling than swan and there’s nothing graceful about my movements.  Still, by showing you some of the effort, I hope it’ll help you to get a perspective one way or another on your own efforts.

Don’t let anyone deceive you; getting good at a language can be a lot of fun but part the process is a long, hard slog.

I’m not smiling in the featured image for this post and it may seem to you that I am not doing enough for this exam….Looking at my list of writien work, it does seem a bit that way to me.  Yet I’m doing all I can without a further change of priorities (like cancelling further social engagements or blogging even less).

________

The Russian TRKI third certificate writing test requirements

I’ll hold back from commentary on the form of the exam and tips for technique until later but, to help you contextualise my attempted answers below, here’s the rubric in brief (if you’re doing the exam yourself, always be sure to double check as formats can always change).

• Question 1 (informal letter): the task is to read a 400 to 450 word text (often in the style of a serious newspaper or magazine report) and then write an informal letter to a friend of between 200 and 250 words.  You are told that your letter should refer to the source, analyse the information, explore the perspectives or opinions presented, give an outlook for the future and your own opinion on the topic  You have twenty-five minutes, the first five of which the examiners suggest you spend on reading the text.
• Question 2 (fax): this task is to read a factual, text which is 300 to 350 words long and generally in a more formal, scientific style than the text for question 1.  You then have to write a fax to somebody who has requested the information in the text.  Your fax should be between 50 and 70 words long and needs to be topped and tailed with suitable addresses and sign off.  You have 20 minutes (5 of which intended for reading). UPDATE: JULY 2017 – for my retake the exercise was to write an email, same time allowed and word limit.  Therefore: prepare to formulate an email as well as a fax.
• Question 3 (essay): this is the only piece of “free” writing which does not involve reading and reworking a text.  Instead, you are given a topic and topic that you should write a 150 to 200 word essay.  In your essay you have to state the problem (for example “Control over the content of the internet”, explore the causes and possible solutions.  You have to consider levels of social awareness and talk about your own involvement.  You have 30 minutes.

You are allowed to refer to a monolingual Russian dictionary throughout the exam.

My TRKI third certificate writing test preparation log

Below is a running list (which will be updated up to the exam) of the exam-style answers.

Some of these are based on questions or other material in my two main C1 textbooks: Makova & Uskova V mire liudei (St.P. 2013) and Rogova et al Russkii iazyk (4 vols. St.P. 2015) or on subjects that I’ve thought up myself (lack of materials is one of the problems of studying for this exam).

The first two “mock” exam papers are from Andriushina et al Trenirovochnye tecty III sertifikatsionnyi uroven’ (St. P. 2012).  The final mock paper is “offical” Education Ministry mock paper – Tipovyt testy po russkomu iazyku kak inostrannomu. Tretii sertificatsionnyi uroven’ (Moscow 1999) which is available all over the internet as a pdf.

Each one of the answers below represents about 30 minutes work with as long again (at least) typing it up.  I have then gone through most of the answers with one of my teachers, for their corrections.

This is not all the Russian I’ve been doing, but it is the backbone.

In the first few months of the year I was also doing some grammar study and exercises but I have now put this to one side to focus on practising writing and am taking in my grammar in the form of teacher corrections to my written work.

In the first few months of the year I also did a few other, non-exam format pieces of writing.  I am doing some reading.  I haven’t timed myself, but I guess it’s only a couple of hours a week maximum.  I wish I could somehow make time for more.

I’m listening casually to a lot of voice radio in Russian as I go about chores at home and I’m watching maybe a couple of hours of Russian TV serials a week.

• Quesstion 1 (informal letter):

• Question 2 (business fax):

• Question 3 (academic essay):

Example answers from the TRKI third certificate exam writing sub-test

Here are my example answers for the Test of Russian as a foreign language ToRFL / TRKI third certificate writing sub-test – Тест по русскому языку как иностранному третий сертификационный уровень.

There is not much information out there on how a good answer should look.  This is a particular problem in relation to the fax, where abbreviations are supposed to be used (and I have not used many and my teachers are all unsure what is required).

In my answers, teacher deletions are shown crossed out and teacher additions are in red.  Some of these pieces are too long or two short (coming in at the required length is quite a challenge).

Don’t forget that my teachers have only corrected the language.  The examiners will also be looking at how well the answers correspond to other aspects of the task (length, clear structure, critical thinking etc – see the teacher notes to the “official” mock paper for more detail).

Altogether, if you’re looking at this in preparation for the exam, consider what’s below just one student’s attempts to make sense of the tasks.  I hope you find it useful, but it is not the last word.

QUESTION 1 – INFORMAL LETTER TO A FRIEND

Дорогой Игорь,

Ты мне недавно рассказал, что страдаешь от стресса и спросил меня, что это такойе психоанализ и стоит ли тебе обратиться к психоаналитику.  Я, как раз, вчера прочёл статью именно по этой темие в журнале “Курьер”.

Автор данной статьи объясняет, что для элиты общества в США и Европе, психоанализ стал нормой жизни, хотя в России ещё смотрят скептично скептически  на него.

Как известно, основателем психоанализа был Зигмунд Фрейд, кто который  доказал, что большая часть психической жизни человека является бессознательной.

Эта техника предоставляет пациенту возможность выявить источник собственного невроза “переработать” и навсегда “ убрать” его из жизни.  Кажется, что после лечения, человек чувствует себя увереннее, спокойнее.

Все таки, в статьие говорится, что этот метод – не панацея: он показан лишь психически здоровым людям.

Более того, процесс длительноый. В среднем, курс лечения продолжается от трёх до пяти лет.  Приходится встречаться с врачом на час несколько раз в неделю.  Это Не обоийдётся тебе дешево.  За рубежём, стоймость одной сессии одного сеанса варьируется от 100 до 170 долларов.

 А самые сеансы какие? Что представляют из себя эти сеансы?  В статье говорится, что психоаналитик располагается в  кабинете так, чтобы пациент не мог его видеть, что способствует более свободному выражению чувств.  Задача психоаналитика: помочь тебе разобраться в себе.  Он не делает комментарии, не осуждает.

В статье тоже также рассказывают о длинном длительном процессе подготовки специалистов.  Главная  у них желательная черта – личная зрелость.

Автор статьи убеждён в полезностьи психоанализа.  Пишет, что он полезен даже для самых успешных людей и что нам всем приходится сталкиваться с затруднениями в условиях современной жизни, особенно если мы живём в больших городах.

А ты как думаешь?  Мне интересно узнать твое мнение. Напиши мне об этом и обо всех своих новеостях.

Твой, Гарет

13 июня 17 г. (279 слов – too long should be only 200 to 250 words!)

________

Дорогой Игорь!

Привет из Лондона!  Как твоеи делоа?  У меня – всё нормально, но слишком много работы.

Слушай! На счёт твоего желания купить недвижимость за границей: я спросил у своего старого друга, реальтора риэлтора, и он предлагает несколько вариантов.

Три из них на юге Европы, в Греции и в Болгарии, но хотя жить под солнцоем приятно, мне кажется, что все виллы или коттеджи комплексного типа в новых поселках.  Поэтому, там будет слишком много новых русских и детей.  По таким же соображениям предложеннойое жильё в Германии тоже исключается.

Тебе лучше подходил бы подойдёт что-то более индивидуальное.  У друга есть квартира в Швейцарии, но там, по моему, скучно.  Поэтому, купи квартиру в Лондоне!  У моего друга есть хорошая квартира в районе Уэстминстр.  Дом находится на самом берегу р. Темза, недалеко от метро.  Прекрасный район в самом центре.  Если у тебя интерес к этой квартире, скажи мне и я сразу же позвоню другу, чтобы больше узнать.  Приезжай ко мне на следующей неделие и можем вместе её осмотреть.  Как думаешь?

Жду от тебя ответа!
Твой, Гарэт

4 марта 2017 г.  (188 слов – too short.  Arghhhh!  Should be 200 to 250 words)

—oo—OOO—oo—

QUESTION 2 – BUSINESS FAX (update: July 2017 – when I did the exam, the task was to write an email of the same length.  I simply left out the addresses and put imaginary emails for me and the addressee at the top – we will see whether this sufficed). 

И. И. Иванов
ул. Ленина 15, кв. 7
Москва 123456
Факс (495) 12-34-5678

Деканата
Государственного университета управления
ул. Чадаева 15
Москва 123456
тел./факс (495) 98-76-5432

Уважаемый Иван Иванович!

В ответ на Вашу просьбу предоставить информ. о ГУУ, сообщаю Вам о том, что наш вуз основан в 1919 г., специализируется на подготовке управленцев. Выпускаем, выпуске учебников.  В ГУУ учатся 15 т. студентов по множеству специальностей.  Базовой специальностью является “Менеджмент организации”.  Мин. Образ. Р.Ф. разрешило ГУУ обучить МБА.  Расширяются внешние связи ун-та, укрепляется его учебно.-матер.иальная база.  Имеются всегда самые современные формы обучения.  Спрос на выпускников растёт – 55% работают в госучреждениях, остальные работаеют на предприятиях или становятся бизнесменыами.

Если у Вас будут дополнительные вопросы, буду рад на них ответить.

С уважением,
декан ГУУ                                                                                                                                            Г. Попкинс
17.06.17

(86 слов – excluding address and salutation/signature/date.  Not clear whether 50 to 70 word requirement includes these so I should be aiming towards the bottom of the word range)

________

И. И. Иванову
ул. Ленина 15, кв. 7
Москва 123456
Факс (495) 12-34-5678

ЗАО “Информ”
ул. Блока 7, д. 3
Факс (495) 765-43-21

Уважаемый Иван Иванович!

В ответ на Вашу запрос о содержании статьи “Жестокий альянс” сообщаю Вам, что она касается результатовы исследования Европ. ин-та антропол. исследований и соц. ЕИАИСПа  о карьерных перспективах женщин.

Специалисты выявили несколько “правил поведения” которые объясняют проблемы женщин: 1) уже с детства у девочеёк меньше опыта действовать в команде; 2) они не соотносят всю свою работу как возможность продвигаться по службуе; 3) они отценивают риск отрицательно.

Женщины поздно решаются начать восхождение по служебной лестнице, им трудно выбирать между карьерой и семейным счастьем.

Если у Вас будет дополнительные вопросы, я рад буду на них ответить.

С уважением,
Директор фирмы                                                                                                                            Г. Попкинс
06.07.17

(93 слов – excluding address and salutation/signature/date.  Not clear whether 50 to 70 word requirement includes these so I should be aiming towards the bottom of the word range)

—oo—OOO—oo—

QUESTION 3 – ACADEMIC ESSAY

В этом сочинении обсуждается тема национальной культуры в эпоху глобализации. Проблема состоит в том, что процесс глобализации оказывает сильное влияние на культуру многих стран.  С одной стороны, получается новая, смешанная международная культура.  С другой стороны, самая сущность национальной культуры и разнообразие мирового культурного наследия оказываются под угрозой.

В список объективных причин данной ситуации, должны быть включены: во-первых, продвинутая степень глобальной интеграции мировой экономики.  Глобальноый рынок очень открытый для капитала и, что является ключевым моментом,  для труда.  Во многих развитых странах живёт большое количество экономических мигрантов.  Сверх того, приезжают беженцы из горячих точек мира.  Во-вторых, развитие глобального телевидения (путём спутническойковой технологии) и изображениеетение интернета, резко ускорили поток внешних культурных влиянией через (сквозь) все национальные границы.

Главной субъективной причиной культурных забот волнений можно может считаться страх перед чужим неизвестностью , который является старейшей человеческой чертой.  Также должно быть упомянуто столкновение конкретных обычаев, например религиозных.

Переходя к путям решения проблемы: на первом месте я назвал бы видение введение определённых изменений в ролль  образования.  Правда, наш вопрос обсуждается в СМИ, что уже свидетельствует о некоторой степени осознания его обществом.  Однако, по-моему, внимание, уделенноеяемое СМИ подкрепляет предрассудки народа.  Ещё один момент: надо, чтобы страны достигли договоренности о более справедливом разделе беженцев между разными странами.

Что касается моего личного участия в решении этой проблемы, я хочу сказать, в заключение, что занимаюсь языками и иностранными культурами, и стараюсь убедить всех так делать, чтобы они воспринялииимали влияние извне на нашу культуру не как угрозу, а как возможность открыть новые перспективы, создать новый синтез.

25 июня 17 г. (240 слова – should be only 150 to 200 words!)

________

В этом сочинении обсуждается проблема негативнойго влияния развития интернета на традиционные СМИ.

Проблема заключается в том, что дальнейшее существование старых СМИ, будьте будь то газеты, радио или телевидение, под угрозой исчезновения из-за бурного роста альтернативных источников информации и развлечения в интернете.

В список важнейших изменений в сфере СМИ должноы быть включены: во-первых, широко-распространённая компьютерная технология (у почти у каждого есть ноутбук или современный мобильник, на которых быстро работает интернет);.  вВо-вторых, возниклиновение многиех сайтыов и эппы приложений, которые предлагают свои услуги безплатно.  В результате все меньше людей смотрят телевизор или покупают газеты, журналы.  У этих подобных  старых СМИ прибыль поадает.  Много газет, особенно в часности, закрыли.

Существуют разные точки зрений на текующий процесс.  С одной стороны, приветствуют возникновенияе альтернативных источников информации.  Сегодня слишно множество новых голосов можно услышать  различные мнения по одной проблеме.  С другой стороны, выражают озабоченность (тем, что) о том, что качество “безсплатной” информации в интернете нижнее низкое , и что люди читают только те сайты, которые отражают их личное (собственное) мировоззрение.

В заключение, я должен заметить, что мое личное поведение, наверно, тоже типично.  В отличие от раньше Еще вчера я пользвался старыми средствами информации, но сегодня я почти никогда не покупаю газеты.  Я даже не имею телевизора.  Всю информацию получаю через интернет, хотя часто от с сайтов известных старых СМИ, которым удалось завоевать свое место онлайн.  Дело только Единственный вопрос в том, что  для этого я совсем не плачу за эту информацию и, в результате, мне совсем не понятно, как обстановка может продолжатся в дальнейшем плане откуда подобные СМИ возьмут финансирование?

15 мая 17 г.  (211 слово – should be only 150 to 200 words!)

—oo—OOO—oo—

So there we have it. Project Write Russian Right is trundling along the tracks.  There is a week an a half to go to the exam and, for me, it’ll be more of the same till then.

Is that the light at the end or the proverbial oncoming train?  Given the number of (often quite basic) mistakes I’m still making and the difficulty I’m having in coming in within the required length and time limits, I’m afraid it may well be the loco.  They do say it ain’t over till it’s over, though, don’t they?  I’ll report back when I have the result…

In the meantime, if you have experience of this or a similar exam, questions or tips of your own, do let me know in the comments below.

UPDATE:  9 JULY 2017 –  I did the exam yesterday. There were two deviations from the expected format. First, an email not a fax was required for Q2.  Second, there was a choice of essay questions for Q3.  The format was otherwise unchanged.  The letter to a friend (Q1) was based on a text about the pros and cons and future of television.  The email was based on a text factors increasing the risk of a heart attack and how to avoid them.  The essay question was either on the causes and possible solutions of the economic crisis or the importance of culture in society.  I chose the first.

As to how I feel I did: it certainly went better than last year.  I did the essay first and it felt fine.  The letter was more rushed, the email very so (but it’s a shorter task, which is why I left it to last).  I think I covered most of the bases in terms of the required content in all three questions and observed the requisite word limits.  I have no idea how to formulate an email (I just dropped the addresses I used for the fax format and added an imaginary email address for me and the addressee), so one question is how this will be received.  I did not use more than a couple of abbreviations (you are supposed to use them).  The other – and crucial – question will, of course, be how many pure linguistic mistakes I made (grammar, spelling, vocab).  I had time to check my essay (the first question I answered and caught a few stupid errors.  I did not have time to check the letter and email fully but was able to scan over some of what I had written.

FURTHER UPDATE (SUMMER 2017) – Hooray!  I passed the exam!  Full story here: How to pass an advanced foreign language writing exam (TRKI third certificate writing sub-test)

The post Intermediate/advanced foreign language exam preparation: Russian TRKI third certificate writing sub-test appeared first on How to get fluent, with Dr Popkins.