Feeling Refreshed
My first language refresher here was probably the best bit of training that I have had yet in country. While I can not say that I have mastered Russian any better than before, I did have an opportunity to practice, and to think more about why this language is so dang hard to learn.
I have talked before about the complications of this language, and I will try to illuminate even further now.
See, in Russian, there are female words and masculine words, like in Spanish or in French. Also, any adjectives that describe these nouns must agree with the gender. This too is no different. But see, there are also different cases in Russian, 6 to be exact, that change the endings on nouns, and the adjectives that agree with them, depending upon how the word is being used in a sentence. You can make these changes with just about anything--question words, and yes, sometimes even personal pronouns. Yikes.
The only case that I am any good at is the instrumental case, mostly because you can use it with food. Plus, it is used anytime you use the word "with" which is "C" in Russian. Tea with sugar or lemon. Pastry with cabbage or potato. However, I only know how to make the ending with masculine words, so thankfully all the ones I listed are masculine.
The refresher has slightly motivated me to learn the language better, as I do feel that it is absolutely necessary to me feeling more at home and safe here in my town, but has not yet answered the question I have posed myself about what way of learning language is best? Currently living with a host family, I feel that that is my language training. Granted, I have not really learned anything terribly new in the month and a half that I have been living with them, but at least I try to speak. I have found myself growing incredibly tired of the situation though, as living with a family and working is not my idea of fun. I want my own place, and I want it now. But I need to continue being patient. It will come in time. And then I'll really have to think about the language more.
Some volunteers have never gotten tutors, or used them only at the beginning but do a lot of study alone and talking with people in their community as ways of learning the language and the cases. This seems to me to be the better option for myself, but making that sort of committment is extremely difficult.
Besides language, we did get to watch some great Russian films and of course, the whole point of trainings: socializing and dancing. The two language groups overlapped somewhat, so thankfully I also got to see all the people who speak Ukrainian that I wanted to see, so it was a great time all around. Cold, but great.
I have talked before about the complications of this language, and I will try to illuminate even further now.
See, in Russian, there are female words and masculine words, like in Spanish or in French. Also, any adjectives that describe these nouns must agree with the gender. This too is no different. But see, there are also different cases in Russian, 6 to be exact, that change the endings on nouns, and the adjectives that agree with them, depending upon how the word is being used in a sentence. You can make these changes with just about anything--question words, and yes, sometimes even personal pronouns. Yikes.
The only case that I am any good at is the instrumental case, mostly because you can use it with food. Plus, it is used anytime you use the word "with" which is "C" in Russian. Tea with sugar or lemon. Pastry with cabbage or potato. However, I only know how to make the ending with masculine words, so thankfully all the ones I listed are masculine.
The refresher has slightly motivated me to learn the language better, as I do feel that it is absolutely necessary to me feeling more at home and safe here in my town, but has not yet answered the question I have posed myself about what way of learning language is best? Currently living with a host family, I feel that that is my language training. Granted, I have not really learned anything terribly new in the month and a half that I have been living with them, but at least I try to speak. I have found myself growing incredibly tired of the situation though, as living with a family and working is not my idea of fun. I want my own place, and I want it now. But I need to continue being patient. It will come in time. And then I'll really have to think about the language more.
Some volunteers have never gotten tutors, or used them only at the beginning but do a lot of study alone and talking with people in their community as ways of learning the language and the cases. This seems to me to be the better option for myself, but making that sort of committment is extremely difficult.
Besides language, we did get to watch some great Russian films and of course, the whole point of trainings: socializing and dancing. The two language groups overlapped somewhat, so thankfully I also got to see all the people who speak Ukrainian that I wanted to see, so it was a great time all around. Cold, but great.
posted by Molly | 5:13 AM
2 Comments:
J-
That suggestion is good--I do have an i-pod that perhaps I should go ahead and put some Russian stuff on it--however, I do not really travel a lot-and I am not comfortable breaking out my $$ technology--but it will work for when I finally have my own place and want to practice. Thanks.
And as a further testament to my fantastic Russian skills, I forgot that cabbage is actually feminine in Russian, but that I could remember the proper ending. I just feel like such a schmuck because I've been walking all up and down Sovietskaya ordering it wrong. Doh!
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