LingQ

douglaslary

United States

Russian beginner advice request

January 08 at 15:39

Hey - When reviewing LingQs I answer a lot of the flashcards using the wrong case. I've been counting these answers as wrong. Should I instead count my answers as being correct since I easily recognize the word?

For example, if I have a flashcard that says " light, easy, effortless, mild" and I answer with the nominative "лёгкий" but the card is the genative "лёгкого." Should I consider this a correct answer? Or should I specify that it's the genative declension of the word in my definition and go at it until I have it memorized? At this stage of my learning, which would be most beneficial? It's frustrating recognizing so many words but answering in the wrong case when I'm unfamiliar with how case system works and probably shouldn't be worrying about that as a beginner.

Thanks!

evgueny40

Russian Federation

January 12 at 09:11

Russian is a very interesting but a quite difficult language.

It's easy to be overwhelmed with many forms of words and many grammar rules.

That's why it's important not to be in hurry, especially at the beginning of your Russian study.

Go ahead step by step, repeat every new text several times reading and listening at the same time.

If you form a good base, you will be able after that (but not instead of that!) to accelerate your learning.

You can use a lot of my Russian courses for beginners here in Lingq.

The small simple Russian lessons for beginners you can find in my courses in Lingq:

РУССКИЙ С НУЛЯ (Russian from zero):

https://www.lingq.com/en/learn/ru/web/course/103562

ПЕРВЫЕ ШАГИ (First steps):

https://www.lingq.com/en/learn/ru/web/course/68905

БАЗОВЫЕ МОДЕЛИ (Basic patterns for beginners):

https://www.lingq.com/en/learn/ru/web/course/113788

МОИ ПЕРВЫЕ ТЕКСТЫ:

https://www.lingq.com/ru/learn/ru/web/course/191293

МОИ ПЕРВЫЕ ДИАЛОГИ:

https://www.lingq.com/ru/learn/ru/web/course/186637

douglaslary

United States

January 12 at 13:59

Thanks! Another issue I've had, being as a Russian autodidact, is that there are so many learning sources it's been difficult to settle on one that I enjoy. I've do like linq, and it's showing me that I need to review some of the fundamentals.

I'm married to a Russian that was educated in the West, so she is fluent in both English and Russian. Her family doesn't live in America and speaks very little English, so my decision to learn Russian wasn't arbitrary and I have a lot of motivation. I'll look at these courses.

Considering I have a native speaker with me all day every day, if you have any strategies that a couple can use to language train I'd love to hear them. She is 100% on board and excited that I'm learning her native language, so she has an infinite amount of patience for any questions I have about pronunciation etc., but she's never taught so we're at a bit of a loss on how to maximize this advantage.

Thanks again!

ftornay

Spain

January 08 at 21:26

Yes, those are correct answers. The flashcard front side didn't have any information that would help you find out which form was intended, so any one would be correct.

Remember as well that you can turn on the automatic tagging system, which will provide with info about word forms. I would simply test myself on vocabulary, that is, counting any form (or dictionary forms) as correct and then glancing over the grammatical info as a way to build up your knowledge of declension/conjugation.

Желаю успехов в вашем изучении

douglaslary

United States

January 08 at 23:12

Thanks so much. Discovering effective techniques on my own through trial and error has occupied probably the first two months of studying this language. I'm starting to feel like I'm getting somewhere, though. Thanks again!

ftornay

Spain

January 08 at 23:41

I'm glad that you found it useful.

Since you seem to appreciate some input on this. Let me add something.

I don't use flashcards very often. I do it a bit at the beginning and they may be helpful, but, in my experience, insisting too much on them tends to end up backfiring. Very, very fast you will discover that the amount of vocabulary you have to research is simply unmanageable. Some beginners try to slow down their reading in order to keep flashcards under control. I find that to be a mistake.

Flashcarding and general rote memorization is not the main method of learning a language. It can help but it is not what will take you to fluency.

My advice would be to keep flashcarding as a low-priority activity and get used to the idea that you'll end up reviewing just a tiny fraction of the vocabulary you come across in your reading, and that's ok.

douglaslary

United States

January 10 at 21:53

Thanks - yeah, I get a little overwhelmed when the vocab grows and wonder how I'm going to retain all of the knowledge. So you suggest I push through reading until I start to see the same words and remember them naturally?

ftornay

Spain

January 11 at 18:22

Yes, that would be my advice.

Желаю вам успехов!

aronald

United States

January 12 at 04:23

Just keep focusing on number of words read per day and don’t waste your time reading material with too many unknown words. Besides that you’ll be fine. Keep plugging away.

douglaslary

United States

January 12 at 14:07

Sounds good! Thanks!

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