Learn Russian with some effective methods

Hi guys,

I recently gave a talk at Oxford University on how to learn Russian with some effective techniques.

It basically agrees with most of Steve’s language learning principles like:

  1. Learning in context (films, cartoons, stories, texts).
  2. Speaking the language as much as possible (well that’s the goal!)
  3. Not worrying too much about grammar.
  4. Involving emotions.

I hope you like it!
Thanks,
Angelos

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But…people are so different. The longer I live the more I realize this. There are some who just LOVE grammar, there are some who hate speaking, there are very unemotional people etc etc. Sometimes I think that probably there are no techniques that will suit everybody. What do you think?

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So true Anna…I agree. The only thing you can do is to spread all the armory on the table and let them choose…The best thing maybe is for the students to discover and make themselves their own armory. That of course implies a strong desire to learn the language. That’s why the first question I ask someone is “Why do you want to learn the language?” There is no magic. All these techniques I’m suggesting still require lots of cognitive effort and some burning desire to learn the language…

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Interesting presentation. I agree with Anna, that people are different. Not so much in terms of how our brains learn, but in terms of what we like to do. I, for example, enjoyed watching Soviet films. But they were not my learning environments, mainly, but rather rewards and stimulus. I enjoy reading and listening, as many her know. but there are people who dislike reading and listening, no matter how beneficial it might be in theory. Still, thanks for the post, more grist for the mill.

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I’ve recently spoken with Josu Sanches about the different methods of teaching. And I told him about my methods of teaching Russian.
This interview is in Russian.
You can find it using the link:

Good luck with learning Russian!
Evgueny

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As for teaching methods, if there is one thing I’m 100% sure of, it’s that student-centered teaching is much better than teacher-centered.

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Very interesting, +Angelos, thank you. By coincidence I’ve recently added a similar setup for watching Russian films as the one you propose, only using Lingq, of course. I upload subtitles. For me, it’s another source of material, I still focus mostly on written material but film watching certainly contributes to reach a higher level!
In general, your presentation has given me some food for thought. I’ve also downloaded your Anki decks. Thanks again for these resources.

Thank you for the links to the resources, Angelo. I will check them out and try to use them. I am not very techie, so I hope I can figure out how to use them.

Thanks Steve! I’m glad you liked it!

I’m looking forward to discussing with you about all these things! :slight_smile:

Thank you so much ftornay! Que bien que te haya gustado! :slight_smile: Let me know how you’re getting on and especially what you don’t like with the resources and how I could make them better!

Hey Tortoise! Nice logo by the way! Sure, let me know if I can help with anything, http://explorerussian.com, you’ll find me there!

Thanks Angelo. Is there any way to import the 10,000 words into LingQ? It would be really useful to be able to see which ones I know and which ones I need to learn. Meanwhile, I have acquired Anki and will check them out there.

Just found an amazing program for everybody who likes learning with films. its called sub2SRS i think, u import the film and subtitles (in both languages better) And automatickly gives u a deck of anki ready to study: with sound, pictures and bilingual phrases. Really Amazing.

CHeck on google or youtube there is many info about it, as about me, i like to extract the sound of the film in mp3, to split it in 10 minut chunks and importit with the subitltes text to lingq. i can listen to films while im walking.