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bryak · Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 6:09 am Post subject: Guten Tag

All I can say is that learning a language like German or Spanish or especially French would be a helluva lot easier than Russian simply for the fact that I can actually read those languages, more or less; that is, I can read the words naturally without much thought even if I don't understand their meaning; That is, seeing a French word on my cereal box in the morning I can read it and pronounce it more or less correctly without a second thought, whereas in Russian I must decipher the ghastly code that is the Cryllic alphabet -- even after 6 months of study it takes me a few seconds to get my brain to switch over to the unfamiliar Cyrillic.

ALL CHILDREN SHOULD BE TAUGHT IDO before their brains lose that type of memory that makes it easy to learn languages, whatever that's called.

BAH!!!! Brick wall

5_Zvehzda · Moderator Joined: 08 Oct 2004 Posts: 348 Location: Arizona

Yes, Comrade Bryak . . .

It's unfortunate that many of the youngin's of today aren't familiarized with other languages during early childhood development. Too bad, because that's the best time. I remember our first-grade teacher showing our humble little class flashcards of spanish words with corresponding pictures. All of us learned immediately as it all went along. But, it didn't last. The lessons were too short-lived. Who knows how much we could've learned - but especially, how much fluency in the language we could have gained, or in any tongue, which would've happened if really good immersion continued.

I understand what you going through with russian cryillic. I learned the russian alphabet long ago, and I can read some russian . . . but very slowly. If asked to pronounce most of what's written down . . . I'd probably be gazed upon like I walked out of a Flying Saucer. Yeah, reading comprehension in a non-latin based language can take more effort for some of us . . . along with the sensation that your head has been slammed into a wall after a few lessons.

Mastering this language takes time - more so than others. Anyway, are you pretty good at French?

camarks · Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 5:30 am Post subject:

Interestingly I found picking up the alphabet relatively easy. I did spend a summer in Yugoslavia when I was twelve years old, perhaps I picked up more of the alphabet then than I realized. Once you have the alphabet down, "reading" (pronouncing) the Russian becomes easy. The rest of the language/grammar I find very difficult.

JamesB · Frequent Guest Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 20

You can learn the alphabet within the first week. It's not that hard. I think learning Japanese or Chinese is much more difficult than Russian. So, count your blessings.

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