Before I began my class, I knew a lot of words that I picked up from Misha and from hearing the language all the time. I'm basically on like a 2 year old level - I can say words, but have a hard time making a full sentence. Well, that's changing b/c now I know the alphabet & am learning all kinds of verb conjugations. You know what was really helpful though? Actually hearing the language before I even kind of knew what was going on. It helps me pronounce the words better since I've heard those sounds made before. It has really helped with my pronunciation. Anyway, here's to learning the Russian language!!!!
This is my Russian 101 book. My instructor is super nice and such a wonderful teacher. I started out taking a night class two nights a week at a local college here, but have switched to private lessons with the same instructor instead. I think it works out so much better. It's Larissa (the teacher), myself, and two teenage boys whose parents are both Russian. It's a great class and I really look forward to Monday nights!
Study - Study - Study!!! (That's what I should be doing right now, but I'm procrastinating. Does blogging about taking the Russian class count as studying???)
Absolutely 100% focused on studying. :-)
This is just a picture of a page in the book - it's actually a Russian calendar. I wanted to take a picture of words/letters/alphabet, but couldn't get a good one.
Меня завут Мисси. у меня есть муж - его завут Миша. Мы живём в Бирмингеме.
This says "My name is Missy. I have a husband - his name is Misha. We live in Birmingham."
Doesn't it look so, so, so different? I remember when I first saw things written in Russian (it was actually Russian karaoke - ha!). I never, never, never thought I would be able to read and understand it!
That's changing! :-)
Until later, Пака (bye)!
I definitely don't remember any of those letters from elementary school!! :) I think it's great you're learning something that means so much to you!! Miss you!! Are you coming down for Thanksgiving?!
ReplyDeleteI know, right? It's a little crazy b/c they have similar letters that we did see in elementary school, but they make an entirely different sound! Like a "B" makes a "V" sound and a "P" makes an "R" sound. I have to keep these straight in my head! haha!
ReplyDelete...and YEEEESSSS!!! We are coming home for Thanksgiving! YaYYY!!! Also, we are coming for a week for Christmas. We should plan the girls night out. I know you said Rebecca would be in town too! :-)
This is sooo fun! I remember when I first started dating my now husband he had been drinking and told me to come pick him up. So I did and he kept saying "blah,blah, blah..bletch.." over and over "bletch.." So I asked his mother what that meant and she said that he wanted to lie down. Ha! Later I was at our mutual friend, also Russian, and her daughter was sleepy so Larisa said she was going to put her to bed. I said, Oh, bletch." You should have seen the look on her face!! Definitely did not mean "lie down" and I was apologizing profusely! I figured out then that if I wanted to know what was going on I had to learn his language. Listening to the music helps too! And my hubby would call me "karova". He said this was a sweet little nickname...never thought about it again! Then we were watching Russian childrens TV and a farming program came on. Across our screen walks a cow and what is written on top..."karova!" Haha! You should have seen HIS face! Good luck learning! It's fun and I believe a very beautiful language!!
ReplyDeleteGood luck, Missy! You can do it! Molodetz! Mi toboi gordimsea!!! (sorry I can't write with Russian letters on my keyboard)
ReplyDeletePS: This is Livica, I just don't know how to put my name to the comment :)