Update: Anki, Russian Scholarships, МГУ, Blog Updates

Language Update

Wow, I can’t believe it has almost been 3 months since my last blog post. Of course I have been studying Russian despite abandoning this blog for a bit, but I have gone through some major life crises, unfortunately. I am still making progress, but a lot slower since I have come back to California. It seems like I cannot function whenever I am in this city. Anyways, I have been using Anki (http://ankisrs.net) since Summer- it is a flashcard system where you can download packs on your phone and practice. It is a great and easy way to practice and only takes about 15 minutes- I downloaded Russian 500 Nouns, and it really helps with picking up vocabulary. I am thinking I need to learn more adjectives now, so maybe I will download an adjective flashcard set. 

Scholarships

So, for those of you that are also interested in studying in Russia for a bachelors, masters, specialty, or PHD degree, I found out that the Russian Ministry of Education offers scholarships every year to foreign students. It seems as though they provide full tuition, monthly scholarship, and dorm accommodation- although the website is very unspecific regarding the application process, etc. Unfortunately, the Russian government has a quota for each country, and I called to find out in the USA they only offered 1 student a scholarship last year. You need to call the Russian Embassy in your own country to find out more about the application process, deadlines, etc. http://en.russia.edu.ru/enter/1906/ is the link to the 2012 scholarship page in English, the 2013 scholarship is only in Russian language.

I am thinking about still applying for the scholarship next year, but I am pretty doubtful I would get it. Right now, I just want some change, and I would be happy and lucky to study in another country, if it is something that I think I would benefit from.

МГУ

Still waiting to hear back from MGU / MSU this month as to whether or not I am able to study Russian language from January-June. Thinking about it makes me a bit nervous. I hope I will be able to handle the course, improve my language, etc. I am worried about everything- cost, class, social aspects, and returning to the US. I am a very shy person, and I don’t want to bore people to death because I can’t have interesting conversations in their language due to my lack of skill. 

Blog Updates

As you might see, I have been messing around with the blog template and design, and I am even thinking about switching everything over by getting my own domain, hosting, etc because it might be more beneficial in the long-run. 

Learning New Vocabulary

One thing that I have noticed on various other language blogs, is the discouragement of using flash cards to learn new vocabulary. I have read, “They don’t work”, “I don’t believe in using them”, and that you simply cannot memorize words using this method.

In my opinion, this is somewhat true. Then why do I have a picture of flashcards in this post? Well, the reason is because I believe using flash cards does actually work for me when I am trying to learn new Russian vocabulary, but I don’t rely on solely using flash cards to do so. I always use the new vocabulary by practicing the exercises, or even creating my own exercises by writing out sentences.

Part of the reason I was dreading starting Chapter 5 of тройка is because of the huge amount (to me) of vocabulary in this chapter: 85 words. The previous chapters also had a lot of vocab, but not this much. How will I learn most of the new words? Flashcards and writing exercises.  Most of the vocabulary is essential, while others like “subtropical” seem pretty unnecessary for Chapter 5 of a Beginning Russian textbook. This textbook is a bit convoluted, and like I said before, I will do a review on this textbook later. I am going to return it soon since I only rented it, and I will buy the 1996 version which seems to be eventually the same, but we’ll see.

Lomonosov MSU

Well I applied to the Russian Language Program at Lomonosov Moscow State University. If everything goes through then I would be staying there for Spring Semester, which is still a pretty long time (from January-June). I am hoping to hear back from them soon. The program is actually cheap compared to classes at the university in my hometown. Fulltime student tuition at MSU or 30 academic hours (I think this is 15~20 quarter credits) + flight costs is about the same cost as non-matriculated tuition at UW Seattle for 15 credits (=1 year of College Russian). Pretty sad (that education in the US is so expensive). I started my new job, but I am still a little worried about costs to cover 6 months being abroad.

Today I studied a couple hours of Russian. I think I am much more comfortable with Prepositional cases, plurals, etc now. I was working on Chapter 4 workbook exercises but didn’t get to finish. Hoping I can get through the whole thing this weekend, so I can focus on Chapter 5 over the week, which is geography- eh I am not looking forward to it. I was looking ahead and Chapters 5,6, and 7 seem pretty difficult. If I can finish Chapter 6 though, then I have made it through 1 quarter of college Russian, studying out of a class! The more I think about it, finishing the entire book by the end of the year might even be an attainable goal- but very ambitious. Maybe I’m crazy then. This means 3 chapters a month:

September: 6, 7, 8
October: 9, 10, 11
November: 12, 13, 14
December: 15, 16, 17

Life

Well today was my first day at work. It was pretty chill and the majority of the time I didn’t work because they forgot to give me access to some of the computer programs I was supposed to use to work.  Actually, most of the time they let me sit at my desk, so I had a chance to work on my Russian workbook exercises, and pretty much I finished Chapter 3, and plan to do the rest of Chapter 4 tomorrow.

Forgetting Material

Something that I am worried about is forgetting material from previous chapters. If I am inconsistant with my studying, I am not going to make any progress, and this makes me a bit nervous. When I go back to SLO for school, I want to maintain my current learning pace, and still retain everything that I learned before. Today, I just finished all of Chapter 4 exercises, yet I would say that I am pretty rusty on the material still after doing all of the exercises. I kind of struggled through this chapter, which introduced prepositional cases (in/on/at) and also nominative plurals of nouns & adjectives. 

One thing that I have neglected is using the тройка workbook. I have been doing exercises in the textbook, but I have avoided opening the workbook until today. I decided to start doing Chapter 3 workbook exercises and by tomorrow I should be able to finish Chapter 3 & 4 in the workbook, since they are relatively easy to get through.

Yet, I wonder if doing these extra written exercises are really helping me retain this information in the long-run. One disadvantage of self-study is that you don’t have quizzes, tests, or exams. Thus, I can’t really see if I am “failing” at Russian or know exactly when it is the right time to move on to the next chapter or not. 

сегодня (8/22/2013)

Привет. Сегодня, читаю урок 4 в мой учебник. Я учу медленно говорить, понимать, и писать по-русский. По-моему, мне нужно практиковаться в русском. В пятницу я работаю. Я бухгалтер и пятницу пе́рвый день. На этой неделе, мне грустно потому что моя семья. Я устал.

^^ Just some random thoughts for today (please correct me if I say anything wrong). Below is just a random picture taken in Москва.

русская музыка

I am not extremely familiar with Russian media, but one song I really enjoy is called “Here and There” by Alexey Chumakov, which I know thanks to a friend I met in Moscow. It is relaxing but also mellow at the same time. One thing I have noticed is that it is pretty difficult to find english translations of Russian songs, and I thought it would be interesting to translate passages of songs into english. Note that I am not claiming these to be accurate, but rather a process in learning.

Part 1.

Алексей Чумаков – Тут и там
(Alexey Chumakov – Here and There)

Хоть в мире много есть удивительных мест
(Though the world has a lot of amazing places)
Это лучше всех, ты здесь
(This is the best of all, you’re here)
Я иду пешком, забываю куда
(I walk, I forget where)
Мне приятно что ты та.
(I’m glad you’re the one)

Добро пожаловать!

This blog is meant to be a record of my Russian Language Learning Journey. I have been studying Russian for about a month or two, and know relatively little grammar and vocabulary. However, I have been using the book Tройка, pictured below, and I am near the end of Chapter 4. This is a beginning Russian college-level textbook and I don’t really recommend using it. I am not too fond of a lot of the exercises, dialogues, explanations, or even the layout of the book. I can go into further detail of this textbook later on in another blog post.

I definitely find writing in Russian to be more challenging than reading and speaking, and I am hoping this blog can help motivate me to write more in Russian. That being said, for my first post, I will simply introduce myself. If there are any more advanced Russian language learners feel free to correct me on my choice of words or grammar

Здравствуйте. Меня зовут Рeoн. Я студент русскоязычный. Я учуся говорить по-русски сам. Я знаю немного слова русский. Я живу в Сиэтлe но я американец н филиппинские. Я люблю русский язык!

Troika: A Communicative Approach to Russian Language, Life, and Culture, 2nd Edition / Edition 2 by Marita Nummikoski