Question

I want to learn Russian (decently) in a year...I read somewhere that it takes 1,100 hours of study in order to accomplish this, but I do not know if this statement has any validity. Does it? If so, I would study for three hours every day, and that would be roughly what is required :D

Answer 1

Previet dahlschickens

The success in learning any language depends completely on the goal involved in learning the language. To be honest, learning a language for say a few college credits is not a great motivator. On the the other hand, learning to satisfy personal goals can be a lot better.

As for your 1100 hours, not sure. However, you can use a lot of the fruits of science to help your learning and those 1000 hours do not need to all be at a desk, practicing. You can do vocabulary work while you shower. You can listen to audio while you drive, though this is not super effective because of the split concentration for driving. You can use flash cards while waiting in line. There are tons of ways you can snatch time back from hidden wasted spaces and make it your own.

Get some general references. Invest in a solid language learning reference. Quite possibly the best is, "How To Learn Any Language: Quickly, Easily, Inexpensively, Enjoyably and on Your Own" by Barry Farber. Farber takes a very practical approach. Back this up with a little research on memory, "Memory Power 101: A Comprehensive Guide to Better Learning for Students, Businesspeople, and Seniors" by W R. Klemm PhD is one of the latest and best books on what science tells us about how to optimize our memory and use it in learning.

Then you will need some specific references. Which ones you use will depend largely on how much you want to spend on this course of learning. There are tons of free things out there, but be careful of the quality. I know that the http://www.russianpod101.com/ product, both the free and the paid, is produced by a professional translation company. They hire native speakers and the quality is very good. Add to this that they hired language teachers to review their educational methods and it comes together in a very quality product. As a minimum, I would sign up for the free account, which gets you limited access. This will give you a few, high quality audio recordings, which is an important part of getting pronunciation down right. And as a side note, if you get a trial period, you may be able to download a ton of audio from their archive. This can give you all the words you need to practice, but I would still use other sources. Yes, as good as RP101 is, a second or third source is well worth it. News casts, professionals doing language instruction on Youtube, and similar sources will help you fill out the audio portion of your language learning. The end result is proper pronunciation, which is key in communications.

The great thing is that getting written language samples is easy. Welcome to the World Wide Web, where you can look at Russian news sites, the Russian Wikipedia, and so on. These will give you plenty of samples to translate and practice. Also, there are many classic written works in Russian that are out of copyright. Thus, you can get entire books to work with. However, a modern web site will have the advantage that it covers the Russian that is in use today. Even a blog, which may be linguistically inaccurate, has the advantage of being timely. This lets you learn the Russian of today, which is best for use in the modern world.

You can also get the Russian input method for any modern computer. There are Russian chat sites, etc. This will let you practice your Russian as you get better. I strongly suggest focusing on a topic you already know and like, such as a favorite sport or hobby, and learning the Russian related to that. At the same time, find a Russian web site related to that same topic that has a form or chat. In doing so, you will have a place to practice your Russian in a topic you have an interest in. This helps make the task more enjoyable and reduces stress because you know the topic and are just learning the words to talk about it.

Well, those are the tips in general. They actually work for any language, but I tailored this a bit to Russian for you.

Answer 2

Oh, and get something like these too:

http://masterrussian.com/blstickers.shtml

There are plenty of places that sell keyboard stickers. They will make typing in Russian a TON easier.

For typing in Japanese, I can use a phonetic based program that uses ka ta na to make かたな, and that can be changed to 刀, and so on. But for Russian, you will need to type directly in the русский алфавит (Russian alphabet, or Russian Cyrillic.)

Answer 3

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. These seem like some incredible tips that I will be sure use. Yes,want to learn Russian purely for my own pleasure, not for school! I am in love with the works of Tolstoy, Nabokov, Mandelstam, etc. and would like to read them in the original some day.

Again, thank you for the motivation and advice!