Whew. Who knew starting over would be such andinteresting experience?
I took 4 semesters of Russian after retiring from the military 20 years ago. Actually, I had taken 2 semesters of Beginner's Russian prior to that - 20 years before that! So, you;d think I'd have the basics down, right? Um, yeah... not so much. I hadn't heard or looked at anything Russian since at least 2005 until last Thursday when I decided to re-learn it. Okay.... so that's where I stand today.
The question then is: how to begin again?
First thing first, I went to the local library - Pimsleur & Living Language DVDs and a couple dusty, old, rarely checked out books and CDs were brought home to peruse. A quick run around the Internet led me to YouTube videos, some paid and free lessons on various websites, and I even found some textbooks for free in various places. And, surprise, surprise, two old friends, the Defense Language Institute and Foreigh Service Institute courses are available for free, both audio and text materials! I say friends because the DLI Basic Course materials provided my first exposure to the Russian language way back in the mid-'70s.
I stumbled across some YouTube videos on Polyglots Conference lectures, others on individual polyglots and self-taught language learners, came across resources like DuoLingo, Memrise, LingQ and Anki, and finally found my way here, to iTalki.
So, here I sit with all this "stuff" available and am feeling semi-lost. Where do I start?
I mean seriously... I have more materials than I know what to do with at my disposal (at last count, I have downloaded or located over 18GB of audio files, ~100 books downloaded, bookmarked on the 'Net and/or checked out of the library, bought a physical set of old Vis-Ed Russian flashcards [vocab, grammar & conversation] that I found at a local thrift shop). After listening to a couple of the Pimsleur and Living Language lessons, I realized that I'm faced with the daunting task of basically starting completely over - I only recognize about 150-250 words on a 50% basis, have totally forgotten all but the present tense, couldn't decline a single noun in the Genitive case - much less all six cases - with a gun held to my head, and now have tinnutis to add to the challenge.
Oh, and I have 4 different lists of the "most frequently used Russian words" - not all of which agree with each other!
I've had two Skype sessions where I tried to speak the little Russian I can manage and flopped completely... In one case, it was with a tutor; the other involved a language-exchange partner.
I thought about joining the add1Challenge but after a little research realized that it's risking the entry fee for something I'd intended to do on my own anyway...just not in 90 days and putting "the entry fee" towards tutoring/materials...lol.
Any suggestions about how to start over would be really appreciated.
It's not surprising you've forgotten (almost) everything. It's easy to forget a language that you never knew all that well (say, sub-B2), and 13 years is a long time. If I ever wanted to brush up my Hebrew (studied it for two years, stopped in 2012; at its high point, my level was probably an A2), I'd likely have to start over, pretty much from scratch. (I still remember the alphabet and a random word here and there, but not much else.)
If you can afford to, I think it would be best to take lessons. Choose a competent, experienced teacher, and then do what s/he tells you to do (homework included). That way, you'll make steady progress. I also don't think it's a very good idea to ignore grammar (as some people suggest). If you do, then as soon as you try to say anything even slightly complicated, native speakers won't understand you.
I think we shouldn't go far away from these reasons from the very beginning, otherwise we may loose confidence in our ability to learn language and interest.
For example, if you like some Russian singer and want to translate their lyrics or sing their songs, you should start straight with translation and learning their songs. If you want to visit Russia, you should learn some simple common phrases and greetings and come to Russia as soon as possible. Because the fulfilment of your wishes will give you energy, pleasure and keep you motivation alive.
In my opinion,the best way to begin speaking as soon as possible is to create stories. Small stories, about 100-120 words. Your partner checks the text. Helps you to read. And later you may try to develop a discussion on the base of this story.
Who helps you to create your story? Google translator, for example! Of course, you may use all your traditional books. But they are prepared to teach your long and long years. But you want to speak NOW.
You don't need to know ALL WORDS and ALL GRAMMAR in Russian language. You would like to speak about things and ideas which are important and interesting to yourself. So, write stories about YOU, not just Mr.Brown from a textbook.
I wish you success in your new world!
Well, I want to thank you all for your comments and differing perspectives.
After 2 trial lessons with different community tutors and 3 language-exchange sessions with different partners, things remain "clear as mud". The gaps in my vocabulary are astounding in both their depth and breadth. We won't even make bad jokes about just how bad the grammatical structure of my sentences was during those lessons and conversations.
So, I've set a few goals and come up with a general plan thanks to what you have all suggested, as a result of the above experiences and what I think I will actually do, not just say I will do.
1. Learn to type using a Cyrillic keyboard.
****I've found an online typing tutor program for this. I'll practice in 15 minute sessions throughout the day.
2. Learn new vocabulary daily.
****I downloaded and installed Anki, loaded 2 different pre-made sets and checked the program out.
****Goal - 30 words a day, every day.
****Concentrate on the most commonly used used based on frequency charts I've found.
****Started that yesterday.
3. More language-exchange sessions.
****Kinda self-explanatory.
****Goal: at least 1 every other day.
****I'll just push myself to muddle through.
****I watched a series of YouTube videos where a Chinese-American (forgot his name) living in Austria documented his progress learning German over 90 days. What stood out was his apparent fearlessness with the process and progress despite his obvious lack of vocabulary and horrid pronunciation (I say the latter as someone who spent 5.5 years in Germany, not as an insult about him). This was actually a good thing for me - making mistakes is going to happen. I'll just need to "get over it" attitude and ego-wise.
4. Watch and/or listen to a Russian language TV/radio/YouTube broadcast for 30 minutes a day to try to re-tune my ears to the Russian conversational tempo and melody.
Thanks
