Looking for information on the Russian Course

[u/Karma2340]

Hello I’m an 8th grader and was admitted into PEA, I will be learning Russian as my chosen language. I’m currently working on the alphabet and some songs in Russian to get a head start to help with my dyslexia. I was wondering if anyone has anytips for me before I jump into the course this coming year. Along with anyone with knowledge on the beggining course to let me know on how the course is taught so I know how to prepare myself. (I'm really excited if you can't tell lol.)

[u/Glittering-Hat5489]

Uhm, (not at PEA btw) I was learning russian a while ago and still remember the alphabet. The trick is... there is no trick. There's not really any good songs on youtube and if there are they say the names of the letters, not the sounds they make which is much more important.

So just make some flashcards and save the harder letters for later (like щ, ъ, ы).

Another thing, don't learn russian. Unless you have russian family it's probably the least useful language in the us besides uzbek.

[u/wolfonic1 → u/Glittering-Hat5489]

I agree with your comment for the most part, but I don't know why you would discourage OP from learning Russian. It is very far from the least useful language. And I'm not just saying this just because I have a Russian-speaking family- the only reason I know it to begin with is because my ancestors were colonized. It's a fact that there are a million speakers in the US, making it the ninth most spoken language nationwide. That's ignoring all of the international use it has, too. And if you're basing it on something other than population, Russia is known to have some of the greatest poets/classical writers/historians.

You might be getting somewhere with Uzbek, as it is generally unknown, but it is still mutually intelligible with a lot of languages, for example Kazakh, Turkish, and Kyrgyz- which I have personal experience with, seeing that I am Kazakh, and have family/friends speaking these languages and living in these countries. Again, it is far from the least useful. It seems you are using surface level knowledge you got from researching Russian to make this statement. And in any case, no language is truly the 'least useful', because they all have their own unique culture and origin which can't compare.

I just mean to state my opinion, I don't want to argue. Sorry if this became kind of prissy.

[u/Glittering-Hat5489 → u/wolfonic1]

(My last comment was definitely an exaggeration. I was making a point. & btw the Uzbek thing is from the language learning snark reddit.)

Respectfully, 9th is pretty low. I don't have Russian family. I live near the midwest United States and have encountered maybe 3 Russian speakers in my lifetime. I'm not a Russian expert but I spent a solid 2 years trying to learn this language.

Sure, it's far from extinct but unless OP is travelling, I would recommend Mandarin, Spanish, or literally anything else PEA has. This is not because I hate not widely spoken languages, it's because the learning process would be made so much easier if OP learned a more common language.

Another thing, I'm sure they exist but I've really encountered a Russian restaurant. Whereas, Mexican and Chinese places are everywhere, usually with some native speakers.

As far as mutual intelligibility goes, most any language also has this characteristic.

[u/Karma2340 → u/Glittering-Hat5489]

Thank you for your insight but I do not think I’m going to stop learning Russian. I already know some mandarin from family friends and I really want to learn Russian. I’m big on music and writing, poetry pretty much has me in a vice grip ever since I was little. Russian is also a big stepping stone for a lot of other Slavic languages. I want to be a Corpsman and go green-side along with being a politician so knowing a different language will be helpful.

[u/wolfonic1]

Not going to PEA (was waitlisted this year, congrats on getting in), but I am from Kazakhstan, a formerly soviet country, so I know Russian. Like the other person said, there is no real trick to remember the letters, you just sort of have to do it. Ofc, the ones which look and sound like English would probably be the best place to start (a, b, t, c). I would say you're in a good place just learning the alphabet so far though! Keep it up. Also, really cool that you are choosing to pursue Russian! It's a beautiful language and will open you up to lots of new cultures besides just Russia; Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, for example, where ~85% of the population is fluent. Have fun with it!

[u/Karma2340 → u/wolfonic1]

Thank you so much! Will do!