Posted on September 12th, 2010

You have probably learned quiet a few Russian words and phrases by now, however, you don’t feel comfortable speaking Russian language quite yet. Below are a few steps that will help you to start speaking Russian fast!

Move to Rusland!

Yes, of course, it’s a solution! You’ll hear yourself speaking better Russian in just a few days. That is if you don’t give in your temptation to help everyone you meet to practice their English…

Visiting a Russian-speaking country could be an interesting experience, and a great opportunity to make new Russian friends. Also you would get a chance to practice your Russian grammar and learn a few new words and expressions every day.

If you can’t travel to a location where Russian is spoken quite yet, but you live somewhere close to Brooklyn, or Los Angles, where there is a big Russian community, then you can visit Russian restaurants and stores, where you can practice your Russian. You can also take Russian classes either online or at a local language school, where you will find many like-minded students whom you can practice your Russian with.

Make Russian Friends

If you can’t just pack up your suitcase and leave for Russia right now, and you live miles and miles away from West Hollywood, then the best solution is to make Russian friends!

Here is why:

• Russian friends will keep you motivated to learn the language,
• you’ll learn about Russia and the Russian culture,
• you’ll have a good chance to practice your Russian speaking skills and
• you’ll learn some new modern slang!

Just please make sure not to learn slang that can only be said aloud on the Talk Like a Pirate Day…

Also, I publish Russian slang and idioms video lessons on my blog every week, so stay tuned.

Immerse into Russian

One of the most effective ways to start speaking Russian fast is to immerse yourself into the language by watching Russian TV channels, listening to the Russian radio stations, reading Russian newspapers or stories online and by following russian4real.com  :clap: !

In other words, surround yourself by Russian language and culture. Eventually you will start thinking in Russian, and you will find it easier to find the right words and expressions and build sentences when speaking Russian. This will also help you to build your confidence.

Talk to Yourself Aloud

No, it does not mean that you are going crazy. It means that you are working hard on your Russian language skills! Try to listen to a radio or TV show and then repeat it in your own words. You probably remember, that when learning your native language as a child, you were listening to others talk and then repeated after them, whether it made your Mum happy or not… We can learn a lot of new words, expressions and get a better grip of grammar structure by listening to the native Russian speakers.

A good exercise would be repeating the gist of a movie or a podcast in your own words. The most important thing is that you need to understand what you have just read or heard to successfully repeat it by yourself.

Build Your Confidence

The first step to becoming a more confident Russian speaker is trying to use simple Russian sentence structure. Russian grammar is hard as is, so please simplify your task of building a sentence by placing only a few words in it.

The second step is trying to think in Russian instead of translating something from your native language. Russian sentence structure is different from most languages and you might be very confused when trying to translate something into Russian.

The last step is practicing. You need to get used to hearing yourself speaking Russian. This will help you to relax when speaking Russian with someone. Most importantly, find a native Russian speaker whom you can practice your Russian with, this will make learning Russian faster and more fun!

Interesting fact:

It’s interesting how much we can learn in mellow and soothing atmosphere. And this is from the personal experience:

All my English instructors at the English language school in London liked taking our class out to encourage a conversation! Every single English teacher used to say that this not only helps students to get to know each other, it also helps them to practice their English skills in a relaxed atmosphere. No wonder we always started our practice at a local pub….

Good luck learning Russian!

Viktoria.

Related Posts:

• Video: Most Common Russian Greetings
• Learning Russian through Fairy Tales
• Russian Grammar Lesson: Russian Names
• Russian Christmas Video Lesson: Traditions and History
• Cases of the Russian Nouns & The Nominative Case

Comments

The courses of Russian as a foreign language with Russian4real take place online via Skype. The teacher works with adults individually since he is convinced that each person must receive maximum time for practice and professional attention while learning a foreign language.