Originally posted by asromacalcioRussian is useful in Central Asia...so i here. have not been there. only to Siberia...
Hi
I'm studying Russian now, that was what prompted me to start this thread, as I find it so easy. I'm also learning Kyrgyz and that's also easy, but my teacher is a joke. She reads the book to me. Wow, that'll help me learn.
Originally posted by mochironYup, you're right, that's why I prefer a real Finn to give an opinion
Seitse. perhaps it does not. But my finnish friend says says that he can understand a fair bit of Estonian. Also, I think people need to listen for the gist of the meaning if they do not speak the other language. For example, when I speak Russian with a real Ukranian speaker. I dont understand all of it..but Enough to have a decent conversation.... same with Spanish and Italian. Not easy ...but possible.
because a native can grasp that something you mention. I am sure
they can... but certainly not me 😞
Originally posted by mochironthat's a common missconception many finns have. it happens because almost all estonians speak some finnish, and will throw in estonian only if they don't know the finnish counterpart for something. the reason why they speak finnish is because during the soviet regime they watched finnish television, which was some kind of a 'window to the western world' for them.
Seitse. perhaps it does not. But my finnish friend says says that he can understand a fair bit of Estonian.
in reality, although finnish and estonian are somewhat similar (estonian is another finno-ugric language), they are so different that estonian sounds like (strangely familiar) gibberish if you haven't actually studied it. there are a lot of very familiar words, but the meaning is so different that you missunderstand the little you think you understood.
a short example: I copied a small news summary from an estonian magazine.
Politsei ei ole eelmise nädala kolmapäeval süttinud madratsi-ja poroloonitehase põlengus kadunuks jäänud naisi leidnud.
what I (think I) understand here is 'politsei ei ole' (the police has not) and that's about it. about half of the words look somehow familiar, and half are completely strange. of the 'familiar words' maybe 50% of the letters seem to me like they couldn't possibly belong to the word, which makes be suspect I'm just picking out the familiar parts and completely misunderstand the meaning because of that. sort of like a rorschach inkblot test with words. I think I understand maybe 10% of it, which is not a lot if I compare it to maybe 50-60% I understand from written german or spanish, both languages that I've had considerably less contact with.
So, the easiest language to learn is "Egg language", a short demonstration of which can be seen below:
Seggo, thegge easieggest leggangueggage teggo leggearn eggis "Eggegg Leggangueggage", eggan eggexeggampeggle eggof wheggich theggis eggis weggone.
Note the addition of a "w" in front of "eggone" for pronunciation purposes.
Originally posted by wormwoodworm,
that's a common missconception many finns have. it happens because almost all estonians speak some finnish, and will throw in estonian only if they don't know the finnish counterpart for something. the reason why they speak finnish is because during the soviet regime they watched finnish television, which was some kind of a 'window to the western world' for ...[text shortened]... ten german or spanish, both languages that I've had considerably less contact with.
i stand corrected. i just have heard this thru the grape vine. So. the truth if farther.....apart that is. so be it. learn a new thing everyday.
Originally posted by mochironI'm past cases and aspect, still not found anything remotely hard.
the basic russian grammar is not so hard. the verbs of motion and case ending take a while though. after that it gets easy. Good luck. I plan to study Tartar...in the same group i think as Kyrgy....Have friend here in Moscow from there. She was in Turkey in the summer. She had no problem understanding Turkish...well 70 percent or so.
I was dropped from my darts team once as I couldn't subtract quickly enough, kept slowing the games down to the annoyance of opponents from pubs near and far.
Some people learn languages, some are good with numbers, overall there is generally a balance.