Sunday, March 18, 2007

My First Russian Lesson

It was better than a hangover, but not as good as a major caffeine withdrawl.

I spent 30 minutes learning the sounds of the Cyrillic (ki-RIL-ik) alphabet. Then I spent the next 1.5 hours sounding out about 100 words. After which I slept 12 hours and got up the next day still feeling wasted.

Can you imagine? I even paid for this torture! There is special psychological treatment for people like me somewhere... but they'll NEVER catch me! Ha ha ha!

Please study the graph below for half an hour, then go to the following page and try to read for another hour and a half. (Don't try to comprehend! That could cause serious injury and irreversible damage!) Only then will you have a small taste of the mental acrobatics required to learn a new alphabet.

Click on the graph to enlarge the image. Click here to enlarge the image AND hear the actual sounds of the letters. Enjoy it in all its terrible glory!

Try out your new Russian phonics skills by reading this page!

In case you're wondering "Why Russian?", the answer is two-fold:
1. There is so much Russian spoken in my house, in my workplace, and just all over the place generally in Moldova, it really is necessary in order to know what's going on around me.
2. Because there IS so much Russian here, it is simply too good of an opportunity to waste to learn a valuable language like Russian.

Discussion on the Romanian vs. Russian langauage debate that rages here in Moldova to come at a later date.

12 Comments:

Blogger WTF?! said...

We got a similar (albeit, less serious atempt at learning, as we were only there for a month) experience with Russian/Ukranian when we were in Kiev. Russian and Ukrainian are both Cyrilic, but have their own alphabets... how confusing...

God's blessing upon you!!

Sun Mar 18, 04:45:00 PM 2007  
Blogger Emily said...

Wow! I waited 10 months before embarking on my second language. You'all went for broke and started two new languages at the same time! I am in awe of you. ;-)

May Jesus uplift you and yours, preparing the way before you!

Mon Mar 19, 12:11:00 PM 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ciao
volevo farti i complimenti hai un sito bellissimo un abbraccio dall'Italia
Elisa


Congratulations on a beautiful website
Loved everything on your site and you did a magnificent job. You should be proud of yourself

Tue Apr 10, 08:13:00 AM 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Em, you are an amazing linguist! You go, honey! Mom

Wed Apr 18, 03:29:00 PM 2007  
Blogger Adi said...

don't bother with Russian.
Romanian is enough and official!

Fri May 04, 05:06:00 PM 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I guess the most difficult for you will be "t" and "r" sounds. I wish you all the best and good luck with Russian.

Sat May 05, 09:41:00 AM 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Em, I've been playing with your alphabet. How would that sound sung to our ABC's tune? dave from burney, CA

Sat May 05, 10:29:00 AM 2007  
Blogger Emily said...

After singing it a few times, it actually starts to sound ok, sort of! The most important part of that song (l, m, n, o, p) is still intact, so it's all good. :-)

Sat May 05, 10:54:00 AM 2007  
Blogger Fernando Olmos said...

Hey you there! amazing from moldova!!
It's the first time i check a blog from your country, and yours is really cool and awesome. it's terrific!
my regards from chile
fernando

check mine at http://boggito.blogspot.com
Fernando

Sat May 12, 03:30:00 PM 2007  
Blogger JTapp said...

My wife and I just moved to Chishinau. She's learning Romanian, and I'm continuing study of (already several years) of Russian. Romanian is definitely the easier way to go, and I applaud your desire to know both as it will open up new doors.

Fri Aug 17, 02:31:00 AM 2007  
Blogger norrbu said...

i'd love to be in moldova someday.

Fri Oct 26, 01:39:00 PM 2007  
Blogger sartaj faisal said...

HI

Russian is tough language and there are many people leaning it to institutes.

Alan Smith….
Maths private tutor

Wed Oct 27, 12:23:00 AM 2010  

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