4 ms·

I wish someone would do the same for Russian: Basic Русский

082349872349872 6y ago
I listen to pop music. There's probably a high overall vocabulary count, but (a) lyric sites are a thing, and (b) the common words are really common. сердце, очи, люблю, руки, и.т.д.
- yboris 6y ago
  I know probably fewer than 10 words in Spanish, but the #1 is "corazón" :P
yboris 6y ago
My favorite feature of Russian that has no analogue in English is the variety of prefixes that can, for example, add direction to a verb: приехал переехал подехал (prefix before the word "drive" makes it "arrive", "drive over", "just arrived"). The beauty is that these prefixes, being universal, can be added to just about any word adding a flavor you may not have even experienced. Using the same prefixes before a vulgar word makes Russian, perhaps, the most versatile language for cursing.
- bausano_michael 6y ago
  We've got that in Czech too, it's a nice feature of Slavic languages.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  fan-effing-tastic!
- lxe 6y ago
  > has no analogue in English English uses prepositions instead to modify meaning, as you described. приехал literal "drove in" переехал "drove over" подъехал "drove up" > can be added to just about any word adding a flavor you may not have even experienced That's definitely true. this makes translating from russian lose quite a lot of color.
ben_w 6y ago
Likewise for all languages. 850 words is plausible effort for tourism, 25,000 isn’t.
rvba 6y ago
Do you know any good resource to first learn Cyrillic alphabet?
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  I knew greek before, which has substantial overlap. Flashcards would probably be the fastest method, but I'm not cramming, so to pick up the rest of the characters, I: - watched the relevant episodes of Спокойной ночи, малыши for letterforms and pronunciation. (phonic segment is about midway through, nearly always at the same time, IIRC) - read plenty. VK memes at first, news headlines for the proper nouns later. - watched lyric music videos to work on reading speed.
- btilly 6y ago
  Duolingo is good at teaching Cyrillic. Be warned, though, that it takes a while for an English speaker to recognize the difference between hard consonants and soft consonants. In fact I got the point where I didn't think that I could tell, but was able to successfully guess 10x in a row. I got them right, but it really felt like I had no idea. Very weird experience.

I listen to pop music. There's probably a high overall vocabulary count, but (a) lyric sites are a thing, and (b) the common words are really common. сердце, очи, люблю, руки, и.т.д.

yboris 6y ago
I know probably fewer than 10 words in Spanish, but the #1 is "corazón" :P

yboris 6y ago

My favorite feature of Russian that has no analogue in English is the variety of prefixes that can, for example, add direction to a verb: приехал переехал подехал (prefix before the word "drive" makes it "arrive", "drive over", "just arrived"). The beauty is that these prefixes, being universal, can be added to just about any word adding a flavor you may not have even experienced. Using the same prefixes before a vulgar word makes Russian, perhaps, the most versatile language for cursing.

bausano_michael 6y ago
We've got that in Czech too, it's a nice feature of Slavic languages.
082349872349872 6y ago
fan-effing-tastic!
lxe 6y ago
> has no analogue in English English uses prepositions instead to modify meaning, as you described. приехал literal "drove in" переехал "drove over" подъехал "drove up" > can be added to just about any word adding a flavor you may not have even experienced That's definitely true. this makes translating from russian lose quite a lot of color.

ben_w 6y ago

Likewise for all languages. 850 words is plausible effort for tourism, 25,000 isn’t.

rvba 6y ago

Do you know any good resource to first learn Cyrillic alphabet?

082349872349872 6y ago
I knew greek before, which has substantial overlap. Flashcards would probably be the fastest method, but I'm not cramming, so to pick up the rest of the characters, I: - watched the relevant episodes of Спокойной ночи, малыши for letterforms and pronunciation. (phonic segment is about midway through, nearly always at the same time, IIRC) - read plenty. VK memes at first, news headlines for the proper nouns later. - watched lyric music videos to work on reading speed.
btilly 6y ago
Duolingo is good at teaching Cyrillic. Be warned, though, that it takes a while for an English speaker to recognize the difference between hard consonants and soft consonants. In fact I got the point where I didn't think that I could tell, but was able to successfully guess 10x in a row. I got them right, but it really felt like I had no idea. Very weird experience.