You Dont Even Know the Language

The stereotype that Russian is an impossibly hard language comes from Russians themselves who don't need to learn it and thus don't actually know anything about it. I try to hammer away at this completely inaccurate stereotype in my commodity below, starting with mysterious indigestible letters that make up the Russian alphabet!

The Alphabet

Native speakers of whatever language generally don't know that much nigh its grammar. I tin't explicate to you how to employ the manufactures (a + the) in English just I can tell you that I use them admittedly correctly every solar day of my life. So, are articles a difficult thing for foreigners in English language? I have no thought, because I am a native speaker of the linguistic communication.

Russian is no exception to this tendency. If you ask the average Russian a grammatical question, their response will be "Chivo?" ("Wha...?"), because they don't have to recall about what genders words are or how those words decline. Yet, despite native speakers not knowing the rules of their own language very well, Russians are absolutely sure their language is very hard - and this is a very bad thing.

As a greenhorn in Russia, I accept had to tolerate hundreds of lectures by Russians, who are convinced, based on hearsay, that "Russian is the hardest linguistic communication" and that, somehow, this is an atrocious thing. Russian pessimism is a stereotype for a reason. The Chinese, on the other manus, see their language equally hard too, just they believe that every bit a proficient thing. "Our language requires more brain power and talent than yours, Laowai!"

According to the Foreign Service Institute, for native speakers of English, Russian is in difficulty level iv or five (with many other languages). You can tell this fact to Russians, but they will never believe you, because they've been told their whole lives that their language is incommunicable to acquire, despite hundreds of unlike ethnicities beyond the former USSR learning information technology and speaking it. Also, the fact that any Westerner who is here in Moscow for the long term speaks it very well is not about enough show to break Russians' masochistic attitude to their language. Sorry Russians, in this series I will prove that your language is simply not that difficult, peculiarly with a phonetic alphabet designed specifically for it!

1) Russian spelling is beyond easy thanks to the alphabet

Imagine if English language had its own custom alphabet suited to it, with every letter making only 1 Sound. Imagine if in English, regardless of where a letter comes from, at that place was a single logic of pronunciation. Wouldn't that exist much easier, than the nightmarish 'system' of spelling and pronunciation we use now?

In the English-speaking world, taking a suspension to ponder how a rarely used discussion is spelled or not being able to write something, because you've "never seen it written before", is normal, but in Russian federation, this never happens. Adults in Russia are expected to write with zero spelling errors, because spelling is so damn like shooting fish in a barrel when yous use Cyrillic! Each of the letters make i clear audio - non like in English where, fifty-fifty when used in the aforementioned give-and-take multiple times, the letter "A" can make all sorts of sounds, like in the words "Amanda" or "Antarctica".

ii) You lot know half the Russian alphabet already

On the very first day of taking a Russian course your teacher volition tell you that the letters "Atom K" are the same in Russian as they are in English. That'southward a nice showtime, but there are many other messages which you should exist familiar with as an adult in an English-speaking land.

Remember using Greek messages like Pi (π) and Delta (Δ) in math class? Funny how the Russian 'P' and 'D' look almost the aforementioned (П, Д). Other Greek letters that you often encounter on frat firm signs (or the shields of Spartans) like Lambda (λ) Gamma (Γ) and Phi (Φ) are likewise the same in Russian. (Л, Г, Ф).

Then fifty-fifty before you crack open that Russian language volume for the starting time fourth dimension, thank you to some overlay betwixt Latin and Cyrillic and the mathematical use of Greek, you already know many of the 33 Russian letters. Furthermore, these shared letters are some of the virtually commonly used that only get you 1 point per tile when playing Scrabble, i.e. they are the well-nigh useful letters to know.

3) Information technology's simply 33 messages!

I know I take touched upon this topic already, only this is not Chinese with thousands of symbols or Standard arabic where letters modify their await depending on discussion position. Russian has 33 symbols and that is it, why does everyone think this is so hard?

Most foreigners (whom I accept met) who acquire Russian later 1 week of classes have the Cyrillic alphabet more often than not memorized.

iv) If you spend time in Russia you lot volition just acquire Cyrillic subconsciously anyways

When I served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Kazakhstan, some of u.s. were pumped to acquire Kazakh and/or Russian similar me, some didn't intendance at all, but literally anybody was able to read the alphabet later a few months. So even if yous are totally disinterested, just being exposed to super simple Cyrillic allows you to magically absorb it subconsciously. I have a strong feeling this passive method may non work for Japanese!

In short, don't let Russians tell you lot about their linguistic communication, considering they accept no thought what they are talking most; oh, and don't let unusual boxy messages scare you. In that location aren't many of them and they're easy to learn. Cyrillic is logical, simple (arguably the simplest script on Globe) and even people who don't want to learn Russian option it upward somewhen. Don't allow irrational fears continue you lot from learning Russian. There are some things that are hard for native speakers of English, but the Russian alphabet IS Not ONE OF THEM!

Джаст ду ыт! ("Merely do it!")

If using whatever of Russian federation Beyond'due south content, partly or in total, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.

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Source: https://www.rbth.com/education/330725-russian-alphabet-easy

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