Russian

[Hoggirl]

An adult friend is looking to brush up on his Russian, particularly grammar. Any ideas that are cheap and good. Rosetta Stone is probably not in his budget. He asked me b/c he thought (hoped) there might be some good home school curricula???

Any ideas?

[teachaheart]

An adult friend is looking to brush up on his Russian, particularly grammar. Any ideas that are cheap and good. Rosetta Stone is probably not in his budget. He asked me b/c he thought (hoped) there might be some good home school curricula???

Any ideas?

I'm also interested in finding some good resources for brushing up on my Russian. I have signed up on LiveMocha, but the Russian lessons there only go through a basic intermediate level. If I can figure out how to make my microphone work, I will probably try to find one or two native speakers to chat with on a regular basis. Perhaps your friend would be interested in that. The basic content on LiveMocha is free.

Also, I don't know where your friend lives, but he may want to find out if there are any Russian speaking new immigrants in his area. If so, he may be able to get some Russian lessons in exchange for helping a family learn English and get settled into their new life.

[Hoggirl]

Is it just an on-line freebie? Does it cover grammar as well?

Thanks for your reply!

[SheWhoWaits]

My ds is studying Russian. I'll ask him when he gets back from class.

[teachaheart]

LiveMocha is a website that offers free basic courses (beginner and intermediate levels) in several languages. Some languages have premium content available for a fee. It uses an approach that is more holistic and intuitive than a regular textbook grammar-based approach. The lessons present vocabulary and simple sentences using pictures and native speakers pronouncing the words. Then there are practice exercises that involve listening to a word or phrase and selecting the corresponding picture, dragging words into order to describe a picture, reading words or phrases and selecting the corresponding picture, writing sentences and paragraphs on a given topic, and reading a paragraph orally. The last two exercises are submitted to the LiveMocha community for native speakers to evaluate (grammar, spelling, quality, pronunciation...).

In addition to the lessons, it is possible to invite native speakers to chat live with you. I have not used this option yet (technical challenges on my part with my microphone), but I think you can do both written chat and voice chat. There are even dialog and role-playing suggestions available.

I have not been on this site for long, so my experience is rather limited. I am currently working on courses in beginning French, beginning Dutch and intermediate Russian. I have a BA in Russian and have also studied Spanish, Latin, ancient Greek (including some Koine Greek), Japanese, and even a short course in Swahili. Here are my initial thoughts on LiveMocha:

Although I personally favor a grammatical approach to language, I really do like the holistic approach LiveMocha uses, especially for beginners. It is an excellent way to learn vocabulary and practice using it. I also really like the opportunities for feedback from native speakers.

I do not think it is good for developing a true understanding of the grammar of a language. For example, in my first French lesson, many of the adjectives were presented only in their feminine forms, but this was not explicitly stated so someone without a strong language background would not know this. In my writing exercise, I wanted to use those adjectives to describe a man and a boy, but I did not know the masculine forms. I submitted the exercise with the feminine forms and let the native speakers correct my sentences and give me the masculine forms. For me, this was frustrating since I am very diligent in language work and do not like to make mistakes. (Um, yeah, a perfectionist :D). I like a thorough explanation of grammar, particularly in inflected languages.

Also, the first lesson in the intermediate Russian course covers material that was part of my first semester of Russian in college.

The advantage of LiveMocha that makes it appealing to me is the opportunity to interact with native speakers through feedback on assignments, private messages, and chats...particularly the opportunity to practice conversing (the hardest part of any language for me, including English :001_smile:) in live chat with native speakers.

Sorry this has been so long! Basically, LiveMocha has a lot to offer, but if you friend only wants to brush up on Russian grammar, it is probably not the best place to do that. If he does only want to focus on grammar, I might be able to suggest some good textbooks if you can let me know what his level is.