Russia

Hey-o!

How was your weekend? (I guess you'll have to post a comment to let me know...)


Today we're continuing in our All Things Rani series by talking a little about my slight obsession with language. No, I don't mean foul language. I just mean language in general. And not just English. I may have a bachelors degree in that subject area, but it doesn't mean that I can't enjoy the others.

Russian

I've been learning Russian now for about a year and a half. It hasn't been steady, so I won't try to insult your intelligence by telling you that it has.

It's hard work, learning any language.

But by now I've mastered several hundred words and phrases, and I've done it all in my spare time. Not bad, if I do say so myself. Things could've been faster, but I don't like to push myself -- especially when it's something I'm doing for fun and in my downtime.


So for funsies, here are my top ten reasons why I picked Russian as my first (you heard me, first) secondary language:

1. The language is beautiful
2. The people are beautiful
3. I've never been one to believe the American stereotype that says all Russian people are evil -- and I'd like to be able to better prove my case
4. I don't understand how their communication style works, and I've always been fascinated by communication styles
5. I want to travel the world, and Russia is a larger portion of the world than people tend to think
6. I've always wanted to learn to roll my r's, but I never liked Spanish or many of the other languages where they're prominent (bonus: it only took me a month or two to fully master the sound!)
7. I watched the Sochi Olympics, and I fell in love
8. I like the cold far more than I like the heat -- I know, I live in the wrong part of the world for that
9. I found that there's a lot of Russian choral music, and I have an affinity for choral music
10. Because... I could. 

That's really the brunt of it. I picked Russian because I could.

So there, now you know something about me.

If you want to learn it with me, I highly recommend Byki software and The Everything Essential Russian Book by Julia Stakhnevich. Don't get the Penguin book. It's far too confusing and a little out of order, in my opinion.

[love and laughter]

{Rani D.}