Saturday, December 18, 2010

Trying my skills #reverb10

December 18 Try. What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did / didn't go for it? (Prompt by @kaileenelise)

When I was in Ukraine, I felt lost.  People spoke all around me and I have on idea what they were saying.  I could pick up a word here or there, but mostly I was completely helpless in interacting with anyone who wasn't able to translate through my step-mother.

This coming year, I would like to rectify that.  I want to start learning Russian.  I tried to learn a little bit before I went on my trip, but I found out, it didn't really help me at all.  When putting Ky and I on the train heading for Kiev, Tanya talked to the attendant and asked her to keep an eye on us.  The attendant asked "Can't they speak any Russian at all?" and Tanya replied, "Well, they can count to 10."

My plan is to get Rosetta Stone in Russian.  Then, I will practice with my Dad and Tanya on Skype until I can  actually participate in a real conversation.

Next time I go to see my other family, I want to be able to talk to them.

7 comments:

  1. Good idea? And on a side note, have you tried eating at the Russian deli yet? I just wrote about it, and I love it.

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  2. I desperately want to go there, but am afraid that (like Ukraine) everything will have gluten in it. Although, that borscht looked amazing.

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  3. Today I was running through all the Russian I knew. I can say "hello," "thank you," "five," "how much," "you're welcome," "straight ahead,""cherry," "bye bye" and "grandma." I can't even count to ten anymore. It's a sad thing.

    I want to go to that deli just for the borscht and solyanka. Looks so good.

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  4. Dude, Rosetta Stone has its best sale of the year on now. I got birthday/Christmas money from my in-laws that covered part of it for me to get Levels 1-5 in German.

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  5. Schmutzie, I saw your post about the deli. May-B sent it. Is it Russian or Ukrainian? The food looks pretty good. I love solyanka. And I see they have kept the North American name for vereniky and are calling it perogie. Tanya makes home made vereniky but we buy pelmeni ready made and just found a deli which makes the best. It is the Russian/Ukrainian equivalent of Kraft dinner ie when you are too lazy or rushed to cook.

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  6. I saw a video recently buy some guy that learned Russian words and grammar (without memorizing) It's actually pretty cool. http://learnrussianfast.com/learn-russian-fast.html Hope you find it helpful. Wrong post here, but loved what you wrote about space-babies and Star Trek Captains.. funny!

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Crap monkies say "what?"