Russian language, what Pimsleur fails to...

[BarryM]

teach.

ß ñîáèðàþñü.
Òû ñîáèðàåøñÿ.
Îí ñîáèðàåòñÿ.
Îíà ñîáèðàåòñÿ.
Ìû ñîáèðàåìñÿ.
Âû ñîáèðàåòåñü.
Îíè ñîáèðàþòñÿ.

These variations of the verb "going to" are not explained in Pimsleur. This example clears things up quite a bit.

-blm

[Mick]

... in response to Russian language, what Pimsleur fails to..., posted by BarryM on Dec 1, 2001

Barry,
I must admit I admire your approach to learning Russian. I can imagine how difficult it must be for anybody whose mother tongue is English. Not only the alphabet is different, but grammar is also difficult to grasp. It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, and - I agree with you completely - a good teacher. I think you made a good decision to have your personal teacher who can explain the subtleties.
I am not familiar with Pimsleur, but if it fails to explain such a basic grammar as you showed in your example, it has a serious shortcommings. But again, I am not familiar with this program and I can be wrong.

By the way, Barry, do you correspond with your girls in Russian? I think that this could be a good practice, especially for the written skills.
Again, good luck, I am really impressed with your effort.
I also believe that anybody learning a new language appreciates much more an effort of those who must learn "their" language.

Mick

PS You have omitted a "soft sign" in your second phrase :-)
Òû ñîáèðàåøüñÿ.

[BarryM]

... in response to Re: Russian language, what Pimsleur fail..., posted by Mick on Dec 1, 2001

Thanks Mick.
I need to work on my Russian spelling. The soft signs are tough.

I'm not writing to any Russian or Ukrainian girls at the moment but I am corresponding with a girl in Bulgaria. Bulgarian and Russian have Slavonic root words so some old fashioned Russian words are current in Bulgarian and vice-versa. I sometimes get them confused. A funny one. "How's life" in Bulgarian is "How's stomach" in Russian.
Êàê æèâîò.

-blm

[Mick]

... in response to Re: Re: Russian language, what Pimsleur ..., posted by BarryM on Dec 1, 2001

Hi Barry,
If you happen to travel to Bulgaria, one thing I have found out when I met two Bulgarian blokes here: they were saying "no" and nodded as in agreement, when saying "yes" they shook their head slightly as in disagreement. Took me a while to get used to it...

Cheers

Mick