learn Russian

link

costs include roundtrip airfare and living expenses. you can volunteer for up to 12 weeks, you can apply for academic credit or internship (which might be paid by financial aid or grants), you can even go for just one week to see what it’s like.

and of course hopefully you’ll do some good while you’re there.

_{I am dreaming now, but surely I have a week coming to me sometime in the next few decades, right? and look, I could go study conflict resolution in South Africa too… I could get a grant for that. that wouldn’t be the problem…}

I also spent holiday money on Pimsleur Comprehensive Russian I.

and I am going to come at this from so many angles that either I will really, truly learn Russian or I will explode. :D

the new goal for me is to study for 30 min at least twice a week. I really should aim for every day, instead of just twice a week, but I know that I can accomplish the twice a week goal rain or shine or NaNoWriMo. I feel like I’m going nowhere fast here. if I make the goal twice a week, then at least I can accomplish that much…

50 words: playing with the language as a hobby
100 words: “get around” as a tourist
250 words: socialize as well as “get around”
850 words: begin functioning generally in the country
1500 words: function professionally in a basic way

so, the first goal is to learn 50 words.

I was making flashcards for my language bazaar course when I realized that I already had a very good set

etsay: the prof said that the whole point of the flashcards was to make them yourself; it helps you learn. so doh! and gong to get the blank index cards now I guess

right now I’m just starting. I’ll say that this goal, the overall objective encompassed at this point, is to complete the course I have right now. if I want to move on to a diff course or do more work after that, I’ll need to write a new goal because I don’t know what that would be right now.

objective: complete course (can check it off the list then)

baseline: well, I have the course…

benchmark 1: practice myself 10 minutes a day, make it part of the routine

benchmark 2: practice myself with visuals 10 minutes a day

benchmark 3: practice myself with visuals 10 minutes a day and practice with my sister (or other volunteer) 3 times a week at 10 minutes a day (30 minutes a week)

benchmark 4: practice myself with visuals 10 minutes a day and practice with my sister (or other volunteer) 5 times a week at 10 minutes a day (50 minutes a week)

this is a long-term goal, but my short-term goal is to try the vocabulary lessons I recently received (if only to prepare me for more structured classes, either university or pimsleur?). I am definitely more interested in speaking than reading at this point, and hope to visit Russia someday if dreams come true. (that’s def a life-long-term goal)

why speaking and not reading? well reading is what translators are for ;) and speaking is for person-to-person communication in real time. besides, you learn to speak your native language long before you learn to read and write in school. they’re both important; I hope someday I can set a goal (secondary, tentative to finishing this one) to read and write in Russian too.

I had to finally pick a language, and Russian was always my first love, so Russian it is. it helps that my sister and her husband are also studying Russian as well. (the top five language candidates, for anyone who cares, were Russian, Japanese, French, Spanish, and Arabic.) (but German tied with French, and then there was Welsh…)