LE RUSSE EN LIGNE

Learn Russian from music!

Thanks for visiting and thanks for listening. This will be a companion to the popular "Let's learn to read Russian signs" thread. They will be designed to compliment each other.

One summer afternoon the lady who would one day be my wife and I were going somewhere and we'd gotten off the bus and were walking along a busy street. She stopped, pointed to one of the many advertising signs and said, "read it to me. In Russian."

I did, but it was a halting struggle.

She turned meet me face to face and asked, "are you serious about learning to speak Russian, and to speak without accent?" I said yes.

Then I'll teach you, was her reply. But you must do what I ask, including singing in public.

Singing, I asked?

You have beautiful voice. You are very good "zinger" and you must learn Russian with music.

My Russian today isnt' perfect, but very often compliments come my way from amazed native Russians who are surprised that what I speak is with only the barest trace of an accent, sometimes none at all.

Those days of singing the alphabet at the bus stops, following her prompting and feeling like a fool in the process, have apparently paid off.

Most Sundays you'll find me in the bass section at our Russian Orthodox Church and those impromptu lessons from my darling have helped me learn the complicated but beautiful Russian (Old Slavonic) lyrics and melodies.

I'll try to keep it simple and guarantee that the music will be fun and while you won't become fluent by listening to music, you will learn exactly, precisely, perfectly, how many Russian words should sound when coming from your voice.