Russian daily: Россия 1, Россия 24, Planeta RTR
Foreign language skills are hard to acquire and to develop, therefore Russian daily experience could help! Because, there is not only grammar, vocabulary, syntax, pronunciation, etc; there is also a need to understand, at least to a certain extent, the context and the cultural background in which, in our case, Russian language appears. Accordingly, a good command of a foreign language depends on both the development of certain skills and our receptiveness to the cultural and social otherness. With respect to all of this, Russian seems to me as a relatively tough language to master.
In addition to the inherent complexity of the Russian language, culture and society, there is also the unfortunate reality which shows that, if we do not have an immediate contact with the foreign language and its culture on a daily basis, our knowledge will decrease quickly. That is why, while in Russia and more importantly once you are back home, it is crucial that you keep up with your Russian daily routine and update your knowledge of the culture and the social community which are behind it.
The good news is that, nowadays, it is much easier to build around you a Russian daily routine, no matter where you are and how little time you have. In my opinion, this requires some research and fairly basic tech skills. What I believe is the most important thing to do, while creating this Russian daily language experience, is to think of what are the things you enjoy most in the learning process. These will be the foundations of your own language-learning system. In this post I will give you my recipe for maintaining and developing my Russian daily routine.
Back home, I have no time for traditional language learning, i.e., take courses with a teacher or do exercises at home. I rarely even can spend time reading a book in Russian. However, I have become accustomed to use, on a daily basis, a number of apps and sites. I can afford to do this while commuting, when I do my groceries shopping or before I go to sleep. The only thing you need is a smart phone or a tablet. These resources are the TV-based apps Россия 1, Россия 24 and Planeta RTR and the social platform VK [ВКонтакте]. The first three apps offer a 24-hours access to Russian television and among the three of them they offer a wide variety of content at any moment.
VK is a slightly different product, as it is a mixture of Facebook and Youtube. On it you can access short and long videos, including many Soviet and Russian movies.
Also, many general sites/apps like Youtube contain a lot of Russian language content. For instance, I find it useful to watch videos of songs which contain the lyrics. Also, a recent discovery of mine, has been the site Rutube!
Whatever the smartphone or tablet you use, you will find easily an app which will offer access to the channels and websites referenced in this post. For instance, if you use an Apple product, go to the App Store icon on the screen of your device.
For Android devices, use the Play Market icon or go to https://play.google.com/store/apps
Below are the general internet website addresses for all of the channels and apps I have mentioned:
- http://live.russia.tv/ – on this site you can access the life streaming of all public-funded Russian TV and radio channels
- https://russia.tv/ – this is the official website of Россия 1
- http://www.vesti.ru/ – a news website giving access to Россия 24
- http://rtr-planeta.com/ – Planeta RTR
- https://vk.com/ – VK [ВКонтакте]
- http://www.youtube.com/ – Youtube
- http://rutube.ru/ – Rutube
Good luck!
Garbis, currently learning Russian at Liden & Denz St. Petersburg
