MehdiOchre Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ^^ > IPE.com 25 June 2008 15:30: > NETHERLANDS – Dutch pension funds saw the value of > their equity portfolios drop by another 6% in the > first quarter of 2008 because of continued unrest > on the financial markets, the Dutch central bank > DNB said today. With the markets falling the way they did I’d say that’s not a bad result. Still, there is 1400 billion Euro’s left to invest today 
miker2800 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Actually I have…I was born there and moved to > the states when I was 10. In order to to improve > both my writing and advance my conversational > skills, since I rarely spoke when I was in > college, I took some advanced classes. Can you recommend any good books/CDs to learn Russian from the beginning? I am trying to get my bf (english native) to learn:)
As mentioned a good start would be “Living Language” program… it’s 30 bones at your local Borders. Rosetta stone is also pretty good, but more expensive and frankly I think the same amt of material (allright, maybe a lil bit more, but not enough to warrant the higher price). I’d recommend getting your hands on as many audio CDs as you can; it’s a lot easier to comprehend the material and it’s been proven it helps retain more than reading and memorizing. I’m guessing you’re Russian speaking (otherwise I’m not too sureyour impetus for getting him to learn). It will be easier when he starts cause you could practice with him…30 min a day. Like having the experience of living in another country…without living in another country : ) krnyc2008 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > miker2800 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Actually I have…I was born there and moved to > > the states when I was 10. In order to to > improve > > both my writing and advance my conversational > > skills, since I rarely spoke when I was in > > college, I took some advanced classes. > > Can you recommend any good books/CDs to learn > Russian from the beginning? I am trying to get my > bf (english native) to learn:)
As a Russian girlfriend survivor, I can tell you some things that helped. 1) You want a very basic simple thing for when his brain is tired. For this I had Barron’s “Learn Russian, the Fast and Fun Way.” This book looks kind of childish, but it helps at the start, because you need to feel that you’re making some progress in a difficult language. You don’t need this specific book, necessarily, but something easy and basic is important for a hard language like Russian. 2) The Living Languages book is very good if he likes to know the rules of a language before speaking. Not all people are like that, some people are happy to jump in and just use whatever words they know in whatever order they can do it. I’m not like that, so Living Languages is really good for me. However, the Living Languages book is kind of dense, so you need to use it when you’re highly motivated, have some good quiet time, or a fresh mind to devote to the task. 3) I find that Verbs tend to be the key to mastering almost any language. So I liked Barron’s “501 Russian Verbs: Fully Conjugated in All the Tenses Alphabetically Arranged”. It’s easier to just ask when you don’t know a noun, but it really helps to have something that covers all the verbs in all the tenses, because verbs tend to be more complicated than nouns and adjectives (though all the declensions and cases in Russian make nouns a whole other basket of wax too). My Russian GF was not too supportive of my learning much Russian, I pretty much had to do what I did on my own. I suspect she liked having a secret language that I couldn’t really understand too well, but I did tend to understand more than I let on. The challenge with learning Russian from a GF or BF is that often times you just need to coordinate on something and get something arranged and can’t take the risk of not understanding completely, so that gets frustrating. A professional teacher is better, since they know how to pace people and it’s understood that one person will know more than the other. Also, if you are the GF, your BF might have a difficult time feeling comfortable, because learning a new language often makes you feel very dumb and childish (as you probably know), and your BF might not feel comfortable looking that way in front of you. After all, he wants to be your big strong man, and doesn’t want to feel like a baby who can’t even ask for a piece of kleb.
I completely agree w/ bchadwick Its best to go w/ a professional or a friend who has LEARNED the language. A native speaker cannot understand the learning process and takes many things for granted- leading lots of possible tension/misunderstandings. I know I would be a crappy english teacher; no formal grammar/ syntax since 3rd grade… everything is just learned through exposure really. You know stuff “just because”- I mean does anyone really know what the Future Perfect Continuous tense it?? Being a partner for conversation practice is different, thats cool as it just helps w/ fluidity, etc.
I agree with that, I did not mean literally teach your Bf. What I meant was speak to him in words he has learned, it will help hearing someone else do it
Banana, As you can clearly see, Russian is both difficult and the market is already swamped with more or less native Russian-speaking analysts whilst there’s probably still a shortage in Dutch and Scandinavian speaking analysts…
Thank you guys, great tips!
Hey thanks all, I have found this to be quite enlightening. Maybe I should sharpen up my Dutch skills and learn Norwegian. I almost had a job with Statoil, which peaked my interest in the country. The only thing is that my wife and I are going to the UK on an HSMP, which means that we will have to live in the UK for four years out of the next five years to get passports and indefinite leave to remain. Norway still looks really pretty though and I got on well enough with the Norwegians I have met. @ MehdiOcher en Bleeck Baie dankie vir julle terugvoer. Ek stel natuurlik juis belang in hoe taalkundige kennis deure vir my kan oopmaak. Dit is maar net ‘n saak van navorsing doen en dan besluit watter taal, of tale, die beste resultaat sal op lewer. Groete
Banana, You can check these sites out and see if it seems easy enough or not: http://bop.vgc.be/tijdschriften/wablieft/ http://www.klartale.no/ http://www.paaletdansk.dk/ http://8sidor.lattlast.se/ http://www.papunet.net/svenska/
I learned to speak Russian as an adult. The key is to study intensively for two years and do a summer program at Middlebury or Monterrey. Then go to Russia and just hang out for a while.
For those of you with some insight in to the UK job market, how big would you say the need is for Scandinavian language skills?
cfaBANANA Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > For those of you with some insight in to the UK > job market, how big would you say the need is for > Scandinavian language skills? Do you meed the need general? In that case the answer is “none” … But: It’s probably a niche market as is knowing Dutch or Afrikaans. You only need one (1) job. Companies seem to have someone responsible for “the Scandinavian market”. Personally I prefer to talk to people to whom I can speak my own language, and don’t have to search for words and feel embarrassed that my English is not so good. Why don’t you check up on the Franco-Belgian fund manager Dexia Asset Management?