How hard was it for your spouse to learn English? How did you help?

[Brad and Vika 129]

Thanks, guys! Yes, I guess the best way really is to speak more English in him. We both know how important this is. And especially once we arrive in the U.S. we will be speaking much more English at home.

To clarify, speak exclusively English. Don't back down unless it's imperative he communicate something like a broken arm. A full immersive environment is the best and fastest way to go. I know some are suggesting to take it slow, but until he has a grasp on the language he's going to feel isolated. It will be painful, but it'll also go quickly. Trust me, this works.

Sticky notes, videos, and the like will help, but speaking--constant speaking--is where it's really at.

Most decent sized cities have pretty cheap English as a second language courses, if you want to try a less draconian method than total immersion. It is however, true that if you get cold enough, lost enough, or hungry enough, you learn faster to speak whatever language will cure that condition.

[Brad and Vika 129]

It is however, true that if you get cold enough, lost enough, or hungry enough, you learn faster to speak whatever language will cure that condition.

Heh. Freezing, starving, and dropping your spouse off in strange neighborhoods until she speaks English: Not the Mox School of Relationship Enhancement recommended method, but please post before and after photos in this thread.

I don't recommend it either, but you did suggest that more immersion was better Refusing to speak Russian to the guy at all does seem like a fairly irritating way to teach him (to me) also - however fast he learns that way.

Edited February 8, 2009 by Brad and Vika

[amberdima 6]

re: Rosetta Stone ..

it is great .. IF you have a basis in the language. It does not teach any grammar and defeinately not and complex sentence structure. It is a super awesome supplement to good grammar and voc works or private instruction. Problem is that it is way to costly for a supplemental aid. It is neat though. Better than CD courses

As an aside, this site offers a "word of the day" in many languages, including Russian. They don't offer English though:

http://www.transparent.com/wotd/index.htm

that website is fun!

[K1researcher 0]

It is however, true that if you get cold enough, lost enough, or hungry enough, you learn faster to speak whatever language will cure that condition.

Heh. Freezing, starving, and dropping your spouse off in strange neighborhoods until she speaks English: Not the Mox School of Relationship Enhancement recommended method, but please post before and after photos in this thread.

I don't recommend it either, but you did suggest that more immersion was better Refusing to speak Russian to the guy at all does seem like a fairly irritating way to teach him (to me) also - however fast he learns that way.

Immersion is how my linguistics school in did it. For 9 hours a day you couldn't not speak English only you "new" language. And they forced you to ask things so there was no motioning or grunting either. In all honesty.. it is the best way to learn but you need serious passion to make it through that.

[Danno 1,228]

It is however, true that if you get cold enough, lost enough, or hungry enough, you learn faster to speak whatever language will cure that condition.

Heh. Freezing, starving, and dropping your spouse off in strange neighborhoods until she speaks English: Not the Mox School of Relationship Enhancement recommended method, but please post before and after photos in this thread.

I don't recommend it either, but you did suggest that more immersion was better Refusing to speak Russian to the guy at all does seem like a fairly irritating way to teach him (to me) also - however fast he learns that way.

Immersion is how my linguistics school in did it. For 9 hours a day you couldn't not speak English only you "new" language. And they forced you to ask things so there was no motioning or grunting either. In all honesty.. it is the best way to learn but you need serious passion to make it through that.

What... Only 9 hours a day???

When you get into the "MOX English by immersion Program" it's 25 hours a day, you'd better not even utter a Russian word during sex!

[Corey-Mariya 14]

The first time I met my wife in the U.S.A she already spoke english almost perfectly! She is twenty years old and learned it at her school! 5 months later she was fluent just like the average American

I am sure she must do better than the average American. After all, our newspapers are written at about the 8th grade reading level. When I listen to groups of kids talk in text/web shorthand phrases, or semi-ebonic hip-hop, I despair.

Haha It was an expression. She is taking college English and speech!

[Brad and Vika 129]

The first time I met my wife in the U.S.A she already spoke english almost perfectly! She is twenty years old and learned it at her school! 5 months later she was fluent just like the average American

I am sure she must do better than the average American. After all, our newspapers are written at about the 8th grade reading level. When I listen to groups of kids talk in text/web shorthand phrases, or semi-ebonic hip-hop, I despair.

Haha It was an expression. She is taking college English and speech!

Well there you have it!

[slim 1,533]

She is still in the Ukraine, and my preferences would be a private tutor or regular lessons. The problem is that she is working 60+ hours a week with no end in sight as well as taking care of her daughter. So we are looking for something she can do in her free hours to help strengthen her vocabulary.

We do speak on Skype every weekend at least 4 hours each day as well as instant messaging through out the week.

I think you just answered your own question. If she's using up her "free" hours (tip of the hat to her for finding any free time with that workload!) talking to you and using Skype, IM, etc., then you're what's stopping her.

A little constructive criticism here - when we talk to our S/O, no matter for how long, we tend to kind of pigeon-hole ourselves into a basic conversation (how was your day, I miss you, etc.) and even if we're capable of breaking away from that cycle, we don't wander too far. You spend hours and hours talking about, pretty much, the same thing. That can take you, literally years, before you make any progress. Hell, I talked to my wife for about five years on the phone and the only Russian I knew was "skuchayu."

I would suggest you "allow" her to take some of that time she's talking to you and go to a tutor. You'll hear the results next time you talk.

It is however, true that if you get cold enough, lost enough, or hungry enough, you learn faster to speak whatever language will cure that condition.

Heh. Freezing, starving, and dropping your spouse off in strange neighborhoods until she speaks English: Not the Mox School of Relationship Enhancement recommended method, but please post before and after photos in this thread.

So what is the Mox School of Relationship Enhancement's core curriculum?

Slim's school involves some hard knocks, tough love and absolutely no "time out." .... and let's not forget about the "helicopter!"

What... Only 9 hours a day???

When you get into the "MOX English by immersion Program" it's 25 hours a day, you'd better not even utter a Russian word during sex!

No Russian during sex is technically a rule, but unlikely to be noticed.

Now we're getting somewhere! Personally, the whole reason I started learning Russian language was so I could have sex with Russian girls. I'm not going to sugar-coat it (been married to a Russian too long now... no more sugar-coating anything!) and say I wanted to understand her feelings more or get to know her family or whatever. Plain and simple, the more Russian language I could speak/understand, the better chance I had of getting lucky.

The very first phrase I studied in Russian was "Can I use your computer?" Sounds stupid, but when a whole bunch of drunk GIs are saying, in English, "Wow. You're hot. Can I buy you a drink?" and then I stroll over and ask, "Mozhna vas polzavatsa computerim?" it's pretty easy to guess who gets the name and number first. (And subsequent bam-chicka-wah-wah.....)

You can use this, to a degree, to "motivate" your S/O. (Well, the learning factor, anyway. Not the "getting lucky with Slim" factor.)

[Danno 1,228]

Speaking of learning a foreign language, I stumbled upon this sight which offers a number of different free lessons in many languages.

My preferred method is to "listen and repeat" but I actually found one (of the several) styles which I can see is very helpful to learn to READ russian.

http://www.ukindia.com/zip/zru1.htm

Now the parent site which this lesson comes from is www.word2word.com

They also have an fairly good section to learn English... 4 russian speakers.

If you know anyone trying to learn any language, this seems to be a great free site.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Now we're getting somewhere! Personally, the whole reason I started learning Russian language was so I could have sex with Russian girls. I'm not going to sugar-coat it (been married to a Russian too long now... no more sugar-coating anything!) and say I wanted to understand her feelings more or get to know her family or whatever. Plain and simple, the more Russian language I could speak/understand, the better chance I had of getting lucky.

The very first phrase I studied in Russian was "Can I use your computer?" Sounds stupid, but when a whole bunch of drunk GIs are saying, in English, "Wow. You're hot. Can I buy you a drink?" and then I stroll over and ask, "Mozhna vas polzavatsa computerim?" it's pretty easy to guess who gets the name and number first. (And subsequent bam-chicka-wah-wah.....)

You can use this, to a degree, to "motivate" your S/O. (Well, the learning factor, anyway. Not the "getting lucky with Slim" factor.)

We definitely started to learn for different reasons Slim. Since I was trying to do business in Belarus, I found it helpful to learn a phrase or two to help me get on there whilst traveling. Belarus is one of the few places I have been where it was easy to find myself the lone English speaker in the room As an aside, I also found no shortage of Russian speaking women here in the US willing to cough up a number - no Russian required. So maybe my need to speak it was in a different part of Maslow's hierarchy than yours

For the record, my first Russian phrase was "My name is". The second was "Excuse me, can you help me?", closely followed by "I need to go to (fill in the blank here - hotel, address, business)", or "tell me please, where is the toilet".

[slim 1,533]

So maybe my need to speak it was in a different part of Maslow's hierarchy than yours

I believe mine was both at the top and the bottom!

[Brad and Vika 129]

Thanks Mox and Slim.

She is still in the Ukraine, and my preferences would be a private tutor or regular lessons. The problem is that she is working 60+ hours a week with no end in sight as well as taking care of her daughter. So we are looking for something she can do in her free hours to help strengthen her vocabulary.

We do speak on Skype every weekend at least 4 hours each day as well as instant messaging through out the week.

Viktoria took classes from a tutor close to home for about $10 per session. IMHO she was already pretty fluent, but wanted to practice up. What city is she in?

So maybe my need to speak it was in a different part of Maslow's hierarchy than yours

I believe mine was both at the top and the bottom!

Er... no

[Dave-n-Oksana 49]

Thanks Mox and Slim.

She is still in the Ukraine, and my preferences would be a private tutor or regular lessons. The problem is that she is working 60+ hours a week with no end in sight as well as taking care of her daughter. So we are looking for something she can do in her free hours to help strengthen her vocabulary.

We do speak on Skype every weekend at least 4 hours each day as well as instant messaging through out the week.

Viktoria took classes from a tutor close to home for about $10 per session. IMHO she was already pretty fluent, but wanted to practice up. What city is she in?

She lives in Berdyansk. Her Daughter is very fluent and is helping her, but there are just some things that should be said in private

The private tutors there are running the same price but the issue at the moment is time.

[K1researcher 0]

on a note ....

post its for dual language names is not a good idea ...

The caveat here is that the fiancee has seen that documentary about russian brides .. you all know which one I am talking about. This complete and total moron does that in tyhe documentary and thus it makes the entire effort reflect badly on anyone who does it

it is a shame since it is a good idea .. just discuss before doing ;-)

[slim 1,533]

Her Daughter is very fluent and is helping her, but there are just some things that should be said in private

How old is this daughter? Not to be out of line, but most high school girls nowadays could teach their mothers a few new words, both in English and Russian! Maybe the mom isn't asking the daughter for help, not to protect the daughter's delicate sensibilities, but rather, her own!

post its for dual language names is not a good idea ...

The caveat here is that the fiancee has seen that documentary about russian brides .. you all know which one I am talking about. This complete and total moron does that in tyhe documentary and thus it makes the entire effort reflect badly on anyone who does it

I haven't seen that movie, and as far as I know, neither has my wife. Which one is it?

Does he use post-it's in the movie or something? If he messed up my good idea, I'll blast the movie on moviepoopshoot.com