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[Music]
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what's up everyone my name isan and if
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you're new to the channel then welcome
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I'm an American poly that's been
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learning languages for the past seven
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years and I currently speak seven
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languages in total and today we are
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talking about the Russian language once
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again because today we're talking about
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how I would learn Russian if I had to do
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it again because well we love this
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language that's just so incredibly hard
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and makes our lives so much more
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difficult to
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learn so for some context if you're new
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to the channel Russian is one of my best
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languages I've been learning it the
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longest and I speak it very fluently in
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fact I have another channel that is
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exclusively in Russian that I've been
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making videos on for a very very long
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time and so now I am here to dispel all
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those years of wisdom upon you who I
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assume if you're watching this video
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is trying to learn Russian as well
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learning a language is really hard no
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matter what language you're learning and
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that's especially the case with a
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language like Russian I spent so much
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time learning it and I made a lot of
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mistakes and that's part of why it took
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so long to learn it but of course I
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can't go back and well learn it again
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but maybe maybe if I were to share how I
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would learn if I could do it all over
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again it would help someone out there
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someone like you and so that's exactly
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what we're doing we're talking about
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things that I would do if I could learn
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Russian from scratch all over over again
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with the knowledge that I now possess so
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without further Ado let's get into it so
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if I were to learn the Russian language
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all over again where would I start well
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this should be a bit of a no-brainer you
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start with the alphabet now if you're a
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native English speaker like me or if you
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speak pretty much any Western European
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language then the Russian alphabet is
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going to be completely foreign to you
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and so that's what youve got to learn
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first I'm not going to lie when I
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started learning Russian I don't know
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what I was thinking but I thought I
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could learn the entire language without
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ever touching the alphabet because I was
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just like why would I want to learn this
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alphabet it just looks so different it
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just seems so hard well that that's the
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point it's hard but it's what you've got
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to do if you want to get started on this
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journey the Russian alphabet consists of
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33 letters whereas the English alphabet
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consists of 26 and so there are going to
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be a few sounds and a few letters that
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are completely foreign and unfamiliar to
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you but the faster you learn how to read
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in Russian which means learning the
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alphabet the faster you will learn the
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actual language itself and so if you're
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going to start anywhere start with the
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alphabet next number two learn basic
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words and phrases this is something I
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talk about in a lot of my language
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learning videos this is where I like to
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start in general because learning basic
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phrases and basic words in a language
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kind of gives you a couple quick wins
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and it feels good it feels like you're
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learning something and it feels like
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you're accomplishing something and
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that's incredibly necessary to help
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motivate you to learn the rest of the
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language and it'll help you get used to
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how the language sounds and how the
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language feels so in the case of Russian
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go out of your way learn how to say
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things
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like Etc step three learn the genders
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immediately start learning the three
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genders that exist in the Russian
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language and how to identify them
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because later on this is going to be
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crucial because the gender of a word
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impacts how it is affected by the case
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system which is something I'm going to
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talk about later in this video and no
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when I say learn the genders I'm not
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saying like you know boy girl this that
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most languages outside of English have a
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masculine and a feminine uh gender but
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Russian takes it one step further
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Russian has three it has a masculine a
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feminine and a neuter but the good news
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is that it's very predictable there's
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lots of resources online and also
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resources on this channel that can tell
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you how to identify the gender of a word
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but once you learn how to identify if a
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word is masculine feminine or neuter
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trust me it's a GameChanger so that's
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what you should do next step four start
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learning the conjugations when you're
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learning any language at some point
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you're going to have to start learning
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the conjugations and if you're from the
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United States like me you've probably
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taken Spanish at school and you're like
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oh my gosh conjugations I hate them and
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I get it because Spanish has like what
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16 different verb tenses but the good
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news is Russian is actually very simple
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in this sense Russian only has a past
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future and present so when you're
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learning Russian you really only have to
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learn each verb in three different
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tenses but there's a catch there's a
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perfect and imperfect tense and each
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conjugation in the past and in the
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future has this kind of imperfect and
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perfect well sense but that's a little
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bit more complicated and you can kind of
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learn that as you go along but the main
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thing is learning the conjugations being
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able to take a verb like de which means
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to do and conjugating it in the past in
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the present and in the future
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so Russian is actually the first
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language I ever tried to learn and as a
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result I didn't really understand how
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important the conjugations were and so I
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would walk around and mix ma mix and
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match the the conjugations like I was
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kind of picking them out of an &m bag
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and trust me it was the most confusing
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thing ever and nobody understood what I
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was saying but you don't have to make
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that mistake learn the conjugations next
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okay so if you've followed this video to
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a te and you've done the things that
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I've said that I would do if I were in
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your position then now you should be
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able to read in Russian you should know
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how to say basic words and phrases and
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you should be able to conjugate verbs so
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this brings us to arguably the most
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difficult thing in the Russian language
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and that's the case system the case
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system doesn't even exist in most
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romance languages or in most Western
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European languages in English we don't
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have them we haven't for hundreds of
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years and so it makes sense if it
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doesn't make sense to you this is the
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case system and this is what you've got
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to memorize and learn how how to use now
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this is probably where you're going to
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spend most of your time um because it
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just doesn't exist in English and it's
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very hard to conceptualize but what the
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case system does is it affects the
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endings of each and every word in the
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language based on what it is that you're
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saying for example the word Machina
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which is the word for car in Russian can
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be changed into so many different things
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ma ma Mach uh Machin 5 minutes later ma
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Mach all based on what case is being
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used and that is dependent on what it is
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that you're trying to say now that's
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super confusing I would be lying if I
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said I still don't struggle with the
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case system to this day it's easier and
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it does get easier but when you learn a
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new verb or a new word it's always
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interesting to see how it's going to be
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affected by the case system and
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sometimes even after all these years you
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still won't know but but there are tons
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of resources out there that can help you
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learn the case system with much more
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ease than I did when I tried to learn
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them and I'm going to get to that a
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little later in this video next is
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learning vocab and like just really just
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focusing on vocab and this is an
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important step in any language when I
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was learning Russian this is something
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that I didn't focus on too much and so I
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was starting to get really good at
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speaking Russian I knew how to use the
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case system I knew how to identify the
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different genders of words I knew how to
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say a lot I could communicate quite well
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but what I was seriously lacking was
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vocabulary because I was just so
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embroiled in trying to learn how to
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speak and sound super Russian that I
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didn't really know how to say much else
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and so that's why I say please focus on
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the vocab and if you're at this point in
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the video where you've learned the case
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system you've tackled all these other
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topics the vocab is where you should be
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and that's what I wish I had done if I
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could go back but when you're learning
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vocab don't focus on memorizing words
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memorizing words doesn't really work if
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you just force yourself to memorize
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different words and what they mean
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you'll just confuse yourself and in the
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middle of a conversation or when you're
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listening to the Russian language you'll
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just be trying to go through the list in
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your head and it won't really make sense
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the best way to learn vocabulary is to
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have something that connects you to it
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whether it's hearing it in a movie or a
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song that you really like that kind of
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reminds you what it means or using it
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enough times that you just understand
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the context context is key when it comes
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to learning vocab if I could go back I
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would focus more on the context
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listening to music listening to people
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listening to how these words are used
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and how often they're used and then
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using them myself all right so number
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seven the resources now this is
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something I should have probably shared
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earlier in the video but I wanted to
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make sure I touched the topics that I
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felt were more important and that I got
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to or had problem with before I got to
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this point when I was learning Russian
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but the resources are important I've
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used a lot of different resources to
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learn Russian and some are just better
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than than others they just are and so
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the resources that helped me the most
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were Master Russian the First Resource
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that helped me a lot was Master Russian
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and I'll leave a link to this resource
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down in the description below but this
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is what it looks like and this website
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can break down the case system can break
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down basic concepts and can help you
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learn conjugations and a lot of
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vocabulary the second resource that
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helped me the most is the free Russian
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course on rt.com RT stands for Russia
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today and it's one of the biggest news
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networks in Russia and from Russia and
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they have a completely free course of
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the Russian language from 1 to 99 on
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their website and it is so good it'll
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help you learn from the very Basics from
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the alphabet and basic vocabulary all
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the way to Super complex topics and
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listening skills but honestly it's not
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the best for everyone and it's not the
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best for everything but if you've gotten
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to this point totally use that the link
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to that resource will be in the
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description below as well these
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resources should be used to supplement
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that growth you have the building blocks
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these resources should help you put
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those blocks together into something
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real and that's what you should use them
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for that's what I wish I'd use them for
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and that's exactly what I ended up using
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them for and why I'm here speaking
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Russian today so next up is throwing
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yourself into the culture this part
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honestly is a lot of fun if you're
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learning Russian I assume you're
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learning it because you like the culture
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or some aspect of the culture so this
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part should be fun honestly I was a
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little bit hesitant and I didn't listen
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to Russian music for a long time cuz I
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thought it was weird or people would
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think I would be weird for listening to
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Russian music but there's some bangers
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out there there are some really good
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artists and some really good songs if
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you want any music Russian music
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recommendations ask that in the comments
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and I will share with you my favorite
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songs and my favorite artists anyway if
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you can get into the music and the
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movies and the TV shows you'll learn the
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language so much faster you'll learn how
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it sounds you'll get used to the speed
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at which people speak it'll sound fast
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at first to you but then it'll become
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normal to you just like English and so
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throw yourself into the music throw
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yourself into the TV throw yourself into
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the culture and just have fun if you've
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gotten to this point you deserve it you
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need to go out and have fun enjoy the
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language and then finally the last point
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the last point in this video is Converse
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Converse Converse honestly I always say
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this is the most important step speak
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speak speak speak speak speak speak I
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can't emphasize this enough speaking is
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so important get on Discord get on it
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talkie there's various resources that
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will connect you with Russian native
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speakers and just try and speak when I
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was learning Russian it took me a while
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to do this and build my confidence
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especially because when I first found
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Russian people to speak to they spoke so
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fast and I felt like I would embarrass
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myself but honestly if you're learning
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Russian you're going to blow their minds
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anyway because it's not a language that
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a lot of people try and learn and also
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Russian people are just really great and
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really friendly if you want links to the
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Discord servers where I still to this
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day go to practice my Russian from time
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in time then again Ask me in the
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comments below and I will send you the
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link to those servers and that is it if
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I could go back and learn Russian any
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other way that is exactly how I would do
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it but that's not how it happened for me
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and so I wasted a lot of time learning
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Russian the improper way but it worked
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but you don't have to do that if you
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follow the things that I've talked about
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in this video to a te I'm sure that you
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will have such great results you will
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thank yourself later anyways if you
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enjoyed this video and if you learned
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something new or got something
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interesting out of this which I hope you
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did then please feel free to leave a
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like leave a comment down below
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expressing what it is that you learned
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or what it is that you thought and
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subscribe to the channel if you want to
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see more content like this or if you
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enjoy learning Russian or languages in
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general I'm sure I'll make a video that
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you will enjoy just as much as this one
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but otherwise I'm glad you clicked on
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this video because I know you're going
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to be a great Russian speaker after this
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thanks for watching and I'll catch you
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guys in the next video so yeah
