J'apprends à taper au clavier cyrillique avec Bce10

Il y a plein de sites en ligne pour apprendre le russe, mais dès qu'il faut commencer à écrire (pour répondre à des exercices ou pour écrire à quelqu'un), mieux vaut savoir taper avec un clavier russe.

Pendant deux semaines, je me suis amusé à faire du copier-coller, j'ai même essayé d'utiliser le clavier russe "phonétique" sur mon Mac, mais j'ai vite réalisé que c'était assez dur de trouver l'emplacement de lettres comme  ч, я or щ qui n'ont pas de réels équivalents dans nos alphabets latins.

Donc hier, j'ai décidé de partir à la recherche d'un logiciel pour apprendre à taper à la machine,  клавиатурный тренажер, qui vient du mot клавиатура, clavier. Est-ce que j'ai déjà dit qu'il y avait plein de sites sur Internet ? Enfin, j'ai eu de la chance, ça ne m'a pas pris trop de temps pour trouver  Все10 (www.vse10.ru) dans les résultats de Google.

Bce10 est un logiciel en ligne avec un super design bleu - très twitterien - et complètement бесплатно, gratuit. Seul inconvénient, l'interface est entièrement en russe, mais ne nous affolons pas ! Je vais vous expliquer comment ça marche.

D'abord, depuis la page principale, il y a un grand bouton jaune попробуй прямо сейчас (essayer maintenant) qui donne un petit aperçu de l'interface. Essayez-le si vous souhaitez (n'oubliez pas d'abord de passer en clavier virtuel russe sur votre ordinateur) ou allez directement sur la page de log in / d'enregistrement : войти (log in).

L'enregistrement

Vous aurez l'option de vous identifier ou de vous enregistrer, зарегистроваться. Sur le formulaire, il faudra remplir les habituels Nom, Email et Mot de passe (deux fois, 4 caractères minimum) :

• Ваше имя
• Адрес эл. почты
• Пароль (не менее 4-х символов)
• Пароль еще раз

Et voilà ! Vous êtes prêts à démarrer. Un email de bienvenue parviendra à votre adresse mais il n'est pas nécessaire pour valider votre enregistrement.

Comme ça marche

Un grand bouton "начать упражнение", démarrer l'exercice, indique clairement la prochaine étape.  Passez en clavier virtuel russe, et commencer à taper les lettres qui s'inscrivent dans la section supérieure. Le clavier à l'écran indique l'emplacement des lettres et la position idéale des mains. 

Après chaque exercice vous obtiendrez une évaluation de la rapidité, le nombre d'erreurs et la cadence de frappe. 

знак : caractère

вы набрали : vous avez tapé

со скоростью : à (la vitesse de) 

процент ошибок : pourcentage d'erreurs

ритмичность : cadence

Le logiciel démarre avec des lettres, puis monte en puissance progressivement. IMPORTANT : pour monter de niveau, le bouton следующее s'active, il faut atteindre la moyenne requise (средний). S

Si vous échouez, seule l'option пройти заново sera visible. 

Grâce à l'inscription au site, vos progrès sont enregistrés et le dernier niveau atteint sera disponible à la prochaine connexion. Vous pouvez voir vos statistiques sur votre page personnelle, моя страница,  Статистика.

La première fois que je me suis connecté j'y ai joué pendant une heure et les progrès sont hyper rapides, donc je vous recommande hautement ce service. (J'ai déjà dit que c'était gratuit ?).

Bonne frappe !

L'alphabet cyrillique

J'adore les Google Docs et en particulier les feuilles de calcul. Voici l'alphabet cyrillique en format ouvert et copier-collable. 

Comme en français, il existe une forme écrite (cursive) de chaque lettre qui peut être assez différente de la version imprimée. En fait, certaines lettres sont tellement méconnaissables que ça permet d'en faire un code secret assez efficace (tant que le lecteur ne maîtrise pas le cyrillique évidemment).

J'ai trouvé une bonne introduction à l'écriture cursive sur Wikimedia ici et là.

J'apprends le russe sur Internet

J'apprends le russe sur Internet ! Ou plutôt, je m'y remets, car je l'ai étudié à la fac il y a très longtemps, mais je n'ai jamais réussi à connaître assez de vocabulaire pour pouvoir discuter. Avec ça, je ne suis jamais allé en Russie, donc c'était mal engagé.

Pourquoi le russe alors ? D'abord, je sais lire encore lire l'alphabet. Ensuite, j'ai encore quelques mots de base. Et enfin, j'ai envie d'apprendre une nouvelle langue, donc démarrer avec une langue familière pourrait faciliter les choses. Maintenant, je n'ai pas d'usage professionnel ou personnel immédiats, donc il y a de gros risques pour la motivation, mais je vais quand même essayer.

Mes premiers défis seront d'apprendre du vocabulaire, des verbes, les fameuses déclinaisons russes et enfin trouver quelqu'un pour discuter. Je me demande si Google Translate et la tonne de journaux et tutoriels en ligne pourront m'aider ? A l'heure des chats vidéos en ligne et de Facebook, trouver un "correspondant" devrait être un jeu d'enfant ! A suivre. 

Все10, a typing tutor for Russian (cyrillic) characters

There are tons of resources to learn Russian, but as soon as you get serious about it, you need to learn how to type with a Russian keyboard.
For the last two weeks, I have been copy/pasting Russian words into Google Translate and occasionally completing words with the Russian-Phonetics virtual keyboard, but increasingly I have realized it was time-consuming to figure out the "phonetic equivalent" and keyboard location for characters like ч, я or щ.
So, yesterday I decided to go on a search for free typing tutor, клавиатурный тренажер, from the word клавиатура, keyboard. It wasn't long before I found Все10 (www.vse10.ru) on Google.

Bce10 is an online typing tutor with a great design and completely бесплатно, free. The only little downside is that it's entirely in Russian, but that should not stop you: the big yellow button попробуй прямо сейчас (try it now) on the homepage allows you to get a feel for what's ahead. Try it for fun (remember to switch to a regular virtual Russian keyboard) or go straight to the registration/login page войти (login).

Registration
There, you get offered to login or register yourself, зарегистроваться. On the form you will need to provide the usual Name, Email address and enter your password (twice) with no less than 4 characters :

• Ваше имя
• Адрес эл. почты
• Пароль (не менее 4-х символов)
• Пароль еще раз

That's it ! You can start using it immediately. An email will be sent to your address but it's not "click again" to finalize your registration. 

How to use it

A large button "начать упражнение", start exercise, clearly shows the way. Switch to the Russian keyboard, and start typing the letter that appear in the top section. The keyboard on the screen shows the location of each character and the ideal position of the hands. 

After each exercise you get an evaluation of your speed, number of error and rhythm. 

знак : character

вы набрали : you typed

со скоростью : at (speed of) 

процент ошибок : percentage of errors

ритмичность : rhythmicity

As with other typing tutor, the difficulty is progressive. You can only move to the next level, следующее, if you've met the expected average (средний). If you fail, the only visible option will be go (try) again : пройти заново. 

When you register, your progress is recorded and you can start again at anytime from the last level you reached. You can view your stats from моя страница, My Page, Статистика.

I played with this for an hour and I made amazing progress, so I highly recommend you give it a try.

Happy typing !

PS : click here for the French version of this post here.

How to evaluate online courses (for Russian)

Привет,

Long time no post, but I've been very busy learning and evaluating resources to learn Russian. So far I have been working with Busuu.com and LearnRussian for a structured course and here's an attempt to evaluate them with objective quality criteria.

• Busuu
• course structure : Lessons are structured around vocabulary themes, backed up by images (sometimes a bit far fetched) and spoken phrases (with translations)
• navigation : it's silly but I couldn't see the list of lessons. I found them but clicking on the tree image at the top, although again there was absolutely no indication this was a clickable animation.
• cost : freemium, you get extra service by registering
• course flexibility : You cannot choose your lessons, you have to go with the proposed order
• content value : My opening lessons were "Giving your opinion", "Using the Internet" and "Looking for a job".  I didn't find those topics very appealing, although I learnt useful vocabulary. I'm lacking grammar reminders. 
• overall impression : Useful... but.  Need to dig a big further into the next lessons..."Horoscope", "Plus Perfect tense", "On the phone".... I wonder if I should try level A2. 

• LearnRussian
• course structure: lessons on vocabulary or grammar points, you learn through images, recorded dialogues and multiple choice exercises. Dialogues are natural and pleasant, spoken with just the right speed for a new starter. Images/comics backup spoken dialogues.
• navigation : no nonsense, "Lessons" menu at the top, completed by sections to the left of the screen. 10 out of 10.
• cost : free !
• course flexibility : absolute flexibility, you can go in order or skip to what you like
• content value : only did two lessons, but it was just the right mix of vocabulary and grammar.
• overall impression : More flexible, I found this more lively than Busuu, more "natural" with real spoken dialogues.

That's a first attempt of evaluation. I'll probably refine in future versions, but that should give you a good overview. One issue I've had with both systems is that being online, you need to type Russian words for exercises to make the most of it. And there too I have made a beautiful discovery that I'll share in my next post.

The Common European Framework for Languages

So, according to vocabulary tests I did on Busuu, I'm currently at level A2, for which they suggested I study level B1. As I'm not sure which vocabulary I'm expected to know at which level, I went back to the Common European Framework for Languages to get a better understanding.

Very odd, at first look this framework is pretty self-centered: it's all about me me me and my ability to describe more and more about myself, my needs, background, etc... Philosophically, the study of languages should be defined around discovering others and their culture, through the language. My opinion is that it should be more visible in the framework. I wonder if the self-centric view is distorting the way we're taught languages...

Anyway, here are the objectives for the first four levels and some comments.



A1

Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type

Can introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has. 

Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help. 

I am going to dig a bit deeper on expressing needs in Russian. Need to check numbers. 

Suggested required phrases
Hi, good evening, thank you, where is restaurant, toilets, I want water and two beers, please.
My name is, I live in Paris, I know a few people, I'm a translator, I have two computers and no pet.
Please speak slowly, can you repeat your name ?

A2

Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). 

Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. 

Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.

Getting more descriptive, need to add more adjectives and adverbs. Need to define better these areas of most immediate relevance with places, people, action verbs, descriptions (adjectives + nouns).

Suggested required phrases
So, your father owns a supermarket in the centre of Moscow. I want to go on holidays. 
How much is this ? Can I have two tickets ? I think it's raining, do you have an umbrella ? When do you open ?
I studied Russian at university (10 years ago), I have one brother. This is delicious, it's far from here. This is a beautiful house. 

B1

Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. 

Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst traveling in an area where the language is spoken.

Can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.

That's getting serious. Even if simple text, at this stage you need to write properly, i.e. with correct word order, verbs, cases and word endings need to be polished. 

Suggested required phrases
I've been studying Russian for a week. I love cooking and sports.
Excuse me, my luggage hasn't arrived, when can you deliver it to my hotel ? 
I would love to go around the world and meet tons of people, who could share their view of the world. What do you think of global warming, what do you think we can do to stop it ?

B2

Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization. 

Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. 

Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.

At this stage, I should be able to understand jokes and show my good sense of humor. Reading the newspaper without effort and Google Translate should also be possible.

Is Busuu a good way to learn a language ? First impressions...

I just completed the first lesson at Busuu.com, B1 module, Express your opinion ("Выскажи своё мнение"), and here are my first impressions...

Learning interface
The Busuu user interface is simple and effective, menus are well structured and easy to navigate. The design could be improved though: part social network, part online video game, there are plenty of examples available to make it more modern.

The content
I'm a little surprised by my first lesson. It's a series of verbs to help you express opinions : to suggest, to recognize, to approve, etc. Although certainly useful, it's a little puzzling why Busuu chose to start with this kind of vocabulary. I would have liked something else, but I can't define what.

Progression
To move on to the next lesson (level), you need to 1) translate a little piece of text, typically using vocabulary learnt during the lesson, select a corrector, then 2) correct the text written by another student.

Free Resources Online to learn and listen to Russian

So, now that I have an alphabet and a Russian keyboard, I went and searched for "learn Russia online" which yielded a good few results.

In the ocean of online websites, I was looking for the best quality resources, either free or very low priced. And I also looked for online newspapers so I can practice reading. I even looked for online televisions just to get familiar with the sound (and speed) of standard Russian.


Online Translator

• Google Translate

Lessons

• Busuu.com : I actually started with this one. It's fermium, meaning you get extra services if you pay but you can still use the service for free. I ran their language test and found my level to be B1 on the European Framework for Languages, that means I haven't forgotten the basics, not bad at all. 
• Learn Russian RT.com : free, has video and sound, well designed, very promising...
• Language Metropolis : not open yet, a $59/year fee, will check it out when it's open.

Newspapers

• Metro News
• Korrespondent
• Gazeta.ru
• BBC Russian
• Moskovski Komsomolets
• Sport Express
• Other newspapers in Russia (Wikipedia)
• GQ

Televisions & Radio

• NTV (TV)
• 1TV (TV)
• Voice of Russia (radio)

Free Internet replays, no subscription required. Wikipedia has a list of others televisions in Russia which can be accessed via cable or with subscriptions.

Typing tutor

• Bce10

Typing Russian characters with virtual keyboards

If you want to learn Russian online, you need to type Russian (cyrillic) characters.

All modern operating systems offer the ability to add so-called "virtual" keyboard layouts to the default one: if your computer has a US QWERTY keyboard, adding additional virtual keyboards allow you to get a French AZERTY keyboard with French accents and special letters like ç, or a Russian keyboard with all its Cyrillic characters.

On my Mac, a setting in the Language & Text preferences menu allows me to define various input sources. I added Russian, which gives me a real Russian keyboard layout :

Here is also a spreadsheet view. On my Windows 7 machine, the lower and upper case "ё" is located to the left of number 1, instead of the bracket sign which I couldn't find, even by playing with the Ctrl or Alt keys. Overall, I like the Mac layout, even if I find the dot and comma are oddly placed at the top. 

More Mac-gic: I also found an option called Russian - Phonetics, which follows an AZERTY model with a few differences and may spare you some time learning the specific Russian layout above.

Windows users don't have this option by default, there seems to be a few softwares that do this (Google search results). Frankly, you might be better off learning the Russian layout.

The Russian Alphabet

I love Google Docs and especially spreadsheets. Here's my version of the Russian alphabet in spreadsheet format.

As in English, there is a hand-written form (aka "cursive") for each letter which differs "slightly" from the typewriter computer version. It's actually so different that it can make a decent secret code if no one around you can read Cyrillic. You can find a good overview on Wikimedia here and there.

Learning Russian, an Internet user's guide

I'm starting Russian today. I studied it for two years at university 10 years ago, but could never get to conversational level and I've never been to Russia unfortunately.

I learnt the alphabet and the pronunciation, I have good basics, so it's probably the language I could make most progress on in a short time. I don't have an immediate usage, so there's a little risk on the motivation, but I've always liked the sound of Russian and its writing, so I'll take the chance.

My first challenge will be to grow vocabulary, especially verbs, and cases and then take speaking lessons.
I wonder if Google Translate and tons of online newspaper and tutorials online can help me go faster than 10 years ago. Let's find out.