Finally a clear and effective method for learning a new language! Language is all about communicating IDEAS, so that's what needs to be learned. If you want to learn Russian or learn English, come visit our website at http://elearnrussian.com

1. A NEW Way to Learn Languages
Language is simply the communication of ideas.
Regardless of the language, including body language, sign language and braille, it
is simply the communication of an idea or feeling.
When learning a new language, you learn to comprehend an idea expressed in a
new way, and later you're able to express your ideas and feelings.
http://elearnrussian.com Page 1 of 10

2. When a four year old child says, "Kucing ke mana?" (Where did the cat go?), and you reply,
"Yeah, where'd he go?", along with the physical action of looking around, there is complete
understanding and comprehension of the idea being expressed.
There is NO need to understand ANY grammar. It is not important that 'did' is the past tense
form of 'do'. The idea was quickly comprehended by the child who had never spoken a word of
English in her life, and she was soon running around with my son saying "Where'd he go?" with
perfect pronunciation. And she completely understood the idea being expressed.
"Ah, here it is!" is a very common expression and idea. How do you express that idea in the new
language that you're learning? Very often advanced learners will have no idea, and will simply
use some expression translated from their own native language which will almost never be right.
If someone says to you, "What's that?", pointing to something but you didn't see what he
pointed to, then you will likely reply ________ .
In most languages you'd say "Where?" or "Which?", but in English we'd most likely say: "What's
what?".
So, the key to language learning is to be able to comprehend ideas expressed by others and be
able to express your own ideas. It's as simple as that.
http://elearnrussian.com Page 2 of 10

3. We comprehend by either listening or reading and it is VERY important to realize that they are
two separate physical things.
Especially listening (and speaking and writing) needs to be physically practiced. It's NOT a
mental function, you have to physically develop the ability to do it.
Thus, a good language learning program focuses on helping the student develop the physical
ability.
Programs that insist on no translations are unnecessarily limiting students from one of the
easiest means of ensuring comprehension of the idea being expressed.
That said, it is also extremely important NOT go from Idea to Translation to Comprehension or in
reverse, from Idea to Formulation in your own language to Translation to Expression.
It must always be direct from Idea to Comprehension or Idea to Expression. This isn't difficult to
achieve with a good language learning program.
Sitting in a classroom, waiting for the slowest person in the class to comprehend what's going on
is NOT an effective way to learn a new language. Each student must have the freedom to
advance at their own speed.
With the internet, mobile phones and mp3 players the opportunities are endless.
http://elearnrussian.com Page 3 of 10

4. Expressing yourself in a new language is often the most difficult part, however it doesn't need to
be. When I learned Indonesian, I could say more than I could understand because I simply used
my limited vocabularly and managed to express my ideas. Other people would use words I
didn't know yet or spoke too quickly so I wasn't able to understand what they were trying to say.
A key element of a good language program is its ability to 'activate' the language being learned
and help the students become able to express their ideas both written and spoken.
Once again, the act of writing (and typing) and speaking must be physically learned.
Because it is something the students have to learn to do themselves, physically, it's really
impossible to 'teach'. The teacher's role is to correct mistakes and assist where difficulties are
encountered.
Again, classroom settings are totally inappropriate for individual students to practice expressing
themselves in a new language.
http://elearnrussian.com Page 4 of 10

5. Here's an interesting check for non-native English speakers to see if you know what we'd say in
the following situations. It's extremely basic and is included in our Lesson 1 but most people
won't know the answer.
Scenario 1:
Your phone rings, you answer it, the other person is talking but you don't know who it is; what
would you say? (use the simplest expression, remembering this is being learned in Lesson 1
which focused on What's this? What's that? and Who's this? Who's that?)
Scenario 2:
Your phone rings, you answer it and begin talking and laughing with them and it becomes clear
that your friend sitting beside you also knows this person. They become curious and want to
know who you're talking to; what would they say?
Scenario 3:
As in scenario 2, but they ask after you hang up the phone; what would they say?
http://elearnrussian.com Page 5 of 10

6. Scenario 1:
Who is this? (and the emphasis is placed on the 'is')
Scenario 2:
Who is it?
Scenario 3:
Who was that? (emphasis is placed on 'that')
How'd you do? Can you explain this grammatically? I can't, and why bother? It doesn't
matter!! The idea is clearly expressed and understood, and with the proper learning method,
students will learn such things without even realizing it. How? Because the program develops
the physical reflexes and makes them 'automatic'.
Here's an example of 'automatic' learning and developing the physical reflexes to speak
correctly, 'automatically'.
I gave a simple booklet to one of my staff to read, out loud, 3 times a day, every day. It took
about 5 minutes, so 15 minutes a day.
Nothing else, no studying, just read it out loud and begin developing the physical ability to
speak in English.
I then got him typing. Again, with a very effective and quick method, and he typed:
What's Mary doing?
She's listening music on the radio? What's wrong with what he typed?
http://elearnrussian.com Page 6 of 10

7. Hopefully most of you know the answer. He couldn't figure it out. He went through each of his
'rules': she's, apostrophe s, listening, -ing, music, on, the radio.
He honestly started to believe that I was wrong.
So, I told him, don't look at the computer, just tell me verbally what it should be. I prompted
him with the 'idea' expressed in Indonesian.
Mary lagi ngapain? And he replied, "What's Mary doing?"
Dia lagi dengarin musik di radio. "She's listening to ...
And then he stopped himself, now realizing his mistake. The 'to' came out automatically.
I told him, that is the entire underlying philosophy of what we're trying to do.
If you look at most TOEFL questions, they're actually testing quite basic things and in many
cases it's the accompanying 'to' which simply needs to be learned as an automatic reflex.
A common mistake is to say "ask to". We never say "ask to". Conversely, people will say,
"Sorry I didn't reply your email." For this you have to say "reply to". Why? I don't know, it just
is what it is, and if you learn it in a natural manner then you won't ever have to remember
because it will be automatic. :)
http://elearnrussian.com Page 7 of 10

8. Movies are a great way to improve your languge abilities compared to most boring language
programs that teach you ridiculous expressions that you'd never use in real life.
The following is a subtitle from the movie, The Italian Job, and after reading it I thought, she
didn't say that.
Come by. We'll have some breakfast.
What she actually said, and what is completely natural English is:
Why don't you just come by and we'll have some breakfast, hmm?
English prefers a nice flowing rhythm rather than being short like many other languages, such
as Russian, Japanese and Indonesian.
When what you learn matches what you hear all around you, then it's reinforced and becomes
natural.
Here's an example of expressing an idea in many different ways. In the same movie, he
replies: Well, it'd be a long trip.
And the French and Russian subtitles are:
Ce n'est pas la porte à côté.
Это не ближний свет.
It's all about expressing an idea naturally and easily, and understanding expressed ideas.
http://elearnrussian.com Page 8 of 10

9. Movies are also very helpful in developing an 'ear' for a language. A good language learning
program needs to show students how the language is actually spoken.
Most students learn 'wanna', 'gonna' and 'gotta' but if they're shown these early on in their
learning, along with others, and also encouraged to speak in a smooth and natural manner, then
the entire learning process is speeded up and improved.
Children learn many, many nouns; book, chair, table, apple, umbrella, and on and on, but
what's most important to learn is 'itsa'.
What's this?
It's a book.
When spoken clearly students will understand, "Do you want something to drink?", but we
never speak that way.
We'd say: "Ya wan' sa'm ta drink?"
"Do you" usually sounds like d'ja or d'ya or simply ya (from you).
"Something" is often somethin' or sa'm and "to" is often pronounced ta.
It's not difficult to learn but if it's not specifically shown to the student it may take them years
to discover it on their own.
With a good language learning system, students can be talking like a native in no time.
http://elearnrussian.com Page 9 of 10

10. Learn Russian
FAST at
www.eLearnRussian.com
ЯR
eLearnRussian.com
http://elearnrussian.com Page 10 of 10