Greetings And Other Basic Phrases
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Misha - 6 August 2024
You and your language partner are going to greet each other every day. In the beginning, these greetings are going to be just very short questions and answers. Let’s learn some basic phrases.
Greetings are exactly what they sound like. In the beginning, these phrases are going to be just very short questions and answers, the usual, “как дела?”, “откуда ты?”, “что делаешь?”. As a beginning language student, you’ll just be answering one word answers, such as, “хорошо”, “плохо”, “да”, “нет”. Don’t worry about anything else. But, and this is important, try to expand your greetings every day. For example, if you like to play chess, learn how to say, “сыграем в шахматы?”. Don’t be afraid to translate things you don’t know how to say.
Ask your language partner to translate everything you want to know and write it down. If things are going on in your life (and they always are) ask your partner how to say about them. For example, if you are sick, ask your partner how to say it. You’ll learn how to wish for recovery. If your partner knows you are sick, there’s a chance they’ll ask you the following day how you are. You need an ongoing conversation about your life and your partner’s life. For that reason, every day, you add at least one new thing to your vocabulary of greetings.
Remember, for day one, don’t worry about why or what behind the greeting. That will come. Just worry about getting the words out. We do greetings because they are a part of everyday life. Every conversation starts with a greeting. So when you meet a native speaker, you’ll be ready to answer just about anything.
In the beginning, greetings should last about one to two minutes and eventually get up to say 10 minutes after 50 hours. Just concentrate on questions from your partner that require only one word answers. It’s not the time to explain why your family decided to go on vacation without you, or how you suddenly realized you don’t like your job. Your partner should be doing 90% of the talking. Eventually this will grow to 80/20. Obviously, the goal for the fluent speaker would be 50/50.