y’all ever just watch polyglot videos for motivation, but then spend all your time doing that so you don’t actually study any actual languages??? because same.
Here is a freeSherlock Holmes - The Speckled Band by Arthur Conan Doyle (Пестрая Лента - Артур конан Дойль), Russian graded reading book aimed at elementary level. You can find the PDF [here]. It’s pretty short but it comes with vocabulary lists, and questions on the text to assess your comprehension.
There’s also a free audio playlist reading this out, so it’s a great way to get some listening practice in also. You can find the Youtube playlist [here].
как жаль - what a pity ехидно - (adv) maliciously; mockingly, sarcastically любопытный - (adj) curious, inquisitive; interesting кстати - (adv.) by the way; to the point; as a matter of fact; apropos посочувствовать - to sympathize (with) сказанное - (n, decline as adj.) what has been said
New Words/Hовые Cлова
наиболее - (adv) the most, above all, most of all ляп - (n) flub, slip-up болтать - (v) (colloq.) to blabble, talk needlessly or endlessly; (colloq.) to converse; to dangle; to shake, rock, stir толк - (n) sense, judgement; talk, rumor
The -овать suffix can be used to turn nouns into verbs, e.g. штраф (fine, penalty) becomes штрафовать (to fine). When conjugating, drop the -овать in the present tense. For example, ревновать (to be jealous) becomes я ревную, ты ревнуешь, etc.
Review/Oбзор
чувствовать - (v) to feel торговать - (v) to trade жаловаться/пожаловаться - (v) to complain иронизировать - (v) to speak ironically переставать/перестать - (v) to stop, cease, quit голосовать/проголосовать - (v) to vote; to give voice
New Words/Hовые Cлова
использовать - (v) to use доставать/достать - (v) to reach, to be able to reach; to take out; get, procure, obtain требовать/потребовать - (v) to demand, request; to need, call for рисовать/нарисовать - (v) to draw, design; to paint
or, I had this list of words I couldn’t categorize easily
Review/Oбзор
который - (pronoun) which, who, that некоторый - (adj) some, certain каждый - (adj) each, every никто - (pronoun) nobody любой - (determiner) any, either, whichever one wants сам - (pronoun) myself, yourself
New Words/Hовые Cлова
там - (adv) there тут - (adv) here, now, then ничто - (pronoun) nothing несколько - (pronoun) a few, several, some; (adv) somewhat, slightly, some
завистливый - (adj) envious бескорыстный - (adj) unselfish бескорыстный труд - labor of love ценить - (v) to appreciate, to value highly вздыхать/вздохнуть - (v) to sigh; to yearn for, to pine after ухаживать - (v) to take care of, to look after; to court, to date заигрывать/заиграть - (v) to flirt; to make advances сердце - (n) heart; temper; anger; darling, love, sweetheart пара - (n) couple, pair
New Words/Hовые Cлова
рот - (n) mouth знакомый - (adj.) familiar, acquainted (with); (n) acquaintance, friend любить/полюбить - (v) to love, to like, to be fond of страсть - (n) passion; strong love; strong obsession with, attraction to some activity
If you’re looking to practice a bit and remember your target language better… here are tons of free worksheets/workbooks for 34 languages (Japanese, Spanish, Korean, French, German, etc, etc.)
upfront & obvious disclaimer: account required
It’s the same type of “fill in the blank” workbook across all of their languages but the magic in actually rewriting things over and over is that the words end up sticking. Plus, there are English sections where you’ll have to force yourself to remember and write the word/phrase in the target language - which is even better for your memory (called active recall - forcing yourself to remember). I’m personally a big fan of this approach and I’d do similar to pass vocab quizzes in my HS & uni language classes.
