Question by KingPoet: How long would it take to learn basic – good Russian?
I’m going to start learning Russian.
My friend is Russian and he is going to help me and I’m also going to study it as well.
How long would it take to learn basic – fluent Russian?
Answers and Views:
Answer by rflrs
You might find a difference between “basic” and “fluent”.
Have fun with it, though.
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cymry3jones says
That is entirely up to you. Not only how much time you devote to learning Russian, but also which other foreign languages you have already learnt. First of all you should learn the alphabet. I'm a language teacher, and it may be that you only want to be able to speak Russian, but learning the alphabet will mean that you can start to read simple words. Once you can start to read, you'll reinforce your learning process. Not everywhere in Russia is labelled McDonald's or Starbucks!
My French prof would kill me! But hey! the mother tongue process is great. However, there comes a time when reading reinforces what you have learnt.
The last time I was in Russia I was with a group of Swiss. I read a poster to them, which I had translated into German. Our local tourist guide came up behind me and said in German, "Ah! a Swiss spy." To which I replied, "No! Worse than that. I'm English." My Russian is very limited, but I can read the words.