Quote Originally Posted by Deborski View Post
Every time I start to feel like I'm doing pretty good, learning some Russian.... I hear about someone like THIS! Arghhhhhhhhh!

But I guess, for an American, I am still somewhat unusual.
Haha, I never had any illusions...!

Since I started my new job, I had a desk next to two guys, both (!!)of whom have studied Russian as a foreign language.

The first had forgotten a lot, because he studied Russian back in the 1980s. But he was still following the Russian rock scene because he is a big rock fan and prefers Russian rock over American.

The second person started studying at roughly the same time as me, (2009) but he is MUCH better! Arrgh!
He thinks Russian grammar is "fun and challenging" and he has a much better vocabulary than me. He memorized all the spelling rules!

My excuse is that he is practically a genius with a degree in theoretical physics. I probably 70% of his IQ, at the most...

One of the first things he did after starting his Russian studies was to watch lots of childrens film, then moving on to contemporary comedy shows from TV. Then he started watching Russian war films because he enjoys that.
He never used subtitles and he was able to learn a lot by using increasingly difficult material. Did anyone try a similar approach?