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Ok, here in Spain, well where I come from it isn

I think the main problem of self-study is that you will always reach your limit (so you won't progress). And hopefully, you'll reach it not so soon as I did when tried to train my brains with Japanese

So the best way would be to start communicate with native speakers when you will be able to say something. ICQ, SKYPE, forums will definitely help, as well as reading and listening of course.

Communicating with native speakers is part of self study.

Originally Posted by DDT

Communicating with native speakers is part of self study.

true. I meant the narrow area (self-study with grammar books) which people always stick to. I did recently with Japanese, so now I know some basics only

[quote=Pasha]Ok, here in Spain, well where I come from it isn

That'd be pretty cool to live in St. Pete... beautiful city.

I agree, I don't think that normal people can become very good with a language unless they get some conversational exposure to it. You can get this a little bit by reading forums, listening to BBC Russia News (great way to help with auditory recognition, BTW), but not near the extent of total immersion.

I just got back from several months in Saratov, and at the beginning I thought my head would explode. But by the end of my trip, I felt like I was learning russian about 500% times faster than I ever did in the states... it was a really creepy feeling for me when people would ask me something on the street, and without thinking I would just blurt out the answer in russian.

So I guess my point here is that if your serious about learning russian, at least try to get over there for some period of time. If your a student its that much easier, because you can do a rotary exchange or something like that. Also, contrary to what some might think, it's not terribly expensive to visit either.

Good luck!

Hola a dobry,

adem