I have been actively studying Russian for about 2 months, passively for about a year if that makes sense. As for studying, I actually spend my day listening to Russian Radio even at work (office with a door is great) I found immersing myself with the language helps in recognizing words even if you don’t know the meaning. My g/f and her 6 sisters are always speaking Russian around me so that is a tremendous help. While I do not understand the meaning of every word they are floating around in my head and with the addition of music, my retention, is from what I can see very well. I have used some kids schoolbooks and followed very basic exercises, while my girl friend coaches me along. Learning how to write, saying the words and the meaning is great too I have found. It kind of grows from there, you understand a little bit and you use that to understand more and more.

As for the song, my girlfriend is on the way over and she can read this to me. I just got my CD and took a stab at it so that makes me feel good I was at least in the ball park of what was going on.

I have the CD and can send it to you the song in a MP3 format, just tell me how I should go about doing so. It is a wonderful sounding song! Make sure those finger nails are cut and you ready for calluses on your finger tips “)