English is considered a pretty simple language in terms of grammar (For instance, even German has 10+ articles, being one of the ancestors of the English language let alone Russian or e.g. Chinese, which are totally different, have quite different logic and language families). But you are right it's quite a pain in the "back" to get a good grasp of the English language. An average learner starts learning from simple words and phrases, simple tenses then proceeds to articles and continuous tenses and then tries to wrack his brains around the Perfect tenses, which are nonexistent in Russian (well, some people claim they do exist but I don't think so. Even if they do their concept is a bit different otherwise it wouldn't have been such a trick to learn them). Then there go subjunctives, idioms, other stuff and, on average, the first two or three years learners just blunder around the thickets of grammar and trying to pump up their vocab. By the fourth year, when they seem to have gotten the hang of the language they start producing relatively complicated sentences. Of course there are many flaws to the process of learning, like learning through text, not through audition, which causes all the trouble with listening comprehension and correct pronunciation. Dunno about Russian as a native, would be happy to hear a story of an average learner.