Привет! I just started Russian a couple of months ago, though admittedly it's taking me a while because I'm busy... I am also taking Spanish courses and catch onto that fairly quickly, so I don't think it's a "learning new languages issue", really.

But anyways, I have the Russian Rosetta Stone (though I dislike how Rosetta Stone does not actually teach you the grammar concepts..) but don't really use it... I mainly use Livemocha (similar to Rosetta Stone, but a free online site where you can also contact native speakers) and supplement it with, well, basically looking up grammar concepts online. Usually that ends up at russianlessons.net. I tried learning my conjugations through them, and apparently got it all wrong...? So I'm not sure if it's simply my misunderstanding or if the site was incorrect or did not go into enough detail, etc...

I'm not sure how much I can learn simply through Livemocha and online grammar websites... would you suggest that I get CD's and/or some kind of textbook? Would a Russian/English dictionary also help? Do you have any suggestions pertaining to specific references that I can use? (Brand, name, etc..)

Thanks for your time!