Hi everyone,

I have started the process of learning Russian, but I am not so sure what to do and exactly how I should begin. My aims are to learn the language to a sufficient level so that when I attend a language course in Russia next year for approximately one month, I will have a head start in comparison to me not doing so. Already, I have aquired some simple words and have got to grips with the alphabet in terms of basic pronounciation and understanding printed and handwrtitten forms of letters. However, as many of you may well be aware, many beginners - especially if this is their first language attempted to be learned - have problems with rolling or trilling their r's for the letter p (err). Now, my question is: how to do I overcome this problem and learn to roll my r's and how do I pursue the process of learning this language. Just not being able to pronounce this letter is ruining any hope of learning this beautiful language because so many words contain this letter. I can somewhat fake its pronounciation by purring from the back of my throat, but it doesn't remotely sound like an authentic russian sound. I am not sure as to whether I should continue learning the language until I have mastered this sound, or shall I continue learning and hope that eventually the sound will come to me in the future.

Your help will be most appreciated guys

Daniel Trofimczuk