Quote Originally Posted by chaika View Post
Hi Justin!
I would recommend going with a tutor for the beginning, so you can get the feel of the language. Especially true if you want to speak it. I suppose you might be able to get a reading knowledge, but you definitely need a human being to get the pronunciation.
As to how long -- I started learning Russian in high school about 50 years ago and I still have a long ways to go. I can read it really well, write with a clear foreign accent and grammatical errors, and speak fairly fluently but with a strong American accent.
Thank you for the information. As of now I've just begun to study the alphabet, which is coming very naturally and easily for me, which is a pleasant surprise. I've been chatting online with a good friend from Russia who speaks very good English. It is difficult to meet up because of the 8 hour time difference, but once a week I think we are going to do a skype session, and he sending me some keyboard stickers for X-Mas (very exciting). For my own studies though I have been watching videos and use that program 'Byki Ni' for basic pronunciation. It is coming along smoothly so far for my first day of study, and I am so excited to embark on my wonderful journey learning this beautiful language.