Good day! Здравствуйте!

Good day, sirs and mesdames! Здравствуйте! Рад тебя видеть!

Though my real name shall be kept confidential (a gentleman needs to be wary even among such a wonderful setting as this), the moniker by which I go on here is "Crimson Raptor" (though you are at liberty to call me whatever you wish based on that). I am a twenty-year-old Englishman currently living in Pretoria, South Africa, and studying mechanical engineering at a university.

Admittedly, I am a complete and utter beginner to the Russian language. Hence, please bear with my lack of proficiency (I feel almost sinful for the amount of English in this thread already, as opposed to Russian). I have only just begun studying it, and hope to make rapid progress.

That is quite enough said of me, however. I would like to meet and know more about some of you and this wonderful community!

Quote:

---

Здравствуйте! Рад тебя видеть!

---

"you" should be in plural: Здравствуйте! Рад вас видеть!

Oh, I cannot help trying to translate that wondeful text in Russian while retaining its style. :-D

Добрый день, дамы и господа!

Прозвище, под которым я пребываю здесь, — Crimson Raptor, а моё реальное имя должно оставаться тайной. (Джентльмену следует соблюдать осторожность даже в таком замечательном месте, как это.) Вы, впрочем, вольны называть меня так, как вам будет угодно. Я англичанин двадцати лет от роду. В настоящее время я живу в Претории (Южная Африка) и изучаю машиностроение в университете.

Надо сказать, я полнейший новичок в изучении русского языка и потому прошу отнестись с пониманием к моему невежеству. (Чувствую, что я уже практически согрешил, написав в этом треде столько текста на английском вместо русского.) Я только начал изучать русский и надеюсь на скорый прогресс.

Впрочем, достаточно обо мне. Я хотел бы познакомиться и узнать больше о вас и об этом замечательном сообществе!

Здравствуйте CrimsonRaptor, и добро пожаловать на форум. Я желаю тебе много успехов с твоими русскими приключениями. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CrimsonRaptor

... I would like to meet and know more about some of you and this wonderful community!

---

Sweet! Очень приятно.
Добро пожаловать к нам. You are very welcome here.

Welcome! I hope you will enjoy learning Russian. It is a very interesting language.

Thank you all very much for your friendly responses and warm welcomes! Благодарю́ вас!

RedFox: Ah, I see. Thank you for the correction, and for translating my introduction message. It is an honour, indeed!

Alexei90: I must confess that I needed a dictionary to understand what you had written, haha! As mentioned initially, I am a complete novice to the language. Благодарю́ вас! Thank you for the welcome.

Lampada: Thank you for the invitation and the welcome!

Hoax: It most certainly is, from what I have seen of it. I look forward to being able to communicate fluently with all the Russian speakers on the forum. Thank you.

Though learning abilities vary from individual to individual, given the approximate difficulty of the Russian language relative to an English speaker, how long (on average) does it take a native English speaker to learn Russian fluently?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CrimsonRaptor

Though learning abilities vary from individual to individual, given the approximate difficulty of the Russian language relative to an English speaker, how long (on average) does it take a native English speaker to learn Russian fluently?

---

It really depends much on your abilities and motivation and spare time that you can spend on learning. There is an American actor Odin Bairon who learned Russian in 5 years so well that I can't even hear accent when he plays at the stage. He is really good. In my opinion 2 years is enough to be fluent if you have strong motivation and self control. But it is better to ask the foreighners how long it took them to learn Russian.

Quote:

---

I must confess that I needed a dictionary to understand what you had written, haha! As mentioned initially, I am a complete novice to the language. Благодарю́ вас! Thank you for the welcome.

---

Haha, no worries. Like you, I am also learning, so I surely know the feeling.