Best tips and tricks to learn the Russian language
Russian is an East Slavic language native to the Russians in Eastern Europe. It is an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and is used widely throughout the Caucasus, Central Asia, and to some extent in the Baltic states. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages, one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages alongside, and part of the larger Balto-Slavic branch. While Russian is widely believed to be one of the most difficult languages to learn, it’s possible to speak Russian fluently within a few months. Russian could prove daunting if you have no knowledge of other Slavic languages (e.g. Bulgarian or Czech), but even then it’s not an impossible task.
The Foreign Service Institute, USA prescribes about 1100 hours of study for an English speaker to reach a reasonable fluency in Russian(not native though!). If you’re willing to study for 2 hours every day and practice for another 2 each day, it could take you a year to reach an exceptionally good level in Russian. The learning time for the Russian language also depends on a few other factors, such as your intent of learning(Business Russian or Russian for travel can be learnt faster), knowledge of other Slavic languages (Bulgarian or Czech), knowledge of reading the Cyrillic alphabet or in the event you plan to skip learning to read Cyrillic completely. While most language learners wish to learn their target language as soon as possible and often look for short-cuts and secret formulas, please be aware there are no shortcuts! It’s only hard work and effort that help you sail through!
The easiest, proven way of learning any language is, by a travel immersion method, where a learner travels to the country that speaks his target language. When he surrounds himself with speakers of the language in this manner, he’s able to intensify his speaking skills, learning the native accent, and pronunciation that empowers him to learn the language faster! To learn Russian spend some time in Russian speaking countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and you’ll pick up the nuances of the language far more quickly.
Russian words tend to merge into one another due to the way Russian is spoken, and a learner is likely to miss, where the first sentence finishes and the next begins! This nitty-gritty is grasped from natives by carefully observing how they speak, and when and where they take time to breathe between sentences.
If you are living in the U.S the answer would be no. As the Russian language is not used in daily living in the U.S but if you are learning because you want to study literature, culture and many more then yes, it’s absolutely worth it.