Job Discussion Forums

[earl]

Hi Everyone,

I am about to embark on another OS ESL tour of duty (my third) after a divorce here in OZ. I am not totally sure where I want to go but I am certainly intrigued by Russia. I spent a year in Harbin in China and got to met a bunch of Russians (and had a Russian GF for a large part of my year there) and I would like to learn more about the culture. At the moment I am torn between the work opportunities in China and exploring somewhere new and interesting.

So on to my point... I have learned that wherever I go, having command of the language makes a huge difference in how much I like the place and its people. So I have put aside a little money so that I can spend a year (hopefully) studying Russian (or Chinese again if I decide to go back there). After that time I would start teaching ESL and studying in my spare time.

My question is where best to to do this? I have done some googling and searches on this site but not come up with anything much. Are there any well known places that foreigners go to learn the language? Would a uni be the go or a language school?

I have never been to Russia but if I had to pick a city I guess it would be St Petersberg but that is just based on pictures and comments that I have read. Money is an issue, I have some but I want to ensure that I am getting value for my spend.

Does anyone have any recommendations? Tips? Thoughts?

Cheers!

[Ryan_XC]

I was in your shoes 4 months before coming to Moscow. In this time, I went from not knowing a single word to having a pretty good grasp on basic conversation, listening, and reading. This was not due to classes but to self study and daily communication. Here's what I recommend:

http://www.language-exchanges.org/
http://www.conversationexchange.com/
http://lang-8.com/

Using those sites I guarantee you will have enough Russian speaking friends on Skype to fill any opening in your schedule to practice speaking any time of the day (with a little English help for them too, of course). I can't imagine any kind of class being more valuable than speaking at least 1-2 hours a day.

More suggestions:

Book: The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners
Website: http://learnrussian.rt.com/ (their registration doesn't work anymore, but it's not necessary)
Audio: Pimsleur's Russian 1, 2, 3
Podcast: http://russianmadeeasy.com/

The Pimsleur audio lessons will give you a head start on pronunciation and phrases to practice on Skype with your Russian friends and the Penguin book will give you excellent grammar explanations.

Good luck, the internet is teeming with very eager Russian speakers who will be falling over themselves to help you practice, us English speakers are very lucky for this! Use it!

[earl]

Excellent info there Ryan_XC thanks for that. How have you found life in Russia so far?

[Ryan_XC]

I'm here for the language and culture, so of course I've found everything to be great. But my opinion comes with a strong bias! Feel free to PM if you ever have more questions/concerns.