Hi guys! It’s been 11 months now since I started learning Russian and I have mixed emotions about my progress.
Can I understand more? Yes, definitely. I would say I am able to enjoy more content which I find interesting. However, I still need to pay attention and keep focused when I’m listening to it. I’ve also found myself recently going back to the LingQ mini stories to refresh my “fundamental” vocabulary and grammar.
Can I speak better? Well, it’s difficult to say. Apart from a few Zoom meetings in Russian, which took place within the first 3 months of learning, I haven’t had many opportunities to speak with real people. I’ve actually spent most of my time speaking with AI. I don’t know if it’s because I’m not speaking to a real person but I always feel like I have a mental block when conversing with AI, even about basic topics.
I would say my comprehension level sits around a high B1 and my speaking around a high A2/low B1 level.
I’d like to hear how you guys are doing with your Russian! If not Russian, perhaps another language you’ve been studying for a similar length of time as me
Sounds like you are doing great! I’ve been studying Russian for a while now and I am nowhere near high B1. I tried speaking with AI my first year and didn’t get much out of it either. Something I finally realized though was that my speaking only got better after listening to a ton of Russian. Once I really started to internalize what people were saying my speaking just sort of logically started to flow. I know everyone is different, but for me listening extensively was the key to speaking and because it felt like a more natural process it was a lot more comfortable also.
I’m 1400 days into Greek with Lingq after many years with less helpful methods. I think difficult languages can take 1000+ hours which may well take 4+ years for many people. So any progress on that scale is great.
Yes, you are right, we need more patient with languages like Russian. It requires more time to assimilate the language structure. For example learning Latin for me is super easy, or Spanish. But Russian is a totally new level.
