Some useful notes – Learning Russian is not for the feint-hearted. However, it is something I’ve been doing for the last five years, after which my Russian is far from perfect. In fact, it is still quite limited and my main language (in a mainly Russian speaking city) is still English. Russian language is one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world, and it is spoken across the former U.S.S.R., in countries like Ukraine, Kazakstan, Russia and many other former soviet republics.

Of course, it makes a lot of sense to learn Russian in a Russian speaking country. It makes even more sense, if you have not learnt Russian outside your home country. You really need to have the right attitude and be outgoing and sociable to succeed though, as it is often just as much about learning the culture as the language.

9 of 10 of Ukraine’s largest cities have Russian as the main language, so Kiev, as the largest of these cities, is a great Russian language centre. Of course, it is possible to learn Russian online, but it is a lot more fun to learn Russian in Kiev. There are a few places offering Russian language courses.

Russian language courses in Kiev represent excellent value for money. Here are some courses on offer in the centre of Kiev –

http://1russian1.com/

http://www.learnrussiankiev.com/

http://study-ru.com/

As a first step you need to learn the Cyrillic alphabet and eventually aim to be able to write using the Cyrillic alphabet. This must be your long-term goal. As far as speaking is concerned, you also need to practice listening and speaking, so the Pimsleur Russian course is also very useful. They do 3 versions of this course, beginner, intermediate and advanced. It is also worth personalising the language. Try writing personal profiles, favourite recipes, even book reviews in Russian. Even better, if you can get them published. Make vocabulary lists with translations and try and write down basic Russian phrases, Russian love phrases, useful Russian phrases, funny Russian phrases, etc.

Here are some more tips…

mnemonics are useful to help you learn the spelling of difficult words.

Use conversation practice in the target language only, without resorting to your own language. This will help your confidence. Try living with a Russian speaking family. Underestimate the difficulty of learning Russian verbs at your peril, after all the verbs are the doing words. To do this, I recommend the book, “Let’s improve our Russian”.

Learn more about Ukraine. Stop by Neil Paton’s site where you can find out all about Russian language courses in Kievand how taking one of these courses may help develop you career.