In terms of difficultly for native English speakers, Russian is classified as a Level III language, which is defined by around 780 hours of emmersion study to reach intermediate fluency—but don’t let that discourage you!
Estimates put Russian speakers worldwide at approximately 285 million, only 160 million of whom are native speakers. Do the math and you’ll see that there are hundreds of millions of fluent Russian speakers the world over who have learnt Russian as a second language successfully! With a complex language such as Russian, however, utilizing the help of Russian tutors can prove a deal breaker as to whether or not you will be among those who succeed in learning fluent Russian.
If you’re putting in your time and effort to learn Russian, you want to be sure that you do it right. The only way to really perfect your Russian, or any second language for that matter, is to practice with native or fluent speakers. This means that it is necessary to connect with a Russian speaker to help you strengthen your skills.
Fortunately, there are countless Russian tutors available to assist you on your journey towards Russian fluency! The experience, teaching skills, education level and English proficiency of Russian tutors vary greatly, of course. To make the quickest progress in learning Russian, you will want to find Russian tutors and other options available. Some possibilities are:
- Joining a language school
- Signing up for a course at your community college
- Purchase an online Russian language study program
- Look for Russian tutors in your local classifieds, directory listing and rating website, magazines or newspapers, or Craigslist and choose one that fits your personal preferences and budget.
As you probably know, you can connect with a language exchange partner at LRNGO and get the benefits of a tutor for no monetary fee, just your ability to teach your partner something new!
Once you are on the road to Russian fluency, be consistent. You will lose the ground you’ve gained if your studies stop and pick back up too often, so make a consistent schedule with your tutor so that you are encouraged to practice frequently. Having a regular class at a set time will keep your momentum going and give you the quickest possible forward progress. Just remember to stay dedicated, and you will see progress and eventually polish your Russian!
Photo Credit: Dennis Jarvis
