Privyet Tovarishch! I find that listening to russian for extended periods of time can help forge you a small vocabulary. From listening to Vitas ever since I discovered him on youtube maybe 2 weeks ago I now know the words "Ya" "Nyet" "Zvezda" " lyubovʹ" "Schast'ye" . When you first attempt to single out certain words I would recommend singling out words that are repeated at first. Then you catch words at their syllables and ask your russian friend what they.

Mean also I'd like to add to my fellow citizens of america. The pronunciation guide is crucial practice the words how they recommend. We may have certain tendencies to modify the pronunciations to fix our american accents.

To the russian teachers i'll tell you that the pronunciations are very foreign to us. The very way we move our mouths when we say our words are deeply ingrained and our schools don't offer foreign language classes until the last few years. So be patient, offer tips for pronunciations, and have fun. I don't practice just the language with my teacher who I will gladly call friends now. It's also important to have a cultural exchange.

I hope that helped :),

Keith Metoyer