About a year and a half ago I seriously started studying the Russian language. When working in the space business this can definitely prove helpful, and I have indeed used this skill during my research fellowship at the European Astronaut Centre, for example to translate tests collected during MIR/Soyuz European spaceflights.
Among the various methods I tried (books, movies, private teacher, audio lessons), I can only recommend the Pimsleur Method (here is their website).
The principle is based on interactive audio lessons (in American English), where the student is requested to speak out loud and to reply to questions. Progressively he develops vocabulary, grammar rules and more importantly remembers them!
The full method includes 90 lessons of 30 minutes each, so be prepared for a long-haul effort (it took me more than a year). I enjoy learning while driving, making the most of this time usually wasted! You could theoretically learn it all without ever reading nor writing any Russian, but I don't recommend it. I found very helpful to study the written language simultaneously using books. Associating sound and spelling is highly effective in my opinion. I quickly found myself able to write down words I've never seen before with correct accuracy.
Of course the quickest way to improve skills in a foreign language is by actually going to the country, practicing the language, making mistakes and slowly getting better. This is what I did in September 2012, when I spent one month in Siberia, working as an anesthetist in 3 separate hospitals.
Among the various methods I tried (books, movies, private teacher, audio lessons), I can only recommend the Pimsleur Method (here is their website).
The principle is based on interactive audio lessons (in American English), where the student is requested to speak out loud and to reply to questions. Progressively he develops vocabulary, grammar rules and more importantly remembers them!
The full method includes 90 lessons of 30 minutes each, so be prepared for a long-haul effort (it took me more than a year). I enjoy learning while driving, making the most of this time usually wasted! You could theoretically learn it all without ever reading nor writing any Russian, but I don't recommend it. I found very helpful to study the written language simultaneously using books. Associating sound and spelling is highly effective in my opinion. I quickly found myself able to write down words I've never seen before with correct accuracy.
Of course the quickest way to improve skills in a foreign language is by actually going to the country, practicing the language, making mistakes and slowly getting better. This is what I did in September 2012, when I spent one month in Siberia, working as an anesthetist in 3 separate hospitals.
To give you an idea of the level reached, I managed to give a 20-minute presentation in Russian about the medical studies in France.
Yeah. pimsleur seems to use the same method as FSI: You h ave to repeat the same boring phrases over and over and over. You learn it, but it's so boring and time-consuming. About numbers, I agree. I consider myself fluent in Esperanto, but understanding big numbers is still a problem. If I hear something like, "En la jaro mil naŭcent okdek sep", I'll probably just ignore it.
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