Re: Learning Russian
I found the conversational russian i picked up in Moscow pretty fine to get started on. It's a whole new alphabet to get used to, but it is that, it's not like learning ideographic or syllabic scripts.
So you should get a feel for writing, reading and speaking quite well, and as ever, listening is the hardest. Just getting books/CDs like Rosetta Stone (fwiw i've never used it), Berlitz etc. or taking evening classes should do you fine.
Also, it's a good idea to learn Russian since if the cold war restarts and this time Putin gets the win, we'll all be saying Na Zdarovye as we sink our vodkas and eat pirogi. Maybe Mandarin is another you should consider...
|