meFIRST

I am so tired / fed up of being mute. The last time I was virtually stuck ( driver did not show up and my phone was dead) so I was somewhat stuck and had to fend for myself, mute, in -25 C weather. Not fun. I did eventually figure this out, but it involved some amount of walking in the bitter cold back to the hotel.

Even the doorman at the fancy Ritz Carlton on Treveskaya didn't speak English.

I don't have time for a sit down class, though I have heard to people doing lessons via skype, on line, that would be perfect.

There are a few out there, I wondered if folks here had recommendations.

RussianTexan

Meet a beautifully bilingual Russian girl & charm her with your charms. You'll learn plenty. If things go well, of course

Palal

One of the problems with Russian is the complicated grammar. As a native speaker, I find it easy (of course ) but the language is incredibly difficult.

How much of it do you want to learn? I divide my levels of proficiency in any the languages that I speak into: the tourist level, the everyday needs level and the philosophical conversation level. (Above that you also have a few more, but that's irrelevant here).

Various methods are better for one vs. the other.

Do you know the alphabet? If not, I'd start there.

meFIRST

Hmm. I personally prefer the guys, and there is plenty of that everywhere, especially in the big cities. I'm a fan

Though the women are head turners, even more beautiful than the guys. The top Moscow hotels seem to hire people based on looks (my theory). The staff at the Ritz Carlton on Treveskaya and the Raddison Royal (Ukrania) are among the most gorgeous I've ever seen. Heart stoppers. [ and no these are not call girls, they work at the hotel, as the concierge, desk staff, spa staff, etc.]. The staff at the Ritz will turn any man on, gay or straight. I'm not kidding. (even mentioned on trip advisor)

Its all professional though, this is not BKK.

However at the end of the day, I would prefer to take one of their brothers home.

Back to the original topic, I found a tutor to help me out, who is trained by Moscow State University to teach Russian as a second language. In doing the research for this, I discovered that the language is very regulated, in that there is an established standard curriculum and standardized testing, called TORFL (Test of Russian as a Foreign Language), a twist on the English version.

I speak 2 other languages, besides English (not the same language family), so this is not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I think this would be a lot of harder for someone who only has English as a frame of reference.

Lots of memorization...and since I am a frequent visitor, plenty of chance to use it too. Hopefully on one of the guys...LOL.

MileageAddict

I simply use a translation program on my Android device. I can speak into my phone in English and beautiful, flawless Russian comes out. It even has conversation mode where it alternates between languages so the next time, it is set to accept Russian input and have English output.

meFIRST

Flawless?. I don't think so. I use the same app. I think most people use this too, but there are limitations. I also want to understand the subtext of what is spoken, which even though an interpreter, doesn't always transfer over.
Anyone who has done negotiations in Moscow can relate...

SawaKi

Hello))) I live in Moscow. Could help with learning the Russian language with the help of Skype. I speak little English and could help each other))))

magiciansampras

This will likely take years of study to accomplish.