learn to speak Russian fluently

They had the first chapters of Anna Karenina in both Russian and English version, so you could see them side by side on the screen. You find it at
www.learningrussian.net/anna_karenina2.php
I found it very useful and would like to recommend it to others.

Today I tried to read en article in a Russian newspaper, it was a bit depressing, because I did not understand more than maybe 1/2 of it. But then I found something that i understood
Анекдоты
- Моя жена – как мобильный телефон.
- Что, такая же маленькая, современная, необходимая?
- Нет, когда деньги саканчиваются, она со мной не расговаривает!
In case your Russian is not quite fluent, I will translate:
- My wife is like a mobile telephone.
- So, she is small, modern and you can not live without her?
- No, when the money has run out, she is not talking to me!

Maybe not that funny, but it gave med such a great satisfaction to understand it without a dictionary or someone to explain it to me. So i decided to try to read some of the short articles in this newspaper during the summer.
I really want to master the language!!

I have been busy with work and other things, but I cling to my russian-course, one evening every week. Even if I do not always manage to do all the homework, I do most of it, and slowly, slowly I do understand more of the language. But this week our teacher asked us to read about prefixes and verbs. Did you know that there are 30 different prefixes that kan be used – one of them actually has 11 different meanings. I know that I will never, never really master Russian, but I hope that some day I will be able to have a relaxed everyday conversation in Russian. I hope to be able to go to Russia for a period – but probably not this year. Next year, maybe?

And stuck with it for 5 years, but now I have lost most of what I have learned. I want it back!!!

I was very frustrated, because our Russian teacher uses a Russian textbook for foreigners to teach us Russian grammar, which means that all the complicated small nuances in Russian grammar are explained – in Russian. So I spend just as long time trying to understand what I am supposed to do, as I spend doing the actual exercises.
After 5 hours of work I still had not quite finished the homework for today. But when I came to the group I discovered that my work had helped me understand the exact grammatical point that still was bothering my fellow student (who had not done the homework).

It is so nice to get the chance to practice spoken Russian!! But it is frustrating that I know so few words, so the range of subjects I can talk about is quite limited.
I will try to read 1 page every day in a Russian novel – no, wait, that is maybe to much to promise. I will at least try to read a page today, and see how long time it takes, I have to look up quite a lot of words.

Our group has come together again after the summer holiday, this year we are only 3 in my group, two older men and me. They know extremely many words, especially one of them, who is almost like a living dictionary.
I felt like my Russian had become rusty and half forgotten during the holiday, so at our first meeting it felt strange, but as I was doing my homework yesterday I felt that it is still there, everything, hidden just under the surface, I just have to brush up my grammar a bit. Which I will do. It is good to be active again. We will continue to met once a week, 3 grown up people who want to learn Russian and our very nice and well qualified Russian teacher.

We are 5 people with a very well qualified russian teacher who meet one evening every week, and we study russian in our own tempo. Not too fast, bur the results are very much depending upon how much time and energy you are willing to spend on your homework.
I look forward to the autumn when we will start our meetings again. It is a very pleasant way of studying, though maybe not the most efficient (that would be to spend some time in Russia on your own, I suppose). As we are all working full time, this is what we can manage too squeeze into your lives, so I am actually quite pleased that I have managed to follow these groups for two years now. Last year I passed the exam that is called Certificate level 1 (Russian as a foreign language).

no matter what i do i can’t seem to pronounce i love you in russian, does anyone know how?

My family is Russian, so I know it pretty well, but I don’t love it.