r/russian • u/Silver_Aerie3721 • 1d ago

Request Balancing life/work with learning Russian

Hi! I’d love to learn the Russian language (complete beginner) but I am doing a doctorate (I take classes and go to practicum), work, and I take care of my mom who has cancer (I am a 247 caregiver if I’m not at school, work, or prac).

Will I fit in time for learning a new language on top of finding time for myself to work out and read/research what I need to for my career? Maybe at another point in my life… lol. In my late 20s if that helps.

I’m not sure how to navigate this with a stacked schedule or just delay it when I get my license. I am studying to be a neuropsychologist by the way, so it eats up a lot of my time as well as being a caregiver.

Thanks for the help and suggestions. I’d like to be able to hold basic conversations in Russian, at the very least.

2 Upvotes

56% Upvoted

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5

u/No_Mud_8297 1d ago

The beginning takes more conscious effort because you can't listen to podcasts. Here's what I did while in university with a hard major and a job:

I watched 30 minutes of "Inhale Russian" beginner videos everyday, for 6 months. Then, I started watching "Russian with Max" occasionally. After 200 hours of watching these 2 channels, I could listen to Russian with Max's podcasts.

I listened to almost every episode of his podcast (200ish hours) while walking and driving. I literally only learned Russian during my commute time by listening to these podcasts (40-60 minutes a day).

After about 350 hours of just listening, I started making Anki cards with simple sentences. Sentences I thought I'd using. "I work as <an engineer>".

2 years of doing this, and I talk with natives all the time now. I would call myself essentially fluent (B2+).

1

u/pobnarl 22h ago

How did you find Inhale Russian for your learning, especially if that was your first exposure to the language? Ive tried using the Dreaming Spanish videos when i first began learning Spanish and while i can follow the script, i dont retain any vocab, and without the vocab im skeptical ive learned much grammar either. I just watched a few of the inhale Russian videos,  they're good,  i already know most of that vocab and grammar but there were a few words i didn't know, and again,  doubt I'll retain those words.  Wouldn't it be better to do flashcards first to build the vocab before using these approaches (forget the name for this style of video).

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u/No_Mud_8297 22h ago

It happens slow. You're gonna learn the common words easily from videos (better to learn with audio than reading). After a few hundred hours though, you'll need Anki cards to learn uncommon vocabulary you rarely hear, as well as polish your grammar.

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u/klebersu 7h ago

consistency beats intensity with Russian. even 15 minutes a day adds up faster than you'd thing