New Language Challenge: Russia Here I Come!

  • Hubert Nagel
    Written byHubert Nagel
  • Read time3 mins
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New Language Challenge: Russia Here I Come!

Off to Russia

G’day from sunny Dubai!

Today I’m finally able to share my exciting new language challenge with all of you.

I’ve been dying to tell everyone actually but had to make sure the visa was going to come through this time (which it did! :)).

I waited about 2 months to get news on my last visa application for one of the most difficult countries in the world to visit but unfortunately it never came through after all that waiting.

I was really disappointed!

Let me tell you that as a blogger nothing is worse than going long periods without producing new content.

So I’m in Dubai now on a New Years vacation for two weeks at the Palm Jumeira (the man-made island in the shape of a palm tree) with an interesting new host family from Russia.

After our two weeks here I’ll travel with them to Russia where I’ll begin intensively learning the Russian language to fluency. I aim to be very fluent in Russian by the time I leave (not sure exactly when that will be yet).

Apart from the insane cold that I’ll have to adjust to I am really excited about my next move!

UPDATE: I successfully became fluent in Russian but ended my work contract early there because the family I worked for were a total nightmare. Read more here.

Starting Russian all over again

I studied Russian for a few months about 9 years ago and apart from a small bit of exposure I had to it back in Georgia, I’ve not studied it since.

Apart from the alphabet and a few basic expressions, I feel like I’m starting from scratch on this one.

I’ll be using the Assimil Russian book and Earworms Russian to get started, and when I arrive in Russia in the first week of January I’ll start my lessons through a private teacher and of course italki.

I’ve already started getting to know the maid and other staff of the family too who don’t speak any English so I’ve been able to pick up quite a bit of Russian in the two days I’ve been here which has been great.

As in Korea, being around the kids a lot is enormously helpful as well.

Of course as always I’ll produce progress videos and get video of the people I meet and the interesting part of Russia I’m moving to (far from Moscow and St. Petersburg) after I get settled there. This is as much a cultural mission as it is a language mission for me as I want to really connect and assimilate with the community I’m moving to.

In the meantime, if you have any recommendations of resources for learning Russian or suggestions on places to see/things to do in Russia I’d love to hear it!

Since I don’t have a lot of free time to blog here in Dubai I have to make this short but stay tuned for more updates soon.

Merry Christmas!

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