How Long Does It Take To Learn Russian? - Rocket Languages

While there is no doubt learning Russian is well worth the effort, time is money. Although we would all love to have limitless time to improve our language skills, the truth is that our personal and professional lives leave little time for learning. That stated, whether for an upcoming vacation to St.Petersburg or a business trip to Moscow, you want to be fluent in conversational Russian as fast as possible.

If you are still looking for a way to make quick progress, why don't you sign up for a trial of the Rocket Russian online course? It's completely free and noncommittal.

Resources for further reading:

• Top 10 Russian hacks to fast-track your Russian
• Learn Russian Online

So how long will it take to learn Russian?

This is one of the first questions anyone interested in language learning asks, and unfortunately, there's no easy way to answer it. Learning a language is a complex process that is different for each individual based on several different factors. Let's take a look at these different factors and see how they impact how fast you learn Russian:

1. Your Previous Language Learning Experiences

If you already speak a foreign language or were raised in a bilingual setting, it may be easier for you to pick up Russian more quickly. Bilinguals find it easier to learn a third language, as several linguistic studies have proven. This is because they are naturally more accustomed to being exposed to different languages. Fluency and skills in one language aid fluency and skills in another.

If you're not bilingual or multilingual, however, don't worry: Even that year of French in high school or that business trip to Tokyo was helpful.

One of the first steps to learning a language is learning a little bit about what makes up a language and the unique linguistic aspects of the language you want to learn. If you have already experienced studying foreign grammar, memorizing vocabulary, listening to different sounds and looking at different letters, your mind know what to expect when faced with a new language. There aren't as many surprises and language learning becomes easier and faster.

Just being exposed to different languages--especially when one of those languages is the language you wish to learn--can make language learning faster.

2. The Language You Are Learning

Even if Russian is considered one of the more difficult languages for English speakers to learn, this fascinating language is very well structured. Like many other European languages Russian comes from the Indo-European group of languages and therefore you can find similarities in the names of basic concepts across these languages because they share the same roots.

Russian also borrowed a lot of words from European languages over a period of time. These words, known as cognates, are your friends and can make your Russian language learning much easier and faster.

Here are a few examples of Russian words that you might already know without realizing it: