Learning a new language

[Kumquat]

I don't know much about Rosetta Stone but I do know that repetition and putting the hours in are the best if you can't actually be in the country whose language you are learning. As an example, I'm learning Turkish and one particular word just wouldn't stick in my head at first. After about twenty or thirty goes it suddenly lodged itself there. The secret I think is not to get disheartened and just keep going when it doesn't feel like it is working because it will in the end.

 

[Simster]

I was going to be a smart arse and ask why she wasn't teaching you to speak Ukranian rather than Russian, but I've since found out that a third of Ukrainians consider Russian as their native language. I presume she is one of these. Carry on.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

Her family communicate in Russian and she uses it as her first language, apparently Ukrainian isn't that widely spoken in the main cities (she's from Kiev). Not sure how true that actually is but that's her reasoning!

It's very true. Ukrainian is the 'official' language, but documents are in both and Ukrainian is only taught in schools. The problem is people over the age of (about) 35 only speak Russian, so the kids have to learn Russian too to be able to talk to their parents. Most under 20 probably speak both though.