Hey everyone! I started learning Russian 18 days ago and decided to do it without any traditional study to see how far I can get. I just listen to Russian videos, look at Russian subtitles as the video plays and then look up a word if I hear it over and over again. So far with 10 hours of listening, I have learned 53 words. So I am very curious and excited to see how it continues to go. If you are interested in updates, definitely keep in touch!

I was using Duolingo for a while and it didn’t teach me anything. I know the alphabet and how to pronounce the letters in words but I don’t know anything about the grammar or meanings of words. Should I switch to books or some other method?

Hello

I am what I would call a half native speaker.

My russian is pretty good but I lack some of the cultural and historical context behind certain phrases.

I have the time to to truly focus on my language learning at the moment and am looking for some podcasts/ YouTube channel recommendations.

I also want to better understand the mentality and therefore would like to watch film / content that is integral to the culture, I watched ну, погоди и бременские музыканты growing up. But I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about things such as Yuri announcing russia's involvement in WW2.

https://youtu.be/XXpZEA32Pt4?feature=shared

It would be great if I could have different suggestions for different topics such as:

1. A comedy one / normal verbiage / fun

2. A high level philosophical / political one with interviews etc

3. One that explains the meaning behind idioms

4. A channel for watching historical speeches

Thanks