Years ago I spent a few winters in Spain, learning the language at school, from scratch. It was a fun time, but I don't know about it being effective at learning the language. You spend most time with other students, and it all quickly degenerates into speaking English. After a few winters I never became really proficient.
A Dutch woman turned up one year on the first day of term. Spoke good English and kept diving off into Spanish, better than any of us could speak it. We were curious. She said she was waiting to see one of the teachers for an assessment as to which class she should join. We all said she was way above our heads, she'd go straight into the top class.
So she told us her story. Two months previously she'd chucked in her job in Rotterdam and headed to Spain. After 4 weeks she'd found a Spanish boyfriend, and by the way she talked, they'd hit it off pretty seriously. 
"So," she said. "The Spanish I can speak now is entirely from living with him for 4 weeks. I've got a hotel job locally but they say my grammar needs fixing so they sent me here."
Well, we were stunned. As much as we could tell, she was near to fluent.
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Originally Posted by craig.iedema
Hi All,
I am looking to learn Russian, any recommendations on suitable teaching methods?
Cheers,
Craig
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Easy! Get yerself a Russian girlfriend. I hear they are highly recommendable......!
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