EDITED: this post is very loong, if you want to skip all the text, go to the end to read the CONCLUSION.
In order to contribute to this forum Im going to talk about how i learnt Russian language myself from home and from scratch. I went from zero level to fluency in a period of 2 years. (by fluency i mean B2 level).
Please note that im not an English speaker so maybe some parts of my method wont suit you, also I consider it to be a tough program and it requires discipline, at least 1 or 2 hours everyday (many days i woke up 90 minuts earlier on the morning in order to find time).
1st phase GET THE BASICS (APROX 3-4 MONTHS:
To get the first contact with the language and get a base of grammar i used the following resources:
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Assimil (the Spanish to Russian version was very good, i dont know about the English)
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The website rusogratis.com (English version http://www.russianforfree.com)
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Lingq, Provider Evgeny have very good basic courses for beginners with the basic estructures and grammarn.
Also: You can use extra grammar books on the internet, or some webs with audios of letters to get the right phonetics, as и is not the same like ы. or T doesnt sound like TЬ (even if at the begining sounds the same for you, you need to pay attention listening this sounds many times in order to see the difference and to pronounce it yourself correctly later).
HOW I WORKED WITH ASSIMIL BOOK:
With the assimil book i have a method cycling lessons and doing inverse translation to close the circle. lets see a sample routine for 3 days:
1st day: Read and listen many times dialog of lesson 1, (and also read the grammar notes).
2nd day: Read and listen lesson 2 (with notes) many times, but also come back to lesson 1 and read it out loud, trying to repeat the voice and entonation of the russian speaker the most acurrate possible.
3rd day: read and listen lesson 3 (many times). Repeat out loud lesson 2. And lesson 1 you have to read only the translation text in your native language, and say out loud the translation without looking at it, comparing with the original text to see how many mistakes you have. (i was reading in Spanish and pronouncing out loud Russian, after every sentence i pushed the PLAY button to listen the native voice and compared if i said right). Many times were mistakes , but the good thing was i could notice them, and everytime they were less and less.
Note: many people doesnt like to read out loud alone, but i found it extremely helpful, many times you think you know words but is not until you make this conection voice/brain that is not completely active vocabulary ready to use. So i recommend you to dont be lazy and read out loud, so first time you will talk with native speakers will be ten times easier.
2nd phase: EXPAND YOUR VOCABULARY/GET YOUR VOCABULARY ACTIVE.
MAKING VOCABULARY ACTIVE:
At this point you should have a basic 1.000 words of basic vocabulary and because u read out loud and did inverse translation it shouldnt be completely passive. Here is where i started to talk with native speakers using this 2 resorces:
-Shared talk (good to chat with text). Begin with this as you can use translators to help you.
- Italki (good for talk by skype). Find an exchange partner on Italki. (you also can find him at LINGQ) I didnt use it to pay for lessons with tutors or teachers, i just used it to find friends and make exchanges, where we choose topics and we talk some time in Russiand and in return some time in Spanish. I think private tutors are only necesary in order to answer specific questions or some grammar things you still didnt get from assimil (but is only my opinion, there are many good tutors at Lingq and many students had big improvements thanks to them).
At begining conversations were hard and was extremely difficult to express myself, dont worry its a normal process.
EXPANDING YOUR VOCABULARY:
In order to continue improving and knowing more words, assimil and talk is not enough, you need more and more imput regularly, for this my fauvorite resouce is LINGQ.
With lingq i read and listen a lot, everyday i traslate 1 or 2 texts on morning and i listen them on my iphone many times during the day, on the metro, while i wash dishes etc. I used this website A LOT, most than any other resource, I could say 80% of my language learning i had it through Lingq.
CONCLUSION:
1st PHASE (3-4 MONTHS): learn basics (dialogues and grammar) with learnrussianforfree.com and assimil doing reverse translation. (you can find many other resources for beginners on the net or lingq)
2nd PHASE: (6 MONTHS) DO A LOT OF LINGQ AND START TO FIND A PARTNER TO CHAT BY TEXT EVERYDAY.
3RD PHASE: (2 YEARS- FOREVER) KEEP DOING LINGQ EVERYDAY AND HAVING SKYPE CONVERSATIONS, MAKE SURE TO WRITE EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO SAY ON THE CONVERSATION AND YOU COULDNT EXPRESS GOOD, AND STUDY IT AFTER.
So that makes the constant circle where you have to be getting constant input from Lingq, and producing constant output talking with native speakers… Many times you gonna have to come back to grammar books, and check some notes, watch youtube videos about grammar or phraseology, but most of the time you will be listening interesting material and talking to interesting people which is the nicest part of the process. When you are at this point you just have to continue doing this for 2 years, yeah 2 years doing it everyday for 1 or 2 hours is the only way i found to reach fluency, i dont think there is any shortcut. During this 2 years will be some psycological crisis, times where you have the feeling you are not improving etc, but its normal, you just have to keep going and some day you will find yourself watching a tv show and understanding everying when you talk with friends in Russian.
I hope my experience will help somebody. Thank you for you attention.
Josu Sánchez.