I record my end of a Russian conversation

As I have said earlier, after spending two years on Russian, perhaps a total of 500 hours, mostly listening, reading and reviewing words at LingQ, I decided to put some effort into speaking and writing. I have had about 5 30 minute discussions, one on one, with my tutor over the last three weeks. I promised myself to write but I have not kept it up. Even my initial intention to talk 5 times a week was not possible to maintain.

Mostly I still listen and work on LingQ. I have found an absolute treasure trove of Russian content in audio and text form at Эхо Москвы. I am following the Caucasian conflict by downloading daily news and interviews. I listen to them while doing chores and then I read them on LingQ and save unknown words. This website is better than any Russian textbook, when combined with the resources we have at LingQ.

I understand 70-90% of what I am listening to. Mostly I really enjoy it. There are interviews on all kinds of interesting subjects. On the war, www.echo.msk.ru has views that are critical of the Russian government , which I gather are not representative of the majority view in Russia. However, the availability of audio and text, and the high quality of the content, makes this site just ideal for a language learner. Maybe I should ask them if we can share their content in our Library.

Here are some excerpts of my discussion in Russian. My tutor's sound is not clear so I have cut much of it out. When I listen to myself I hear my mistakes. I hear myself struggling over words that I really know. But that is OK. I will continue mostly listening, reading and LingQing, and gradually do more talking. I cannot fail to improve.