Russian language is not just 3-10 text-books and books that we learn in universities and colleges. It is a different culture, lots of interesting ideas and another way of life. Teachers can’t cover it all. Try to become a little more self-dependent, think about things you are interested into, watch movies in Russian, buy computer software, go to movie, where you can watch Russian movies, talk to native Russian speakers, browse interesting websites in Russian, read more books in Russian, buy audio-books, listen to Russian songs and radio stations.

If you work on the pronunciation, don't forget to check up with transcriptions of the words new to you, listed to native speakers and compare. Do not focus on the things you cannot learn, note the things you have already learned – it is better. Learn Russian suffixes and prefixes, Russian cases and numerals. Try to notice them every time you are listening to some Russian song or watching some movie.

If you understand Russian alright, try to translate everything you hear to yourself: try to start with separate words, then try to translate the whole sentences. It is difficult to start translating when you learn complex text-books. Don’t wait for this moment. Play this translation game; translate simple expressions you hear on the streets, in the movies or on TV.

The native language grammar is learned without text-books. How come? The thinking and speaking processes are closely connected. A kid discovers grammar models, languages rules, and applies them at once. And it is much easier when learning a foreign language- all the rules and models are described in text-books, so there is no need to discover them yourself.

It is very important to forget the idea of learning a foreign language in due time. There are lots of other interesting things in the world. You can find easy-to-read books in Russian and read them just for pleasure learning new stuff (but the Russian itself). Learn the Russian culture, people and other things.

One more time, the language is the means of communication. It is other thoughts and ideas.