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30-second summary: I learned basic Ukrainian quickly by first reviewing pronunciation and grammar, then doing conversation about a few topics.
Fast progress in just 1 month.
After 52 hours of study, I am able to carry basic conversations in slow Ukrainian. That’s the fastest I’ve ever progressed in another language. Here is what I did:
I learned pronunciation first. I used YouTube to do this
I learned the alphabet. The Ukrainian letters are not the same as English
I did a grammar review. I looked at all essential Ukrainian grammar points
I learned useful phrases. I also studied the grammar points needed to form them
I took private lessons. I did 22 hours of conversation about just 4 topics
I had a goal: learn to talk (slowly) about a few topics I am interested in.
I’m glad to say that my experiment was successful. In fact, I was able to have a 60-minute conversation practice session with a tutor using Ukrainian about 80% of the time. I was elated to reach my current level so quickly!
I chose to study Ukrainian to improve my business’ teaching methods.
I get insights about how to teach when I put myself in the shoes of a language learner. In the next blog post, I will share what some of those insights were.
By the way…
I’m accepting new students! Learn a language in months, not years. Learn more here.