Hi Thomas! I watched your video pledge out of interest as I am also learning Russian for the June challenge. Like you, I have been learning for more or less a year - lots of grammar and using textbooks, memorising vocabulary and so forth - but found that I couldn't actually SAY anything in Russian after all that time! It is amazing how much I have improved simply by plucking up the courage to do this challenge. I wish you the best of luck and hope that you will reach your goal of becoming able to communicate with Russian speakers as a physician.

Keep on learning it, you're doing quite good so far! Good luck:)