But equally easy as it is to listen in to spoken English, equally hard it is to ever see any imported film in e.g. Russian. I suspect it is because those who purchase shows for the telly don't speak Russian so couldn't tell if it's good or bad, it's easier to purchase something mainstream in English. I saw the film Ма́стер и Маргари́та with English subtitles (the only way for me to understand anything) and it was a good TV series but it's impossible to find it on a DVD for instance, or anything else for that matter.

Had English as a second language between age 9 and 18. Went to a three week summer course in the UK at 16, but it was not time well spent. I stayed 3 + 2 weeks in the US at age 30, and two of those weeks were spent on an intensive course ending with an (informal) TOEFL-test where I scored 657 of 660 (or something to that effect) which was considered pretty good. Took a Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English in 1998 and scored an 'A' on it, also considered pretty good. I had taken one term of evening classes at what is called "English Institute" (for a Welsh teacher as it were). So in total I haven't spent more than 10 weeks in English-speaking countries (I don't like to travel much). I only learned the language passively as a lot of stuff you have to read or listen to is in English where I live and work (Scandinavia). I rarely use the language actively myself nowadays, and now I'm too old to care about learning it properly. But I read English every day, and listen to spoken English on the telly every day, it's hard to avoid it. Right now while I'm writing this they're for instance running an imported reality show on the telly about a rundown hotel called "the Grosvenor" in Torquay. Mark, the manager, if he is the new Basil Fawlty. Not one day goes by without hearing a snippet of English here and there.