My name is Olga and my mother tongue is Russian. Right now I live in Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

I was born near The Baltic Sea in the small town of Liepaja, in Latvia. When I was 12, my family moved to Riga. I finished school and went to Saint-Petersburg to study at Saint-Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance, at the faculty of linguistics. My main language was English and it has remained the main one, even today due to my work. I also learned Spanish.

My English journey started when I was about 10 years old, at school. Then I attended English courses, English speaking club for several years – that was a great support for the future path in learning English, when I came to study in Russia. The education at university gave me a strong base and led me to a successful and promising career.

The hardest thing for me about learning English is the time, which we never have due to our busy lifestyles and schedule. But I think that if we have a strong will and desire, if we know what we really want, we will find the time to improve the language.

My goal is to speak fluently, without hesitation and without asking people to repeat what they have just said, I want to speak and understand like never before. This will help me to communicate with new people, to discover new horizons in my life and at my work, because I work with English speakers (mostly non-native).

I find Leonardo English to be a very special and unique resource with amazing content for its members, which I have never found before on the web. I didn’t hesitate to become a part of Curious Minds’ world.

Being a member for 3 months already I must admit that Alastair does incredible efforts to make the learning process interesting and fascinating: amazing podcast topics, Alastair’s voice, live sessions and involvement in the whole process, new opportunities for members to have fun and to be active in community’s life. It means a lot.

My favourite episode is Black Friday – it was my first podcast, late one evening with Alastair’s voice coming from the headphones, which led me to the Leonardo English website and membership the following day. I think it will remain my favourite forever, because it opened for me new people, new possibilities and options in learning language.

I am deeply thankful for that!

***

Alastair from Leonardo English says "It's great to hear Olga's story, and to learn about her English language learning journey. Finding time to dedicate to language learning is always tough, but with the right motivation and attitude–as Olga shows–it's possible to find time even with lots of other time commitments".