I say, go make mistakes and learn from them — it will happen very quickly. If you say дом (house) as дам (which means "I will give") the person you are talking to will correct you almost immediately. If you try to always pronounce "о" as "o" that will work as well, people will always understand you (even though you'll sound like a 19th century dweller of the Volga-basin area).

But I would also say that pronunciation should be the last thing to worry about for anybody who is learning Russian. Grammar, this is what a learner should be focusing on. It is so much more convoluted in Russian, English would feel extremely liberating in that regard.

I'd say go make mistakes and learn from them — it'll happen very quickly. If you say дом (house) as дам (which means "I will give"), the person you're talking to will correct you almost immediately. If you try to always pronounce "о" as "o", that will work as well; people will always understand you (even though you'll sound like a 19th century dweller of the Volga-basin area).

But I'll add that pronunciation should be the last thing to worry about for anybody who's learning Russian. Grammar — that's what a learner should be focusing on. It's so much more convoluted in Russian; English would feel extremely liberating in that regard.

I would say go, do mistakes and learn from them - it will be very fast. If you say дом (house) as дам (which means "I will give") a person you are talking to would correct you almost immediately. If you try always pronounce "o" as "o" that would work as well, people will understand you always even though you would be sounding like 19th century dweller of Volga-basin area.

But I would say pronunciation should be the last thing to worry for anybody who is learning Russian. Grammar, this is what a learner should be focusing on. It is so much more convoluted in Russian, English would feel extremely liberating in that regard.

I say, go make mistakes and learn from them — it will happen very quickly. If you say дом (house) as дам (which means "I will give") the person you are talking to will correct you almost immediately. If you try to always pronounce "о" as "o" that will work as well, people will always understand you (even though you'll sound like a 19th century dweller of the Volga-basin area).

But I would also say that pronunciation should be the last thing to worry about for anybody who is learning Russian. Grammar, this is what a learner should be focusing on. It is so much more convoluted in Russian, English would feel extremely liberating in that regard.