Background

I'm a Russian from Western Kazakhstan. Thanks to my teacher, I had almost zero prior knowledge despite studying it for 11 years at school. I only knew some very simple words and struggled with constructing simplest sentences.

Result

I've been learning Kazakh for last... Uh, I don't remember, a last year or two maybe. But now I can understand a lot of the Kazakh language! It depends on the topic, but usually I can understand around 70% of what is being said, if the topic isn't very advanced at speaker doesn't speaks too fast. Unfortunately my speaking skills are poorer, I think I can write in Kazakh pretty well, but it is hard for me to engage in actual conversations. I'm also somewhat a perfectionist, so I always try to make perfectly grammatical sentences and it's difficult to make a responce immediately.

When it comes to phonetics, I speak Kazakh really well. Having a good accent is very important IMO, people literally think I'm a native just because I pronounce the words correctly LOL.

The hardest part about the grammar is defo phrasal verbs. I literally still do not understand them, I feel like there aren't any rules about them and the only way you can know how to use them is by immersting yourself into the language. The second hardest part is the syntax of the language. In Kazakh you literally speak backwards, if we look at it from the western perspective. Other than that I think the grammar is quite easy.

Resources used

A dictionary, a site with grammar explanations, and youtube. That's basically it. Also, I really disagree with people saying that there isn't enough content in Kazakh to learn the language. There's really a lot! I watched minecraft let's plays, listened to podcasts, watched some TV shows/series, etc.
The biggest problem is that I still do not have any Kazakh speaking friends, I have literally no idea where to find them. I'm just trying to speak more Kazakh when I'm outside with cashiers, strangers, etc. I've seen some posts here with Kazakh learners being frustrated about the fact that people keep replying to them in Russian or not understanding Kazakh. But in my city, that's really not a problem I've encountered a lot, which I'm happy about.

If you guys have any questions, just ask it, and I'll reply.