How To Learn Russian

Russian is still a bit hard to find good resources to learn. Here I suggest some.

As for the basics of Russian… I still have no idea what is the best to use to learn the grammar. I have made a course for the Russian alphabet and for an introduction to Russian for beginners. I have also made a translation of a Russian Interlinear Book, although, I suppose, you should only look at it at a later stage.

Once you get  a little bit going, though, I suggest you try an interesting Russian podcast Ochen po Russki (Очень по русски, directly translates to “very in Russian”). The host Valeria speaks very clearly. She gives you good Russian practice, as well as introduces you to Russian slang words like круто, клёво or ничёсе, all of which could probably be used to also describe this interesting podcast. Do check her out.

When you get some basics down, there is one thing I can advise you from my experience: listen to podcasts. Podcasts are just like blogs but in audio (so they are like small private radio programs by amateurs about all kinds of topics). They are free. I was able to download a lot of Russian podcasts to listen to at the site Russian Podcasting

The podcasts there are mostly about entertainment. From my experience, though, a lot of the podcasts there are not that interesting for non-native Russian speakers (and I believe that they are not interesting for native Russian speakers either). However, check some podcasts in the top 10 there or use the search tool if you have some topic you are interested in. If desperate, just try Vasily’s Weekend.

I was able to find one or two podcasts there that I would listen to from about once every week when new episodes came up for a year or so and I can tell you that it has helped a lot with my Russian understanding. It still is a bit hard for me to make out sentences as I still sometimes get the cases or the verb endings a bit wrong. Still, podcasting has helped me a lot in understanding Russian so you should do it as well.

Finally, there are other useful resources in Russian, like Explore Russian, which have books, a blog about learning Russian through signs in shops, through songs or films, etc. Do visit that site if you need encouragement or if you’re out of creative ideas.

A short recap of my learning recommendations.

Note: You can significantly improve your Russian by reading this Interlinear Russian bilingual book. Try it out!

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7 comments

  1. Ребята, это не так уж просто перейти от алфавита до подкастов ;)

    I hope you will get my message in russian ))

  2. @HeeL Ну, так скажи как это сделать. :)

  3. @HeeL Ну, так скажы как это сделать. :)

  4. A beautiful article. Many thanks.
    I think that important thing for those who get interested in learning Russian is to find a good place in the net. I like very much “language101”
    http://learn-russian.language101.com/lesson/?id=30078025
    Video lessons, audio lessons, word by word, frase by frase, very interesting approach to learning using popular Russian songs. A lot of great tips for learner.

  5. Great tips – listening really is important. I’m actually learning Russian with a phrasebook (Eton Institute) which is great for important phrases to know when in Russia. Hope to be fluent soon!

  6. We are working on a website, 2 years now, that shows a user one Russian word at a time. It is geared towards English speakers and made to learn using the normal English alphabet, thus to speed along the progress of a student learning Russian. If you can begin to think in Russian, inside your inner-dialogue, then you can become fluent in Russian. We are working hard with native Russian speakers at making the easiest way to learn Russian, for English speakers. It is free as well and will always be free. We are open to any comments. Thank you – http://www.BridgetoRussian.com

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