How to Learn Russian by Yourself

I began tackling Russian seriously in 2020 as an independent learner. Here are my top tips on how to learn Russian by yourself.

I hope you love my recommendations for how to teach yourself Russian! Just so you know, I may earn a small fee from purchases made using links on this page at no extra cost to you. I only recommend Russian resources I love and use myself.

How to Learn Russian by Yourself

Motivation

Russian is difficult for English speakers to learn compared to, say, Spanish or French. If you dive right into complex Russian grammar, you run the risk of becoming discouraged and burning out.

I recommend easing into Russian: learning the alphabet and then doing easy introductory courses like Michel Thomas, Drops, and Duolingo. That way, when you tackle grammar, you’ll already be familiar with the basic structures to help you assimilate it. It won’t seem so overwhelming.

The road to Russian fluency is long. To keep up your motivation, you must develop an emotional connection with Russian: through the culture, the literature, or, most importantly, human connection.

Learning Russian independently doesn’t mean learning alone. Learning in a vacuum is ineffective as well as demotivating. Seek out a Russian community to give meaning to your studies and provide moral support: teachers, native speaker friends, and fellow students.

Students without much experience learning languages independently will benefit greatly from having a regular teacher early on.

Tip: Russian Goals Vision Board

Having a vision board for my Russian goals helps me maintain motivation. I collect images that symbolize my goals for learning Russian: places I dream of visiting, the Russian school in St. Petersburg I plan to attend, people I want to talk to.

You can quickly create a free vision board using a mood board on Canva or a board on Pinterest. Put your vision board somewhere you’ll see it regularly; mine is my desktop background.

Learning the Cyrillic Alphabet

Your first step should be to learn the Cyrillic alphabet.

The free Memrise course is great for learning Cyrillic. It’s broken into nicely bite-sized sessions and features a colorful interface with fun memes to jog your memory.

Memrise is available on desktop, iOS, and Android.

The Cyrillic alphabet has 33 characters. I learned 5-6 new characters daily over about 6 days, for a total study time of about three hours.

Afterwards, I did periodic review sessions so I wouldn’t forget what I had learned.

Learners who prefer a book with exercises should check out the excellent Russian Script Hacking: The optimal pathway to learning the Russian alphabet.

Russian Calligraphy

Master the Russian Alphabet, A Handwriting Practice Workbook

This charming, inexpensive workbook provides an enjoyable way to learn both print and cursive Russian handwriting.

Stroke order diagrams for each letter are especially handy. In these stressful times, I found tracing the letters soothing and fun.

Cursive and print letters can be quite different. I recommend at least learning to read cursive, since Russians commonly use it when writing. You will also encounter it in italicized text and film credits, as well as on business signs in Russia.

Typing in Cyrillic

When you’re first starting out, it’s fine to use an on-screen keyboard like this one to type in Russian and then copy and paste the text.

Serious learners, though, will eventually need to learn to touch-type Cyrillic. Two options exist.

Phonetic keyboard layouts map Cyrillic letters to the sounds of Latin letters. Many learners prefer this shortcut solution. The phonetic layout is a built-in option for Macs and can be downloaded for PCs.

However, I chose to learn the standard Russian keyboard layout. To do so, I bought these inexpensive Cyrillic keyboard stickers for my PC:

Mac users have the easier option of removable Cyrillic keyboard covers.

I then starting learning the letters with this free typing practice site. I typed three practice lists a day for several months, adding a new letter every few days though the settings.

As I typed the practice lists, I would say each letter’s name out loud. That helped me drill pronunciation and also mentally separate letters that exist in the Latin alphabet from their Cyrillic counterparts. Here’s a handy reference for Cyrillic letter names.

Michel Thomas Russian

The excellent Michel Thomas audio course offers an interactive, non-intimidating introduction to Russian. I completed one or two audio tracks daily for about 10 minutes of practice. I finished all three courses: Foundation, Intermediate, and Vocabulary, in six months.

The interactive nature of Michel Thomas makes it fun and provides lots of pronunciation practice. Also, the gentle introduction to basic vocabulary and grammar helped me grasp these concepts more quickly when they appeared again in my textbook.

As an alternative intro audio course, consider Pimsleur. Many learners swear by it to improve listening and speaking. However, personally, I find the pace too slow. The daily lessons are also too long for my taste at 30 minutes.

Since both Michel Thomas and Pimsleur are quite pricey, try downloading sample lessons as well as checking courses out from your local library if available to see which you prefer.

Drops

Drops is a fun gamified vocabulary-learning app. I’ve found it useful for learning new words and practicing pronunciation.

It has an alphabet learning module, but I prefer the one from Memrise above. Romanized transliterations are available if needed.

I’ve experienced bugs with Drops on iOS, but I still enjoy it enough to continue daily practice. Each session is a nicely brief five minutes. I do one to two sessions a day.

I suggest starting with the free version to see if you like it. It has limitations but may be perfectly sufficient for your needs. Drops does offer steep subscription discounts on Black Friday.

Duolingo

Duolingo‘s a great free resource. You’ll need to know the Cyrillic alphabet before you begin.

I played in Duolingo for a few weeks when I first started with Russian. It provides a fun, easy introduction to the language. I didn’t continue after that point, though, since I didn’t find the grammar explanations sufficient.

Russian Textbooks

Once you have played around a bit with easier materials, it’s time to dive into Russian grammar. As a beginner, it’s good to have a resource that functions as an anchor, providing a structured framework for your learning.

Key features to look for in a textbook:

• coverage of the main grammar structures
• lists of common vocabulary
• audio files to practice pronunciation
• exercises with an answer key to test your understanding

As polyglot Gareth Popkins says, though, searching for the perfect textbook is like searching for the perfect partner. You may have to make do with “warts and all”! 😉

I’d recommend devoting about 20% of your study time to the textbook. The rest of the time can be dedicated to easier, enjoyable activities like audio courses, podcasts, and YouTube videos. That will help keep up your motivation.

Colloquial Russian: The Complete Course for Beginners

This step-by-step course for beginners offers a solid foundation for your Russian studies.

It features dialogues, vocabulary lists, grammar explanations, and exercises. Accompanying audio files are available for free download from the publisher’s website.

It requires dedication to systematically work though this intensive text. However, I found it indispensable for building understanding.

Thanks to my friend Suzanne Linguiste for recommending this book!

The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners

I started with this classic text. It’s an excellent resource, but is extremely dense and also lacks audio, so I switched to Colloquial Russian (above) as my primary resource instead. The NPRC still makes a helpful grammar reference.

YouTube Channels for Learning Russian

YouTube is one of the best free Russian learning resources. See my recommended channels here.

Russian Vocabulary Flashcards

Anki is my go-to free spaced repetition software (SRS) for vocabulary study. The interface is dated but works well.

I use it to learn vocabulary lists from my textbook. Also, any time I encounter an interesting new word or phrase, I enter it in Anki.

I create my own Russian vocabulary flashcards because random lists compiled by others don’t work for me. I need to be able to associate a word with the context I heard it, whether in a conversation with someone or a movie scene. That emotional connection helps me remember.

Because Russian pronunciation and stress are tricky, I add an audio clip downloaded from Forvo to each flashcard. Forvo is a fantastic free pronunciation dictionary. Audio files are crowdsourced from native speakers.

If you’re like me, you may soon identify favorite Forvo contributors, seeking out their names in the recording lists. I’ve even sent thank you messages in Russian to my favorite volunteer contributors. I really appreciate their dedication and effort!

Reading in Russian

Graded Russian Readers

Russian graded readers feature simplified language adapted to different levels. Easy Russian reading is a fun way to boost your vocabulary and reading skills.

Reading on a Kindle is a convenient way to get Russian reading practice due to the integrated free dictionaries you can download.

To improve your audio comprehension, listen to the audiobook version while reading. They’re generally available free with an Audible trial from Amazon.

Books are listed in increasing order of difficulty.

iSpeak Russian Readers

By Nikolai Tishin

Levels: A0-B2 (total beginner to high intermediate)

Available as e-book: Yes

Available as audiobook: Audio included in price

Includes syllable stress marks: Yes

Fun short books by Russian teacher Nikolai Tishin for a variety of levels. Audio included.

Each chapter includes a vocab list and other exercises such as comprehension questions. Some beginner books have convenient color-coding for the Russian cases.

Free PDF samples available for each book so you can make sure the level is right for you.

Conversational Russian Dialogues: Over 100 Russian Conversations and Short Stories

By Lingo Mastery (2020)

Levels: A1-B1 (beginner to low intermediate)

Available as e-book: Available inexpensively. Can be borrowed for free with Kindle Unlimited.

Available as audiobook: Yes

Includes syllable stress marks: No

These 105 short conversations tell simple, everyday stories in colloquial language. The dialogues start at A1 beginner level and increase in difficulty to B1, low intermediate. (Note that A1 is beginner but not novice.)

Each Russian conversation is followed by an English translation.

The short and simple texts make this an accessible and enjoyable read for learners.

The only drawback is that some dialogues feature very American characters and situations. It feels a bit silly to read in Russian about Thanksgiving dinner or distances in miles. However, I still found the book a helpful learning resource for a low price.

101 Conversations in Simple Russian

By Olly Richards (2020)

Levels: A2-B1 (Advanced beginner to low intermediate)

Available as e-book: Available inexpensively

Available as audiobook: Yes

Includes syllable stress marks: Yes

A series of simple dialogues recount a simple mystery story set in the Moscow art world. Chapters are very short and relatively easy to read.

The introduction provides a helpful explanation of intensive vs. extensive learning and tips for how to best use this Russian graded reader.

Each chapter contains a summary and vocab list with English definitions.

Note that after upgrading to the latest Kindle I experienced some formatting issues with the text (some words were broken up), so if you’re using Kindle, download a sample chapter to make sure it works as expected.

Russian Short Stories For Beginners

By Lingo Mastery (2019)

Levels: A2-B2 (Advanced beginner to intermediate)

Available as e-book: Available inexpensively. Can be borrowed for free with Kindle Unlimited.

Available as audiobook: Yes

Includes syllable stress marks: No

This collection of 20 short stories is more challenging than the previous book. Topics vary, from short bios of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky to everyday tales with simple moral lessons.

Every story includes:

• summaries in Russian and English
• a lengthy vocabulary list
• a quiz with answer key to test your understanding

If you like this book, I highly recommend the excellent Volume 2 for beginners, with longer stories and more advanced vocabulary.

Short Stories in Russian for Beginners

By Olly Richards and Alex Rawlings (2018)

Levels: A2-B1 (Advanced beginner to low intermediate)

Available as e-book: Yes

Available as audiobook: Yes

Includes syllable stress marks: Yes

This popular reader features eight stories in a variety of genres, from sci-fi to crime. The texts gradually increase in difficulty. Each story is divided into three or four substantial chapters, so there is plenty of reading material.

Like the other Olly Richards reader listed above, the stories are the same as for other languages in the Short Stories for Beginners series, but have been adapted to a Russian setting where possible.

The introduction provides a helpful explanation of intensive vs. extensive learning and tips for how to use this Russian graded reader.

There are a few editing mistakes, but overall this is a highly effective and enjoyable resource.

Each chapter includes:

• a summary in Russian
• a vocabulary list with English definitions
• a quiz with answer key at the back to test your understanding

Russian TV Shows

Trailer for the Red Queen on Amazon Prime

Don’t miss this up-to-date list I maintain of good Russian TV series on Netflix and Amazon Prime. Watching popular Russian TV shows is an excellent way to practice listening skills while learning about the culture.

Russian Classes on iTalki

Conversation practice is a vital part of learning Russian. It’s also without doubt the most fun and engaging part of my studies.

Speaking Russian regularly with native speakers keeps me motivated to do tedious grammar drills, since I can see direct improvements in my spoken Russian.

iTalki is a convenient, affordable way to connect online with professional teachers or community tutors:

• Professional teachers have a teaching certification and classroom experience. Hourly cost varies by experience and geographic location.
• Community tutors are an affordable alternative. They are native speakers (or near-native speakers) who provide speaking practice and informal tutoring.

While there are exceptional community tutors, my experience is that professional teachers are well worth the extra cost.

Finding a Teacher

I search for instructors with five-star ratings and watch their introductory videos to get a feel for their style. I then schedule lessons with a few different people to find someone I really click with. It’s important to me to have a good rapport with my teacher, since I learn best in an atmosphere of genuine connection and friendship.

Once I find a teacher I really like, I buy a lesson package and met with them weekly over Skype.

Note: If you sign up for iTalki using one of the links on this page, both of us will receive a credit of US $10 after your first lesson. I only recommend resources I love and use myself.

Online Russian Translators

DeepL Translator – Many consider Yandex the most accurate Russian translator. However, DeepL has become my preferred choice since it provides both feminine and masculine translations as well as the choice of formal or informal address. As a woman, having a feminine translation is especially helpful.

Yandex Translate – Excellent Russian-developed translator. If there’s a doubt, I like to compare the results from DeepL and Yandex.

Reverso Contexto – Excellent dictionary and translator. Includes real-life usage examples in context as well as audio pronunciation.

Thanks to my friend and Russian learning inspiration Mike Good for his many helpful tips. Check out Mike’s YouTube channel for a roadmap for learning Russian successfully as well as other useful advice.

Hope you find these tips for learning Russian helpful. Check back for updates as I test more resources to learn Russian.

Have recommendations for more Russian learning resources? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

_{Feature image: Katya from the excellent YouTube channel Easy Russian © Easy Languages}