How many ways are there to learn Russian? That question may be unanswerable, but what’s certain is that there are enough to appeal to learners of all types.
This post will explore an oft-overlooked learning strategy — podcasts. Podcasts offer many benefits as language-learning tools: they’re often free or inexpensive, they can provide extensive listening practice on just about every topic imaginable, and they’re extremely portable.
We’ve combed the internet in search of the best podcasts for learners of Russian and have organized them by level. No matter where you are on your Russian-language journey, there’s likely a podcast that’s perfect for you — find yours in the list below!
This is a relatively short audio course with 17 podcast-style lessons for absolute beginners. If you’re just starting out with the language and would like some guided practice in audio form, this resource is worth checking out.
A fair amount of English is used, but each episode builds on the previous ones and comes with lesson notes that translate key phrases. Total beginners looking for a gentle, free introduction to Russian may find what they’re looking for here.
RussianPod101 is among the most comprehensive resources for beginners learning Russian. While a subscription isn’t free, it is less expensive than many other paid resources. The Russian Survival Phrases series is available for free on major podcast streaming platforms.
Subscribers to the RussianPod101 course are granted access to thousands of podcast-style lessons. The majority of these are at the beginner level, but
you’ll find some intermediate and advanced lessons as well. Typically, the hosts will listen to a dialogue and then take some time explaining important words, grammar, and cultural information.
In addition to the lessons, you’ll also find line-by-line transcripts, grammar notes, flashcards, and other useful tools.
The lessons don’t necessarily progress in a clear, logical order — instead, the platform lends itself to jumping between lessons. If you’re looking for some more structure with your study, you could use the resource alongside a textbook to guide your practice. Here’s our in-depth review.
The Slow Russian Podcast provides fantastic listening practice by producing slow, natural dialogues on a variety of topics related to Russian history and culture. Host Daria Molchanova leads the episodes and maintains a slow enough pace for beginner and intermediate students to follow along.
Each episode comes with a transcript in Russian and in English, so you’ll be able to interact with the material even if it’s slightly above your level of listening comprehension. The podcast is free to listen to, and a $20 purchase allows you to download the MP3 files as well as accompanying PDFs.
This podcast hasn’t been updated for a few years, but the free collection of about 30 episodes could prove seriously effective for learners looking for short audio lessons. You’ll start learning Russian greetings before proceeding to learn how to pronounce different vowel sounds. There are also bonus episodes covering Russian poetry, music, and other cultural content.
Host Natalia is a native speaker of Russian and has a confident, laid-back teaching style that could appeal to many.
Russian Made Easy is a series of 30 audio lessons that introduce the basics of the Russian language. Host Mark uses modern techniques such as pattern recognition and contextual learning to get you up to speed quickly and easily.
You can follow along with the lessons with complete PDF transcripts, and you’ll also be prompted to repeat phrases aloud to get practice pronouncing the language. This is a great podcast series for new learners, and those who are still getting familiar with the Russian alphabet can make use of this mini Russian reading course.
One Minute Russian is a series produced by the Coffee Break Academy team. There are only 10 lessons, but they cover need-to-know topics such as counting to ten, basic greetings, and useful words and phrases.
These lessons aren’t designed to get you fluent in Russian, but they will teach you the basics without requiring a large time commitment. The course costs $10 USD.
The Speaking Russian podcast is a long-running series with episodes that are best suited for beginner or intermediate level students. You’ll learn about different dialects and pronunciations, along with foundational vocabulary like numbers, days of the week, and more.
This podcast is available on most major streaming platforms. There’s also a spin-off podcast in which host Elvira Ivanova reads Anna Karenina in Russian, and then summarizes it and explains any unfamiliar expressions in English..
This podcast is brought to you by Michele Berdy, author of the book The Russian Word’s Worth. The podcast is largely in English, but Berdy touches on plenty of aspects of the Russian language as well as current events and culture.
For those interested in learning about the Russian language and how to speak it, this podcast has a high production value and could become a favorite.
This podcast caters to learners at the lower-intermediate level and above. The creator, Max, aims to give learners a way to listen to interesting content that they can understand through comprehensible input. He does this through clear enunciation, speaking slowly, and giving lots of examples and synonyms.
There are also transcripts available to those interested in supporting Max with a subscription. The episodes cover a lot of interesting topics — minimalism, traveling in Russia without money, and the dark side of Russian literature, to name a few. In addition to the podcast, the website boasts other materials, such as stories in Russian, videos, and more. Read our mini-review.
The host of this site is Tatiana Klimova, a teacher of Russian and French. She started Russian Podcast in 2009, and it has since bloomed into much more than audio files. Joining the Russian Dacha club on her website grants access to hundreds of podcast episodes with transcripts, videos, a private Facebook discussion group, and regular online meetings.
The audio lessons are available for free listening, and paying members are able to access transcripts and additional features. New podcast episodes and videos are released every five days.
This podcast could be a good way for intermediate learners to test themselves with material that’s entirely in Russian. In the short episodes, the host narrates a monologue on specific topics like fashion, pets, cars, and climate. The vocabulary isn’t complex, and there are full transcripts of each episode you can use to check your listening skills.
News in Slow Russian is a great option if you want to immerse yourself in the Russian language at a pace that’s not quite native speed. The 500+ episodes come in three different levels and are categorized by topic; you can focus on stories about people, animals, nature, science, technology, and more.
There are only three episodes available for free — one at each level — and a paid subscription grants access to the entire catalog, including transcripts and translations.
This podcast stands apart because it sets out to teach Russian as it’s actually spoken – with slang, jokes, idiomatic expressions, and other things you may not learn in a traditional classroom setting. You’ll also learn about food and drink, politics, and phrases that you won’t find in standard textbooks.
Intended for learners at an intermediate level and above, you can enjoy free transcripts and translations for each episode on their website. You can also donate via PayPal to download the audio files and accompanying materials..
This all-Russian podcast has a clear focus — verbs. Each episode focuses on one or more verbs and provides information on how to use them appropriately. This is for intermediate learners that are ready for content 100% in Russian.
Episodes come with lists of key words, and transcripts are available to Patreon contributors. The Russian from Russia website also includes reading and grammar practice materials along with videos and discussion topics.
A Beginner Course of Spoken Russian is a podcast series made by LingQ, a language-learning platform with a variety of course material. Although there are only 14 episodes — and despite the course name — the series serves as a quality source of intermediate practice since it’s spoken entirely in Russian.
In each episode, you’ll hear a dialogue spoken by two different speakers as well as a mini-story that includes several listening comprehension questions. The hosts recommend you speak the answer aloud in order to practice your pronunciation.
The Business Russian Podcast is produced by UCLA and is intended for students who plan to work in a Russian-language business or industry. These podcasts are primarily in Russian and will be too advanced for learners at lower levels, but they do come with PDF transcripts to help you follow along.
The audio episodes cover cultural elements of business in Russia as well as company structures, corporate finance, and taxes. It probably won’t make much sense to use this podcast if you plan to visit Russia as a tourist, but if you’re planning to conduct business meetings or consult a Russian tax professional, this is an invaluable resource.
With hundreds of Russian-language episodes, A Taste of Russian is an ideal podcast for intermediate learners. These episodes focus on displaying Russian as it’s actually spoken, meaning plenty of slang and casual discussion.
A paying subscription is required for access to all of the audio content, but an entire free episode is released each month, and there are more than 50 free episodes to choose from.
The Green Lamp is a literary podcast created for children. Led by literature teacher Vladimir Natanovich Shatsev and his team of sound engineers and voice actors, the podcast features high-quality narrations of literature in Russian.
After a short introduction from Vladimir, each episode follows with actor-led narration and finishes with some follow-up questions. Though the podcast was created with children in mind, it could prove a suitable practice method for upper-intermediate learners.
SBS is an Australian public service broadcaster that operates a number of multilingual radio programs. The Russian iteration of this service includes frequently posted audio news stories with a focus on events related to Australia and Russia.
New episodes are uploaded daily, and there’s a massive catalog of previously released episodes to choose from.
In Russian Terms is a podcast meant for advanced learners that deals primarily with socio-political and cultural issues related to current events. You’ll learn about Americans in Russia, Russians in America, and topics related to the other post-Soviet states.
Host Elena Bilbo explores Russian attitudes toward work, money, popular movie characters, and other interesting subjects. You’ll get to hear authentic Russian as intended for upper-intermediate and advanced learners. There are 54 episodes, the last of which was uploaded at the end of 2017.
Radio Arzamas is a Russian-language podcast that employs experts to explore history and culture, and it’s available directly on the website or on major streaming platforms.
Each episode features a Russian expert reading a 15-25 minute lecture on themes like theater during the Renaissance and sexuality in ancient Greece and Rome. This wide-ranging podcast will prepare you to debate in Russian on matters of culture and philosophy.
This is a popular science podcast that explores a variety of topics.Are you interested in neurotransmitters or nuclear energy? How about color blindness or dreams? For the ever-curious learner of Russian, this podcast delivers.
Some of the episodes include videos that you can watch on the site, and episodes are also available for download from iTunes.
History buffs, this one’s for you. Episodes of the TACC podcast explore a wide range of topics, many of which are related to world history. Advanced learners will get opportunities to practice the pronunciation of names of places in Russian, learn about geopolitics from a Russian perspective, and get exposure to specialized vocabulary related to the arts, science, and culture, among other topics.
This list of Russian-language podcasts is curated by podcast site podtail. It uses its own data in combination with that from Apple to maintain an up-to-date list of the most popular Russian podcasts. If you’re at an advanced level and looking for more native-level material, this list has you covered.
In Closing
This list of podcasts isn’t exhaustive — there are plenty more out there, but to include every one of them wouldn’t be much help. Instead, we’ve focused on those we believe are of high quality and could provide some effective study time. Happy listening.
If you’re interested in learning Russian and are one of the over 2 billion users that access YouTube every month, you’re already familiar with an incredibly potent language-learning tool.
YouTube is full of language teachers and Russian speakers creating content for free consumption. Videos can be a particularly effective way to get Russian practice because they are engaging, provide visual connections to the language, and can facilitate both listening and reading practice.
Many YouTube videos also take advantage of multilingual subtitles, which can help learners interact with Russian content that may be slightly above their level.
Whether you’re an absolute beginner who’s ready to jump into Russian or a more advanced learner looking for quality practice, we’ve got you covered — we’ve scoured the internet to find quality YouTube channels for Russian learners at every level. Use the list below to get started with your new favorite channel.
The Real Russian Club YouTube channel is the creation of Daria, a certified Russian language teacher from Moscow.
The videos on her channel cover a wide variety of topics; there are specific lessons on things like How to Respond to Apologies in Russian and 5 Russian Phrases to Say Something Is Easy, as well as playlists for shadowing, weekly reading, easy Russian, and even Russian dialogues with her four-year-old son, Roman.
All of the videos on this channel come with English subtitles, and Daria occasionally speaks in English, especially in her beginner course. The Real Russian Club Youtube channel has been around for several years, so there’s plenty of content to keep you busy.
The host of this YouTube channel is Fedor, whose friendly and entertaining demeanor will likely appeal to many. There are videos that will appeal to learners at just about any level here.
Fedor does use quite a bit of English to explain the more complicated aspects of Russian that beginners may struggle with, but you’ll also be able to find videos that are completely in Russian. Videos highlighting different cultural aspects of life in Russia round out the channel nicely.
Part of the Easy Languages project, Easy Russian primarily features videos of interviews with people on the street. These interactions happen entirely in Russian and are a great way to get exposure to Russian as people actually speak it.
In addition to these street interviews, you’ll find videos that explicitly tackle language concepts like modal verbs, filler words, and prepositions.
While there are bilingual subtitles for all videos, this channel is probably most useful for learners at the intermediate level and beyond that are interested in hearing lots of natural Russian dialogue.
Boost Your Russian is more than just a YouTube channel. Its website also boasts courses, graded readers, and free Russian texts with translations and narrations.
The YouTube channel is full of useful videos for learners at a variety of levels. Unless you’re an absolute beginner, you should be able to find some videos that are suitable. One unique type of video featured on this channel breaks down speeches or clips from movies with scaffolding to facilitate understanding.
The sheer variety of video types on this channel make it worth checking out for just about any learner.
There aren’t quite as many videos to choose from here as there are with some of the other channels on this list, but beginner and intermediate-level learners should be able to find some quality study material.
Beginners will find valuable practice with letters, pronunciation or false friends, and intermediate learners will find podcast episodes as well as discussions on Russian holidays. While the material here spans multiple levels, beginners and lower-intermediate learners will get the most out of this channel.
Russian teacher Ninka Minchenko has been posting new videos to this channel for more than five years, so there are plenty to choose from. There’s a mix of English and Russian used in the videos, but the majority seem to be entirely in Russian. Many of these Russian-only videos contain Russian subtitles, but you’ll sometimes need to rely on YouTube’s auto-translate feature to see the English version.
Beginners could make use of the English-language explanations of grammar concepts, and more advanced learners could benefit from watching Ninka and her friend talk about topics like common Russian superstitions in Russian.
Nastya’s YouTube channel is frequently updated with new content in a variety of subjects. Most of the material seems to be best-suited for learners at an upper-beginner to lower-intermediate level, though there are videos created specifically for every level from A1 to C1.
Nastya has a calm teaching style that could be a great fit for some, and she has interesting videos such as multiple-choice quizzes, lessons on conversational phrases, and videos focused on specific grammatical cases.
This educational Russian YouTube channel is the brainchild of Kris Amerikos, an American who lived in Russia for many years and became fluent in the language. Along with native speaker Olya, the two host videos that both focus on explicit aspects of the Russian language as well as cultural differences between Russia and the USA.
Special playlists on this channel include those titled Russian Slang, Russian Grammar, and Everyday Russian Every Day, the last of which is the largest playlist on the channel with more than 150 videos.
This channel is unique in that it teaches both English and Russian. It’s very easy to ignore the English lessons and focus on Russian, so it makes a quality resource for learners of either language.
The Russian With Passion playlist on Antonia’s channel starts with the basics and now includes nearly 200 lessons, as it’s been in production since 2013.
This isn’t the right channel if you’re looking for a bunch of Russian immersion, as most of the videos contain a fair amount of English, but there’s a lot of content here that could otherwise be worth looking through.
The videos on the Weekly Russian YouTube channel may not be the most visually engaging — they mostly display bits of text with accompanying audio narration — but beginners interested in no-nonsense lessons may find what they’re looking for.
Don’t be fooled by the ambitious title: the most recent videos are several years old. Still, if you’re looking for straightforward practice on specific, beginner-oriented subjects, you may be able to get a solid start here.
This is probably the channel with the most personality on our list, mostly thanks to eccentric host Natasha. She sings, acts, and generally seems to have fun with everything she does.
There are plenty of videos on this channel, going back quite a few years, and new videos are still uploaded semi-regularly.
Learners just past the absolute beginner phase could benefit from the beginner course on this channel, and lower-intermediate learners could get some good input from the Russian-language cartoons. There are also interesting playlists like Russian Folk Songs and Orthodox Prayers.
Natasha is quite insistent on speaking only Russian in her videos, but most of them include Russian and/or English subtitles.
Irina has videos teaching a variety of languages on her channel, but the bulk of the content teaches Russian, her native language. Irina is a high-energy teacher who gives frequent encouragement to her viewers. She also uses a fair amount of English to explain concepts.
There are other channels with more content, but absolute beginners will be able to build a foundation in Russian with the clearly structured Learn Russian with Irina course on this channel.
The host of this YouTube channel has been putting out instructional Russian videos for several years, the majority of which focus on different elements of Russian grammar. Her channel is a quality place to find explanations in a mix of Russian and English, most of which come with subtitles and translations.
In addition to grammar practice, there are videos here that teach learners through music and focus on useful everyday phrases. This channel is likely most useful for learners at the beginner and intermediate levels.
If you’re interested in getting some hyper-focused grammar practice, this channel delivers. There are plenty of videos here, each focusing on a specific verb tense, word, group of words, or other aspect of Russian grammar.
Videos are narrated in English and make use of text and graphics to help support visual learners. You won’t find much in the way of entertaining content here, but for focused grammar instruction, this is the place.
With clearly narrated listening exercises, folk tales, and lessons on grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, Russian From Russia provides tons of quality material for intermediate learners. Videos are in Russian with Russian subtitles, but you won’t get much in the way of English translations.
This channel could make a good option for intermediate learners looking for a mix of language lessons and exposure to Russian at an appropriate level.
It’s hard not to like Max. He’s good-natured, enthusiastic about helping people learn Russian, and has a sense of humor. His videos are varied, and they take place entirely in Russian, with a few exceptions.
If you’re interested in listening practice that’s appropriate for your level, learning a bit about life in Russia, or want some focused videos on specific Russian language points, this channel is worth checking out. Keep in mind that the majority of the content will be too advanced for beginners, though all videos do have subtitles. Read our mini review.
Mary Z creates videos aimed at intermediate learners of Russian, and her YouTube channel boasts an extensive library. You’ll find videos for practice with specific types of vocabulary, live streams, music in Russian, and even listen to her tell scary stories ASMR-style.
Mary is energetic and creates videos that are entertaining and engaging. For intermediate learners who don’t mind a bit of English in videos, this channel has a lot of potential.
Elena’s YouTube channel is squarely focused on helping learners of Russian make progress with the language. In addition to lessons where she explicitly goes through Russian language points, she’s also released a number of videos dealing with the motivational aspects of learning a language, many of which were done as live streams.
Elena is an engaging teacher that speaks with enthusiasm and whose instructions are clear. Beginners will benefit from the motivational videos that tend to use a lot of English but may struggle with the many that are entirely in Russian without English subtitles. Intermediate learners should be able to interact with most, if not all, of the videos here.
Advanced
Ари говорит по-Русски
This channel is entirely in Russian and was created by Arie, a Dutchman who’s become fluent in the language. His videos reflect on his journey learning Russian and could be useful for learners interested in relating to someone else’s experience.
Other videos deal with cultural differences between Russia and the Netherlands as well as current events and some travel videos. The content here is 100% in Russian, and there are no subtitles or translations.
Mosfilm is Russia’s largest film company, and their YouTube channel is full of entire movies that are free to view. Most of the movies are quite old — some are in black and white — but it’s a treasure trove for anyone interested in getting lots of exposure to Russian through classic films. Many of the films also have English subtitles.
This Russian-only program is a goldmine for science-minded Russian speakers. You’ll need quite an advanced level of Russian to follow along with this content, as you’ll only get auto-generated subtitles, but the production value is high and the subjects are interesting.
Videos are roughly 30-minutes long and cover a broad range of science-related topics like quantum chemistry, railroads, the human brain, and space.
This channel contains content from +100500, a weekly entertainment program put on by host Maxim Golopolosov. The material is produced for native Russian speakers, so you’ll need an advanced level of Russian to keep up, but the material is engaging and meant to entertain. This could be a fun way to get lots of input.
The program has been active since 2010 and contains quite a lot of content, most of which is reactions to other videos. It’s worth noting that the sense of humor on this channel won’t appeal to everyone, especially those that prefer videos of a more serious nature.
All right, this isn’t exactly a YouTube channel, but RUTUBE is widely considered to be the “YouTube of Russia.” If you’re an advanced learner, why not search for whatever interests you on a site that caters specifically to Russian speakers?
The videos are in Russian, the interface is in Russian — it’s a great way to immerse yourself in the language and culture.
In Closing
While there are an impressive number of YouTube channels for learning Russian, it isn’t the only way to learn. If you’re interested in alternative study methods, check out our posts on the best Russian podcasts, online courses, and apps.
Why would you ever learn Russian unless you had to? It’s got a confusing writing system, and it isn’t that useful anyway, right? Not quite.
While the Cyrillic alphabet may be daunting in appearance, it can reliably be learned in just one or two days. The fact that many of the letters resemble those in the Latin alphabet and that the language is much more phonetic than English are two big helps.
There are also plenty of ways knowing Russian could come in handy. It’s the most widely spoken language in Europe, the official language of four countries, and a lingua franca in many more. An understanding of Russian will also open up opportunities to learn other Slavic languages more quickly, like Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Polish.
Still not convinced? How about the chance to read renowned Russian literature in its original form, take a Russian-language architecture tour in Moscow, cruise the Trans-Siberian Railway, or simply deepen your relationship with vodka?
Whatever your reasons for learning Russian, there are plenty of courses out there that can get you speaking the language. However, no two courses are created equal, and many are simply not very good.
To help learners find the best courses for them, we’ve gone through the extensive list of resources we’ve tried and have listed the best of the best here. Only courses that we’ve rated 3.5/5 or above (with one exception) have made the cut. There’s a little bit of everything in this list, and we hope you’ll find something that feels just right.
A super-thorough course for learners at most levels
Red Kalinka is known as the “Largest Russian School in the World” and produces several different Russian language products. Their online Russian course, Sistema Kalinka, is high-quality, in-depth, and suitable for everyone from absolute beginners to upper intermediates. There is a tremendous amount of content designed to help students read, write and understand Russian. It’s easily the most comprehensive Russian course we’ve tried.
After completing the course, they claim you’ll know over 3000 words, be able to communicate in most situations, and be able to enjoy watching Russian TV. You’ll also have email access to a personal tutor who can answer any questions you may have about the material. In terms of a course that does it all, Red Kalinka’s Sistema Kalinka is hard to beat.
Pros
Lessons build on each other nicely
There are chances to practice all major language skills
The material is comprehensive
Cons
There is potential for lessons to feel monotonous after prolonged study
The exercises aren’t particularly exciting or unique
Exceptional audio lessons with plenty of chances for active participation
One of the biggest names in language learning, Pimsleur makes use of well-structured courses and conversational lessons to help absolute beginners start speaking Russian right away. Speaking right away can make it feel like you’re making real progress almost immediately. This can be great for motivation.
It’s important to note that, since such an emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills, there’s little attention paid to grammar and the written language. You’ll likely need to supplement your studies with other resources to get a well-rounded education, but Pimsleur is a good option for aural learners that want to get speaking right away.
The subscription price model is only available to learners in the USA, Canada, UK, and Australia, but the platform is accessible to learners around the world.
Pros
Lessons are well structured and progress logically
You’ll get to listen to a variety of native speakers
The platform is easy to navigate and visually appealing
Cons
Visual learners may struggle with the mostly audio content
You’ll need to look elsewhere for thorough reading and writing practice
Price: $12.95/month, less for longer subscriptions
Well-structured lessons and a clear curriculum
Babbel has a reputation for comprehensive, well-organized courses — and it’s well deserved. Ideal for learners up to an intermediate level, Babbel delivers reliable, quality lessons at a fair price.
The lessons may leave something to be desired for learners looking for the most exciting way to study, but it’s hard to go wrong if you’re looking to build a solid foundation in Russian. There are plenty of explanations that accompany the lessons, and you’ll get practice in a variety of skills.
This probably isn’t the best choice for advanced learners or those that are primarily interested in conversation practice.
Pros
It’s easy to use
The course structure is well planned
Lessons and explanations are thorough
Cons
It isn’t the most exciting resource
It isn’t ideal for advanced learners
There isn’t much in the way of conversation practice
Price: From $8 – $47/month, less for longer subscriptions
A massive lesson library and thorough explanations
A subscription to RussianPod101 unlocks a vast catalog of content. The lessons are fully capable of providing learners with an in-depth look at Russian vocabulary, grammar, and the cultural context in which words are used. There are lessons covering just about every imaginable situation, each full of important words and phrases.
Learners at all levels will be able to benefit from the lessons, but the bulk of the material is probably most useful for those at the beginner and intermediate stages.
It’s worth mentioning that we did find the website to be confusing to navigate and that lessons don’t always progress in the most logical manner. It’s also true that, while RussianPod101 is fantastic for improving listening comprehension, you’ll probably need to find other resources to improve your conversational skills.
Pros
The lesson library is huge
There is material for learners at all levels
You’ll get to listen to a variety of native speakers
Grammar Hero is the brainchild of Olly Richards, the creator of “I Will Teach You a Language.” As the name suggests, the focus of this course is on helping students internalize challenging grammar points. This is done with a story-based method that gets learners to make meaningful connections with the material.
Practice happens by reading the story, learning the grammar rules, and then re-reading the story to understand why certain grammar points were used. Finally, Olly encourages students to actively produce the language by incorporating exercises such as writing practice, translation, and error correction.
Although Grammar Hero is on the more expensive end and is only suitable for intermediate students, it’s an exceptionally fun and engaging resource. Students wanting to improve their grammar will definitely get a lot of value out of this.
Pros
The story-learning method could appeal to many
Great for learners interested in understanding difficult grammar concepts
Cons
It’s only suitable for learners at the intermediate level
Something that might stand out about this course is that, although it’s targeted toward beginners, the accompanying materials are written entirely in Russian. The course also doesn’t attempt to teach the Russian alphabet, instead emphasizing that understanding the dialogues at the heart of the course is what’s most important.
We haven’t had the chance to fully test the Bite Size Languages courses, but they utilize comprehensible input in the form of dialogues with additional supportive materials such as transcripts, translations, and vocabulary and grammar sections.
If you’re looking for a beginner course and aren’t interested in signing up for a recurring subscription, Bite Size Languages could be worth checking out.
Price: $9.99/month for Premium, $13.99/month for Premium Plus
A decent course with a useful social feature
Busuu is a major player in the language-learning world. It’s been around since 2008 and has helped millions of people learn languages. The Russian course on this platform contains well-structured lessons that progress in a logical order and could theoretically lead you from absolute beginner to upper intermediate.
Busuu is more affordable than many other resources, but it also doesn’t deliver in some areas like others do. Grammar explanations, for example, don’t go into great detail and can leave out some useful information.
A unique feature of the Busuu platform is the built-in social feature. With it, learners can submit and correct each other’s writing and speech. This is free to use and fills in a gap where plenty of other resources fall short.
We rated this course a 3.3/5, but this score takes into account Busuu’s Mandarin Chinese course, which is of a lower quality. The score would likely be higher if we had only rated its Russian course.
Pros
The design is engaging and the interface is easy to use
A super-thorough course for learners at most levels
Red Kalinka is known as the “Largest Russian School in the World” and produces several different Russian language products. Their online Russian course, Sistema Kalinka, is high-quality, in-depth, and suitable for everyone from absolute beginners to upper intermediates. There is a tremendous amount of content designed to help students read, write and understand Russian. It’s easily the most comprehensive Russian course we’ve tried.
After completing the course, they claim you’ll know over 3000 words, be able to communicate in most situations, and be able to enjoy watching Russian TV. You’ll also have email access to a personal tutor who can answer any questions you may have about the material. In terms of a course that does it all, Red Kalinka’s Sistema Kalinka is hard to beat.
Pros
Lessons build on each other nicely
There are chances to practice all major language skills
The material is comprehensive
Cons
There is potential for lessons to feel monotonous after prolonged study
The exercises aren’t particularly exciting or unique
Price: From $8 – $47/month, less for longer subscriptions
A massive lesson library and thorough explanations
A subscription to RussianPod101 unlocks a vast catalog of content. The lessons are fully capable of providing learners with an in-depth look at Russian vocabulary, grammar, and the cultural context in which words are used. There are lessons covering just about every imaginable situation, each full of important words and phrases.
Learners at all levels will be able to benefit from the lessons, but the bulk of the material is probably most useful for those at the beginner and intermediate stages.
It’s worth mentioning that we did find the website to be confusing to navigate and that lessons don’t always progress in the most logical manner. It’s also true that, while RussianPod101 is fantastic for improving listening comprehension, you’ll probably need to find other resources to improve your conversational skills.
Pros
The lesson library is huge
There is material for learners at all levels
You’ll get to listen to a variety of native speakers
The courses created by the Foreign Services Institute (FSI) certainly aren’t the most exciting ways to learn a language, but they work — and they’re free. The Russian course comes with a complete Russian language textbook, audio clips of native speakers, and worksheets.
Similarly, the courses created by the Defense Language Institute (DLI) are as thorough as they are dry. They have quite a bit in common with FSI courses but may place more of a focus on military terminology at higher levels.
With either resource, you’ll have to put up with a type-written document that has been converted to PDF. This could be great if you’ve ever wanted to pretend you’re an intelligence agent from the ‘70s — otherwise, it’s a mild annoyance.
Pros
Courses are very thorough
These courses are completely free
Cons
The materials are dated and not the most exciting
Some of the language may not be entirely relevant for most people
We’ll say right away that we haven’t actually had a chance to test this course. We’ve checked out the BeFluent YouTube channel and were impressed with the videos, but this is our tentative rating.
The BeFluent course includes weekly group calls with the BeFluent team, a large lesson library, and a thorough curriculum. The premium course includes private coaching, for a more personalized and focused experience.
If you like the videos on the BeFluent YouTube channel and are interested in a course that comes with a community feeling, this one might be worth a closer look.
Pros
Weekly groups calls to discuss what you’re learning
Convenient, quality lessons with a touch of gamification
This app gets several things right. For one, its fun-to-use interface and activities make it one of the less intimidating, more engaging ways to get studying. Coupled with the app’s in-depth explanations, variety of exercises, and ample review opportunities, Lingodeer makes an appealing option for beginner learners.
While Lingodeer excels at helping beginners build a foundation in Russian, those that are seeking fluency will need to use other resources. It’s one of the better ones, but Lingodeer is still a gamified app and can only take you so far. Especially for practice speaking and coming up with your own sentences, Lingodeer isn’t your best option.
Pros
The variety in exercises keeps practice interesting
It’s easy and fun to use
Short exercises make for convenient practice
Cons
It isn’t useful for taking your skills beyond the intermediate level
There isn’t much speaking practice
You won’t have opportunities to come up with your own sentences
Price: $12.95/month, less for longer subscriptions
Well-structured lessons and a clear curriculum
Babbel has a reputation for comprehensive, well-organized courses — and it’s well deserved. Ideal for learners up to an intermediate level, Babbel delivers reliable, quality lessons at a fair price.
The lessons may leave something to be desired for learners looking for the most exciting way to study, but it’s hard to go wrong if you’re looking to build a solid foundation in Russian. There are plenty of explanations that accompany the lessons, and you’ll get practice in a variety of skills.
This probably isn’t the best choice for advanced learners or those that are primarily interested in conversation practice.
Pros
It’s easy to use
The course structure is well planned
Lessons and explanations are thorough
Cons
It isn’t the most exciting resource
It isn’t ideal for advanced learners
There isn’t much in the way of conversation practice
Grammar Hero is the brainchild of Olly Richards, the creator of “I Will Teach You a Language.” As the name suggests, the focus of this course is on helping students internalize challenging grammar points. This is done with a story-based method that gets learners to make meaningful connections with the material.
Practice happens by reading the story, learning the grammar rules, and then re-reading the story to understand why certain grammar points were used. Finally, Olly encourages students to actively produce the language by incorporating exercises such as writing practice, translation, and error correction.
Although Grammar Hero is on the more expensive end and is only suitable for intermediate students, it’s an exceptionally fun and engaging resource. Students wanting to improve their grammar will definitely get a lot of value out of this.
Pros
The story-learning method could appeal to many
Great for learners interested in understanding difficult grammar concepts
Cons
It’s only suitable for learners at the intermediate level
Exceptional audio lessons with plenty of chances for active participation
One of the biggest names in language learning, Pimsleur makes use of well-structured courses and conversational lessons to help absolute beginners start speaking Russian right away. Speaking right away can make it feel like you’re making real progress almost immediately. This can be great for motivation.
It’s important to note that, since such an emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills, there’s little attention paid to grammar and the written language. You’ll likely need to supplement your studies with other resources to get a well-rounded education, but Pimsleur is a good option for aural learners that want to get speaking right away.
The subscription price model is only available to learners in the USA, Canada, UK, and Australia, but the platform is accessible to learners around the world.
Pros
Lessons are well structured and progress logically
You’ll get to listen to a variety of native speakers
The platform is easy to navigate and visually appealing
Cons
Visual learners may struggle with the mostly audio content
You’ll need to look elsewhere for thorough reading and writing practice
This is one of the most popular language-learning resources out there, and it’s no wonder why. Duolingo is completely free to use and offers courses in an impressive number of languages, including Russian. The activities don’t take more than a couple of minutes to complete, and they’re fun. This makes for practice that’s convenient and enjoyable. Hard to beat!
However, there are some limitations to studying with Duolingo. The audio isn’t the best you’ll find, and the lessons don’t go into great detail with explanations and examples. You also won’t have opportunities to practice creating your own sentences or many opportunities to practice speaking.
All things considered, Duolingo is a pretty great way to get some Russian exposure or casual practice with the language if you’re interested and at a low level. For much more than that, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
Pros
It’s easy and fun to use
It’s free
Practice is convenient to start or stop at a moment’s notice
Cons
There isn’t much in the way of in-depth instruction
Official Russian courses make this more than a flashcard platform
There are two ways to study a language with Memrise. One is to use one of the many free, user-created vocabulary or phrase decks. These sometimes come with images or audio, and you’ll be able to practice them efficiently with a spaced repetition system. Beware that quality does vary from course to course.
The other way to use Memrise is to study one of the official Memrise courses. These are of a higher quality than the free courses and even include videos. Partial access to these official courses is available for free, but you’ll need to purchase a subscription to get full access to grammar lessons and extra features. Learners at lower levels will get the most out of these courses.
It’s worth noting that the full, official Memrise courses are only available through the app. The browser versions of these courses are limited.
While it does have decent official courses, Memrise is probably best used as a source of vocabulary review and for learning new words.
Pros
There are a lot of free courses available
Practice is efficient with spaced repetition
The official Russian course includes videos of native speakers
Cons
The free courses are of varying quality
You may need to supplement your study with other resources
Something that might stand out about this course is that, although it’s targeted toward beginners, the accompanying materials are written entirely in Russian. The course also doesn’t attempt to teach the Russian alphabet, instead emphasizing that understanding the dialogues at the heart of the course is what’s most important.
We haven’t had the chance to fully test the Bite Size Languages courses, but they utilize comprehensible input in the form of dialogues with additional supportive materials such as transcripts, translations, and vocabulary and grammar sections.
If you’re looking for a beginner course and aren’t interested in signing up for a recurring subscription, Bite Size Languages could be worth checking out.
Price: $7.99/month for one language, $17.99 for all languages
A beginner course with an attractive design
If you’re beyond the beginner level with Russian, Mango Languages won’t be what you’re after. There just aren’t a lot of advanced learning opportunities with this course. That said, beginners will certainly find material that’s appropriate for their level. This is because you’ll start learning usable words and phrases right away.
A slick and easy-to-use platform makes practice enjoyable, and the lessons build on each other in a practical order. Other features of the Mango Languages course are grammar and culture notes, along with drilling — lots of drilling. The frequent drilling of phrases can get you to a comfortable level with them quickly, but it can also become monotonous.
If this is a course you’re interested in, be sure to check whether you can get free access through your local library.
Pros
The app has a nice design and is easy to use
Beginners will be able to produce useful phrases quickly
Cultural notes are presented well
Cons
There isn’t much content for learners beyond the beginner level
Price: $9.99/month for Premium, $13.99/month for Premium Plus
A decent course with a useful social feature
Busuu is a major player in the language-learning world. It’s been around since 2008 and has helped millions of people learn languages. The Russian course on this platform contains well-structured lessons that progress in a logical order and could theoretically lead you from absolute beginner to upper intermediate.
Busuu is more affordable than many other resources, but it also doesn’t deliver in some areas like others do. Grammar explanations, for example, don’t go into great detail and can leave out some useful information.
A unique feature of the Busuu platform is the built-in social feature. With it, learners can submit and correct each other’s writing and speech. This is free to use and fills in a gap where plenty of other resources fall short.
We rated this course a 3.3/5, but this score takes into account Busuu’s Mandarin Chinese course, which is of a lower quality. The score would likely be higher if we had only rated its Russian course.
Pros
The design is engaging and the interface is easy to use
Russian language learners, rejoice — there are scores of great learning resources available to you. In fact, you’re more likely to be paralyzed by the number of good options out there than to struggle to find something that suits your needs.
It’s important to remember in your search that the most popular language resources aren’t always the best; a superb marketing strategy doesn’t necessarily equal outstanding quality.
In this post, we’ll focus on apps that aim to help learners with Russian. We’ve tried a ton of them, and have sorted them by category based on what they do best, but it’s by no means an exhaustive list. It should, however, narrow the field enough to help you find some great tools.
Mondly is a language-learning app that teaches basic vocabulary and grammar structures. It seems most appropriate for learners with little to no exposure to their target language.
The activities mostly rely on passive recognition of vocabulary and phrases, and therefore are not very challenging. However, they are varied enough that you probably wouldn’t get bored with short, daily practice sessions.
Although I wouldn’t recommend Mondly to anyone looking to seriously learn a language, it may be appropriate for individuals studying languages with less available resources, or for individuals who are preparing to travel abroad.
Quality
Both the interface and the course itself could be designed better.
Thoroughness
It’s decent for learning vocabulary, but I thought a lot of the material wasn’t explained very well.
Value
It’s fairly inexpensive.
I Like…
Daily lessons, weekly quizzes, and monthly challenges – these functionalities encourage you to practice every day.
The vocabulary included is useful and drilled in an effective way.
It’s fairly inexpensive.
I DON’T LIKE…
The content and exercises are the same for all levels and languages.
The exercises are mostly passive.
I don’t think the order of lessons and topics is very well thought out.
For me, the interface is not user friendly and the platform is visually unappealing.
Price
There are three plans…
$9.99 per month for one language
$47.99 per year ($4/mo) for one language
$47.99 per year ($4/mo) for all languages
Strangely, I was able to access multiple languages even though I only signed up for one month at $9.99.
For learners of languages that use unfamiliar writing systems, the Lang Workbooks series can be a helpful and practical way to master the intricacies of writing in their target languages. Among numerous other writing systems, the series includes the Korean, Russian Cyrillic, and Armenian alphabets; Persian and Thai script; the Hindi Devanāgarī abugida; Chinese characters; and Japanese Hiragana and Katakana. The series also covers languages that use the Latin alphabet with diacritical (accent) marks, such as French, German, and Portuguese.
Many books in the series have been translated into other languages, such as Italian, French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese. The series also covers writing systems that may have fewer available resources for learners, such as Lao script and the Cherokee syllabary.
Each book in the series presents its featured writing system with suggested pronunciations. The practice pages in each workbook have useful features for each letter, symbol, or character, such as a recommended stroke order, font variations, example words, and a “Trace and Learn” section.
Each workbook is relatively inexpensive. In addition, the publishers of the series have granted teachers and students a license to make photocopies of the workbook pages for personal use, so you can get unlimited chances to practice. Considering the depth of information in each language’s workbook, the books in this series can provide great value for learners.
The current rating is our best estimate. We haven’t had the opportunity yet to more thoroughly evaluate this resource, as we do for our full reviews.
LingQ is a language learning platform that makes it easy to read and listen to interesting content at varying difficulty levels. As you read, words will be marked as known and LingQ tracks the total number of words you “know”. The content comes from lots of different places with very little of it being original. They also make it very easy to upload your own content.
Quality
The LingQ reading app is enjoyable in most languages, easy to use, and can expand your vocabulary. However, I found the user content frustrating to navigate.
Thoroughness
With the import function, users can choose to study almost anything they want.
Value
Now that other apps provide similar functions, the monthly subscription may be a bit overpriced. However, the yearly subscription seems fair.
I Like…
I can easily import almost any material I want to study.
I can use SRS flashcards to quiz new words from a specific page.
Each lesson in the library displays the percentage of known and unknown words based on my reading history.
There are many dictionaries to choose from for definitions
I DON’T LIKE…
Reviewing words is chaotic. Every word you look up gets added to a huge queue that quickly becomes unmanageable.
The extra features are overpriced and can be found other places for cheaper.
Very little of the content is original. Much of it was uploaded by users from other places.
The free version is extremely limited.
Languages
Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, English, Korean, French, Russian, German, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, Dutch, Greek, Polish, Esperanto, Belarusian, Latin, Ukrainian. There are also 20 additional languages in Beta.
When I first signed up for LingQ, I wasn’t very impressed. Its seemingly random lesson library, filled with custom cover photos and inconsistent title formats, made me want to click on just about anything to get away from that page.
However, after exploring every function I could find, I realized that the reading tool has several useful functions for anyone trying to learn a language through extensive reading. Most importantly, it makes reading in other languages feel manageable.
The site has three main pages: Lessons, Tutors, and Community. Within them, you can find free and purchasable lessons, coins, an avatar, writing exchanges, a community forum, audio playlists, and challenges.
I mostly used LingQ for reading in Spanish and dabbled in French, Chinese, Japanese, Swedish, and Korean.
OPLingo is a community-oriented, non-profit language learning site. It essentially combines the functions of LingQ, LangCorrect, Readlang, iTalki, and HelloTalk.
The free version gives you limited access to some functions, but by paying for a membership you support ethical causes — such as building a primary school in Tanzania.
You can browse user-contributed texts or easily import your own YouTube videos, articles, or ebooks into the Reading Tool. OPLingo has also developed hundreds of audio conversations in several languages, including Tagalog, Cebuano, Thai, Swahili, and Russian.
Within each page, you can read a transcript and get definitions and pronunciations of unknown words. By identifying which words you don’t know, the next passages you read will highlight the number of known or unknown vocabulary words.
In their Write & Correct section, you can write in over 100 languages and exchange corrections with other users, although Spanish, French, and English learners have a better chance of receiving corrections than other languages at the moment.
You can also practice a language by texting with fellow community members, or by hiring a teacher in your target language.
OPLingo has a lot of potential and is a good alternative to LingQ, but it needs a community of learners to help it grow — so check it out!
The current rating is our best estimate. We haven’t had the opportunity yet to more thoroughly evaluate this resource, as we do for our full reviews.
AmazingTalker is an italki and Verbling competitor that lets you book classes with language teachers and academic tutors of your choice. It has a lot of attractive features for students, but teachers complain about high commission rates and lack of support.
It boasts a 3% acceptance rate for teachers and a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you’re not happy with your class, they’ll rebook you another one for free. There are lots of teachers to choose from, or you can also use their AI Matching Service to find a tutor. The teachers’ profiles include videos, reviews, and their résumé.
However, AmazingTalker doesn’t seem a great choice for teachers. It charges English and Japanese teachers astonishingly high commission rates of up to 30%. While these rates fall as teachers earn more through the site, they have to make $1,500 a month before the commission reaches levels comparable to italki and Verbling. Making it worse, there’s an additional 8% fee for payment processing and tax that all teachers have to pay, no matter what language they teach.
There have also been complaints on Reddit from teachers claiming to have been harassed by students and fellow teachers. However, we cannot corroborate these.
Verbling is an online language-class marketplace where you can take lessons with teachers of your choice. It has some student-friendly extra features, including a built-in online classroom, flashcards, homework calendar, and a filing system for lesson materials. There are also useful but disorganized forums where you can discuss languages, share writing for critique, and do free language drills and exercises.
The lessons are generally high quality and well structured, plus the filters make it easy to find teachers who specialize in everything from accent reduction to interview preparation.
However, it can be slightly pricier than alternatives, so if you’re on a tight budget, you may want to look elsewhere. It also has fewer languages than some of the bigger competitors, so it might not be a good choice if you want to study Azerbaijani, Khmer, or Yoruba.
Teacher Quality
There are some less experienced teachers, but I found the lessons to be more consistently high quality than on italki.
Platform
The classroom technology, flashcards, and filing system are fantastic for learners and easy to use.
Value
Some teachers charge more than on italki, but you get better classroom technology, more privacy, and fewer disorganized teachers.
I Like…
I quickly found great teachers.
The platform’s extra features, such as teacher-made, personalized flashcards, help you review the material learned in each lesson.
It seems focused on long-term progression as well as immediate student satisfaction.
You don’t have to give out your contact details, thanks to the classroom technology.
I DON’T LIKE…
Some teachers don’t use the platform’s flashcards and materials system.
There are fewer languages available than on italki.
You can only pay in US dollars, plus there’s a hidden fee.
The forums need more moderation.
Languages
Verbling lists 65 different languages on their platform, from Spanish and Mandarin Chinese through to Twi and Berber. Not all of them have available teachers, however.
Price
Prices are set by the teacher and range from $5 to $75 for an hour-long lesson. You can get discounts for buying packs of 5, 10, or 20 lessons with a teacher. Every student gets one free trial lesson, after which they’re $6 each.
