Learning Russian: The Only Post You'll Ever Need
This is a guide on learning Russian but the principles outlined in this article are applicable to learning any other language as well.
Summer 2015. I had just arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for my upcoming internship. Sweltering heat, 100% humidity and the deafening sound of honking motorbikes. And then there was this Russian girl. We hit it off immediately and spent a lot of time together in Vietnam. But who would’ve thought that only a few months later I would bring in the new year together with her in Moscow? We started dating, and I knew that if I wanted to make this work I’d have to learn Russian.
In the beginning progress was slow. I made every mistake in the book. But then I discovered a technique that would completely change the course of my Russian learning.
In this piece I will discuss:
the traditional approach and why it doesn’t work
the cure: focus on reading and listening
speaking practice
the Russian alphabet
specific steps you can take right now
resources to get you started
Standard methods are failing students
More than four years have passed since Vietnam. Now I speak Russian well, with only a touch of an accent, and because of that I turned into some kind of superstar in my Russian friends' eyes. They compare their own experience in learning a foreign language to my Russian and come to the conclusion that I must be a genius. But that's far from true. It's because I have a system in place that's effective, easily maintainable, and, most importantly, fun.
But I didn't start out with that system. In the beginning I did what every other language student does: I went to class twice a week, used a textbook as my primary resource and focused on grammar tables and word lists. Turns out all these things were mistakes.
Classes are excellent for the social aspect. To have somebody you are learning with. But classes are paced in a way so that the slowest students can keep up, and if you grasp concepts quickly it's an inefficient use of your time.
Textbooks are boring. In those beginners' textbooks it's always the same: you learn the words for "uncle" and "second cousin" and role play a restaurant visit. Come on, guys! You can do better than that...
Grammar tables and word lists don't provide context. You read everything in isolation. The problem is: when using the language nothing is without context. Also, memorising lists feels like a chore.
It’s no wonder that when students graduate high school they barely remember anything they were taught in, say, Spanish or French. Language instruction at school uses the above mentioned approach, and that’s why it’s broken.
Before we get into how you, too, can learn Russian effortlessly and in a fun way, let me tell you how Russian has changed my life.
Knowing Russian has opened up a whole new world to me. Now I can read the Russian perspective on world events. My Russian friends are amongst the most warm-hearted people I know. I did an internship in Moscow and used my Russian skills regularly in another job. Most importantly, I am able to communicate with my Russian girlfriend's family. Hadn't I learnt Russian, we would still be relying on communicating with our hands and feet. The butterfly effect really did its work here. Who knows what doors will open for you once you speak Russian?
Okay, now let’s get down to business. In the beginning learning Russian wasn't fun for me. But as I was yet again procrastinating on my Russian learning browsing YouTube, I stumbled upon Steve Kaufmann, polyglot extraordinaire who has a wonderful YouTube channel, who recommended focusing on reading and listening to materials you're interested in. In other words, instead of consuming content about your favourite topics in your native tongue, you do it in Russian. No classes, no textbooks, no grammar tables or word lists.
This was a game changer.
Speaking is silver, listening is gold
I implemented his advice right away. Instead of reading another news article in English, I allocated that time to reading articles on Russian news websites. Instead of listening to yet another technology podcast, I changed it up with an episode of Археология.Будущее (with transcripts!) on Russian radio. Instead of watching an episode of Californication that I already know inside out, I watched an episode of Метод Фрейда while reading along.
What it really boils down to is this: Look for something about the Russian-speaking world that you love. Something that motivates you to keep going even when you don’t feel like it. Become obsessed with something. It could be listening to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake while reading up on the great Russian composer’s life. It could be immersing yourself in a certain chapter of Russian history (the nineties were wild). Or it could be watching rant videos of an alcoholic YouTuber whose sentences consist of 70% curse words (I 100% approve of trash content in the name of language learning).
Steve Kaufmann's approach is backed by science. Renowned linguist Stephen Krashen calls this approach the Input Hypothesis. According to Krashen you acquire a language when being exposed to comprehensible input. That is content that is just hard enough for you to still have fun working your way through it.
Okay, so reading and listening. But you're probably thinking "But there are so many words that I don't know! I'm not gonna understand anything!"
No problem. Based on this approach, Steve Kaufmann developed a system that allows you to read and listen simultaneously while conveniently looking up unknown words at the same time. It's called LingQ. (I have NO affiliation with LingQ. I'm just a very satisfied customer.)
I know, it’s not free. But it works! And if you think that $12.99 a month (at most!; they have cheaper payment plans) for learning another language is not worth it but spend just as much on a single cocktail, let me suggest that your priorities aren't right.
LingQ is special because it allows you to save the translations to words that you don't know. This is the big edge LingQ has over online dictionaries: with dictionaries you look up a word and 10 seconds later forget it. If you need the word later again you have to open the dictionary one more time and so on. But with LingQ, once you save a word's meaning it's there to stay, so whenever you see this word in future lessons the translation will be waiting for you.
As already said, the focus lies on content you enjoy. That's why LingQ lets you import texts from anywhere on the internet (even subtitles from Netflix and YouTube), as well as entire ebooks.
What elevates the learning experience even more is reading and listening at the same time. While listening to a podcast you're reading the transcript at the same time. Written text alone symbolises the bricks. Added audio is the metaphorical mortar.
Kaufmann argues (and I can attest to this) that you can't force the language into your brain. You have to expose yourself to the language as much as possible so that your brain can get used to it. This takes time and won't happen overnight, and it's essential that you work at it every single day. 20 minutes every day is far better than 3 hours once a week. The beauty of this approach is that you can practise anytime and anywhere. LingQ has a mobile app that lets you read and listen on the go. You can easily turn your commute into your own Russian classroom. Treadmill sessions are no longer only physical but also Russian workouts.
Speaking is silver,… and I like shiny things
After a couple of weeks of reading and listening, it's time to activate all this passive knowledge. How? By speaking.
What you're looking for is a Russian speaker for casual conversations, not a teacher that drills you. It should feel as if you're talking to a friend. Local language exchange groups on Facebook are a great tool for this. Post a request on there, saying that you're looking for an exchange partner and then meet up in person. Make sure you include the languages you can help your exchange partners with in your post!
A post I once made in a group for Russians in my city offering a language exchange
If there are no such groups in your area, don't worry. iTalki is here to save you (again, I don't have any affiliation with this site). iTalki is a website where you can find a Russian tutor at an affordable price. Both professional teachers and so-called community tutors offer their services there. Certified teachers charge more (around $20+ per lesson) and follow a more formal process while lessons with community tutors (around $6-12 per lesson) are generally more informal. Personally, I took lessons exclusively with community tutors because my I wanted to speak as much as possible, even if that meant making a lot of mistakes.
I encourage you to try out multiple teachers before settling with one. You want your teacher to be on your wavelength. I was super lucky to have found Aslan who I did most of my lessons with. He's my age, just as passionate about languages as me, and a great guy in general. I loved my sessions with him.
There's also a forum on iTalki for finding remote exchange partners.
Why does this approach work so well?
It's fun because you're reading about subjects that interest you. High school completely killed the joy for reading in me when teachers forced books like Goethe's Faust down our throats. Same goes for language learning. You shouldn't have to read boring texts that are made for learners. If you want to read them - great. But if you don't, that's great, too.
You pick up words faster and memorise them better. Many people love learning word lists like TOP 500 MOST COMMON WORDS IN RUSSIAN by heart. As already mentioned above, not only do word lists lack context, you can achieve literally the same result by simply reading. Because guess what, the 500 most common words will appear in texts over and over again anyway.
Because you're exposed to such vast amounts of texts and audio, patterns will become second nature to you. You will develop this sense of what "feels right" and what doesn't. Phrases that are used over and over again will run on autopilot. As a result, you spend less brain power on case and verb endings and more on what you actually want to say.
You are immersed in the Russian world immediately. Whereas textbooks for Russian learners contain fake Russian, materials made by and made for native speakers will make sure you feel like you live in the middle of Moscow even when you're thousands of kilometres away.
Listening is easy to get in because you don't have to do anything actively. You can listen while brushing your teeth, on your commute and on the treadmill.
Many people don’t even attempt to learn Russian for one reason: they are scared by the new alphabet they would have to learn. It’s weird and foreign and uses a backwards R. But let’s be honest here, guys: you can master the Russian alphabet within a few minutes. And I’ll prove it to you right now.
The Cyrillic Alphabet
Good news: you already know part of the Cyrillic alphabet! There are five letters the Cyrillic alphabet has in common with our Roman alphabet.
Then there are new letters. These letters don't exist in English but most of them have an English equivalent.
*: Щ щ sounds very similar to Ш ш. You’ll start hearing the difference as your ear for Russian develops.
**: This is a new vowel. It’s basically the sound you make when somebody punches you in the gut.
***: In the beginning don’t bother with these two letters.
Last but not least, there are letters who are false friends. We have them in the Roman alphabet as well but in Russian they are pronounced differently. In the graphic below I provided a mnemonic with every one of these false friends so you have an easier time remembering them.
The letters you already know? No problem at all.
The new letters? A little practice.
The false friends? You will keep pronouncing them the English way for the first few weeks. And that's normal! Don't get frustrated. It takes time to get used to the new sounds they represent.
Congratulations! You just overcame the hurdle most people think is insurmountable. Now there's literally NOTHING stopping you from embarking on your Russian journey. You can even write your name in Russian now. Try it! My name in Russian looks like this: Янник
What can you do right now to get started?
First of all, learn the alphabet, because without the alphabet you can’t read. Go through the graphics above a couple more times and watch videos on YouTube that explain the alphabet.
Set up an account on LingQ and get reading and listening. There’s plenty of beginners content in the LingQ library already.
I know what you’re thinking: “Beginners content? I thought I should focus on content for native speakers?”
In defence of “artificial” texts for learners
The main argument I make in this piece is that learning a language has to be fun. However, if you’re starting at zero and you jump straight into content made for native speakers, it won’t be fun for very long. In the first months or two, beginner content definitely has a role to play in language learning. This goes back to Krashen’s concept of comprehensible input. With that being said, don’t stay with beginners material for too long! It’s when you’re leaving the beginners content behind and start exposing yourself to the “real” language that your learning takes off.
Closing remarks
Two more things before I send you off into the wild world of Russian:
As an independent language learner you are a hunter for great content. Interesting materials won't simply fall out of the sky. You have to actively seek them out! Use Google. Search for topics that interest you (in Russian, of course). Use Google Translate if you're not sure how to say a certain word in Russian.
When you have difficulties wrapping your head around a grammatical concept make sure to make full use of the internet. Verbs of motion, verb aspect and cases can be tricky. But there are so many resources out there that will help you push through. You just have to look for them.
Best of luck!
Should you get stuck at any point, reach out to me via y@hallas.io. I'm glad to help!
PS: The resources below will get you started:
Russian Podcast: great resource for beginners; the host speaks slowly and clearly and the topics she talks about are quite interesting
litres.ru: ebooks and audiobooks that are easily importable into LingQ
Echo Moskvy: a Moscow-based radio station with a wide variety of guests; ideal for LingQ because they provide transcripts for most of their radio broadcasts
Radio Svoboda: another news website with both articles and podcasts; some podcasts are linked here, here and here; full disclosure: this radio station is funded by the US state department which influences their take on events; also ideal for LingQ due to the transcripts
вДудь: Russia's most popular interview YouTube channel
varlamov: urbanist and traveller
MoscowWalks: walks through Moscow with the history behind what you see
YouTube search: search for a subject that interests you and activate the subtitles search filter
Кухня: sitcom-like TV show; easy to watch
Мажор: my favourite Russian TV show; follows the adventures of a rich spoilt young man who joins the police
Forvo: my go-to website when I want hear a word pronounced by a native speaker