Learn How To Learn Russian

A language is more than a bunch of words and rules for how to put those words together; it is another world. Speaking Russian gives you access to the world of 160 million native speakers in the Russian Federation and surrounding countries. Russian is the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, which are the dominant language group in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. 280 million people speak Russian worldwide, 120 million of them as a second language. Understanding it will give you a head start if you want to also learn other Slavic language like Polish, Czech and Ukrainian.

Learning the language can be a challenge since there is so little cross-over between English and Russian in terms of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. But starting a new language from scratch can make it easier in some respects. Mastering Russian begins with learning a new alphabet and sounds that go with it.

The first hurdle to mastering Russian is learning the Cyrillic alphabet which uses very different characters than the Latin alphabet. However, once you are familiar with how to read letters like Г, Д and Ж you are ready to begin reading and speaking the language yourself.

With Babbel, you can learn Russian without going to classes, hiring a tutor or investing in expensive software. For an affordable monthly subscription, you have access to hundreds of hours of interactive courses that get you speaking right from the first lesson. Babbel’s integrated speech recognition can even help you improve your pronunciation.

Take the time to learn Cyrillic. ...

Use authentic media. ...

Learn common words first. ...

Learn words that tie to your native language or are the same across languages. ...

Immerse yourself in Russian, at home or abroad. ...

Practice your skills daily. ...

Find a native speaker to interact with. ...

Use a targeted program.