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K nowledge of the Russian language opens up a vast, diverse world, stretching from the Carpathian Mountains to the expanses of Siberia.  As well as providing the traveller with the lingua franca of over 15 countries and unrecognised territories, the Russian language is intrinsically connected with a rich culture of world-class literature, art, music, cinema, and architecture.  Russian is an excellent choice for a new language to learn, and here we outline exactly how you should go about achieving this goal.

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• Grammar & Vocabulary

Intermediate

How to Use This Guide

For anyone learning a foreign language, nothing is more important than choosing the right learning resources.  However, as with most languages, the amount of available material for learning Russian is overwhelming, and the quality varies enormously.

So what should you buy?

Most resource guides on the internet simply throw together a vast list of virtually everything related to the language in question, leaving you just as bewildered as you were before.

We know from years of experience that the Pareto principle strongly applies to language learning: you really do get 80% of the results from 20% of the materials you buy.  If we had only known at the time how to separate the textbook-wheat from the chaff, we would have saved a considerable amount of money!

And so we have come up with the solution: an all encompassing, fully-updated handbook , advising you on the best books, videos, websites, podcasts and courses to help you on your path to native-level fluency.

We appreciate that you may not have time to read through the whole of the guide, or may just be looking to improve a particular skills.  So, in order to help you find exactly what you need with ease, we’ve grouped our recommended material into the following colour-coordinated categories:

Grammar & Vocabulary

Of course, the material that you use will vastly depend on your current Russian level.  (After all, there's nothing more dispiriting than working through a course that's too easy or too difficult for you!)  That’s why we have divided the guide into three sections: beginners, intermediate, and advanced – showing you exactly what you need for the stage you’re currently at.

Beginners - Grammar & Vocabulary

Grammar and vocabulary are the skeleton around which your language skills develop - you can't do anything until you've got to grips with the basics.  Obviously it's vital to choose the right material for the job.  So let's dive straight in and look at the best textbook on the market for beginners

The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners

All-in-all the best course available for beginners. It explains all essential grammar points clearly and thoroughly. Its end-of-chapter exercises and the glossary at the back of the book are useful for building up a good stockpile of basic vocabulary. Should be all you need for grammar to take you up to intermediate level.

Pay no attention to its dreary cover - the Penguin Course is far and away the best Russian textbook on the market for beginners. Every fresh-faced language newcomer has to wade through a sea of trumped-up phrasebooks, masquerading as 'complete courses'. This, however, is the real deal and will get you to a solid B1 level .

Don't expect any cheer or colour though: the style is no-nonsense and could put some people off who need to be eased into a new language. Try to look past this: all of the grammatical points are explained extremely well, with plenty of examples and supplementary exercises . The glossary and grammar tables at the back of the book come in useful if you ever forget any material that you've already covered.

Once you have worked your way through all 26 chapters (starting with the Cyrillic alphabet, and culminating in a short story by Chekhov), you should be able to hold your own in simple conversations and read newspapers (with the help of a dictionary).

The only thing that stops this being the ultimate Russian beginner's resource is the lack of accompanying listening exercises . But as we have that covered below, it really isn't too much of a problem at all.

The New Penguin Russian Course - Our Rating

• Our favourite ones are Russian Lessons and Russian Learn . They are organised in a neat and user-friendly way and are regularly updated.  Although they differ slightly in style and approach, both cover almost exactly the same content as each other, so just choose the one that appeals to you most.
• Another option is Alpha Dictionary .  If you let your eyes adjust to the garish magenta colour-scheme and the hideous 90s interface, you’ll realise that this is a real gem of a website .  What we particularly like about it is that it actually goes slightly beyond the scope of the Penguin Course and provides explanations for some particularly tricky grammatical topics, such as correctly translating ‘for’ and setting up T-K clause constructions.

The Big Silver Book of Russian Verbs

Solid reference book, detailing the full conjugations of 555 common Russian verbs. Numerous example sentences demonstrate how each verb is used in various contexts (including idoms). There is also a sizeable dictionary of 4,000 additional verbs, showing which conjugation pattern each one follows so you know how to form them correctly. A worthwhile purchase for beginners.

The Russian verb is undoubtedly one of the most challenging aspects of the language – crack it and everything else will soon fall into place .

This is easier said than done.  With a confusing array of conjugation patterns, verbs of motion, and countless irregulars , Russian verbs present a serious challenge to new learners. 

Thankfully, you have at your disposal the Big Silver Book of Russian Verbs. It explains how each verb’s conjugation follows one of six approximate paradigms, and shows that once you have memorised these patterns, the process of learning how to use individual verbs becomes infinitely easier.

It then delivers on its promise and sets out the full conjugations of 555 common verbs , as well as listing the infinitives to 4,000 other ones in the back of the back (with their pattern number next to them).

A warning though: the six-paradigm system is not universal – other books may state that there are really only three conjugation groups, with a few minor subgroups that only differ superficially. Be careful not to get mixed up!

The Big Silver Book of Russian Verbs - Our Rating

It’s not as comprehensive as a dictionary or the Big Silver Book, so you shouldn’t completely rely on it. But it does have some nice features that make up for this downside: stress indicators, pronunciation hints, related verb lists, etc.

The site’s owner claims that he frequently adds new words to the database so this should become an even more powerful tool in time.

The Russian Grammar Channel

Concise videos on essential topics in Russian grammar from a doctor of Slavic linguistics. Presented in a clear, friendly manner, these are the best videos on YouTube to help beginners get to grips with the nuts and bolts of the language. An excellent supplement to the Penguin Course.

There are dozens of Russian language channels on YouTube, but none of them are as focused or as useful as Dr Curtis Ford’s Russian Grammar Channel.  

Dr Ford knows the Russian language inside-out.   But what differentiates his channel from the many other excellent alternatives is his ability to break down complex grammatical concepts into manageable chunks.  

The videos are all professionally produced and use plenty of fresh examples to solidify your knowledge.

The Russian Grammar Channel - Our Rating

The Oxford Russian Dictionary

The undisputed king of dictionary series, the Oxford Russian Dictionary contains half a million words, phrases, and translations. Recent stylistic and layout improvements have made it much easier to find the word you need in its correct context. Fully updated to include contemporary business, technical and computing terminology. The best Russian dictionary out there.

Dictionaries are expensive, so you don’t want to keep buying new ones on a regular basis. For this reason, it makes sense to get the best one available straight away.

With half a million words and phrases, you’ll almost certainly find a translation for whatever it is you need.  One of the best features of the Oxford series (that is often lacking in rival dictionaries) is the care they take to provide translations for words in all of their contexts, including idioms, sayings, and figurative usage. Look up a simple word, like ‘hand’, for instance, and you’ll see what we mean: it can be used in dozens of different ways, and doesn’t just refer to the human appendage.

Dictionaries are often criticised for not keeping up to date with modern technology and innovation. The Oxford series, however, are frequently updated, meaning that if you get the most recent edition you can be sure that it will stay relevant for a good few years.

The Oxford Russian Dictionary - Our Rating

Russian Learners' Dictionary: 10,000 Words in Frequency Order

Lists the 10,000 most frequently used Russian words (with English translations), starting from most commonly used downwards. The first 1,500 also come with example sentences. Excellent resource for filling in any important gaps in your vocabulary. Can also be used to provide a rough estimate of your vocabulary size.

When you consider that the average native speaker knows about 20-35,000 words , it’s clear that this book will do wonders for your Russian if you have the stamina to get to the end.

The dictionary allows you to follow a systematic programme of vocabulary learning – master the most common words and then move on to the rarer ones.

Minimum Vocabulary Required for Each CEFR Level

Fire_Irbis/shutterstock.com

One negative, however, is that it only gives limited definitions. You will probably want to cross-check with another dictionary to make sure you know what each word means across different contexts.

Russian Learners' Dictionary - Our Rating

Anki is a spaced repetition flashcard programme. It uses an algorithm that learns which words you find easy to remember and which ones don’t, and adjusts how frequently it tests you on these particular words accordingly. It is completely free and easy to install.

Everyone learns vocabulary in their own way – some people simply suck words in like a sponge and don’t need to make any active effort; for others, nothing seems to stick unless they learn it off by heart.

If you’re the former – great! If not, Anki will prove invaluable.

Essentially, Anki is a flashcard app. But what differentiates it from the hundreds of competitors is the spaced repetition algorithm that it uses. This means that it is able to remember which words you find more difficult to recall than others and to test you on them more frequently.   

While some of the settings can be a little fiddly, and synchronisation between phones and computers can play up, it is generally an extremely reliable app and one that we wished we had used from day one of our language learning.

Even if you only use Anki for half an hour each day, you’ll see marked improvements in your vocabulary. 

Anki - Our Rating

The good thing about Anki is that sometimes you don’t even have to compile vocabulary decks yourself. If you search around on the internet, you can sometimes find pre-made decks that you can import into your folders.

One such deck, created by Neri, displays 5,000 Russian sentences sorted from easiest to hardest. It’s a great way to gradually build up set-phrases and connecting words. You can download the deck from here .

Beginners - Reading

Choosing reading material is not easy when you’ve just started learning a foreign language. The vast majority of books and newspapers available to you will be too challenging at this point, and yet, equally, you can’t stay tethered to the artificially simplistic exercises in your textbooks for too long.

So where is the best place to start once you’re ready to venture out into the world of literature?

Many language guides come out with the same suggestion: start with children’s books. This is TERRIBLE advice. There is nothing easy about children’s literature – especially for learners of Russian! Although the concepts and storylines are simplistic enough to be enjoyed by toddlers, you face a number of surprisingly tricky linguistic challenges, such as a confusing array of diminutives, strange vocabulary, and irregular sentence structure.

A far better option would be to start off with something aimed at older children/teenagers . The vocabulary in these books is still pretty simple, but the grammar is often more regular than those aimed at younger readers.

The Adventures of Tintin

Classic comic book series by Belgian artist, Hergé. Fun and interesting stories with non-complex language and sentence structure. Excellent for beginner readers to build their colloquial comprehension. Entire series can be found here .

If you’ve worked through about half of the Penguin Course, you should find it relatively easy to read one of the Tintin books .

As well as being great stories in themselves, the comic book format means that you’re reading succinct speech bubbles, rather than long sentences. This makes for good, easy practice texts while you’re still mastering trickier grammatical elements, like participles and relative clauses.

New Penguin Parallel Text: Short Stories in Russian

Classic short stories with the Russian original on the left hand page and the English translation on the opposite page. All stories are from the twentieth century and feature writers that readers may not be familiar with, giving a fresh perspective on Russian literature.

When you’ve finished the textbook the best thing to do is to read some Russian texts with parallel translations . Having to go back and forth between the book you’re reading and a dictionary can be incredibly frustrating, and often saps a lot of the fun out of reading.

This is the solution: collections of classic short stories from the Soviet and post-Soviet eras with English translations on the opposite page.

Beginners - Writing

At this stage, most of your writing needs will be taken care of by the Penguin Course, which contains plenty of sentence-formation exercises.  But if you want a little extra practice, you should investigate the Ruslan workbooks

Ruslan Student Workbook

A decent workbook with over 200 written exercises to supplement a beginner’s Russian course. The content is colourful and attractive, and features some interesting cultural insights. It is designed to be used alongside the Ruslan communicative course, but can also be used as a standalone product.

Sadly, it’s a fact that there is a real paucity of material to help beginners improve their written Russian.  This means that the Ruslan series gets on our list by default, and not because we think it is an excellent workbook.

With around 200 written exercises it does what it says on the tin, and the attractive visual content and interesting cultural highlights mean that it is perfectly usable.  However, there is nothing particularly special about Ruslan, and it is as yet unclear how effective it is as a standalone product (there is a coursebook that you buy as well). 

Ruslan Student Workbook - Our Rating

Russian Handwriting

A step-by-step workbook that teaches Russian cursive handwriting. Each letter is broken down into clear steps that show you how to write it cursively. Lots or practice in the form of example letters, words, phrases, and sentences. Three separate volumes in case you get through the first one and want more practice.

Handwriting is a bit like crooked teeth – the earlier you sort it out the easier your life will be in the future . 

The majority of Russian textbooks will only use the print alphabet and omit the cursive version entirely. The reason for this is obvious: cursive can be extremely confusing!  While each letter looks quite distinct in print, in cursive a lot of the letters look almost identical:

This is just something we have to deal with.  And while the Penguin Course – to its credit – does have a chapter dedicated to cursive, it moves on from it pretty quickly, never to return.

Don’t let yourself experience the shock of sticking solely to print while learning, only to go to Russia to find that a huge amount of writing is done in cursive. These workbooks provide plenty of practice.  Although they are priced slightly cheekily, in the long run they are worth the initial investment.

Russian Handwriting - Our Rating

Beginners - speaking.

Get speaking as soon as you can ! It’s the hardest (and most important) language skill, but the one that we most often neglect.

Although you could get a private tutor straight off the bat, it may be cheaper and more constructive to enrol on an evening course in your city.

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The hourly prices of these courses are often twice as cheap as those that a native speaker will charge for one-to-one tuition in your city. On the other hand, a large class will limit the amount of time you get to speak, and sitting patiently while the inevitable class laggard struggles through material that you mastered weeks ago can be incredibly irritating.

Well-reviewed Russian courses in selected cities include:

• New York - ABC Languages
• Los Angeles - Santa Monica Language Academy
• Chicago - Cloudberry Language School
• Houston - Glasscock School of Continuing Studies
• Philadelphia - Bryn Mawr College
• Phoenix - Arizona Language Institute
• San Diego - San Diego Russian School
• Dallas - Russian School of Dallas
• San Jose - San Jose Learning Center
• Toronto - Hansa Language Centre
• Vancouver - International House
• London - Pushkin House Russian Language Centre , School of Slavonic and East European Studies Evening Courses
• Sydney - University of Sydney Centre for Continuing Education

Beginners - Listening

Here we narrow down the best courses, channels, and podcasts for beginners to take their listening skills to the next level

Rocket Russian

The best online Russian course for beginners looking to kickstart their listening skills. Packed full of targeted audio and writing exercises, all organised thematically. Seamless transition from desktop to mobile app, and vice versa. No subscription – a reasonable one-off fee unlocks the entire platform for life.

Incredible online language learning system. Huge number of audio and video podcast lessons, extensive vocabulary lists, personalised learning programmes, PDF worksheets, review quizzes, and many more tools. Dedicated friendly staff and frequently updated content make this an excellent resource to get your listening off the ground.

In compiling this guide we trialled over a dozen of the top online Russian courses.  Rocket Russian stood out as easily the best of the bunch – here’s why:

The content is thematic

We are huge fans of thematic vocabulary learning (Using Russian Vocabulary, for instance, is an essential resource to get) as we have found that structured learning is the best way to keep words in your long-term memory. We were really pleased to see that the team at Rocket Russian share this viewpoint and organise their lessons along thematic lines.

The mobile app is brilliant

Most language apps come across as little more than half-hearted afterthoughts. Some platforms even have the audacity to charge you extra for it. Rocket Russian’s mobile app (free for both iOS and Android) has been designed excellently and was far more intuitive than all of its rivals.

It doesn't smother you with unnecessary features

Rocket Russian only provides you with the tools you need to make real progress with your Russian – interactive audio lessons, detailed writing exercises, and an excellent narrative story which solidifies your situational vocabulary.

Everything is 100% downloadable

This means that you can sit down and get all of the material in one place – no need to keep going in and out of the site itself to use its contents.

Real-life audio from the start

The sooner a student weans themselves off what we call ‘teacher-speak’, the sooner they will understand real conversations. This is what Rocket Russian does from the very beginning, using authentic dialogues to build your listening skills up.

No subscription

Almost all online language courses nowadays charge for monthly/yearly subscriptions, meaning that over time they turn out to be very expensive. With Rocket Russian, however, once you’ve paid the one-off fee you get access to the full platform for life. Although the price may seem a bit steep, you then fully own all of the lessons and downloadable material inside – you’re not ‘renting it’. This means that in the long run Rocket Russian is probably the cheapest course on the market.

Give it a go!

Sign up for Rocket Russian's free trial here:

RussianPod101

We are naturally suspicious of online language courses, as the vast majority do not deliver on their promises – RussianPod101 is one of the few exceptions.

For a very reasonable price you gain access to a veritable treasure trove of Russian learning tools and resources, including:

High quality audio and video podcast lessons

Printable pdf lesson notes, 2000 most common words list, entertaining review quizzes, database of russian grammar constructions, 1-to-1 direct instruction from native russians, interactive pronunciation comparison tool, portable survival phrases centre, a personalised learning programme.

Although the lessons are probably a bit on the easy side for advanced learners, for beginners this is an absolute must-have resource.  The sheer quantity of audio and video lessons alone makes it far and away the most efficient way to improve your Russian listening skills .

RussianPod101 has been expanding steadily for the last few years thanks to its dedicated team.  As it is continuously adding new content to the site you can be sure that you will always have fresh material to practice with.

RussianPod101 - Our Rating

Interested.

If you want to make sure that RussianPod101 is the right product for you, have a look at our detailed review

While the online courses that we’ve reviewed above are excellent, make sure you don’t neglect the thousands of free YouTube channels dedicated to teaching Russian:

Amazing Russian

Weekly Russian

Huliganov's Russian Course

Amazing Russian is hands down the best YouTube channel out there for beginners looking to improve their listening skills.

The reason why we are so enthusiastic is because it is rare to come across such a practical and educational channel on YouTube.   Most ‘learn Russian’ channels rely heavily on gimmicks and flashy appearances without delivering much substance.   But if you want to make real headway with your listening then this is the channel for you.

The videos, mostly dealing with everyday situations, effectively ease students into the listening comprehension with a steady speaking pace, core vocabulary, and optional subtitles.

Weekly Russian is a bit different from other channels. Instead of going over the (admittedly important) mundane practicalities of everyday life, Natalia posts videos covering music, poetry, cartoons, films, all with English subtitles.

Despite the channel’s name, it is updated quite infrequently, but still definitely worth subscribing to.

One of the nicest ways to get into learning Russian is Viktor Dmitrievich Huliganov’s channel.   They start by going over a letter of the alphabet/simple grammatical topic, before telling a classic Russian joke, and finally ending with a Russian song.

Beginners - Bonus

Russian Keyboard Stickers

High-quality transparent stickers for laptop keyboards. Versions for both black and white keyboards available.

Unless by some extraordinary coincidence you bought your computer in the former Soviet Union, your keyboard won’t have the Cyrillic alphabet on it.

In time, this will prove to be a real annoyance , especially as there are so many great resources on the internet that require you to type in Russian.

Fortunately, the solution is both simple and cheap: you can find a range of transparent Cyrillic stickers that sit neatly on your keyboard without obscuring the original Latin symbols.

Beginners | Intermediate | Advanced  

Intermediate - Grammar & Vocabulary

The Penguin Course does a really good job in laying a solid grammatical foundation.   By the end of it you will confident enough to have non-trivial conversations with Russian speakers.   However, you will also realise that you have only scratched the surface, and that there is still a huge amount left to learn. In order to progress past this point, you need a broader resource.

A Comprehensive Russian Grammar

The Russian grammar bible. Period. No serious student of Russian should be without a copy of this authoritative grammar reference book. Covers virtually every topic you can think of, using fresh, interesting vocabulary to illustrate key points. Its structure layout allows students to master Russian grammar systematically.

If the Penguin Course was the tip of the grammar iceberg, this is the massive bulk floating under the water.  

It is difficult to convey how useful this book is for any student of Russian who wants to make real progress beyond the beginner’s level.   This 630-page reference work is encyclopaedic in its breadth and depth : its topics include pronunciation, punctuation, noun formation, verbs of motion, particles, diminutives, participles, gerunds, prepositions, word order, etc. Basically all of the rules – important and obscure – that you need to develop a robust grasp on how the language really works.

The example sentences are all taken from real literary and non-literary Russian sources, and are a breath of fresh air from the typically boring constructions that language books normally rely on.

A highly recommend resource .

A Comprehensive Russian Grammar - Our Rating

Using Russian Vocabulary

Divided into 18 thematic topics, this book provides the reader with over 5,000 Russian words and their translations. Each topic is broken down into three levels, starting with the most basic words and building up to some quite advanced (and obscure) vocabulary. Engaging self-study tasks at the end of each section and etymological insights make this an enjoyable and productive learning resource.

For those of you who have studied other languages, you may be familiar with Cambridge University Press’s excellent ‘ Using X Vocabulary ’ series.   If not, you will have to take our word that this is an invaluable textbook, that will raise all aspects of Russian proficiency.

Learning vocabulary can sometimes feel like a slightly random and chaotic experience – we get to grips with some areas quickly, only to discover (at just the wrong time!) that we have embarrassingly large gaps in our knowledge.

This is the solution. The book is divided into eighteen section (the natural world, industry, leisure & tourism, the physical body, etc.), and each section is divided into three subsections.   The first subsection contains basic vocabulary, whereas the last one will prepare you to authoritatively discuss the topic in question.  

This means that you can pick or choose sections depending on your strengths and interests , or, alternatively, work your way through it systematically.

Combined with Anki , it is the single best way to accumulate a large enough word base to sit the B1-C1 exams.

Intermediate - Reading

At this point you will feel ready to take off the training wheels and start reading some Russian literature in the original.

But there’s one thing you should know: not all classic writers are created equally when it comes to the difficulty of the works .   For example, the intermediate student who begins with one of Gogol’s short stories or Platonov’s novels will have a hard time getting through it.   The style and structure that these authors employ, make their books devilishly difficult to read.

Chekhov - The Collected Short Stories

Collected short stories from one of the masters of Russian literature. Tales in the volume include: ‘The lady with the Dog’, ‘The Princess’, ‘The Post’, and ‘Verochka’.

Collected short stories from one of the masters of Russian literature. Tales in the volume include: ‘The lady with the Dog’, ‘The Princess’, ‘The Post’, and ‘Verochka’. .

bookmonsterzero

Fortunately, there is a good place starting point: we recommend Chekhov .  

The way that Chekhov writes means that he is ideal for the intermediate student: his style is solid and sensible, the realism of his stories prevent confusion, and his choice of words – although firmly rooted in the 19 th century Russian tradition – are never flowery or redundant.

Who keeps the tavern and serves up the drinks? The peasant. Who squanders and drinks up money belonging to the peasant commune, the school, the church? The peasant. Who would steal from his neighbor, commit arson, and falsely denounce another for a bottle of vodka? The peasant. Anton Chekhov in Peasants

What’s more, his best writing was done in the form of short stories .   Even at this point you will rely heavily of a dictionary, and this means it will take you much longer to read one page of Russian than it would something written in your native language.   Reading a 10-page short story is an achievable task; being a hero and slogging through the Brothers Karamazov will not be much fun – yet!  

Chekhov Short Stories - Our Rating

Advanced Russian through History

Serious book covering the entire span of Russian and Soviet history, broken down into 36 concise chapters. Specifically designed for ambitious Russian students that want to gain greater historical awareness and improve their academic vocabulary. Online exercises and mini-lectures included.

If you want a more structured approach to getting your reading up, then Advanced Russian through History is a good option.

As you work through the 36 chronological chapters , taking you from Kievan Rus’ up to the Post-Soviet Era, you will notice that the difficulty of the text gradually becomes more challenging.   However, this progression is so incremental that you never feel too far out of your comfort zone.

Vocabulary keys, high-quality learning tasks, and mini-lectures (found on the publisher’s website ) make this a worthwhile book to buy.

Plus, it’s a fun way to learn more about Russian history!

Advanced Russian through History - Our Rating

It would also be a good idea to start reading the news in Russian. That way you will have a constant stream of new material covering a diverse range of topics.

All of the major Russian newspapers – Vedomosti , Kommersant , Novaya Gazeta – are worth reading, but our favourite website is the BBC’s Russian service .   It follows the rest of the BBC’s policy of using simple, clear diction and produces good, impartial articles on all major stories concerning Russia and the former Soviet Union.

In addition, the majority of the videos that you will find in the multimedia section now come with Russian subtitles – something that you will struggle to find elsewhere.

Intermediate - Writing

Wade’s Grammar is such an intimidating brick of a book that it can be difficult to know where to begin with it.   Because you now have so much information at your disposal you need an effective way to get it in your brain and keep it there.

Russian Grammar Workbook

Excellent workbook to accompany Wade’s grammar textbook. Crammed full of exercises to drill you on virtually everything you need to get your writing and speaking up to an advanced level.

Excellent workbook to accompany Wade’s grammar textbook. Crammed full of exercises to drill you on virtually everything you need to get your writing and speaking up to an advanced level. w

Fortunately, there is also a grammar workbook that can be used independently or in conjunction with the textbook.  

Both books share the same layout and subsection breakdown , so you can synchronise your grammar with written practice.   It features over 230 sets of exercises that involve all sorts of exercises: translation practice, sentence formation, etc.

Although it is only 270 pages, and some reviewers think it is a little on the pricey side for the number of exercises, it is worth pointing out that each of these ‘questions’ has multiple component parts.   This means that, given its size, you are getting a lot more value for money than this may suggest.  

A Russian Grammar Workbook - Our Rating

A Guide to Essay Writing in Russian

Ideal for high school or university students, this book is designed to help readers improve their essay writing skills in Russian. Contains grammar reference, key thematic vocabulary, and practical writing advice, as well as plenty of written exercises. Themes include climate, economics, politics, and organised crime.

All language learners have been set those uninspiring writing tasks from time to time: “write me an essay about what you got up to at the weekend”, “what is your favourite holiday destination”, etc.

What is so irritating about these topics is that, although the content is so simple a child could talk about them confidently, it can be surprisingly tricky to structure them properly.

Essay writing is a skill, and this well-written book will teach you how to excel at it.   Each thematic chapter starts with a grammatical guide, giving useful information on important aspects like conjunctions and word order, before presenting the reader with a series of exercises and essay questions.  

Each essay exercise comes with a template answer to help you develop the right instincts when faced with the real deal in an exam or professional situation.

A Guide to Essay Writing in Russian - Our Rating

Russian for Business Studies

Ideal guide for those that want to use their Russian for business purposes. Follows BCP’s general format of grammar, vocabulary, and written exercises. In particular, it is a nice way to learn those set phrases and pleasantries that pervade every office environment. Topics includes privatisation, entrepreneurship, advertising, and the banking system.

Also in BCP’s textbook series is Russian for Business Studies.   Like the Guide to Essay Writing, this book focuses on the specific grammar and vocabulary that will come in useful in a business context, before cementing this knowledge with a range of written exercises.

It was written in 2000 and doesn’t appear to have been updated since, leaving it vulnerable to the charge of being obsolete.   However, having worked through it, we can confirm that a surprisingly large proportion of the words are still used today, meaning that it’s still worth buying this book.

Of course, you won’t find up-to-date IT and technological terminology, so you will have to look elsewhere for this.   But if you are just interested in a general office-focused business textbook, this will do the job.

Russian for Business Studies - Our Rating

Intermediate - speaking.

In the long run, the only way to improve your Russian speaking is to speak Russian. A lot. For a long time.

If you’re at university and are majoring in Russian, your course should involve a year abroad in a Russian-speaking country.   This is obviously in an incredible opportunity that will give you give you the complete immersion that you need to push yourself out of your Anglophonic comfort zone.

If, however, you are studying independently, it might be difficult to replicate this experience.   You probably won’t be able to take months off from work to study in Russia. There, of course, are a lot of private language schools in all major cities of the former Soviet Union that offer short-term language lesson packages – Liden & Denz , Russianlab , and Language Link are three of the most popular.  

But the high prices that these centres charge might well mean that they are outside your budget.   Taking into account flights and living expenses in pricy cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg, you could easily burn through a few thousand dollars for a couple of weeks’ worth of tuition.

But don’t despair! There is a language school that offers excellent Russian lessons and a welcoming homestay experience with a local family , all for a very affordable price: The London School of Languages and Culture in Bishkek .

Bishkek is the capital of Kyrgyzstan , a Central Asian country that was formerly part of the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire before it.   As such, everyone in the country speaks Russian as a first or second language.   This, couple with the fact that the cost of living is more than ten times cheaper than in Russia, makes it the perfect location to learn Russian for those on a budget.

The London School was founded in 1998, and since then has earned a reputation amongst Russian students as an honest and professional institution .   All of the admin involved in organising your stay in Kyrgyzstan (visa, airport pickup, accommodation and meal arrangements) is handled by the school’s competent English-speaking team.

The most important thing to note are the incredible prices: an hour’s worth of one-to-one private tuition with a qualified native speaker will only set you back $5-8 – there is quite simply nowhere else in the world that offers such value for money!

The lessons are top-notch as well.   The school uses its own online teaching system via classroom whiteboard projector screens, meaning that all of your modular lessons will follow the official structure of the course.   All of the teachers that taught us were friendly, knowledgeable, and highly professional .

If you take on the intensive course (20 hours per week), each school day will have a few hours of grammar in the morning followed by conversation and literature practice after lunch.   You will also be expected to complete homework for each class.   So you can expect to be very busy throughout your time in Kyrgyzstan!

Lessons finish at around 3 o’clock, giving you plenty of time to socialise and explore the city.   Bishkek is a pleasant city to live in: it has plenty of bars, restaurants, musical and theatrical performances to keep you entertained.   What is more, levels of English competency are generally very low in Kyrgyzstan, so you won’t have much trouble striking up a conversation with locals in Russian, only for them to switch to fluent English within a few seconds (as often happens in Moscow and St. Petersburg).

  With regards to living arrangements, you have two basic options: either live in the student dormitories that are located in the upper floors of the school itself, or live with a local family as a homestay arrangement (vetted and organised by the London School).   If you do the former you will spend a lot of your free time socialising with other English-speaking students, which is why we recommend that go for the homestay option.  

We guarantee you that you will learn just as much Russian by simply taking part in daily life with your host family as you do from the formal lessons.   Kyrgyz culture highly values hospitality , so you can be sure of a warm welcome and involvement in all of the family’s social life.

The school doesn’t offer any tuition over the weekend, but they do offer lots of extracurricular activities, including: horseback riding, bazaar visits, and mountain treks.

Of course, you can also organise excursions yourself – Kyrgyzstan is a beautiful mountainous country with loads to see and do.   We strongly recommend that you take the time to see Ala Archa National Park , Issuk-Kul Salt Lake , Osh , Karakol , and Arslanbob .  

No matter how long you are able to study at the London School you will come back feeling that your Russian has improved immeasurably.

The London School in Bishkek - Our Rating

But if you’re really not in a position to spend some time in a Russian-speaking country, the next best thing would be to find a language exchange partner in your home country.

If you’re fortunate enough to have a Russian community in your city, then there will be plenty of opportunities to get to know people and practice your Russian with them.   In theory at least…

Although America, Canada, and the UK are some of the most diverse countries in the world, which should  make learning foreign languages a breeze, there’s a major problem for us: most foreign residents speak excellent English.   They have to!   After all, we are extremely demanding when it comes to English proficiency and it is virtually impossible to get a decent job in these countries without fluent English.  

This means that 99% of the Russian speakers you will come across in your city will speak much better English than you speak Russian.   It’s very difficult to get someone to suffer your broken Russian when they know they could accelerate the conversation by switching to English.   Frustrating, but true!

One way you can get around this is by making a semi-formal agreement with your interlocutor that you will speak English for half of the time, and Russian for the other half – that way you both get something out of it.  

You can find people searching for this kind of arrangement on websites like My Language Exchange .

The success of the language exchange will vastly depend on how well your personality and linguistic requirements mesh with your partner’s.   It’s really a case of trial and error .   But if you find the right person you can rack up hours and hours of conversation practice without having to pay anything.

If, though, you live in small town and you can’t find any suitable prospective language partners, we recommend that you skip ahead and take a look at our speaking suggestions for advanced learners.

Intermediate - Listening

Respectable online language courses like RussianPod101 , should still challenge you as you move up to intermediate level Russian.   But now you should begin to spread your wings and start listening to real Russian conversations (i.e. not the watered-down Russian that teachers use).

Mosfilm Catalogue

Film studio behind classic Soviet films like The Irony of Fate , Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears , and Gentlemen of Fortune . Vast catalogue available to watch for free on Youtube and official website. Russian and English subtitles.

A few years ago Mosfilm – one of the oldest and most famous Russian film production companies – released a free catalogue of a huge number of their greatest films on YouTube and their official website .  

These are fantastic ways for improving your listening comprehension, not only because the vast majority of them come with both English and Russian subtitles , but also because these classic Soviet films have made a huge impact on Russian culture.   You’ll find that Russians are always making reference to quotes and characters from these films, so you need to understand what they’re talking about.  

As such, you’ll never be able to claim that you are truly fluent until you can appreciate these cultural nuances, as well as master the linguistic side of the language!

Important Info

Mosfilm catalogue - our rating.

The usefulness of slow news is a controversial topic.   Some people claim that it’s a good way of preparing yourself to listen to real Russian news programmes (in which the presenters speak at an ungodly  pace).   Others say that it’s better just to jump in at the deep end and get used to how people really speak.

We reckon that the latter position is probably closer to the truth.   But if you think listening to slowed-down news would help you at this point then we recommend working through the audio clips found on this website .  

Try to listen to the clip a few times without looking at the accompanying transcription to see if you can understand the general gist.   Once you can understand the main points of the news briefing, it’s time to move on to the real thing.

Intermediate - Bonus

Russian Swear Words

Teaches you the swear words that Russians really use. Takes pains to lay out the grammar and context behind each word so you can use it correctly. Lots of examples given.

Teaches you the swear words that Russians really use. Takes pains to lay out the grammar and context behind each word so you can use it correctly. Lots of examples given. .

Instead, the best thing is to learn those evergreen swear words that people actually use in real life and don’t make you sound stupid.  

The book tells you which words to use and exactly how Russians use (with the correct grammar).  

Even if you have no interest in using the words, it’s still a useful book to read through as you can be sure that you need to understand when people are swearing and what they are saying!

Russian Swear Words - Our Rating

  Beginners | Intermediate | Advanced  

Advanced - Grammar & Vocabulary

Having studied Russian seriously for a few years, you will have picked up a wide range of words and phrases.   Your vocabulary will probably be close to ~10,000 words .   This should allow you to say pretty much whatever you want to say without having to break rhythm and rack your brains for a translation.

However, just because you know lots of words does not mean that you know how to use them correctly and naturally .

Using Russian Synonyms

Designed to expand and deepen the vocabulary of intermediate-advanced students. A guide to finding the right word for the context by illustrating the (often) subtle difference between synonyms. Huge number of words and lexical groups covered, arranged in an orderly fashion with an index.

What do we mean by this?

Well, for example, we all know that when we go to a funeral and we are giving our condolences to the bereaved, that it is polite to talk about the person ‘passing away’, rather than straight ‘dying’ or ‘being killed’.   Although the latter two translations are technically correct, given the situation it would perhaps seem slightly awkward to use them in this context.

The same principle applies to all languages, and Russian isn’t an exception.   If you want to stop being ‘that foreigner that can speak Russian well, but awkwardly and disjointedly’, this book will be invaluable to achieving, not just fluency, but naturalness as well.

All the synonyms are collected as groups.   So ‘to die’, ‘to perish’, ‘to pass away’, etc. are all one group, with ‘to die’ – the most common and neutral synonym – being presented as the group leader. The group leaders are all arranged alphabetically, meaning that finding the group you need is exceedingly simple.

Within each group the author provides the necessary grammatical information to use the words correctly, but also explains in what context the word should be used, states the register of the word (i.e. is it slang, neutral, formal, etc.), and provides plenty of usage examples.

While this book isn’t the end of the road when it comes to vocabulary, if you can work your way through it and absorb as many of the lexical nuances that are presented to you, you will be knocking on the door to genuine native-level fluency.

An absolute essential for advanced Russian learners.

Advanced - Reading

At this level, you should be able to read virtually anything!   The entire world of Russian literature is now open for you to explore, and no writing in the contemporary media will be prohibitively challenging.

The main thing to do is to read widely – try to absorb as much vocabulary from as many genres, topics, and registers as you you’re able to bear.

Below we have listed some online newspapers and magazines that are worth bookmarking:

  Vedomosti

  Kommersant

  Forbes (Ru)

  Novaya Gazeta

  Radio Svoboda

  Nezavisimaya Gazeta

  Argumenty i Fakty

  Sovetsky Sport

  Autoreview

  Tekhnika Molodezhi

  Literaturnaya Gazeta

  Vokrug Sveta

Advanced - Writing

While reading proficiency will have taken off for most advanced speakers, many will find that their writing skills are seriously lagging behind.

Time to take action!

Using Russian

Focuses on areas of written Russian that English speakers in particular find challenging. Learn how contemporary Russian is actually used in the real world. An excellent choice for students that would like to use Russian for business purposes and want to improve the professionalism of their Russian.

Using Russian is a guide to advanced Russian usage, focusing on areas of grammar, vocabulary, style, and register that are particularly difficult for English speakers.

It assumes that you have a solid grammatical and lexical foundation, so is able to skip past standard grammatical topics and instead focus on a huge range of miscellaneous problems : neologisms, fillers, idioms, measurement, currency, faux amis, translation issues, jokes, puns, verbal etiquette, etc.

We really can’t rate this book highly enough: even if you learnt Wade’s Grammar off by heart, you would still come across thousands of annoying difficulties in trying to write perfect Russian.   While we obviously can’t claim that this book contains the answer to every single one of those problems, just one look at its contents pages should convince you that it’s a vital tool for advanced learners who want to take their Russian to the next level.

Using Russian - Our Rating

Perhaps you’ve already signed up to Vkontakte – if you haven’t you should now!

Vkontakte is the largest social media network in the Russian-speaking world .   You make a profile just as you would on Facebook (in fact, much of the interface is virtually identical), and you’re good to go.

Apart from staying in contact with people you’ve met on your travels, it’s clearly a fantastic resource for keeping up-to-date with modern Russian culture, news, and topics of conversation.

Why is it in our writing section? Well, obviously, once you’ve connected with some Russian friends you can use it to practise your Russian writing with them all of the time!

But let’s assume for a second that your friends have lives and don’t want to spending every waking minute of the day correcting your past perfective participles – who can you go to for writing practice?

It really is that simple!

Of course, like all of these mutual-assistance websites, the more you help others, the more you’ll receive corrections for the material you input.   Even if you’re not a particularly altruistic person, the benefits of having your writing corrected by a native more than outweigh the time costs of returning the favour.

The Russian section of the WordReference forum is a great alternative if you can’t be bothered with Lang-8’s reciprocal set-up.

You can ask virtually any question related to Russian and expect to get a detailed knowledgeable answer back within a few hours.   As with any forum, make sure you read up on the site’s rules and etiquette before posting.

Advanced - Speaking

If you’re not living in Russia, keeping your speaking up for an advanced learner can be surprisingly difficult.   Language classes in institutes aren’t really worth their high costs at this point because you just need to talk, not have grammar explained to you.

If you haven’t got a burgeoning Russian-orientated social life, then you need to create one artificially!

Online language learning website which connects language learners and teachers through video chat. Over 5,000 teachers to choose from, ranging from qualified professionals to community tutors. Prices per hour can be as low as $5 for Russian. Best way to keep up your speaking skills from home.

Italki is essentially an online marketplace that links up language students and tutors for affordable Skype lessons.

Teachers are divided into two categories: professional teachers and community tutors .

Professional teachers are in possession of teaching qualifications and tend to follow a structured lesson plan.   They may charge quite a bit, depending on the language being taught.   Community tutors on the other hand are just enthusiastic native speakers that can provide informal conversational lessons.   Their prices vary, but for some languages (including Russian!) you can get hour-long lessons for as low as $5 !

If you are an advanced Russian speaker, we recommend that you arrange lessons solely with community tutors – all you need at this point is conversation practice, and a lot of it!

Of course, you need to find a tutor that you like with and whose teaching style suits you well.   Luckily, there is the ‘trial lesson’ feature that allows you to try out tutors in half-hour lessons at heavily discounted rates .   So you can sample a number of tutors that you think look promising and then arrange further lessons with the ones that you get on best with.

On top of all this, Italki also features a messaging tool, language specific blogs, Q&A forums, and feedback notebooks for any writing tasks that tutors set you.

Italki really is a fantastic tool that all language learners should know about.   There is now no excuse not to take your speaking proficiency to the next level!

Italki - Our Rating

Advanced - listening.

Listening will remain a major hurdle for advanced learners, long after they have mastered other skills.   No matter how proficient you become in Russian you will always have to pay attention when a native starts talking to make sure you catch every word.

To feel truly confident with your listening you will need to watch many hours of Russian television and films.

Russian TV streaming service that allows you to watch popular Russian programmes in your home country. Hundreds of channels and thousands of films available mean that you will always have fresh listening material. Reasonably priced and no contracts.

If you are no longer living in Russia, we recommend that you purchase a subscription with Kartina .

Kartina is a streaming service (you will need to buy a Dune media streamer first) that distributes Russian television channels , targeting the Russian diaspora in most Western countries.

You link it up to your television and for a small monthly fee (around $10, no contract) you get access to a 150+ channels and 2000+ on-demand films from across the former Soviet Union.   All the programming is archived for two weeks, so you have complete control over when you watch your programmes.Once you have a Kartina account, as well as watching it through Dune on your television, you can also login via a laptop or with the official app (iPhone and Android) on your phone at no extra cost.

It’s a reliable, fast service that we have had no problems with over the years, and an excellent way to get some Russian listening practice in if you have a spare 15-30 minutes.

Kartina TV - Our Rating

The only criticism we have of Kartina is that none of the channels come with Russian subtitles.   This would be useful for learners who are not quite good enough yet to understand everything spoken on Russian television.   But considering that Kartina is primarily aimed at Russian expatriates, and not foreign language learners, it’s not surprising that this feature has been omitted.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be anything to fill this gap in the market – you will just have to struggle on with unsubtitled Russian television until you get used to the speed and complexity of the speech.

Otherwise, Youtube and Rutube are your friends.   You can actually find most of the programmes that you get through Kartina on these sites.   So if you’re on a budget, these can be a good alternative to the subscription service.

Advanced - Bonus

The Russian Word's Worth

Cultural study and colloquial dictionary rolled into one book. The collected articles of a long-time Moscow expat, covering a smorgasbord of interesting and quirky topics. Great fun and a good insight into how Russians really speak.

Cultural study and colloquial dictionary rolled into one book. The collected articles of a long-time Moscow expat, covering a smorgasbord of interesting and quirky topics. Great fun and a good insight into how Russians really speak. .

Translator and Moscow Times columnist, Michele Berdy has been living in Moscow for decades – since before the collapse of the Soviet Union, in fact.   In that time, she has built up an enormous wealth of knowledge about Russia, its culture, and its language.

The Russian Word’s Worth is a collection of her humorous articles on a variety of topics – politics, the workplace, holidays, etymology – all of them focused on translation and the struggle that expats have in expressing themselves correctly.  

You will pick up a lot of practical Russian vocabulary: how to: express your condolences, how to deal with plumbers, how to excuse yourself to go to the bathroom, among other things.

The articles are refreshingly apolitical – a rarity when it comes to Russia!   And the fact that the author doesn’t take herself too seriously makes them a pleasure to read.

All-in-all, It’s an excellent book for advanced learners who want to expand their colloquial grasp of the language and gain a deeper appreciation for Russian culture.

The Russian Word's Worth - Our Rating

Russian - English Dictionary of Idioms

Colossal collection of Russian idioms, old and new. Over 14,000 entries with explanations and examples. The only resource that any Russian learner would ever need to enrich their vocabulary with colourful idioms. A must-have for (in particular, literary) translators.

You can actually find hundreds of Russian idioms on Wiktionary (with their literal translations and English equivalents).  

But if you that’s not enough and you feel you want to delve deeper, then this dictionary is perfect for you.

With close to 14,000 fully-translated items from the nineteenth century to the present day, it can rightfully claim to be the ‘most innovative, comprehensive, and scholarly bilingual dictionary of Russian idioms available today’.

Like all good language books, it packed full of examples, grammatical explanations, and stylistic and usage information.

Russian - English Dictionary of Idioms - Our Rating

Introduction to Russian - English Translation

Very practical, hands-on guide for Russian-English translators. The main aim of the book is to identify problematic aspects of Russian and English that might cause translations to sound clunky or awkward. Provides numerous examples for each point made and supplementary exercises to test your knowledge.

Perhaps you want to do more than speak excellent Russian.   Perhaps you have ambitions of working as a professional Russian translator.

If that’s the case, it’s important that you realise that being a good linguist and being a good translator are two COMPLETELY different things.   They require different skills, and different competencies.   In fact, many people claim that to succeed as a translator depends more on how well you write in your native tongue than how well you speak the foreign language you’re translating from.

That’s why books like Introduction to Russian-English Translation are so important: they teach you the vital translation skills that you won’t get from general Russian textbooks.  

The book is focused solely on the specific language pair of Russian-English, covering topics such as:

• Key words vs props
• Identifiers
• Intensifiers
• Diminutives and augmentatives
• Loaded words and implication
• Delays and interruptions
• Rhetorical and pragmatic factors

If you don’t know what a lot of these terms mean, then … all the more reason you should buy this book!

Introduction to Russian - English Translation - Our Rating

  Beginners | Intermediate | Advanced

Language Level Guide

• A1-A2 on the CEFR scale
• Has been learning for 0-1 years
• Is able to understand and contribute to basic conversations 
• B1-B2 on the CEFR scale
• Has been learning for 1-3 years
• Can satisfy majority of communicative needs in a wide range of situations
• C1-C2 on the CEFR scale
• Has been learning for 3+ years
• Has a high level of command in all communicative contexts

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Learn to Write in Russian in 7 Baby Steps

Mastering Russian writing isn’t as hard as it seems.

And learning how to write in Russian is essential to truly becoming fluent in Russian.

So stop putting it off: Proceed to Step One in my seven-step process and start writing in Russian today!

1. Learn the Cyrillic alphabet.

Resources for learning the russian alphabet, 2. learn to produce the letters yourself..

• Resources for Learning to Produce Russian Letters 

3. Learn Russian cursive.

Resources for learning russian cursive, 4. learn to type in russian., resources for learning to type in russian, 5. start forming basic words with the letters., resources for forming basic words in russian, 6. practice russian writing by copying text from russian books., resources for copying russian text, 7. write in russian with online russian exercises, resources for russian exercises for writing purposes, and one more thing....

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

If you have any experience with the Russian language, you already know that Russian has a different alphabet from English. While we use the Roman (or Latin) alphabet to write English, Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet, which originated (fun fact) in the 9th century.

There is good news and bad news when it comes to learning the Russian alphabet.

The good news is that some of the letters look, and even sound, the same or similar to English ones. These include letters like A , K , M , O and T . Other letters look similar, but don’t (or don’t always) have the same associated sound as in English, such as C (pronounced like the English S), B (pronounced like the English V) and E (pronounced like “yeh” ) .

The bad (but definitely not super bad) news is that some letters will look brand spanking new. However, that is great news for your brain, which will definitely get a boost from all the new letters you will become acquainted with. These include  Д (pronounced like a hard D, as in “dog”),  Я , (pronounced like “yah” ) and П  (pronounced like a hard P, as in “pig”).

You can find the full Russian alphabet here , and you can learn the Russian letters more efficiently by creating flashcards with the Russian letters on one side and the pronunciation using English letters on the other side . This will help you test yourself on the sound of each letter.

You can also purchase Russian flashcards as an alternative option. This set contains 33 cards that not only help you memorize letters, but offer a guide in pronunciation. Each card has the letter in upper and lower case, a pronunciation guide and a word that starts with the letter in Russian, along with an English translation. On the opposite side, you can find an image that starts with the letter to test your knowledge not only of the letter it starts with, but the Russian term for the image.

When memorizing foreign letters, we start by learning to pronounce a letter we see; however, to truly master a language, we have to reverse that process.

This requires listening to the letters said out loud and writing them down from memory. This is the only way to learn to write Russian on your own—by forming the letters in your mind and writing them without having a reference set in front of you.

Resources for Learning to Produce Russian Letters  

Thanks to the wonderful world of the internet, you can find many ways to practice writing in Russian.

You can start with these worksheets from Happy Child , which will help you practice writing and typing common phrases and vocabulary words. While the worksheets can  be used online, you can use them to practice your handwriting by printing them out. Fold the paper in half so you can only see the English or the Russian at one time. You can try copying the Russian, or translating the English into Russian.

Check out this YouTube video that teaches viewers the Russian alphabet .

The trick to utilizing this video for your needs is not to look at the screen! While this may seem counterproductive to using YouTube, this is a way of being able to test yourself and check your answers later. Listen to the letters pronounced a few times and write them down as fast as you can before the video moves on to another letter.

Another great resource is this Russian Learning Mat , which uses colorful visuals to engage you as you learn, as well as audio of every letter.

The steps above have likely helped you learn the Russian letters and their associated sounds, so feel free to congratulate yourself. However, don’t celebrate too much yet, as you still need to learn a whole other script— Russian cursive .

While in America, we don’t use cursive as much as we used to, Russians still rely on handwriting as a method of communication quite a bit.

Once you learn Russian printed letters, learning to handwrite them will be easier as you already know how they sound.

A few Russian cursive worksheets  is really all you need for this step. That and practice, practice, practice.

LinguaLift has an excellent resource for learning the often tricky cursive. Here, you’ll find clear images of how to form the cursive version of each Russian letter, as well as a PDF practice sheet you can download and print.

There are a number of apps that can help you practice with more feedback, like this Russian Cursive app for Android or “Write It!” for iOS . These might be good options if you prefer to learn on the go, and if you want a more guided and interactive way to learn. Russian handwriting apps often let you trace each letter, provide audio and examples and even practice recognizing each letter.

Although Russians still use pens and pencils to write, many are embracing the computer and typing away. Learning to type in Russian is essential for business purposes , finding Russian videos and other content and keeping up correspondence across the ocean.

Just as with learning cursive, learning to type in Russian will be fairly painless once you know the Cyrillic alphabet. All this will require is memorizing where Russian letters are placed on a keyboard and then working on your skills.

TypeIt provides access to a free Russian keyboard , which is fully functional. Simply type letters using your mouse and see them written in the field on the page.

You can also purchase Russian keyboard stickers or a keyboard cover and use your own keyboard to learn the placement of the letters.

When you are ready, you can take it a step further and set up your keyboard to type Russian . Like with learning cursive, this will be an ongoing process, and you will get more out of it after continuing with the steps below.

The last four steps had you learning individual letters, but writing requires the ability to form the letters into actual words. Remember how you learned to write in English—you started with basic words, such as “mom,” “dad,” “cat” and “hat.”

Do the same when learning to write in Russian—form the letters into short words to start writing on your own.

Watching videos with subtitles is a great way to compare the words you hear with how they’re written. You could use auto-generated subtitles on YouTube (though be forewarned that they’re not always accurate), or try to find a channel with proofread subtitles.

FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.

You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.

P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)

Try FluentU for FREE!

You can use the flashcards you made or purchased to form Russian words from letters. You can form any words you like, but here are some basic verbs to start with.

Or, you can make the process more fun with magnets. These Russian letter magnets  offer a colorful and easy way to utilize a surface (your fridge) to play around with word formations without making a mess on the floor!

This is also a good time to pull up a list of common words and phrases in Russian . Practice writing each word as many times as you need. For bonus points, try writing the words in cursive!

Russian words are infamous for being long, containing lots of hard consonant combinations and even letters that are very difficult to pronounce (such as hard and soft sounds).

As such, you can benefit from copying Russian text from books, magazines, blogs and other materials to familiarize yourself with proper Russian spelling.

A dual language Russian to English book is perfect not just for this step, but for improving your Russian overall . You can use the Russian portion of the text to practice copying words and sentences. Then, you can read the English translation to understand what you are reading and work on your comprehension.

You can use any Russian text to copy, but it’s a good idea to start from shorter works like Russian short stories . Another good option is poetry, as you can also use your writing practice to help you memorize Russian poems—a practice which is very much a facet of learning in Russian schools . Yale has a digital Russian poetry collection for learners that you can make use of for your writing practice.

If you’re looking for more of a challenge, you can try transcribing Russian audio into written Russian. Easy Pronunciation has a tool that lets you listen to words spoken out loud then select the sound you heard. Pull out a pen and paper and write down each word as you hear it, then check your spelling and writing against the answer. You can choose how easy or difficult the tests are, and which types of sounds they test you on.

The web offers a multitude of Russian exercises that can help you improve your writing skills. The trick is finding reputable sources that won’t lead you astray in your learning efforts.

These can include quizzes that test your knowledge of the Russian alphabet, games where you can write in answers or anything else that gets you writing.

The best way to practice writing online for more intermediate and advanced purposes is finding exercises that ask you to write your answers instead of choosing from pre-set choices.

Reading comprehension tests are perfect for more advanced learners, as these allow you to see words written first in a paragraph, and then practice writing answers to open-ended questions. Everyday Russian Language offers a selection of reading material with English paragraph-by-paragraph translations, followed by questions and answers about what you read, in Russian with English translations.

Russian for Free has many grammar exercises, which you can use to both strengthen your grammar knowledge and practice your writing.

Remember that writing in Russian is required for really knowing the language.

Follow this seven-step approach to truly write in Russian like a native.

If you love learning Russian and want to immerse yourself with authentic materials from Russia, then I should also tell you more about FluentU .

FluentU naturally and gradually eases you into learning the Russian language and culture. You'll learn real Russian as it's spoken by real Russian people!

FluentU has a very broad range of contemporary videos. Just a quick look will give you an idea of the variety of Russian-language content available on FluentU:

FluentU makes these native Russian videos approachable through interactive transcripts. Tap on any word to look it up instantly.

Access a complete interactive transcript of every video under the Dialogue tab. Easily review words and phrases with audio under Vocab .

All definitions have multiple examples, and they're written for Russian learners like you. Tap to add words you'd like to review to a vocab list.

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Essay in Russian

Argumentative Essays

Narrative Essays

Comparative Essays

Student Partnership

Hello everyone,

Welcome to our class blog for Essay in Russian !

Here you will find examples of some of the essays written by UCL SSEES undergraduate students studying Russian as part of their degree.

The Essay in Russian module is an elective module of the Russian degree programme and aims to develop general transferable writing skills as well as essay writing in Russian. The content of the course is developed using both Process and Result oriented approaches to teaching writing. The module sets out to allow students to become independent and competent writers and give them the skills needed to produce coherent and cohesive written content in Russian.

Over the course of the 2018/19 academic year we covered four different types of essays: argumentative, narrative, reasoning, and comparative, plus a “review writing” – to all of which you can find sample essays in this blog.

Within the framework of the module, students were asked to create an individual online writer’s blog using the WordPress blogging platform where they published some of their work (essays or other posts). This was done as part of formative assessment and on an entirely voluntary basis.

Four different types of digital technologies were used to deliver this module and blogs were one part of them. The use of blogs was suggested to students in order to facilitate the idea of writing for audiences and to build their skills and confidence when writing. Using blogs also aimed to teach students to be accountable for the content they upload publicly and to serve as a tool of reflection on students’ writing process and progress. It also functioned as a motivational booster letting students see how they have improved over the course of the year. Moreover, in the future students can also use the blogs as Language Portfolios as evidence of their language proficiency to others, such as potential employers or other academic institutions.

I am very grateful to all my students who have contributed essay samples for this blog and who have provided continual valuable feedback on how to improve the module for future students. As a result of this successful pilot module and the feedback given by students this module has been refined, amended and improved and next academic year will run under the title Writing, Editing and Blogging in Russian. Thank you to all who helped to shape this module. Your responsive and positive attitude and collaboration is very much appreciated.

I hope you will enjoy the samples you read and will celebrate the achievements of our students!

With fondest regards,

Maria Sibiryakova ([email protected])

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Russian (Русский язык)

Russian is an Eastern Slavic language spoken mainly in Russia and many other countries by about 260 million people, 150 million of whom are native speakers. Russian is an official language in Russian, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and in a number of other countries, territories and international organisations, including Tajikistan, Moldova, Gagauzia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria, and the UN. It is also recognised as a minority language in Romania, Finland, Norway, Armenia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Russsian at a glance

• Native name : русский язык [ˈruskʲɪj jɪˈzɨk]
• Language family : Indo-European, Balto-Slavic, Slavic, East Slavic
• Number of speakers : c. 260 million
• Spoken in : Russian, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Moldova, Romania, Finland, Norway, Armenia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, etc.
• First written : 10th century AD
• Writing system : Cyrillic alphabet
• Status : official language in Russian, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and many other countries and territories.
• An introduction to Russian

Written Russian

Russian alphabet (русский алфавит).

• Russian phonology (Русская фонетика)
• Cursive Russian alphabet (Русское рукописное письмо)

Older versions of the Russian alphabet

Sample text in russian, sample videos in russian.

• Links to more information
• Useful Russian phrases
• Silly Russian phrases
• Numbers in Russian
• Colours in Russian
• Time phrases in Russian
• Family words in Russian
• Terms of endearment in Russian
• Weather words in Russian
• Russian Idioms
• Russian Tongue twisters
• Tower of Babel in Russian
• Articles about Russian
• Russian-related Links
• Learning materials for Russian
• Constructed scripts for Russian

The earliest known writing in Russia dates from the 10th century and was found at Novgorod. The main languages written on them in an early version of the Cyrillic alphabet were Old Russian and Old Church Slavonic. There are also some texts in Finnish, Latin and Greek.

Russian started appearing in writing regularly during the reign of Peter the Great (a.k.a. Peter I) (1672-1725) who introduced a revised alphabet and encouraged authors to use a literary style closer to their spoken language. The dialect of Moscow was used as the basis for written Russian.

Russian literature started to flower during the 19th century when Tolstoi, Dostoyevskii, Gogol and Pushkin were active. During the Soviet era knowledge of the Russian language was wide spread though the subjects authors could write about were restricted.

Russian alphabet learning game

Hear the Russian alphabet

Russian phonology

There are a number of other transliteration schemes for Russian. The one shown here is the BGN/PCGN romanization system, which was developed by the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) and by the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use (PCGN). It is designed to be relatively intuitive for English speakers to pronounce, and is also known as the British Standard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Russian http://www.unics.uni-hannover.de/ntr/russisch/umschrifttabelle.html

• А is pronounced [a] when stressed, and [ə] or [ɐ] in unstressed syllables
• The soft (palatalization) sign after Ж, Ш, Ч and Щ does not affect their pronunciation.
• The vowels Е, Ё, Ю and Я normally palatalize the previous consonant (the 3rd case). When a hard sign (ъ) separates a consonant and one of these vowels, the consonant is pronounced without palatalization and the vowel is pronounced according to the rules of the 4th case. Example: подъезд (porch) [pad'jest].
• If a consonant is the final letter it is always unvoiced (see the previous example).
• The pronunciation of unstressed vowels depends on the region. In the Central European part of Russia the unstressed Е and Я are pronounced as [i] and unstressed О is pronounced as [a]. Example: молоко (milk) [mala'ko].
• The letter Ё is often written as Е except in cases of possible ambiguity: небо (sky) and нёбо (palate).

Cursive Russian alphabet

This is a version of the cursive handwritten Russian alphabet. Some letters have different shapes when written in this way.

How to write the cursive Russian alphabet

Russian alphabet (1750-1918)

This is the version of Cyrillic alphabet used between 1750 and 1917/18.

Russian alphabet (pre-1750)

This is the version of Cyrillic alphabet used until 1750. The chart shows the letters, their names, the IPA transcription of their names, their Latin equivalents, and their numerical values.

These versions of the Russian alphabet are transliterated using the Scientific transliteration system, which is also known as the International Scholarly System, which has been used since the 19th century, and is the only one to include transliteration of the older letters.

Download alphabet charts for Russian (Excel)

Все люди рождаются свободными и равными в своем достоинстве и правах. Они наделены разумом и совестью и должны поступать в отношении друг друга в духе братства.

Cursive version

Transliteration.

Vse lyudi rozhdayutsya svobodnymi i ravnymi v svoyem dostoinstve i pravakh. Oni nadeleny razumom i sovest'yu i dolzhny postupat' v otnoshenii drug druga v dukhe bratstva.

A recording of this text by Yuri from Belarus

A recording of this text by Max Bollinger

Russian voiceover audio by [email protected]

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Information about Russian | Useful phrases | Silly phrases | Numbers | Colours | Time | Family words | Terms of endearment | Weather | Idioms | Tongue twisters | Tower of Babel | Articles | Links | Constructed scripts for Russian | Books about Russian on: Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk [affilate links]

Information about the Russian language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/russian/ https://www.britannica.com/topic/Russian-language http://realrussia.co.uk/Info/Languages https://www.alsintl.com/resources/languages/Russian/

Online Russian lessons http://masterrussian.com http://www.russianforeveryone.com http://polymath.org/russian.php http://russianmadeeasy.com http://www.russianlessons.net http://www.yesrussian.com http://ilovelanguages.org/russian.php https://everydayrussianlanguage.com/en/words/ https://www.loecsen.com/en/learn-russian http://www.russianpod101.com/

Russian Sets - news stories in Russian http://foreigncy.org/russian-sets/

Learn Russian

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• Grammar Hero Russian - Internalise Russian Grammar
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Slavic languages

Belarusian , Bosnian , Bulgarian , Croatian , Czech , Goral , Kashubian , Knaanic , Macedonian , Montenegrin , Old Church Slavonic , Polish , Russian , Rusyn , Serbian , Silesian , Slovak , Slovenian , Sorbian , Ukrainian , West Polesian

Languages written with the Cyrillic alphabet

Abaza , Abkhaz , Adyghe , Aghul , Akhvakh , Akkala Sámi , Aleut , Altay , Alyutor , Andi , Archi , Assyrian / Neo-Assyrian , Avar , Azeri , Bagvalal , Balkar , Bashkir , Belarusian , Bezhta , Bosnian , Botlikh , Budukh , Bulgarian , Buryat , Chamalal , Chechen , Chelkan , Chukchi , Chulym , Chuvash , Crimean Tatar , Dargwa , Daur , Dolgan , Dungan , Enets , Erzya , Even , Evenki , Gagauz , Godoberi , Hinukh , Hunzib , Ingush , Interslavic , Itelmen , Juhuri , Kabardian , Kaitag , Kalderash Romani , Kalmyk , Karaim , Karakalpak , Karata , Karelian , Kazakh , Ket , Khakas , Khanty , Khinalug , Khorasani Turkic , Khwarshi , Kildin Sámi , Kili , Komi , Koryak , Krymchak , Kryts , Kubachi , Kumandy , Kumyk , Kurdish , Kyrgyz , Lak , Lezgi , Lingua Franca Nova , Lithuanian , Ludic , Macedonian , Mansi , Mari , Moksha , Moldovan , Mongolian , Montenegrin , Nanai , Negidal , Nenets , Nganasan , Nivkh , Nogai , Old Church Slavonic , Oroch , Orok , Ossetian , Pontic Greek , Romanian , Rushani , Russian , Rusyn , Rutul , Selkup , Serbian , Shor , Shughni , Siberian Tatar , Sirenik , Slovio , Soyot , Tabassaran , Tajik , Talysh , Tat , Tatar , Teleut , Ter Sámi , Tindi , Tofa , Tsakhur , Tsez , Turkmen , Tuvan , Ubykh , Udege , Udi , Udmurt , Ukrainian , Ulch , Urum , Uyghur , Uzbek , Veps , Votic , Wakhi , West Polesian , Xibe , Yaghnobi , Yakut , Yazghulami , Yukaghir (Northern / Tundra) , Yukaghir (Southern / Kolyma) , Yupik (Central Siberian)

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A Guide to Essay Writing in Russian

Purchase options and add-ons.

Designed for student of Russians at A Level and beyond, this book first provides guidance on the basics of writing Russian and then goes on to give practical assistance in writing essays and projects in Russian on a range of topics - ranging from climate to organized crime - included in area studies courses on post-Soviet Russia. Each topic is divided into sections on vocabulary, phraseology and useful background information adaptable for self-teaching and for oral conversation classes. Exercises are included on specific grammar points and related vocabulary, all Russian texts included as information source and as models for adaptation are translated, and an English-Russian vocabulary is provided.

• ISBN-10 1853994936
• ISBN-13 978-1853994937
• Publisher Bristol Classical Press
• Publication date January 1, 1998
• Language English
• Dimensions 6 x 0.48 x 9 inches
• Print length 228 pages
• See all details

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About the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bristol Classical Press (January 1, 1998)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 228 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1853994936
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1853994937
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.48 x 9 inches
• #10,476 in Foreign Language Instruction (Books)
• #227,125 in Unknown

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The Comprehensive Guide to IB Russian A Language and Literature

Introduction

Welcome to the comprehensive guide to IB Russian A Language and Literature! This guide aims to provide you with valuable insights and knowledge about the International Baccalaureate (IB) Russian A Language and Literature course. Whether you are a student, a teacher, or simply interested in the Russian language and literature, this guide will offer you a comprehensive understanding of the subject. Let's delve into the world of Russian language and literature together!

The Importance of IB Russian A Language and Literature

IB Russian A Language and Literature is a subject of great importance as it allows students to explore the richness and complexity of the Russian language. By studying Russian language and literature, students not only develop linguistic proficiency but also gain insights into Russian culture, history, and societal issues. This course nurtures students' language abilities while fostering a deep appreciation for the beauty and power of the Russian language.

The Curriculum: Exploring the World of Russian Language and Literature

Theme 1: language and identity.

One of the central themes explored in the IB Russian A Language and Literature curriculum is the interplay between language and identity. Students engage with various forms of texts, including literary works, speeches, and non-fiction, to analyze how language shapes individual and collective identities. Through texts such as Fyodor Dostoevsky's novels and Alexander Pushkin's poetry, students gain insights into the nuances and depth of the Russian language.

Theme 2: Literature and Society

The second theme of the curriculum focuses on the examination of literature in its social context. Students explore how literature reflects and critiques societal norms, values, and challenges. Texts like Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" and Anton Chekhov's plays provide students with opportunities to critically analyze the relationship between literature and society, and how literature serves as a mirror to the social fabric.

Theme 3: Cultural Perspectives

The third theme delves into the study of Russian literature from various cultural perspectives. Students explore literary works from different time periods and regions within the Russian-speaking world. Through texts such as Nikolai Gogol's "Dead Souls" and Mikhail Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita," students gain a deeper understanding of the diversity and richness of Russian literature.

Exam Preparation: Tips and Strategies

Preparing for the IB Russian A Language and Literature exam requires diligent preparation and effective strategies. Here are some tips to help you succeed:

• Read Widely: Immerse yourself in a variety of Russian literary works, including works from different time periods, genres, and authors, to develop a comprehensive understanding of Russian literature.
• Analyze Texts: Practice close reading and develop your skills in analyzing literary techniques, themes, and cultural context within the texts.
• Develop Writing Skills: Enhance your essay writing skills by constructing well-structured arguments, supporting them with textual evidence, and showcasing critical thinking.
• Research the Context: Deepen your understanding of the historical, social, and cultural context in which the texts were written to better appreciate their significance and themes.
• Engage in Discussions: Participate in discussions with classmates, teachers, and online forums to exchange ideas, interpretations, and insights about the texts.
• Utilize Past Papers: Familiarize yourself with past exam papers to understand the exam format and types of questions that may be asked.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1: do i need to be fluent in russian to study ib russian a language and literature.

Yes, a strong proficiency in the Russian language is essential to study and excel in IB Russian A Language and Literature. The course requires reading, analyzing, and writing about Russian texts in depth.

Q2: Can I choose my own texts for analysis in the IB Russian A Language and Literature course?

No, the texts for analysis are predetermined by the IB curriculum. However, within the prescribed texts, students have the flexibility to explore different interpretations and aspects of the works.

Q3: Are there any recommended resources for studying Russian literature?

Yes, there are various resources available to support your study of Russian literature. Online platforms, academic journals, and reputable literary publications can provide valuable insights, critical analysis, and additional readings to supplement your understanding of the texts.

Q4: How can studying IB Russian A Language and Literature benefit me in the future?

Studying IB Russian A Language and Literature enhances your language proficiency, critical thinking skills, and cultural awareness. These skills can be valuable in various fields, such as translation, interpretation, academia, journalism, and cultural exchange programs focused on Russian-speaking countries.

Q5: Are there any famous Russian authors or literary works?

Russian literature has a rich tradition with many renowned authors and literary works. Some famous Russian authors include Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov, and Alexander Pushkin. Notable literary works include "Crime and Punishment," "War and Peace," "The Cherry Orchard," and "Eugene Onegin."

Q6: Can I pursue Russian literature studies beyond the IB program?

Certainly! If you develop a passion for Russian literature through the IB Russian A Language and Literature course, you can continue your studies at the undergraduate or graduate level, either in Russia or at institutions abroad.

In conclusion, this comprehensive guide has provided you with a thorough understanding of IB Russian A Language and Literature. By exploring the curriculum's themes, exam preparation tips, and frequently asked questions, you are now well-equipped to embark on your journey of studying the Russian language and literature. Embrace the beauty and depth of the Russian language and let it inspire your exploration of the captivating world of Russian literature.

Related posts

The Comprehensive Guide to IB English A Language and Literature

The Comprehensive Guide to IB Chinese A Language and Literature

The Comprehensive Guide to IB Arabic A Language and Literature

Russian Writing Examples

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86 Russian Revolution Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best russian revolution topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 interesting topics to write about russian revolution, 🔎 good research topics about russian revolution, ❓ russian revolution essay questions.

• History of Russian Revolution in 1917 Subsequent to the resignation of Romanovs, the provisional government was created by members of the parliament that was recognized as a legal government of Russia.
• The Russian Revolution by Sheila Fitzpatrick The author of this book defines the following frames: “The timespan of the Russian Revolution runs from February 1917 to the Great Purge of 1937-8. The first theme is the Bolsheviks’ vision of the revolution […]
• French and Russian Revolutions In fact, what later came to be known as “Russia’s Great October Socialist Revolution”, was more of a political coup the members of Russia’s Provisionary Government, which was formed after Czar’s abdication in 1916, we […]
• The French and Russian Revolutions of 1789 and 1917 On the other hand, 1989 marked the end of the Russian Revolution which was responsible for the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
• Changes Brought by Russian Revolution Today Russia is one of the superpowers in the world with a strong economy. The Bolsheviks took power after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and deposed the imperial government.
• The History of Russian Revolution Bolsheviks constituted the largest radical group in revolutionary Russia that played the most important role in the initiation and the course of the revolution.
• The Effects of 1917 Russian Revolution on the 20th Century Music The young composer made his way to the countryside in 1908 in order to earn the would-be title of the folk music examiner.
• Karl Marx Theory and the Russian Revolution It was the interpretations of Marxism theories by Lenin that were the force behind the Russian Revolution and the formation of the Soviet Union.
• Russian Revolutions Since 1905: Background and Consequences In 1905, when the Imperial forces of Russia were under the affliction of mortifying and degrading vanquishes, the famous revolution of that year broke out.
• Russian Revolution in “Cement” by Gladkov The novel demonstrates that one of the true insights of Communism is its understanding of the manner in which all human institutions and activities become perverted to the selfish use of particular groups.
• Russian Revolution and International Reaction The principal causes of the failure of the Allied Powers to help the White Army included the disagreement in goals and the general weakness of the Western involvement forces after World War I.
• Russian Revolutions, Fascism, and Totalitarianism It was also seeking to apply socialist principles in the political experience in the birth of the Soviet Union and apply it to the worldwide revolution. It was ultimately this aspect that led to the […]
• Causes of the 1917 Russian Revolution It was caused by three factors: the incapacity of the Tsarist economy to deal with modern industrial war, the organization of the mass army drawn from the peasantry and working class, and a growing hatred […]
• Bolshevik Propaganda in the Russian Revolution Communists hoped to achieve, and that was why they had more and more concentrated their propaganda efforts on the boys and girls and the young men and women.
• Russian Revolution in Orwell’s “Animal Farm” Both the long-term and the short-term causes of the revolution contributed to the public outrage and diminished the people’s belief in the monarchy.
• Russian Revolution: What Went Down? This revolution, therefore, overturned the Provisional Government and established the Soviet Union. While the February revolution overturned Tsar Nicholas II and established a Provisional Government.
• The First World War and the Russian Revolution Scholars argue that Russia’s involvement in the First World War and the economic consequences are the primary causes of the revolution.
• Mexican and Russian Revolution: Comparative Analysis Additionally, the top-down method involved spreading the benefits of the revolution from the government offices to the community and to the village to help the masses.
• The Down Fall of the Russian Revolution The powerful individuals, whose aim was to fulfil the interests of the owners of the means production, controlled the revolution. After the revolution, the Communist Party readjusted its objectives to reflect the aims of the […]
• Russian Revolution of 1905 and the Fall of the Tsarist Regime
• The Failure and Success of the Russian Revolution
• The Events and Steps Towards the Russian Revolution
• Marxist Tenets That Influenced the Russian Revolution
• Ending the Russian Revolution: Reflections on Soviet History and Its Interpreters
• The Russian Revolution and the New Soviet State 1917-1929
• Has the Russian Revolution of 1991 Been a Success
• Bolshevism and Its Effect on the Russian Revolution
• Russian Revolution: The Lowest Point in the Country’s History
• Compare and Contrast French and Russian Revolution
• Domestic and Global Causes of the Russian Revolution
• Russian Revolution and the Creation of the Communist Party
• Lenin and His Coming of Power After the Russian Revolution
• Development Economics and the Russian Revolution: The Soviet Industrialisation Debate
• Czar Peter and His Impact on the Russian Revolution
• How and Why Did the Russian Revolution of 1917
• 1917 Russian Revolution and Its Success
• Russian Revolution and the Influence of Vladimir Lenin
• Does Marxism Adequately Explain the 1917 Russian Revolution
• Bolsheviks!: The Russian Revolution and Stalin’s Rise to Power
• Impact os the Russian Revolution on Russian Intellectuals
• History of Jewish Population During the Russian Revolution of 1917
• The Russian Revolution: How Did the Bolsheviks Gain Power
• Modern Art and the Impact of the Russian Revolution
• Russian Revolution and the Influence of Marxism
• The Fundamental Causes of the Russian Revolution
• Factors and Forces That Led to the Russian Revolution
• Long and Short-Term Causes That Contributed to the 1917 Russian Revolution
• The Causes of the Civil War Lie in Bolshevik Russian Revolution
• Women’s Rights for Women in the Russian Revolution
• The Russian Revolution, From Leninism to Stalinism
• Political and Social Changes and Russian Revolution
• The Russian Revolution: What Economic Lessons Does It Reveal?
• Russian Revolution and Bolshevik Role of Leon Trotsky
• The Different Social Causes of the Russian Revolution
• Communism During the Russian Revolution of 1917
• Understanding the Real Causes of the Russian Revolution
• Causes and Effects Associated With the Russian Revolution
• Analyze the Impact That the Russian Revolution Had on the Environment of the Country
• The Impacts of the Russian Revolution of 1917
• How Did the Russian Revolution Impact World War I?
• Who Won the Russian Revolution?
• What Is Duma in Russian Revolution?
• What Were the Main Causes of the Russian Revolution?
• What Was the Impact of Russian Revolution?
• The Most Interesting Facts About the Russian Revolution?
• How Did the Russian Revolution End?
• Who Took Control of Russia After the Revolution?
• What Are Effects of the Russian Revolution?
• What Social Factors Caused Russian Revolution?
• How Many Russians Died in the Revolution?
• How Did the Russian Revolution Affect Other Countries?
• When Did the Russian Revolution Start?
• Who Led the Russian Revolution?
• How Did the World React to the Russian Revolution?
• Was the Russian Revolution a Success?
• What Did the Russian Revolution Fight For?
• What Leaders Were Involved in the Russian Revolution?
• What Were the Main Effects of the Russian Revolution?
• Who Lost the Russian Revolution?
• What Was the Main Conflict of the Russian Revolution?
• What Was Unique About the Russian Revolution?
• How Many Soldiers Died in the Russian Revolution?
• Was the Russian Revolution Planned?
• When Did the Tsar Learn About the Beginning of the Russian Revolution?
• Was It Possible to Avoid the Revolution?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, September 27). 86 Russian Revolution Essay Topic Ideas & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/russian-revolution-essay-topics/

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IvyPanda . (2023) '86 Russian Revolution Essay Topic Ideas & Examples'. 27 September.

IvyPanda . 2023. "86 Russian Revolution Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." September 27, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/russian-revolution-essay-topics/.

1. IvyPanda . "86 Russian Revolution Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." September 27, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/russian-revolution-essay-topics/.

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IvyPanda . "86 Russian Revolution Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." September 27, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/russian-revolution-essay-topics/.

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Guest Essay

Russia Has Opened Up a New Front. What Comes Next?

By Michael Kofman and Rob Lee

Mr. Kofman is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr. Lee is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Both are experts on the Russian military and modern warfare.

Last week, the Russian military opened a new front in its invasion of Ukraine.

Launching an offensive into the Kharkiv region, Russian forces quickly advanced several kilometers, managing to reoccupy several villages that were liberated during Ukraine’s successful offensive in September 2022. They have not yet reached the main line of defenses east of the city, which are held by brigades better equipped and more experienced than those closer to the border. But the situation is serious.

By threatening Ukraine’s second most populous city, Russia hopes to pin Ukrainian resources in the region, exposing the front elsewhere. Ukraine’s immediate priority is to stabilize the front line and prevent a major Russian breakthrough, which it may be able to do. But it is dealing with a series of challenges that have accumulated since last year and will not be quick to resolve. Despite the recent passing of the aid bill in Congress, which freed up billions in assistance for Kyiv, things are likely to get worse before they get better.

Russia’s aim is not to take Kharkiv, but to menace it by advancing toward the city and threatening it with artillery. While Russia lacks the forces to assault the city itself, the operation is designed to create a dilemma. Ukrainian forces are already stretched relatively thin; by drawing Ukraine’s reserves and better units to the defense of Kharkiv, the Russian attack weakens other parts of the front line. Russia remains focused on occupying the remainder of the Donetsk region in the east, looking to seize key transit hubs and population centers.

In recent days, some Ukrainian units have already been redeployed from Donetsk to Kharkiv, and it appears that Ukraine is deploying individual battalions to reinforce other parts of the front. This risks leaving Ukrainian forces in Donetsk even more vulnerable if Russia commits its reserves in that direction. Russian forces are also applying pressure near Kupiansk, to Kharkiv’s east, and in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia. Incursions along the border in the Sumy and Chernihiv regions may be to come.

The Russian offensive comes at a time of vulnerability for Ukraine. Since last fall, the country has faced three interrelated problems: lack of ammunition, manpower and fortifications. Ukraine has made progress improving its fortifications over the spring, and the aid package from the United States should alleviate its ammunition shortages. But Ukraine’s manpower has continued to deteriorate especially where it counts: in its infantry.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive last summer culminated primarily because of attrition among its infantry, and it has struggled to replace those losses ever since. In practice, this means there are often too few soldiers manning trenches and not enough infantry to develop a sustainable rotation, risking exhaustion over time. This also creates a pernicious effect of discouraging others to volunteer. Many Ukrainian brigades are understrength, and many soldiers are over the age of 40.

To be clear, Ukraine is not out of men. The situation is the consequence of policy choices, a rickety mobilization system and many months of political intransigence before the recent passing of a series of mobilization laws. These laws aim to widen the pool of soldiers by lowering the draft eligibility age , punishing those who try to evade service , allowing some convicts to serve and providing incentives for volunteers. They hold the promise to address Ukraine’s manpower problem, but much will depend on how they are carried out. The situation, in any case, will take months to improve.

Lacking sufficient forces and with a deficit of ammunition, Ukraine’s military responds to Russian breakthroughs by moving its best brigades and elite units around the front. This firefighting approach, which happened during the battles of Bakhmut and Avdiika , means that the best units do not have enough time to rest and regenerate. Ukraine also resorts to deploying individual battalions piecemeal to reinforce parts of the front without the rest of their brigade. These are short-term solutions that come with longer-term consequences, as these units degrade over time.

In contrast, Russia managed to address its manpower problems last year and now recruits approximately 30,000 contract servicemen a month. Many of these recruits are hardly ideal soldiers and are also in their 40s. But this physical advantage — combined with artillery, drones and glide bomb strikes — has given Russia a quantitative edge.

Yet Russia’s advantages are not necessarily decisive. The quality of its forces, together with leadership losses, have limited Russia’s ability to conduct larger-scale operations — it’s why Russian forces struggle to turn advances into breakthroughs and have not been able to make more significant gains. Russia is also burning through equipment, most of which comes from storage, and will face equipment shortages in 2025.

Even with the passage of the U.S. aid bill, Ukraine faces a difficult year. American assistance has bought Ukraine time and gives certainty about the resources that will be available. The funding could be sufficient for Ukraine to hold and, in the best case, restore the offensive potential of its military. It offers an opportunity. But the future hinges on what the West — which plays a significant role in training, intelligence and other forms of support — and Ukraine can make of it.

If Ukraine can limit Russia to modest gains this year, then Moscow’s window of opportunity is likely to close and its relative advantage may begin to diminish in 2025. This is not just a matter of Ukraine getting ammunition or weapons from the West, but also of effectively managing forces, addressing the long-running deficit of manpower and establishing proper defenses. Ukraine will have to defend itself while at the same time working to reconstitute its military. In the coming months, much hangs in the balance.

Michael Kofman ( @KofmanMichael ) is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Rob Lee ( @RALee85 ) is a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Eurasia program.

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