Introduction:

Russian is an East Slavic language native to the Russians in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of four living East Slavic languages, and also part of the larger Balto-Slavic branch. Russian is an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, and is used widely as a lingua franca throughout Ukraine, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and to some extent in the Baltic states. It was the de facto language of the Soviet Union until its dissolution; and is used in an official capacity or in public life in all the post-Soviet states. The language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

Russian has over 258 million total speakers worldwide, and is the most spoken Slavic language, the most spoken native language in Europe, as well as the most geographically widespread language in Eurasia. Large numbers of Russian speakers are residents of other countries, such as Israel and Mongolia. It is the world’s seventh-most spoken language by number of native speakers, and the world’s eighth-most spoken language by total number of speakers.  Russian is also the second-most widespread language on the Internet, after English. 

• By age 18, many teens are feeling a combination of excitement and fear about the future. There are a lot of decisions about life after graduation and 18-year-olds invest a lot of time into thinking about what type of life they want once they’re on their own. The fear of the future—as well as the fear of failure—can still be problems, however. Some 18-year-olds will begin to resolve these issues successfully, while others will continue to struggle well into their adult lives.
• Young adults who have plenty of life skills often feel ready to move out of the home and begin the next chapter. But those who experience a lot of self-doubt may regress a bit as they think about entering the next phase of their lives. It is a time for big changes that comes with a lot of freedom and happiness, along with feelings of nostalgia and apprehension.

There are a lot of resources available on the internet and in libraries that you can refer to for learning Russian but most of these can be very intimidating to you. So, here we have compiled a list for you of the easiest ways that you can use to learn Russian by investing a very short amount of time every day. 

1. Devote time to learning Russian

Working out how much time you have helps to set realistic goals. If you have an hour to spend a week, then you will not achieve the same results as someone who can work on Russian for an hour a day. There are good and bad ways to spend time learning Russian, but having an initial figure in mind and committing to that is an important first step. The more time you can devote, the better, but be realistic now to avoid disappointment if you feel you aren’t making progress further down the line.

2. Establish a base

As a beginner, the most important thing we need to do is to get out of the beginner zone, and learn enough so that we can actually go and start practising. For this, we need a base of vocabulary, a stock of phrases, and an idea of Russian grammar.

3. Build your vocabulary

Building up a strong base of vocabulary is one of the most important initial steps in learning a language. When building your vocabulary, you need to consider both the “what” and the “how”. The “what” covers what kind of vocabulary you need to learn, and the “how” is concerned with methods for memorisation and recall.

4. Learn how Russian sounds

If you can’t hear it, you can’t say it. In order to pronounce Russian, you need to be able to recognise the sounds, and this is not something that you can do from a book. There is a wide range of podcasts available to give you exposure to this, including our own range of Russian audio for every level. Listen to the sounds of Russian, and follow along with transcriptions to get an idea of how to pronounce written Russian. Remember that good pronunciation starts with listening!

5. Watch movies and TV shows with subtitles

The first is for beginners: watching Russian movies with English subtitles.

The second is for advanced speakers: watching Russian movies with Russian subtitles.

It might seem odd to watch in Russian and read in Russian at the same time, but it really does work wonders. Reading skills develop a lot faster than listening skills. By reading and listening at the same time, I was really able to improve my pronunciation.

6. Learn through mnemonics. 

Mnemonics are very easy to remember, it is a learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval in human memory. There are so many things that you need to memorize while learning a language like grammar, vocabulary, phrases, idioms, etc and mnemonics can help in learning all this very easily. You can create your own mnemonics while learning or refer to some available on the internet. Once you’re good at them, they easily repay the initial time investment. They’re an extremely effective way to memorize large amounts of vocabulary.

7. Invest in a tutor/ enrol yourself in online classes 

You can join an online class where you get an opportunity to learn the language directly from a well experienced teacher. This allows you to understand the pronunciation and learn how to read, write and speak properly. Learning with a teacher allows you to clarify all your doubts and find the right approach to learning Russian.

If you feel you are a self-learner and can manage on your own, there are many YouTube channels that allow you to learn Russian starting from the basics.