There’s a million reasons why you’d might want to learn how to speak Russian. Sure I could say something cliche and predictable like: ‘… and many of these reasons are fit and beautiful.’ And I would be right of course; but there are other very good reasons why learning Russian could benefit you.
In this article I’ll share with you the 12 most effective ways to learn Russian based on what I’ve tried and what I found worked best. And I’ve tried just about everything except brain surgery. You won’t find the information I’ll be sharing anywhere on Google, especially not from a copied and pasted blog post written by some guy in India. These are methods that took me some time to figure out. Almost all of them are free and you can start today. I know Russian isn’t easy, but neither is Chinese and learners still manage to figure it out.
Why Russian?
The world is a big place full of opportunity in the most unexpected places. Talented people with skills are always in high demand regardless of geographical location. Russia is no different. Obviously, western countries will attract most of the world’s talent. But…those same western countries are saturated with competition. Jobs that pay over $100K a year are not easy to land. Everyone is gunning for them. News of recent layoffs in the tech sector numbering in the hundreds of thousands should at least raise an eyebrow.
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained
The bottom line: learning a foreign language like Russian could open doors and get you access to a job market that is much less crowded. Yes it’s a smaller market and yes Russia is currently experiencing some challenges on the global stage but nothing lasts forever and everything is constantly changing. I’m not saying you should jump on the next plane to Moscow and hunt for a job. I’m just saying it doesn’t hurt to have extra skills in your toolbox to set yourself apart from the competition.
Keep in Mind
In any case, this post isn’t about jobs, it’s about learning a language. I’m now a firm believer that anyone with a desire to improve themselves should engage in learning a foreign language just for the sake of mental exercise alone. Think of it as an insurance policy against dementia and alzheimer’s. The benefits include better memory, focus and communication skills.
A new language also changes logic and cognitive function. By learning Russian, I’m using “Russian logic” which gives me a new way of thinking about a concept or idea. For example, in Russian, word order is not that important like it is in English. The object or indirect object can come before the subject of a sentence, allowing you to express the same idea with different emphases. Reconfiguring language in this manner has a powerful effect on thinking and can help the mind stay more flexible.
Keep it Fun
Everyone learns differently. That’s why the target language should be approached from every possible angle. Any exposure is good exposure. These tips will hit your brain six ways from Sunday. Boredom is the number 1 reason why people quit. As soon as you start yawning, the lesson is over. Keep it as fun as possible. Let’s start.
1. Get a Keyboard and Learn to Type
Learn the Russian alphabet by learning how to type on a Russian keyboard. This move kills 2 birds with 1 stone. You can get a Cyrillic keyboard on Amazon for about $25. Once you have that, go to a free typing practice site. There’s a lot of them and they all work fine. Get familiar with the keyboard because this is the key to start using Russian online, finding YouTube videos and content that can only be found in Russian. After a couple weeks of practice for 30 minutes a day, I got fast enough on the keyboard to quickly look up words in Google translate without getting impatient and pissed off.
2. Use YouTube Efficiently
YouTube is a goldmine for learning Russian. It’s truly a gift. Although there are many talented and generous Russian teachers that explain grammar beautifully on YouTube, I wouldn’t start there at first. Think about your hobbies, your interests and the content that you already love to watch on YouTube in English. Now go find those same interests in Russian. Listening to someone speak in Russian as you watch them do something you really enjoy is a cheat code. It helps eliminate the boredom that makes most language learners quit. I can’t sit through a grammar lesson, but I can watch a guy explain how he built his house and the materials he used.
The key here is to start familiarizing yourself with the language. Your ears need to get used to the sounds of the language as you start adding words to your vocabulary. Focus more on verbs and nouns. They are the most important parts of speech and should take priority. You could be completely understood with verbs and nouns alone.
3. Get a Book
Start a VK account. It’s the Russian version of facebook. Vkontakte or vk.com is a valuable resource for accessing free books to get you started. I would tell you to keep this a secret but since no one really reads anymore, I think this secret is safe. I’m not an advocate of pirated material. This is just to get you started. By all means buy the book as soon as possible.
Once you set up an account and you’re on your homepage, click files on the lower left side of the screen in the vertical toolbar. It will take you a to search bar. In the search bar type: The New Penguin Russian Course A Complete Course for Beginners. Download it.
4. Get Another Book
Next search for a book called The Big Silver Book of Russian Verbs. Download it. Now you’ve got an excellent grammar book and 555 fully conjugated Russian verbs. Again, buy the books as soon as you can.
5. Overwhelm Your Brain in Short Intervals
Here’s a technique I stumbled upon while experimenting. The idea is to listen to an audio book while at the same time following the text in the actual book. This engages your reading and listening at the same time. 15 minutes is long enough because it is a lot for the brain to handle. I recommend a simple story like The Little Prince. Download the Russian version of the book on VK exactly the way you did with the others. Don’t worry about buying the book because it doesn’t exist. You’re just downloading a PDF translation someone was nice enough to share. Then go to YouTube and find the audio book version of The Little Prince narrated in Russian. Listen and read the text at the same time. You can even pause the audio and repeat the words out loud using the psycho smile described in step 12.
6. Flashcards Are Your Friends
Go to the app store and download Quizlet. It’s a free digital flash card maker. It’s the best one in my opinion. Adding words to a flashcard app and then reviewing the flashcards in your spare time does wonders for building vocabulary. These flashcards “talk” too so you can hear the right pronunciation. There’s also a paid version. It’s not that expensive and let’s you dump large lists of words in excel or word format to build flashcard sets much faster. The paid version also lets you put photos and short videos into each flashcard to help you remember the word. You can be as creative as you want with each flashcard. I recommend the paid version.
7. Instagram Repurposed
If you have Instagram, search for Russian language teachers and start following them. I follow at least 50 of them. They’re in my feed all the time sharing wonderful short lessons. When you see a post or lesson that you think is useful, save it. You can go back to your saved folder later on and add useful words and phrases from the Instagram posts to your Quizlet flashcards. Great way to get some quick practice as you scroll past car crashes and Kardashian memes. Moreover, many of the teachers on Instagram are wonderful and talented. I recommend hiring a teacher after you’ve built up some vocabulary.
8. Duolingo
Duolingo is great for beginners. It’s free until you make 5 mistakes. Then you have to wait a day until you can use it again. I subscribed for a month and reached the end of the program. I thought it was worth it. I like the user interface, gamification and competition aspect of it. It’s engaging and fun.
9. Pimsleur
The holy grail of language apps is Pimsleur. It’s not cheap at about $25 bucks a month, but this app is world-class. Nothing else even comes close. The lessons are beautifully constructed in order to maximize learning. Each lesson builds on the previous, capitalizing on the power of spaced repetition. The app also gets you to speak which is the whole point. I can’t say enough about it. If you can afford it, get it. I use it all the time.
10. Video Games
I wasn’t going to mention this because I haven’t tried it myself. But I’ve personally seen the results. I taught English in Russia for 2 years and I had some students who were young guys in their teens. They all spoke English unbelievably well. One of them hardly had an accent. They all learned English by only playing video games. That was it. I was totally blown away.
Interactive games like Call of Duty and Counter-Strike are perfect for communicating with Russian gamers. It’s also a good opportunity to make friends. Once you have a few good Russian friends in the gaming world, you can spend hours and hours speaking while having fun. You’ll most likely learn all the swear words at first but that’s ok because they’re important too. Swearing in Russian is like an art form. It’s way more creative and graphic than English. Sometimes Russian profanity defies all logic when I try to translate it in my mind.
11. Find Russian Communities in Your Area
If you live in a big city like LA, Dallas, Chicago, New York or Miami there are huge communities of Russian speakers. Look for them on Meetups or go to these communities and make friends. I know there’s a large Russian community in and around West Hollywood with Russian stores and markets where you can find opportunities to meet people and chat. If you’re cool, you just might get lucky and make a good friend. Only a good friend will have the patience to help you with speaking practice. It doesn’t work so well with strangers.
12. Smile, You’re Speaking Russian
A couple years ago I came across a video of an old school Russian language teacher working with her student. I immediately noticed a giant smile on the student’s face. Turns out the exaggerated smile was part of the lesson. I learned that by smiling, the jaw is pulled upwards and the lips are pulled back which increases the clarity of sounds produced. This mouth position reduces some of the space inside the oral cavity which helps the tongue get closer to the roof of the mouth. In this position the tongue doesn’t have to move much in order to pronounce words, resulting in less effort and fatigue.
Test it out. Put a smile on your face and say the vowels out loud: AEIOU. You’ll notice the tongue doesn’t need to move much in order to produce sound.
In the video the student was not only smiling but she was also watching herself in a mirror as part of the exercise. I don’t think the mirror is totally necessary. You’ll already look psycho enough reading Russian with a giant smile on your face.
It’s funny but it really works. Try it.
- Grab some Russian text within your reading level
- Read it out loud without smiling
- Now put on your psycho smile and start reading out loud slowly
- Stop smiling and read the text again
- You will notice your pronunciation is noticeably better than when you first started
Conclusion
So those are my 12 most effective ways for learning Russian as a foreigner currently living in Russia. Whether your goal is to visit the country or sharpen your mind, try them out and see if they work for you. Obviously these techniques can be applied to any language. Now put on your psycho smile and freak out everybody in your house!
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