Why learn Russian?

If you were just wondering what language you should learn next, we suggest you to learn the Russian language and this is why..

Why learn Russian language?

There are quite a few reasons why you should learn Russian. Here are the most obvious of them:

  • Russian language is the fifth most widely spoken language in the world.
  • Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages. It is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
  • Russian language is considered to be the second most widespread language on the Internet after English.
  • Russian is a very beautiful and rich language. Russians call it “great and mighty” thanks to a Russian classic I.S. Turgenev.
  • Russia is the largest country in the world. Historically it has played a major role in the world events, and still does. In our world, where money buy opinions and the truth becomes relative to whoever presents it, it is crucial to be able to get the information from the first hands. Understanding the Russian language will give you that ability on many important issues.
  • Russia is one of the most popular countries of the world, thanks to its multicultural ethnicity, rich heritage, its awe-inspiring architectural wonders and legendary leaders. But it is also home of some of the world’s greatest intellectuals and academicians who have greatly influenced the life of many across the globe. Among these people are: Mikhail Lomonosov, Ivan Kulibin, Dmitri Mendeleev, Ivan Pavlov, and so on.
  • Russian literature counts a huge number of great works (Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Turgenev). Speaking Russian you will be able to read them in original.
  • Nowadays you can meet Russians everywhere. They like to travel and they travel a lot. New generations of Russians are very friendly people and ready to make friends everywhere. If you are lucky to meet those, you have a very good chance to find yourself wonderful friends.
  • Russian women know how to take care of those they love. They are loyal and thoughtful. They are modest and learn from their moms from early age how to keep the house clean. If you are lucky to fall in love with a Russian girl and she loves you in return, you might have found a perfect companion and partner in crime for life.
  • Russia has a lot to offer as a holiday destination. If you are planning your next holidays in Russia (if not, you should seriously consider it), speaking at least a bit of Russian will help you enormously.
  • It is quite challenging to learn Russian, don’t you think? Do you know that scientists have proved that learning a foreign language is very beneficial for the brain? Learning Russian language will at least secure your mental health when you get older! 🙂

How to learn Russian?

If you have already decided to learn Russian but still don’t know how to, here are some advices for you.

First of all, forget about such things as ‘Learn Russian in a month’ or ‘Fluent Russian in 3 months’. If you want to learn a second language, it should become your new habit, possibly for the rest of your life. Of course, it does not mean that you’ll only be able to speak Russian after a few years, no. Most probably, after a few dedicated months you’ll be able to hold a simple conversation and understand a lot of what you hear.

Yes, learning a language is little bit of a work, and it may be tough and confusing sometimes, but it is incredibly enjoyable and rewarding! Imagine: just yesterday you were looking at Cyrillic letters and had no idea what it was about, but now you can understand it all! It’s like someone else is whispering it in your ears.

In order to be a fluent Russian speaker one day, use any small opportunity to learn and practice Russian in your daily life. For example:

  • Start learning Russian from simple things and step by step move forward. You’ll see soon that even your small efforts give a result, and that will motivate you even more.
  • Immerse yourself in Russian to the maximum level: set the interface of your phone, player or email
    client to Russian, start your first Russian book even if it takes you 20 minutes to read and translate just one page (but don’t do it if you feel it’s too difficult and demotivates you). If your level allows you, read and watch Russian news, watch Russian movies.
  • Study online: there are a lot of Russian courses on the internet, many of them are free of charge.
  • Learn new Russian words every day: you must learn at least 10 new words a day. Building your vocabulary is one of the key points for mastering a language.
  • Use Russian flashcard to train your vocabulary.
  • Study our free online Russian lessons or subscribe to a Russian podcast.
  • Read Russian jokes, they are full of useful vocabulary that Russians use in their conversational speech.
  • Try to start thinking in Russian, to describe your daily routine in Russian while doing it.
  • Find a Russian pen pal and practice composing messages without Google translator. Let a native speaker to correct you.
  • Take Skype lessons with professional Russian tutors of just chat with your Russian friends.
  • Find yourself a good Russian grammar book and study it from time to time. Repetition is the mother of learning, – say Russians.
  • Speak! Use any possibility to speak in Russian and don’t be afraid of making mistakes. We’ll tell you more, you must be willing to make mistakes! This is the only way to overstep the language barrier.

How to learn Russian with Everyday Russian?

Above we gave you a few advices on how to learn Russian on your own. Here is how you can do it with our website.

The purpose of our site is to provide Russian learners with free possibilities to learn and practice Russian language. There is no system behind our lessons, they can be studied in any order. Choose your level and go through the lessons one by ones or picking them according to your liking.

We recommend you to listen to the audio as many times as you need until every word sounds familiar to you. It can also help to come back to the previously studied lessons from time to time and to refresh your knowledge.

Study the transcript carefully and write down all unknown words in order to memorize them. Don’t hesitate to read the transcript out loud, that will help you to master the pronunciation.

If you don’t understand anything in the lesson you read, it means it’s too advanced for you at the moment. Don’t torture yourself, just skip it and get back to it later. You’ll see it will be much easier after a while.

We love your feedback!

Tell us, why do you learn Russian? How do you do it? What is your motivation? How many hours per day or week do you dedicate to your Russian studies?

25 comments on “Why learn Russian?

    • joao sousa says:

      I´ve been studying Russian for quite a while , I´m portuguese, , but I agree with you : it is not easy, furthermore I ‘m not young any longer. New words every time and I feel impossible to learn 10 worda a day – how? Besides the reading and writing: I write every lesson (very simple lessons) but when it comes to reading, let´s say a short paragraoh in a newspaper no way. I agree : it will tale many years but it is worth while.
      PS there´s something more: today people in the news, shows, everywhere speak ivery fast , why?
      Yours

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  2. “At least 10 words a day”.

    I don’t understand how that is even possible, and is exactly the kind of phrase that de-motivates people.

    • Everyday Russian says:

      Hello Daniel,

      Learning 10 words a day is very easy if you use the right tools. My favorite for today is Memrise (https://www.memrise.com/) that provides Android and iOS apps. You can also find some other software to help you learn the words, for example Anki (http://ankisrs.net/) where you need to create your own lists of words to learn.

      When I was earning Spanish, I used to memorize 100 words a day and I was very motivated to learn more because very soon I saw the effect of it: I could understand what I’m reading and write in Spanish myself.

      You should try it, it’s very easy and I’m sure at some moment you’ll find yourself wanting to memorize more than just 10 words a day.

      If use of easy and automated tools like Memrise still demotivates you, then probably you just don’t want to learn the language strong enough and shouldn’t waste your time on it (unless you have to, in which case we wish you to find your motivation and enjoy the process and the results of it).

      Good luck!

    • Aaron Beckett says:

      Good morning. I am ready to begin my journey to learn the Russian word. We may be able to help each other progress if you are game. I am beginning today so I am starting at the ground level.

      • Everyday Russian says:

        Hello Aaron, It’s probably better you contact Igor via email he provided, as he didn’t subscribe for notifications. Good luck!

  3. I learn english and have enough good level of knowledges. I want to have a practice and want to help you in learning russian (or ukrainian) languege. Please, write me on e-mail gurugmann@gmail.com or in Telegram app @gurugmann – it’s me there. I hope you answer soon)

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