Thanks for your interest in Russian!
Your interest has been noted. Here you'll see some of my favourite resources for learning russian.
Resources for learning Russian
Top recommendation: RussianPod101
I highly recommend RussianPod101 as a great way to get started. I've been using this service to learn Russian and Hungarian and it has a LOT of lessons from complete beginner to upper advanced levels. It's an audio-based method so you get a stronger feeling of the tricky pronunciation from the beginning.
My favourite reason for using RussianPod101 is because you can download all their lessons and put them on your phone or other mobile device to listen to while commuting or travelling. This gives it a lot of flexibility and allows you to work on your English even if you have a busy schedule.
Other resources
Tutoring
iTalki – Just do it!!
Books
- The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners – A great book course that combines texts, grammar and vocabulary for beginners.
- Essential Russian Grammar – Compact and has what you need for reference.
- Russian Stories: A Dual-Language Book (English and Russian Edition) – When you want to start reading in Russian this billingual book will help you ease the progress.
- Assimil Russian for English Speakers – The well-known assimil system focuses on 100 dialogues and exercises, which all include grammar and cultural notes.
Audio Services and Courses
- RussianPod101 – Hundreds of downloadable lessons in an affordable monthly membership.
- Glossika Russian – Over 3000 sentences that teaches you Russian in context by using a sentence-based spaced repetition method.
- Michel Thomas, Total Russian – GREAT beginner course that takes advantage of cognates and similarities to English and allows you to start speaking and understanding Russian very quickly.
- Pimsleur Russian – Listen and repeat, you know how it works. Some people find it more valuable than others. Good listening and pronunciation practice.
Apps
- Memrise – My favourite flashcard service. Recommended courses: Learn Basic Russian, 10,000 words in frequency order, New Penguin Complete Russian Course (for use with the book previously mentioned)
- Yaszh – App for practising endings. Android only.
- HelloTalk – Language exchange app with tons of functions. Basic functionality is free while the premium function costs a minor amount.
YouTube Channels
- Russian Grammar – Video representations of a grammar podcast done by a university professor. Very educational and he has a great voice for narration.
- Easy Russian – Maria moved to the US from Russia and started her Easy Russian series. Tons of videos with her speaking (somewhat quick) Russian with subtitles about various topics.
- Easy Languages: Russian – The host (Anya) is super cute and giggly as she goes around interviewing people on the streets of Sct. Petersburg. Another good way to get some practice in listening to native level Russian.