Russian · Русский

Expanded 13 resource listings . A fuller resource guide, plus a script trainer and First 500 words practice.

Cyrillic first, then case frames in speech (not only tables). Graded audio before news speed; cognates help less than learners hope. Last reviewed 2026-08-01

A1–A2 path B1–B2 path C1–C2 path

Study hub

Honest start

Cyrillic first, then case frames in speech — not only colored charts. Graded audio before news speed. Cognates help less than Romance learners expect.

Month plan

Script trainer + First 500 recognition.
Five spoken give/go/see frames with cases.
Graded podcasts; retell in English then Russian stubs.
One tutor hour focused on case collapse in speech.

Traps

Case tables without sentences.
News binge at week two.
Ignoring verbs of motion until crisis.

Daily 25-minute template

5 min — script or pronunciation warm-up.
10 min — First 500 or topic deck.
10 min — listening you finish + 30-second retell.

Resource use on this site

Start with one free course from the list below, one listening habit, and one reference. Use on-site tools linked above. Ignore the rest of the directory until those three habits are alive for two weeks.

Progress checks

Can you decode the script without romanization?
Can you finish a graded clip and retell three facts?
Have you spoken — even badly — four times this month?

A solid practice day

Pick five high-frequency words or phrases, say one sentence with each aloud, finish a short graded clip that might contain them, and write a brief diary line. If the clip is too hard, step down one level — don’t open another app.

About Russian

Language family: Indo-European, Balto-Slavic, East Slavic
Source: Glottolog russ1263
Where it's spoken: Russia and widely across the former Soviet Union
Speakers: roughly 150 million native speakers and 258 million total
Estimate source: Ethnologue language page (rus)
Writing: Cyrillic

Russian developed from Old East Slavic, the common ancestor it shares with Ukrainian and Belarusian, and was shaped into its modern literary form largely during the 18th and 19th centuries by writers such as Pushkin. It is written in the Cyrillic alphabet, adapted from the Greek alphabet by medieval Slavic missionaries. As the primary language of the Soviet Union, it remains a widely understood second language across Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Speaker counts are approximate orders of magnitude for learners, not census figures. Family labels follow Glottolog-style classification; vitality notes (when shown) follow UNESCO WAL / Ethnologue-style framing and should be re-checked for program planning.

Sources

ISO 639-3: rus
Glottocode: russ1263
Ethnologue — Russian (rus)
Glottolog — Russian (russ1263)

How to start

Learn the writing system first with the script trainer — meet a few characters, match them, then recall.
Pick one free course (or free-with-upgrades) below and finish a short beginner unit before hopping apps.
Bookmark one dictionary or grammar reference and look up every unknown word for a week.
Add 10–15 minutes of listening most days — news, radio, or a teaching channel.
Drill vocabulary with First 500 words , then situational lists in topic decks .
Go deeper with the Language Hacks – Russian series · Buy on Amazon.
When ready, use a tutor marketplace listing below for short speaking sessions.

Practice on this site

Deep links into trainers and drills that already cover Russian.

Script trainer First 500 words Topic decks Root Explorer Root of the day Cloze practice False-friend quiz Listening picker

All listening course paid reference course free reading

Some outbound links may earn us a commission. Commission never affects inclusion or ranking. Full disclosure.

Resource	Type	Levels	Cost	Verified
Live Lingua Russian library Public-domain course downloads with audio where available.	course free	A1-B1	free	2026-08-02

Know a better classroom-friendly resource for Russian? Suggest it with attribution.