LEARN RUSSIAN

I generally recommend a beginner reader such as the ones below:

Beginner’s Russian Reader

Читаем и всё понимаем

I Read Russian

Let’s Read Russian!  

Русский без границ  

Шкатулка

Шкатулочка

The whole process of reading cursive based on guessing the words you can’t clearly read by understanding the meaning of the whole text/sentence. So I (likely) won’t reveal anything unusual. And I will only share some examples.

Let’s move straight to the tips! (I found 3)

- don’t focus on the singular letters too much.

If you can’t read the word or two, you probably still can read enough to understand the meaning in general. So try to read the words which you can read then try to guess the rest. (you likely did something similar when you haven’t heard what your friend said so you tried to analyze the whole conversation and guess what it could be).

- learn how to distinguish between these 3 letters “Н” “И” “К”

You can probably think (based on youtube videos only) that the most difficult letters to distinguish are “Ш” “И”. Especially if they go one after another. In fact, the combination is not very common.

But these three letters are used in most words and they look almost the same.

Here you can compare the original text from strelkamag.com about human exclusion zones with its handwritten version (written by me).

I deciphered some letters so you can clearly see how similar they look.

Unfortunately, there is no universal key except practice. But don’t give up because sometimes even natives can’t clearly understand the handwriting and it’s nothing more than a skill.

- divide the word into letters

If you have to read the word and you can’t guess its meaning then do your best to divide it into letters.

These 3 words were given as examples of really hard words to read. Okay, without any context they seem to be almost unreadable. But let’s analyze one of them.

The first one likely contains 5 letters. You can try to distinguish between them so you can count more than 4 and probably less than 6.

The first letter must be ш or и and you can clearly see it. Then, if we can’t decide between them we move straight to the end of the word because this part seems to be easier to understand. The last letter is clearly the cursive а. The letter before have to be a consonant. So it can’t be и and it’s likely к or н. But firstly it’s closer to к. Secondly, the word which begins with ш or и and ends with -на can be шина and it contains only 4 letters. Or ширма but it is clear that there is no letter р in this word. And I can’t even imagine another word which fits (as I said the combination is not common). So we end up with к. So now we know the ending -ка.

So we are looking for the word which begins with и or ш and ends with ка. And probably contains 5 letters. And likely it is ШИШКА (a cone).

I know, I know the explanation is not easy and requires a great knowledge of vocabulary. But the more you see/read/write cursive the more unconscious and automatical the reading become.

Then, if you want, try to guess other words to practice. Later I will share more examples and more handwriting if you all find it useful.

Also, this post likely contains some serious grammatical mistakes. But I really tried my best to explain you what I personally find useful.

Russian guides: masterpost | patronyms | terms of affection | answered asks

I’m going to start by swearing this isn’t me just complaining but a general resource for the Yuri on Ice fandom because I’ve noticed some mistakes in the naming conventions used among the fandom and want to help correct them. Especially in how the fandom treats diminutives. I absolutely love seeing the huge amount of interest in Russian diminutives, etc. in fanart and fics and hopefully this breakdown will help continue that trend and interest and even spur some more ideas in fandom content.

So let’s go through some important details below the cut!

Ok, they’re not really names, but let’s just roll with it for consistency’s sake. Here is where I apologize for those of you who had trouble on my Russian names post, because if you thought that was confusing, this is going to be an absolute enigma. That’s why we’re not really going to get into the details here; I have to assume most of you are utterly unfamiliar with Russian. So we’re going to go over some basics then get to the good part.

It may sound gutteral to you, but Russian is actually a very affectionate language when you get to this part, and knowing this should serve you well.

Contents:  notes on Latinization and Cyrillic (which might interest artists), a note on possessives, the actual list.

These are the vocabulary lists I have made.

Russian:

Space Vocabulary

Chemistry Vocabulary

Love Vocabulary

Beauty Vocabulary

Hair Vocabulary

Sherlock Vocabulary

Ocean Vocabulary

Nature Vocabulary

Environment Vocabulary

Theatre Vocabulary

TV & Cinema Vocabulary

Education Vocabulary

Studying Vocabulary

School Things Vocabulary

Sins Vocabulary

Russian Word - Бессонница

Vacation Vocabulary

Smells Vocabulary

Russian Word - Aлчность

Music Vocabulary

Shapes Vocabulary

Baking Vocabulary

Cozy Vocabulary

Money Vocabulary

Russian Word: Беда

Russian Root: клин-,кля-

Russian Root: мг-,миг-,жм-

Russian Root: лад-

Spanish:

Sherlock Vocabulary

Doctor Who Vocabulary

Trilingual Fruits

Spanish (Mexican) Vocabulary

Ways of Replacing Ir

Ukrainian:

Ukrainian - Russian #1

Ukrainian - Russian #2

Ukrainian - Russian #3

Ukrainian - Russian #4

Ukrainian - Russian False Friends

Kazakh:

Below are movies that I have watched and recommend or have been recommended to me that are in Russian. If subtitles are not available, they will be listed with a *

Comedies

Операция «Ы» и другие приключения Шурика (1965)* 

Кавказская пленница, или Новые приключения Шурика (1965)

Бриллиантовая рука (1969)  

Иван Васильевич меняет профессию (1973)*

Ирония судьбы, или С легким паром! (1975)

Афоня (1975)

Двенадцать стульев (1976)

Кин-дза-дза! (1986)

Питер FM (2006)

Неадекватные люди (2011)

Бакенбарды (1990)*

Стиляги (2008)* 

Ёлки (2010)*

Выкрутасы (2011)*

Drama

Солярис (1972)*

Stalker (1979)

Иваново детство (1962)

Летят журавли(1957) 

Служебный роман (1977)

Москва слезам не верит (1979)

Осенний марафон (1979)

Окно в Париж (1993) 

Брат (1997) 

Остров (2006)

Марафон (2012) 

Возвращение (2003)*

Жмурки (2005)*

Дом солнца (2010)*

Как я провёл этим летом* (2010)

Метро (2012)*   

Leviathan (2014)

TV Shows

Drama:

Sherlock Holmes (New Version)

Sherlock Holmes (Soviet version; best one)

The Master and Margarita (Based on the book, amazing)

Метод Фрейда (Detective series)

Бригада (Crime drama)

Небесный суд (Legal drama)

Бесы* (Based on Demons by Dostoevsky)

Нюхач* (Detective show, highly recommend)

Школа* (Show about school in Russia)

Идиот* (Based on The Idiot by Dostoevsky)

Екатерина* (Historical drama about Catherine the Great)

Достоевский* (Drama about Dostoevsky)

Comedy/Other:

Кухня*(Hilarious show about a restaurant) 

Интерны* (like Scrubs but in its own way) 

Зайцев* (comedy about a student’s shenanigans)

Орёл и Решка* (Two people travel on two different budgets)

Вечерний Ургант* (Late night talkshow)

Как я стал русскиим* (American moves to Russia)

Отель Элеон* (Comedy about an hotel)

Лондонград* (Comedy-detective show)

Мамочки* (Relationships between 3 friends)

Голос* (Russian The Voice)

Х-Фактор* (Russian X-Factor)

Cartoons:

Чебурашка (a must-watch)

Трое из Простоквашино

Винни Пух

Кот и Лиса

Русалочка

Снежная Королева

Сказка сказок

Ежик в тумане*

Вовка в тридевятом царстве

Золушка*

Мешок яблок

These are my main posts I have made about the Russian language.

Learning the Language:

A1 Russian Material

Alphabet: Hard sign (ъ) and soft sign (ь)

How to Use Russian Cases

Imperfective/Perfective Aspect

Improve Your Russian

Russian Alphabet Tips

Russian Cursive Sheets

Russian Grammar Program

Russian Grammar Outline

Russian Pronunciation

Spanish Russian Materials

Telling Time in Russian

Tips to Read & Listen in Russian

TORFL Russian Test Materials

Media and Resources:

Russian Language Apps

Russian Textbooks that I Like

Russian Textbook PDFs

Russian Bookstores

Russian Learning Tools

Russian Movie & TV Shows

Russian Music Playlists

Russian Novels

Russian Podcasts

Russian Poetry

Slavic Folklore + Mythology

Russian Youtubers

Youtube Channels to Learn  Russian

Printables:

Russian Declension Worksheets

RU- Verbs of motion!

Every learner of the Russian language will be confronted to the verbs of motion at some point, and it’s not the easiest part. This ppt isn’t going to be a full course about these, because I’m only a beginner myself, so I wouldn’t be able to explain everything clearly and accurately just yet.

So here I tried to make neat tables to learn them more easily! But first, I advise you watch these great YouTube videos I found about verbs of motion, and prefixes of motion verbs:

Playlist of videos about verbs of motion

Prefixes for verbs of motion

So yeah, my ppt is:

Non prefixed motion verbs

Prefixes (3 detailed slides + 1 summary)

Prefixed motion verbs (through 1 example: ходить)

Derived nouns from ходить and its prefixed counterparts

Little introduction: I’ve started reading a Russian book called Рассказы о родине (Stories about homeland) written by Дмитрий Алексеевич Глуховский (Dmitry Glukhovsky) and I’ve decided to post here vocab from each chapter/story, so here’s chapter one called From Hell.

тщетно - vainly

прошоркать - to prickle

испуганно - frightenedly

тревожная - disturbing

истлевшие - decaying

пачка - small package

прилично - decently, properly

шелест - rustle

запугать - intimidate

куковать - to cuckoo

стучать - to knock

ад - hell

лихорадочно - feverishly

исконная - aboriginal

грузовик - truck

Quite often the verb “to have” should be translated into Russian as “у … есть”. The verb иметь is more formal and means rather “to possess”. However, there are a few dozens of idiomatic expressions with the verb иметь. Here are some:

Here are channels focused on teaching the language. These are all great and suit different levels depending on if you are a beginner or intermediate learner. If you want to see other channels that aren’t language specific, check this list out.

Be Fluent: Has lessons for beginners on grammar and vocabulary.

Easy Languages: While this channel focuses on many languages, the Russian segment is great for those learning Russian as there are both Russian and English subtitles for street interviews.

Easy Russian: Great lessons on the language for intermediate speakers.

Elena Jung: Has lessons on grammar as well as slow Russian lessons to help you with listening practice.

Fun Russian: This channel teaches you Russian, as well as vocabulary and slang.

Natasha Speaks Russian:Teaches Russian in a fun and nice manner

P.S.Russian: Teaches Russian words through music and music videos.

Rush into Russian: Teaches various Russian phrases and when to use them.

RussianPod101: Offers free Russian lessons and listening exercises.

RU-LAND : This channel teaches grammar for those at different levels in Russian.

Russian With Passion: Antonia casually explains grammar and vocabulary in her video lessons.

Russian with Huliganov: This series has been recommended for those that want to learn Russian.

Russian Tutor : Does 5-minute lessons.

Victoria Arysheva: She makes high-quality videos on grammar and case usage.

pons [Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Latin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Turkish]

shabdkosh [Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu]

wordreference [Arabic, Chinese, Czech, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Swedish, Turkish]

dict.cc [Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Latin, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish]

bab.la [Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Swahili, Turkish]

linguee [Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish]

cambridge [Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese]

dicts.info  [73 languages]

dict.com  [30 languages]

larousse  [French, German, Italian, Spanish]

hablaa [73 languages]

glosbe  [2150 languages]

freelang  [267 languages]

Afrikaans  rieme.co.za

Albanian  argjio

Amharic  abyssinica,  amharicdictionary

Arabic  arabdict, almaany, firdaous

Armenian  nayiri, english2armenian

Bengali / Bangla  bword, english-bangla, ovidhan

Burmese burmese-dictionary, myordbok

Cantonese  cantodict

Catalan  catalandictionary

Croatian  hrvatski-rjecnik

Czech  seznam, slovnik

Dutch  vandale

Estonian  sõnastik, dukelupus, eki.ee

Farsi  dictionary-farsi, farsidic, aryanpour, ariadic

Finnish kaannos, findc

Georgian  lang.interes,  translate, targmne, nplg.gov, margaliti

German  langenscheit, leo

Greek  greek-language

Hawaiian hawaiiandictionary

Hebrew  morfix

Hindi  hindi-english, hinkhoj, hindi wordnet

Hungarian  sztaki, dictzone, topszótár

Icelandic snara

Indonesian  kamus, sederet

Irish irishdictionary, potafocal

Italian garzantilinguistica

Japanese  tangorin, excite, jisho

Javanese kamusjawa

Kazakh  lugat

Korean naver, daum, zkorean

Khmer  angkor-planet, kheng

Latvian letonika, latvianforyou

Lithuanian anglu-lietuviu, dict.lt

Macedonian  time, off.net.mk

Malay bhanot, kamus

Maltese  mlrs.research, englishmaltesedictionary

Mandarin  dict.cn, mdbg

Mongolian  bolor toli, englishmongolian

Norwegian  ordnett

Palauan  tekinged

Polish pitt.edu, ling.pl

Portuguese  portuguesedictionary

Punjabi  ijunoon, learnpunjabi

Russian  multitran

Spanish  spanishdict

Swahili kiswahili, africanlanguages

Swedish  ord

Tagalog pinoydictionary, tagalog-dictionary, tagaloglang

Tamil  tamildict, tamilcube, agarathi, tamildictionary

Telugu andhrabharati, telugupedia

Tibetan eng-tib

Thai  thai-language, thai2english, longdo, linedict

Turkish tureng, turkishdictionary, turkishclass

Ukrainian slovnenya, cybermova

Urdu  urduword, urduenglishdictionary, urdu123, studypart

Uyghur uyghurdictionary, yulghun

Uzbek  zangorikema

Welsh  geiriadur

Vietnamese vietdictionary, vdict

бутерброд sandwich

картофель фри french fries

курица chicken

масло butter

молоко milk

мясо meat

перец pepper

пицца pizza

рис rice

рыба fish

сахар sugar

сметана cream

соль salt

сыр cheese

хлеб bread

яйцо egg

есть to eat

завтрак breakfast

обед lunch

ужин supper

Hit Cmd+F or Ctrl+F to search for your language! I’ll update this list as I come across more, so contact me if you have something that you think should get added!

WEBSITES

Duolingo - Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese. More are coming very soon, including Irish and Danish.

Memrise - Any language, even Klingon. Over 200 languages are offered.

Lingq - German, Chinese, Russian, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Korean, and more.

FluentU - Chinese, Spanish, and French are offered currently. It’s like a youtube for languages.

Babbel - Russian, Indonesian, Polish, Spanish, German, French, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Turkish, Italian, Portuguese. Similar to Duolingo or Memrise.

Ukgermanconnection - German children’s books for English speakers.

Babadum - Swedish, Polish, Russian, English, German, Italian, German, Spanish, French, Danish. Great for building vocab.

Radiolingua - French, German, Spanish, Italian.

DW - German.

Textfugu - Japanese.

Busuu - German, French, Arabic, Polish, Chinese, Turkish, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Italian.

FSI - A whole ton of languages; if you want to learn it, chances are it’s on here. These courses were developed by the US government.

Kana101.com - Japanese. Learn Hiragana and Katakana.

Guidetojapanese - Japanese.

Imabi - Japanese.

Lernu - Esperanto.

RESOURCES

Conjugator for French, Spanish, and German.

Anki - Flashcards that use spaced repetition. Great supplements for any language.

Languagetool - A great tool for proofreading what you write.

Forvo - 318 languages. Listen to a native speaker say the word you’re having trouble with.

Lang-8 - Many languages. You post in a language and native speakers proofread it.

Word Reference - Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Italian, German, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Romanian, Czech, Greek, Turkish, Arabic. It’s a dictionary and a conjugator as well.

I compiled a list of YouTubers that speak Russian in their videos (not everyone here is from Russia). I am not a native speaker, so this is what I have come across. YouTubers that I particularly like are marked by ***. This list is not exhaustive so if you want me to add a Youtuber you like, let me know.

Comedy & Entertainment

AdamThomasMoran : Similar to Ray Williams Johnson, this channel comments on videos with comedy, as well as some swearing. One of the first Russian Youtube celebrities.

This is Хорошо ***: Latvian channel in Russian that reviews 3 viral videos with funny commentary. Unlike, AdamThomasMoran, there is no swearing.

TheBrianMaps ***: Brian does funny videos and skits meant to make you happy.

Room Factory ***: A channel whose main skit  Короче говоря features an interesting scenario in under 3 minutes.

KREOSAN: Ukrainians that do wild experiments. 

Девушки Мотора: This channel does skits about relationships and life.

Beauty & Fashion

Elena Krygina : Well known makeup artist that also gives master classes around Russia. Her channel focuses on makeup tutorials.

Sasha Spilberg ***: Similar to Zoella, her channel focuses on beauty, home, and unboxings.

Maria Way : Maria is a fashion and beauty blogger.

Соня Есьман***: Sonya is a model that talks about fashion and beauty. She also has an English channel.

★ Lizaonair : Her channel focuses on skincare, fashion, and makeup.

Masha Timoshenko ***: Masha blogs about fashion.

Kseniya Vostrikova:  Ksenia vlogs about fashion. life, and health.

Jenya Geyn: Jenya vlogs about beauty and skincare.

elena864 : She does a lot of makeup looks and outfit posts.

KamillaBeauty ***: Kamilla focuses on outfits and product reviews.

KateLi0n : She does product reviews and beauty looks.

Vlogging

TheKateClapp : Ekaterina talks about life and other topics with a comedic approach. She is well liked around Russia.

Руслан Усачев : Ruslan vlogs about news events, politics, gadgets, gaming and films.

ANTONplusANNA***: Anton and Anna vlog about their life and often try new foods.

PolinaBrz : You can think of her like a studyblr. She often blogs about books, school and hauls.

Ekaterina Saibel: This family of 3 vlogs about their life. They are in Kazakhstan and you can often see them skiing on the mountains there. 

Саша Кэт: Sasha blogs about life, DIY’s, and funny skits.

HalBer : They blog about challenges, life,  and other fun things.

Dima Ermuzevich : Dima often blogs about his trips and life.

ulielie ***: She blogs about books, films, and hauls.

Gaming

FROST : While his channel is mostly about gaming (with a variety of genres), he also does vlogs, all with humor.

Русский Мясник : Gaming channel that focuses on first person shooters.

LeTSPLaySHiK: This channel focuses on Minecraft. 

SuperEvgexa: Also has a focus on Minecraft. 

TheUselessMouth: This channel  does a variety of games, with an occasional skit.

LetsPlayPoRusski : This channel focuses on a game series in a let’s play. Currently, it is the Binding of Isaac.

Zulin`s v-log: This channel is more like the American let’s plays as it is more serious in the gameplay.

perpetuumworld : The genres vary but they tend to be less FPS and more fun games.

Прохождения от Глеба ^__^ : This channel focuses on more popular games and has longer let’s plays.

Ярик Лапа : He has a focus on Minecraft.

RusGameTactics: Tends to focus on a series of a let’s play.

Kuplinov ► Play : He plays a variety of games and often has a 16+ warning. 

Food & Health

Готовим дома: You can learn to cook traditional Russian dishes as well as other food.

Приятного аппетита!***: This channel has a sweets specialty.

Готовить просто: Another channel that teaches you how to cook food.

Готовим с Ириной Хлебниковой ***: This channel focuses on dessert recipes.

Семейная кухня : This channel has a family recipe focus.

Ольга Матвей***: Olga does a lot of dessert recipes.

videoculinary : Recipes from Emma’s grandmother.

Unagrande YogaClub : Teaches you yoga.

Катерина Буйда ***: Fitness instructor on yoga.

chilelavida ***: Teaches yoga as well as how to plan and be organized.

Workout - Будь в форме! : Offers workout videos and recipes.

TGym - Яркий путь к совершенству! : She blogs exercises, food, and her journey.

Science, News, and Technology

ПостНаука : This channel focuses on science and has lectures about different science topics.

LizzzTV ***: Challenges and science experiments.

Wylsacom: This channel does technology reviews.

Неновости: This channel  is sort of a mini news channel where they talk about events, celebs, and science.

Анатолий Шарий: Ukrainian journalist that lives in the EU that talks about the Ukrainian crisis. His news sources that he mentions are sometimes in Ukrainian, but he speaks Russian for his videos.

SlivkiShow : He does how to’s as well as experiments.

Our Vidos TV: This channel focuses on experiments.

TV and Film

Маша и Медведь : Really well-made and known kid’s tv show about the misadventures of Masha and the bear.

Вечерний Ургант : Similar to The Late Show, this is a late-night talk show, often accompanied by interviews with celebrities.

SoyuzMult ***: A channel that focuses on Soviet children’s cartoons. 

Mosfilm : You can find many Soviet films here, some of them with English subtitles.

Кино Клуб: Another channel where you can watch Soviet films.

Кухня (сериал) ***: Here you can watch full episodes of my favorite show Kuxnya.

Music

Ello : This channel focuses on pop music videos. Great for finding music to listen to for lyrics.

Russian Music : A variety of music with folk music as well.

GitaristTV: This guitarist teaches you how to play different songs on the guitar.

Russian Language

Weekly Russian: Natalia has short Russian language lessons that are easy to follow.

Easy Russian: If you don’t enjoy the dry approach of some people, learn Russian and Russian culture with humor and fun.

Easy Languages ***: While this channel focuses on many languages, the Russian segment is great for those learning Russian as there are both Russian and English subtitles for street interviews.

RussianPod101: Offers free Russian lessons (while trying to get you to buy their full course).

RU-LAND : This channel teaches grammar for those at different levels in Russian.

Fun Russian: This channel teaches you Russian, as well as vocabulary and slang.

Russian With Passion: Antonia casually explains grammar and vocabulary in her video lessons.

Russian with Huliganov: This series has been recommended for those that want to learn Russian. 

Other

Адвокат Егоров : A lawyer that does survival videos about DIY, building, fishing and gardening.

ASMRmania : ASMR Russian channel that relaxes you and gives you a tingling sensation. Can also help people with listening practice as the audio is soft.

Vse kak u zverei : Wildlife show about how humans and animals are alike with some jokes.

Grigoryi1 : Another survivalist channel.

Nikolay Mamluke : He recites Russian poetry and sometimes sings.