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Best Program to Learn Russian Online?
I've been looking through different apps like DUO, Babble, Busuu, etc. and I was wondering what program would be the most effective way to learn Russian from scratch. Any thoughts/options of those who have tried? Do any native speakers have any suggestions for me? I am a beginner, currently working on mastering the alphabet. My goal is to eventually become indistinguishable from that of a native speaker.
Would love to know myself. Complete beginner. Fluent in English and Spanish so this is a big step 😅
The best way to learn a new language is to speak with natives or at least with someone who is fluent in it. I am trying to learn Spanish, so we could help each other.
I’ve had this saved for awhile just didn’t dedicate the time to look through this: http://www.russianforeveryone.com/RufeA/Lessons/Introduction/Alphabet/Alphabet.htm
What is your opinion on this site?
Those programs are just games. They can get you started at best, but you won’t get beyond the very basics with them. If you want to spend time with Russian language online, then watch content with subtitles, read simple texts, write down unfamiliar words, try to memorise them, and repeat the process. Find some YouTubers that explain Russian grammar and memorise the basics of cases and verb declinations. Then just keep consuming the language
I used the penguin Russian course for grammar and memrise for vocab, but you could as well use a good Anki deck.
I think a good grammar book is really helpful for Russian, you can't just "wing it", so to speak.
Ok, so I am very much a beginner (literally started learning like 2 weeks ago) but I'm currently using duolingo, its free witch I dont think babble is but I've never heard of busuu. I've heard stuff about people becoming fluent starting of on duolingo and to get an understanding of russian and then moving onto other things so thats what I'm going to do. Hope this was some sort of help to you
I was doing DUO for about a year, but unfortunately it just wasn't cutting it for me. They changed their formatting and it made it completely unusable for me, but I hope that you enjoy it and it helps you!
I like the approach of Busuu but I guess you should learn the alphabet first. YouTube can help
I would recommend the channel Be Fluent in Russian if you’re an absolute beginner – turns out that, despite the name, almost the whole channel is made for beginners.
Then, I’d say that the most effective “program” is would be Anki. Flashcards in general are amazing in the process of learning a language, and Anki is the most versatile in that regard. Lots of customization and you can even install plug-ins to enhance your experience.
As for the grammar, you’ll surely find lots of materials online (which will come in handy quite frequently), but those are more of a complementary option. Books are still a great way of diving into the grammar, and I couldn’t recommend The New Penguin enough. Had great experience with it.
I've used Worddive, Duolingo and LingQ. The last one daily for over thousand days. I also study German, Swedish and Spanish.
I create a lot of my own courses and read / listen exactly what I want.
The approach is different based on the person himself. Some learn by reading, some by speaking with natives, for my English, I upgraded my knowledge by songs and Friends with subtitles first, then without them.
I am learning Spanish with Duo and I was proud with myself when I could speak on simple topics in the bar with a Cuban guy the other day. Of course I listen to podcasts and songs in Spanish that adds up learning curve as well.
I started with Dualingo and Pimsluer.
Dualingo taught me how to make sentences and I would watch YouTube videos to explain the grammar as it came up. Pimsluer gives you a core vocabulary and gets you to speak.
Once I completed Dualingo and Pimsluer I downloaded Anki .
I downloaded 4 shared decks -
10,000 most common words
Spoon fed Russian sentences deck ( especially useful)
GCSE Russian ( just pictures and words)
Tatoeba Russian sentences ( very good deck as spoken by natives, has slang etc)
Also I started Glossika, if you are unfamiliar with Glossika I highly recommend it. You just listen and repeat sentences.
I have just recently finished Glossika and still do Anki. I am at a conversational level, I speak to a Russian person on the phone in Russian for 1 to 3 hours daily.
Now I continue Anki to build vocab and have started Clozemaster ( on the journey to learn the top 50,000 words).
I think if you use all of these resources and do them EVERYDAY you will get a fair grasp of the Russian language.
I am still learning of course, but I plan to consume as many sentences and resources as I can.
I have a suggestion that is very effective but very unorthodox as well. Forget Duo, Babble, Busuu etc. Just get hellotalk or tandem and call a native speaker and talk every day in Russian. In my first russian session, I knew ZERO russian and pronounced horribly too. However after an hour a day of calls every day for 3 weeks, I am able to talk and speak decent russian and can even follow podcasts. Natives help me with conjugations and pronunciations.
If you know English or Spanish/Portuguese/French/Italian, you can play around with Latin words often, like эффективный = effective, нормальный = normal etc. With this technique, you don't even need to learn Cyrillic at the beginning. You can just use google translate and learn the latin word pronunciations. After a week, Cyrillic becomes easy for you too. The main downside of this technique is that you need to be an extrovert. Excepting that, it's a pretty underrated way to learn a language quickly and have fun in the process!
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The best one is buy a teacher of russian