BBC - Languages - A Guide to Russian - Facts, key phrases and the Russian alphabet

A Guide to Russian - Facts, key phrases and the Russian alphabet

Facts about the Russian language

Russian language facts

10 revealing facts about Russian. Get your head around tongue twisters and jokes.
It's also available in Russian with audio.

Russian words and phrases

Get started with 20 audio phrases and learn how to say a range of useful phrases from 'Hello' to 'Pleased to meet you'.

A list of useful phrases in Russian
Details on the Russian alphabet

Russian Alphabet

Listen to the Russian alphabet.
Find out where it came from and how many sibilants it contains (lots).

Russian soap opera

Read the story of English ex-pat Chris and Russian beauty, Irina, which has been written by you. Follow the plot and learn some Russian along the way.

Russian soap opera
A guide to languages

Try our guides to French, Italian, Spanish and German

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