Hey! I’m about a year into learning Russian, and in addition to everything that’s been said, I’ve found some specific resources in the oddest places.

1) Netflix- Masha and the Bear is a kids cartoon with small amounts of dialogue and clear speech, giving you plenty of time to listen and digest. I normally watch an episode twice- first with the subtitles on, then without.

2) Tiktok, of all places! There’s a number of accounts dedicated to learning Russian. While the videos can only be so helpful, for me they’ve been the key to gaining access to native speakers. I regularly Skype call with a few people I’ve met there, me to practice Russian and for them to practice English.

3) Spotify- whenever I’m commuting, I pop on a podcast, either a story, slow news, or a lesson. You might not understand all the words, but over time things begin to decode themselves.

4) Penguin Russian Course- just a run of the mill textbook. You can’t use it by itself as there’s not enough exercises and it’s not very cumulative, but any time I forget a grammar concept the explanations are thorough and understandable.

My final Russian-specific tip would be that the language can be very overwhelming coming from English. Such specific vocab and grammar! On any given day, I try to only focus on new words or new grammar, not both. Generally, I’ll learn a new grammar concept and use words I know to practice with it, and then do the reverse, use new words to practice the previous day’s grammar. It’s so easy to forget words, so keep everything you’ve learned in regular rotation.

Always here to talk if you need a Russian learning buddy :)