Today I want to share with you 5 websites that are great for learning Russian. The best part? They’re all free! Since there are many different resources/websites available online – it can sometimes be difficult to find the ones that really have useful information. However, the following sites are vetted by me. So feel free to check them out:
If you want to have real conversations in Russian instead of just studying it, I created a structured 30‑lesson audio course called Russian Conversations Unlocked. I've designed it for adult learners who want to learn to actually communicate with native speakers. You can find more information here.
Очень по-русски (Very Much Russian)
Очень по-русски is an audio podcast about Russian slang and modern conversational language for upper-intermediate and advanced learners. It introduces you to the language that you will never find in standard textbooks and even dictionaries. Each episode is accompanied by a free transcription and translation to English. All the words explained in the podcast are gathered in the “Modern Conversational Russian Dictionary”. Recently the site launched the section “Russian Joke of the Week”, where every Monday you can find new funny Russian jokes with stress marks, translation in English and audio.
Learn Russian Daily
Learn Russian Daily provides you a daily opportunity to learn and practice the Russian language. Subscribe to “Russian Word of the Day” and learn a new Russian word or phrase with two examples and audio every day. Practice the words you learned with the flashcards. Learn useful Russian phrases with the audio phrasebook. The content of the site is available in 3 different languages: English, Spanish, and French.
Learn Russian Step by Step
Learn Russian Step by Step is a free online Russian grammar and vocabulary course for beginners. Short audio lessons step by step take you through the important points of Russian grammar, starting from the alphabet and pronunciation, as well as teach you useful Russian words and phrases for everyday situations. The content of the site is available not only in English, but also translated in Spanish and French.
Russian Pen Pal
The best way to learn Russian, as any other language, is to practice. The best way to practice is to have interesting conversations with native speakers. Russian Pen Pal already includes dozens of profiles of Russians who are eager to find partners for language exchange, and their database is growing daily. Join the community and find your soul mate in Russia today!
Everyday Russian
Everyday Russian offers free online Russian lessons for all levels. More than 10 types of activities are designed to develop your reading, listening and writing skills, as well as to teach you some useful vocabulary. Every lesson, except tests, comes along with an audio file recorded by a native Russian speaker. The content of the site is also available in 3 different languages: English, Spanish and French.
What should you do next?
Most learners don't struggle because Russian is "too hard."
They struggle because they don't train speaking directly.
- You can study vocabulary
- you can memorize Grammar
- You can listen for hours
But if you don't practice building sentences in real time, you'll still struggle when someone speaks to you.
One of my students once told me:
“I have been studying Russian for a year. In my head I can prepare basic sentences, yet when it comes to actually speaking I ‘chock’.”That's not a knowledge problem.
That’s a training problem.
Your weakest skill determins your conversational level.
And for most learners, that weakest skill is speaking.
That's why I built Russian Conversations Unlocked - a structured 30-lesson audio course designed to train real-time speaking ability step by step.
If you want to have real conversations in Russian, start here: