How to Learn Russian in Just 15 Minutes a Day (My Strategy)

I recently came across a Reddit post where someone was asking “How long did it take you non-native to learn Russian?” Then he explained he was learning about 15 minutes per day. Everyone said 15 minutes is NOT enough – but I disagree.

And here are some of the comments:

And here’s another comment:

So continue reading this article to learn:

• What happens if you spend 15 minutes a day learning Russian?
• Why does this work?
• What should you do during those 15 minutes?

Or watch this video:

Curious what happens when you spend ONLY 15 minutes a day on learning Russian?

What happens if you spend 15 minutes a day learning Russian?

It was December 2016 and I was making New Year’s resolutions for 2017.

One of my goals was:

“Become C1 level in Russian by the end of 2017”

I made an elaborate plan on how I was going to achieve this.

Lessons, series, speaking practice, vocabulary, etc. 

My plan required about 1.5 to 2 hours of practice a day.

I was motivated. I wanted to go for it.

But how long do you think I was able to follow my plan?

…

If you guessed a couple of days, you’re right.

After a couple of days, I lost all motivation. 

I was waking up in the morning with a full day of regular work ahead. AND then another 2 hours of Russian practice after work…

It was just too much and I quit my plan.

So I knew I had to take a different approach. 

What did I do?

Well, I tried something different.

Instead of aiming for 2 hours a day, I aimed for JUST 15 minutes a day.

That was my minimum practice goal.

And it’s so little that I achieved it every day.

So what happened after doing this for a couple of weeks?

I was now easily practicing about 30 minutes a day on average.

Some days more.

Some days just my minimum of 15 minutes.

But the main thing was that I enjoyed learning Russian again.

No perfectionism or pressure. Just learning for the sake of it. Because I liked Russian and wanted to figure it out.

Now, fast forward a couple of months…

… and I practiced about 1.5 to 2 hours a day on average.

Without any feeling of pressure.

I was easily surpassing my 15 minutes of practice goal each day.

Now, this was not 100% “lesson” learning, but it also included watching Russian series, reading Russian books, and playing the occasional video game in Russian.

So it wasn’t intense at all. But it was effective.

The moral of this story?

Focus first on consistency, then on volume.

This allows you to slowly up the amount of practice, so you keep enjoying the process. 

Because if you focus on volume first, chances are you’ll get overwhelmed, won’t enjoy it, and quit learning Russian altogether.

But Ari, this is your story… will it work for me?

Why does this work?

Yes, this works for almost everyone. You see, there are simple psychological things at play.

I read this somewhere first in 2018 when James Clears book “Atomic Habits” came out.

In it he told a story of wanting to become in shape. 

He tried going to the gym before, but it never stuck.

So he put as his target goal to do 1 push up a day.

Sounds easy right? 

I understand 1 push up is not easy for everyone, but for a young man like him it was an easy goal.

1 push up was so easy, that he could easily do it each day.

So what happened after a couple of weeks?

He was now doing 10 push ups a day.

And after a while he was like “well, I’m already doing push ups each day, might as well go to the gym”.

And by the end of the year, he was able to do much more pushups than at the start, had gotten stronger and leaner, and was now also regularly going to the gym.

All goals he had wanted to achieve before by just going to the gym, but not achieving it.

So why does something simple as doing 1 push – or 15 minutes of Russian – a day have such great impacts?

Well, because it impacts your identity.

If you learn Russian each day, you will soon see yourself as someone who is learning Russian each day.

And if you skip it, you will start to feel weird.

Just like how it feels when you forget to brush your teeth.

The more something is a habit, the weirder it will be to NOT do it.

And once you identify with a certain behavior, it will be easy to do it every day – and to do more of it.

Alright, so what should you be doing exactly during those 15 minutes?

What should you do during those 15 minutes each day?

So, there are 2 things you have to pay attention to:

1) Can you practice this on a whim every day?

Since your goal is to practice each day, it should be EASY to do so.

So choose things that are in your control to practice:

• Video lessons
• Apps
• Books
• Movies
• Audio lessons

If it’s 9PM and you suddenly realize you haven’t practiced, you can just pick up a textbook, open an app, or listen to an audio lesson.

But if you choose speaking with a Russian friend as your daily activity, you’re going to struggle doing it daily.

You can’t just call him at night explaining you have to practice. He might be busy, not in the mood, or you need to schedule a practice session like that.

So it’s more difficult to practice with activities that require a person or specific place.

That’s why you need to choose an activity that’s within your control.

What else should the activity have?

2) Does it help you achieve your goals?

If your goal is to read Russian literature, pick reading a dual language book as your main activity.

If you currently struggle with Russian vocabulary, choose an app or textbook as your activity.

If you want to become better at having conversations in Russian, choose a course like my Russian Conversations Unlocked.

The point is, make sure the activity and your goals are aligned. Like James Clear when he chose to do 1 pushup a day when he wanted to become stronger.

If you want to speak better Russian, but you spend your time doing Duolingo, you will not achieve your goals. As Duolingo doesn’t help with speaking practice.

But if instead you follow a good course that helps you learn vocabulary and grammar, and help you apply it to Russian conversations, then your conversational skills will become better.