Editor’s Note: All these coupon codes have been rechecked and are working as of February 2023. 

60%-77% Off RussianPod101 Coupon (Premium Only) Lifetime Membership

This deal is a special, unadvertised lifetime membership deal that we somehow found out about. Basically instead of paying every month (or year), you can just pay the one time and have access for life. The savings are calculated based on using the account for 5 years, but of course if you use it longer, that’s even more money saved. Here’s the RussianPod101 Coupon for 60% or 77% *depending on which option you choose:

RussianPod101 Coupon 2023: 30% Off Any Level Subscription

This Russian Pod 101 Coupon Code will help you save big on your monthly subscription – Basic, Premium or PremiumPlus. The 30% discount is automatically applied when you sign up using the link we have provided below:

If you already have your RussianPod101 account, you can still use the coupon code. Read on to see how you can use it.

How to Use the RussianPod101 Coupon Code

First-Time Users

You can acquire your RussianPod101 discount in a very simple way. Follow the steps below:

Click here for your RussianPod101 Discount Code

Once you click on the link provided above, you will be led to the RussianPod101 site. On the site, you will find the discount already applied to the listed prices.

Choose Your Plan

Now that the discount is already applied, you will quickly move to pick your plan from the three options given – Basic, Premium, or Premium PLUS.

Enter Payment Info

You will be required to enter your payment information and billing address. You can only choose our accepted forms of payments that are provided. They include MasterCard, Visa, American Express, and PayPal.

Choose a Subscription Term

The length of the subscription terms ranges from 1 to 24 months. The longer the length of the subscription, the less the amount you will be charged.

Verify Your Account

At this point, you will be directed to enter your email address for purposes of verification of your account. Once you confirm, you can then proceed to start learning to speak Russian.

Existing RussianPod101 Users

If you are already using RussianPod101, you are also qualified to save with this coupon code. Here is how to take advantage of this discount offer.

1. Log into your RussianPod101 account.

2. When logged in, come back to this page and click on our discount code link.

3. You will be directed to choose your subscription plan. You can consider upgrading to premium or premium PLUS if you have been using the Basic monthly subscription plan.

4. The next step is to update or verify your payment information. You will also be required to choose the length of your subscriptions. Longer terms give a heavier discount.

5. Click the ‘Complete’ icon on the bottom of your screen before proceeding to enjoy your RussianPod101 like before but with upgraded features for less.

Does the RussianPod101 Coupon Code Work Everywhere?

Yes. This 30% coupon code for your RussianPod101 can work anywhere you have access to your account. Wherever you can access the internet, you can be sure this Coupon Code will work.

Should I Choose Basic, Premium, or Premium PLUS Subscription?

Basic

This one-month subscription allows you access to audio lesson library, extensive video, and 100 core words and phrases. It also allows you to download and print PDFs of your lessons for later study. Access your RussianPod101 on your iPad, iPhone, desktop, or desktop.

Opt for this Basic plan if you:

Premium

This 12-month subscription gives you access to what comes in the basic plan plus a host of other features. These include voice-recording tools, daily Russian lessons, audio dictionary, 1000 core words and phrases, interactive learning tools, interactive lesson quizzes, and grammar bank.

Consider this plan if you:

Premium PLUS

This 24-month plan allows you to have access to complete materials that will enable you to learn to speak Russian language and culture. These include personalized learning plans, personal assignments, on-going professional assessments, and everything you get in basic and premium subscription plans.

Consider this plan if you:

Tips of Getting the Most Out of Your Subscription

With a great RussianPod101 Coupon Code discount, starting or continuing on your adventure to learning to speak Russian fluently can be flawless especially if you adhere to these tips of getting the most out of your subscription and study time.

We are glad that you have subscribed to our RussianPod101 to learn to speak Russian. Take advantage of this 30% Coupon Code discount and master to speak Russian fluently.

Lots of factors come into play when determining language difficulty, and most of those factors tend to be subjective to the language or the learner.

For example, your cousin Pete who was class valedictorian and spent a few years abroad in Eastern Europe might find learning to speak Russian a piece of cake. On the other hand, if you are just starting to learn your first foreign language, you might find Russian to be difficult. In this article, we will try to answer the question: How hard is it to learn Russian?

Is Russian the Hardest Language to Learn?

With all the factors that come into play, being objective about whether Russian is hard to learn can be difficult. However, we can look at some facts about learning the Russian language that lends to its appearance of being one of the most difficult languages to learn. First, we will cover what is “hard” about Russian, which is “easy” about Russian and offer some comparisons to other languages that are considered difficult to learn.

How is Russian Hard to Learn?

How hard is it to learn Russian? The following list briefly describes the ways in which Russian can prove difficult to many learners.

Cyrillic Alphabet

One look at a Russian website and it’s already like you’ve been thrown overboard from the Germanic- or Latin-based language ship. The Cyrillic alphabet, though offering some similarities to the English alphabet, has 33 letters, which is a good eight completely new letters to learn.

New Pronunciations

New letters bring about new sounds, and so do new letter combinations. Russian uses quite a few consonants in their words and each consonant has its own distinct sound.

Few Cognates

Cognates are words that are spelled similarly in both languages and mean the same thing. For example, the word “technique” means the same thing in both French and English. “Coffee” is considered a cognate for English and Russian (Кофе). As you can see, to even learn cognates, you will need to understand the Cyrillic alphabet.

Case System

Russian uses six cases and each one requires a different spelling of the noun. Each case has its own suffix added to the noun, so the case must be determined before writing or speaking the word.

How is Russian Easy to Learn?

As impossible a hurdle as the above aspects of Russian may seem, there are a few ways in which you might find it to be easier to learn.

No Articles

No articles are used in Russian. Personally, this is a selling point for me. You do not have to memorize whether your nouns are masculine or feminine or whether you need de, het, le, la, etc. to proceed them. Headache averted.

Three Tenses

Russian speaks the past, present and future and that’s it. Forget all that Present Perfect and Past Continuous stuff!

Flexible Word

Order In most languages word order is important, but with Russian’s case system, it matters much less. In fact, it doesn’t matter if you begin sentences with the object or the verb. This makes it easier for new learners to convey their messages from the get-go.

How does Russian Compare to Other Languages?

Chinese is often considered alongside Russian as one of the hardest languages to learn. Again, this will vary depending on the native language of the learner. A native English speaker might have an easier time learning Russian, while a native Japanese speaker might fare better with Chinese. Here are a few comparisons between Russian and Chinese.

How long does it take to Learn Russian?

Most experts will agree that to have a sufficient understanding of Russian with intermediate fluency, you will need about 1,100 hours of immersive study. The Defense Language Institute offers Level III Russian as a 48-week course. This means that independent study and class time would need to be about 22 hours per week.

Obviously, learning with an online program or such would grant you a bit more leeway. Ultimately, the length of time it takes you to learn Russian will be determined by your motivation to learn, the amount of time you spend in it, and your desired fluency level.

How long will it take to Speak Fluent Russian?

As with learning Russian, becoming fluent will depend highly on the learner. It goes without saying that the more time you spend practicing something, the better you will become at it. Most experts believe that to become truly fluent in Russian —that is thinking and speaking in Russian— requires 7-10 years of study.

Immersing yourself in the language is often thought the best way to enhance your fluency. This means living in a Russian-speaking community and using the language in daily life. Fluency can be achieved without immersion, but it might take longer. Again, fluency level is highly influenced by the motivation of the learner.

Learning the Russian Alphabet

The Cyrillic Alphabet has some similarities to the English Alphabet. For example, the Russian letters “Aa” and “Кк” both look and sound like their English equivalents. Other letters including the Russian “Нн” look like English letters but sound very different (Нн= “Nn” sound like nine). Still, other Russian letters look and sound like nothing from the English alphabet.

This is an excellent tool for learning the Russian Alphabet complete with cursive form and pronunciations.

The Best Free Resources for Learning Russian

One of the most popular free Russian learning sites has to be Duolingo. It is a fun, colorful program that makes language learning almost feel like a game. There is little grammatical explanations with the free version, but when used in conjunction with other programs, Duolingo can be a great way to break the monotony of traditional study.

Another great free resource to consider is Anki, which is the Japanese word for memorize. This app uses spaced repetition flashcards to help increase your vocabulary.

Memrise is another useful app that works similarly to Duolingo by speaking and reading useful phrases with little emphasis on grammar. This is another app to consider using in conjunction with a more in-depth learning platform or as practice away from the classroom.

Best Paid Programs for Learning Russian

RussianPod101 by Innovative Languages, is — in our opinion — one of the most comprehensive programs for learning Russian. Premium PLUS subscription plans include one-on-one instruction from a native speaking Russian teacher. It offers hundreds of video lessons and podcasts along with interactive learning tools. This is an ideal course with a monthly subscription fee for serious learners who cannot attend a class.

MimicMethod is the brainchild of polyglot, Idahosa Ness. It focuses on “learning by ear” and mimicking what is heard like a young child does. MimicMethod offers three-part courses including over 6 hours of video lectures with Ness, training exercises and learning tools like flashcards. This is an ideal system for those who excel in audio learning.

Conclusion: Russian is Difficult, but not Impossible!

While the Russian language can prove difficult for some and easy for others, ultimately the answer to this question depends on the student, their native language, and how much time they can devote to learning Russian. Is it impossible? No way! With the above-listed resources, you can start learning to speak Russian today.

Michael

Michael has been an avid language learner and traveler for many years. His goal with LanguageTsar is to discover the most fun and effective ways to learn a language. He is currently learning Japanese, French and Indonesian.

languagetsar.com/

In my search to find the best way to learn Russian, I have taken to Reddit for advice from those who have gone before me. Who better to consult about what works and what doesn’t than people who have already started on the path to speaking Russian?

How do I Start Learning Russian?

Though most people would not answer this question with: “Reddit,” I have found that it is a useful tool for directing you to the best Russian learning sites. To save you some time, I did some searching through the top posts in r/Russian for resources to help answer “how do I start learning Russian?”

So, You Want to Learn Russian?

This is a basic, albeit in-depth and lengthy, how-to-get-started post. It provides tons of valuable tips to learning Russian including the best ways to approach vocabulary, grammar and even boredom (because hey, it happens.). You can find an easy to follow and more in depth post at r/Russian full course, which provides even more links to Russian resources, as well as provided links to other free Russian sites like www.russianlessons.net and www.learnrussian.rt.com.

I was impressed with the number of resources available in this single post from help with learning vocabulary at Memrise, changing your keyboard to Russian with www.apronus.com or help in finding language learning buddies at places like My Language Exchange.

Overall, this is a great place to start learning how to learn to speak Russian online. Clicking on the full course takes you to the table of contents where you can begin your studies. I would highly recommend reading the full introduction before embarking on this journey.

I Made a Website of Russian and Soviet Movies with English Subtitles

RussianEnthusiast has gone to great lengths to put together an archive of movies at www.russianfilmhub.com with subtitles. You can choose movies from different decades, genres and countries, and watch them for free. Subtitles are available in English, Italian, German, Portuguese and more.

Watching movies, reading books and listening to podcasts are a great way to break up the monotony of vocabulary and grammar studies day in and day out. Plus, with the English subtitles you can truly get an idea of what is happening and how words are being used and pronounced.

Best way to Learn Russian?

Reddit user, CodingCore, has doubts that Duolingo is the most effective way to learn Russian.
Picture 7
Advice varies from buckling down and taking a class at the university to using the desktop version of Duolingo. The majority of Reddit user advice focuses on using a variety of resources including podcasts, videos, learning games and guided lessons all together in order to compensate for gaps in all learning methods.

Reddit user, ioswarrior67 wants to SERIOUSLY learn to speak Russian.

Since he is young, most of his responses revolve around immersion learning including participating in an exchange program. The general consensus is no, Duolingo is not an effective way to seriously learn to speak Russian.

User erisdawn wanted to know the best way to learn Russian from her smartphone while admitting she learns better by sight and pictures.

She was given loads of information including the following from user XFactorjjw:

“There are apps that have images you can pair with words. That will help with your vocabulary, but for grammar and other nuances of the language you will need a textbook. Check out your local library. I’m sure they will have resources you can use.

Listen to Russian music, watch Russian movies on YouTube, read Russian books at any level. Kids books will be perfect because they have pictures, you can get some on Amazon with a KU subscription, or just torrent some due to your situation. Immerse yourself in the language and you will be surprised at how much you pick up.”

Paid Russian learning sites including Pimsleur or a variety of books including Russian for Dummies and the New Penguin Russian Course are also recommended by different users. This further illustrates that learning preferences vary greatly among individuals. What works for some may not work for others, and it is always a good idea to use more than one learning source.

Cheesemuffin8 recommends first using Memrise to learn the Cyrillic alphabet and following up with RussianPod101, a paid Russian learning site that I feel is one of the most comprehensive programs out there.

Read our honest review of RussianPod101 here.

Unique Russian Words

According to most comments from native speakers, many of these unique Russian words are not at all unique, unheard of, or mistranslated. This is a prime example of where Reddit is a valuable resource in filtering out misinformation:

After learning of these (not so unique) Russian words, I veered slightly off-track to a few posts about getting a tattoo in Russian. Surprisingly, more than one post came from people who did not speak a lick of the language and were putting their ultimate trust into the commenters.

I was impressed by the answers given to this English to Russian tattoo post when she asked if her translation was correct. I’ll let you check out those comments yourself, but it seems most Reddit users kept her from getting a potentially embarrassing tatt!

Moral of this story: run it by Reddit before accidentally calling someone an uneducated old hag or permanently printing obscenities on your body.

Related: How Hard Is It To Actually Learn Russian?

50 Words for Cat?

In a meme most likely poking fun at Russian diminutives and the myriads of ways to say “cat,” this post spiraled off into an unrelated but probably useful tangent about transliterations. This simple communication and explanation amongst users is yet another argument for Reddit being a useful tool to those learning Russian.

Finally, the comments circle back to all the different ways to say “cat,” which is pretty much necessary given most of the world’s affinity for cat videos.

Final Thoughts

So, what is the answer to our title question:

What is the best way to learn to speak Russian according to Reddit?

It’s simple, really. There is no one-size-fits-all way to learn Russian. It is usually most efficient for Russian learners to use a variety of tools — and Reddit can be one of the best resources to help you find those tools.

Michael

Michael has been an avid language learner and traveler for many years. His goal with LanguageTsar is to discover the most fun and effective ways to learn a language. He is currently learning Japanese, French and Indonesian.

languagetsar.com/

So how did I finally manage to learn Russian? In this article I’ll outline the materials I used and the scoop on how I really learnt Russian.

Firstly why learn Russian? In this video I explain the benefits that I’ve enjoyed from having learnt the Russian language.

Here are 7 tips for getting started with Russian:

1. Classes with a private tutor online (X2 hours/week)

2. Nail pronunciation first of all (one month)

3. Learn Cyrillic alphabet (one week)

4. Learn the first 500 words and phrases that are useful to me personally

5. Build in contact with the language and country before I arrive there

6. Purposely travel to the country itself and apply what I’ve learnt

7. Build on my base in Russian to learn the language over the long term

Private Online Classes

Where to find online tutors …

In order to start learning Russian before arriving in a Russian-speaking country, I typically took 2 hours of private tuition per week with a teacher that I found on italki.com. The classes were via Skype so I was able to take them no matter where I was located and I got really great personalized contact with the teacher (which I prefer one-to-one private tuition over group classes).
In the lessons with my italki teacher, we focussed on the words and phrases that are useful to me in my personal situation. Most language courses and lesson plans aren’t personalized enough and end up trying to teach the learner vocabulary that is not relevant to their needs.

People who are traveling extensively or have location independence need to emphasize specific vocabulary for the situations that they are likely to encounter. For example, everywhere I travel to almost the first thing I need to ask for is the wifi code in the cafe, restaurant or apartment that I’m in. The word for ‘socket’ is important as I will need to find it in order to plug in my laptop. Focussing on these scenarios and not on standard templates is a lot more effective as they are tailored to my individual needs.

Pronunciation

Pronunciation is something that you need to get down right from the beginning so you need to prioritize this at the beginning. The course I recommend you use is the Mimic Method. You can watch my review of using it below.

1. The first step is to identify the sounds in Russian and how they differ from my native tongue (English) or the other languages that I speak

2. Next, I practiced making these sounds with a native speaker (my teacher from italki)

3. I recorded my pronunciation and reviewed it before every class for 10 minutes

Pareto Principle

By focussing on the most important words and structures, I implicitly apply the 80/20 rule of the Pareto principle. The principle states that as a rule of thumb approximately 80% of the effects come from 20% of actions that you undertake. By placing specific attention to these 20% of actions should bring about dramatically faster progress in learning Russian.

VOCABULARY

Many language learners recommend using spaced repetition systems like Anki for memorizing vocabulary. I am personally not a fan of flash card systems. Normally I use a mnemonic (personalized memory aid) if I’m struggling to remember an important word.

I find it more effective to deliberately apply the vocabulary and grammatical structures that I’ve learnt until they are internalized.

This way they are used in a personalized context. Context is king for remembering new words!

1. Listen to and read Glossika Russian daily for 20 minutes

2. Use ‘Vocabooster Russian’ to learn the first 600 words in Russian

3. Increase my comprehension of more complex vocabulary with LingQ

4. Make a deliberate effort to apply new useful vocabulary in the Russian Skype classes with my italki teacher

5. Update: We recently reviewed RussianPod101 and think it’s pretty good for beginners and intermediate learners.

GRAMMAR

I am definitely not a grammar ‘nazi’ and as such don’t get particularly excited about the prospect of learning about cases and syntax. With this in mind, I’m going to get a general overview of the language’s grammar and pay attention to the most important structures only.

1. Begin by reading the Wikipedia page for the Russian language

2. Focus on the most important structures only in my classes with my Russian teacher by using subsitution drills

3. Pay attention to trends that are occurring in the language

A course I really like for intuitively improving my knowledge of the grammatical structures and vocabulary of a new language is Glossika and I will be using Glossika Russian daily for about 20 minutes during this period.

As I will not be located in Russian-speaking cities, I will have to build up some spontaneous natural conversation in Russian before I arrive there. This will include friends that I already have who can speak Russian and partaking in Russian cultural events outside the country.

Michael

Michael has been an avid language learner and traveler for many years. His goal with LanguageTsar is to discover the most fun and effective ways to learn a language. He is currently learning Japanese, French and Indonesian.

languagetsar.com/

But now I am reaping the fruits of my linguistic labor. In video 1 below, I explain the impact it’s had on my life.

And now in video 2 I outline why you should learn Russian, especially if you would like to travel extensively in Eastern Europe.

Related: Russian vs. Polish

If you’ve learnt Russian or any other Eastern European language then let me know about your experiences in the comments section below.

Michael

Michael has been an avid language learner and traveler for many years. His goal with LanguageTsar is to discover the most fun and effective ways to learn a language. He is currently learning Japanese, French and Indonesian.

languagetsar.com/