What is the best way to learn Russian on your own?
Russian is an East Slavic language native to the Russians in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of four living East Slavic languages, and also part of the larger Balto-Slavic branch. Russian is an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and is used widely as a lingua franca throughout Ukraine, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and to some extent in the Baltic states. It was the de facto language of the Soviet Union until its dissolution and is used in an official capacity or in public life in all the post-Soviet states. The language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
Russian has over 258 million total speakers worldwide and is the most-spoken Slavic language, the most spoken native language in Europe, as well as the most geographically widespread language in Eurasia. Large numbers of Russian speakers are residents of other countries, such as Israel and Mongolia. It is the world’s seventh-most spoken language by a number of native speakers, and the world’s eighth-most spoken language by total number of speakers. Russian is also the second-most widespread language on the Internet, after English.
- Russian is a very useful language. It is considered an “area of need” or “critical language” by the US government, so learning to speak it can open up job opportunities.
- It can be hard to find formal Russian courses in some regions. This means that, for some people, if you want to learn Russian, learning by yourself is your only real option.
- Even if you want to take a formal course down the road, learning basic Russian on your own can help prepare you for success in formal courses. This independent learning might simply make future courses easier for you, or you might be able to skip some coursework altogether.
- Learning Russian opens up a lot of cultural options. You can visit Russia, read classic Russian literature, enjoy Russian movies, watch Russian TV shows or listen to Russian music.