Is it difficult to learn Russian?

Russian is widely believed to be one of the most difficult languages to learn. This is mostly true, if you have no knowledge of other Slavic languages (e.g. Bulgarian or Czech). The grammar rules in Russian are very complex and have numerous exceptions.


How long does it take to learn Russian?

The Foreign Service Institute of the United States has determined that it takes about 1100 hours of study to reach fluency in Russian. If you're willing to study 3 hours every day, it could take you a year to reach that level.

Is it possible to learn Russian on your own?

While total fluency will take years of practicing Russian and will likely require you to spend time in a Russian-speaking country, it's absolutely possible to learn the Cyrillic alphabet, plenty of Russian words, and the basics of Russian grammar in six months.


Is Russian easier than Spanish?

Russian is more difficult, in that the grammar is more complex, although verb tenses in Spanish are no piece of cake, and there other tricky elements. It is also true that having to read in a less familiar alphabet also makes the language more difficult, and more tiring to read.

Is Russian language worth learning?

A LOT of people speak it

Russian is one of the world's most commonly spoken languages, and is the lingua franca for nearly all of the former Soviet Union. Between 150-180 million people speak Russian.


12 Unexpected Reasons why Russian is Easy to Learn



What is the hardest part of learning Russian?

The grammar rules in Russian are very complex and have numerous exceptions. In addition, many learners struggle with the pronunciation – the stress in words is largely unpredictable and not marked in writing, while there are multiple homonyms.

How fast can you learn Russian fluently?

The Foreign Service Institute has determined it takes around 1100 hours for native English speakers to reach fluency in Russian. If you spend 60 minutes per day studying Russian, it will take you 3 years. If you spend 6 hours per day, you will reach an upper intermediate level in half a year.

What is the closest language to Russian?

Ukrainian and Belarusian are the closest languages, as together with Russian they form the East Slavic group of languages. These three languages have an 86% lexical similarity; that is, they share 86% of the same words.


Which is easier Russian or Japanese?

After reading through all the differences, Russian probably comes across as the easier language to learn. And it is! For native English speakers, Russian is categorized as taking 44 weeks to learn (or 1,100 hours), while Japanese takes 88 weeks (2,200 hours).

Is Russian or Polish harder?

Polish uses Latin letters, just like English. So, when you're learning the Polish alphabet, all you have to pay attention to are the special accents and the pronunciation. This makes Polish a much much easier language to learn than Russian. Russian on the other hand uses the Cyrillic alphabet.

Is Duolingo Russian good?

Does Duolingo teach Russian well? Duolingo offers a complete Russian course, but that doesn't mean it teaches the language well. If you're looking to pick up some useful words and phrases, it's a great option. If you want to become fluent in Russian though, Duolingo is not the best choice.


How hard is Russian for English speakers?

Of all the European languages a native English speaker can learn, Russian is among the most difficult. The Germanic and Romance languages have a lot of the same core because they both have roots in Latin. Russian is from a completely different language branch called the Slavonic branch, which includes Czech and Polish.

What is the hardest language to learn?

Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.

How do you say hi in Russian language?

Hi in Russian – Привет (Privyet)


What's the easiest language to learn?

15 of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers - ranked
  • Frisian. Frisian is thought to be one of the languages most closely related to English, and therefore also the easiest for English-speakers to pick up. ...
  • Dutch. ...
  • Norwegian. ...
  • Spanish. ...
  • Portuguese. ...
  • Italian. ...
  • French. ...
  • Swedish.


What is most useful language to learn?

The 7 Best Languages To Learn
  1. Spanish. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language after Mandarin, and not a surprise at the top of languages to learn. ...
  2. German. ...
  3. Arabic. ...
  4. Mandarin. ...
  5. Portuguese. ...
  6. Russian. ...
  7. French.


Why is Russian so hard to pronounce?

There are more sounds than letters in Russian: 42 main sounds and only 33 letters. This means that some Russian letters can sound differently depending on their position and surrounding letters.


What is the easiest Slavic language to learn?

If you're looking for the easiest Slavic language to learn, we would suggest Bulgarian with the lack of grammatical cases. The most beautiful Slavic language is Czech in our opinion, although this choice is, of course, very subjective.

How many letters are in the Russian alphabet?

Modern Russian has 32 letters (33, with inclusion of the soft sign—which is not, strictly speaking, a letter), Bulgarian 30, Serbian 30, and Ukrainian 32 (33).

What do Russians call Russia?

Rossiya-matushka, "Russia the Mother", Мать-Россия, tr. Mat'-Rossiya, Матушка Русь, tr. Matushka Rus' , "Mother Rus' "), Homeland the Mother (Russian: Родина-мать, tr.


Is Z in the Russian language?

As a letter, Z does not exist in the Cyrillic Russian alphabet; rather, a letter resembling the figure 3 represents the “z” sound.

What are 3 languages spoken in Russia?

Not Only Russian: 5 Most Spoken National Languages in Russia
  • Tatar. Language family: Turkic. Status: definitely endangered. ...
  • Chechen. Language family: Northeast Caucasian. Status: vulnerable. ...
  • Bashkir. Language family: Turkic. Status: vulnerable. ...
  • Ukrainian. Language family: Indo-European. Status: safe. ...
  • Chuvash. Language family: Turkic.


How many words do you need to speak Russian?

There are about 150,000 words in modern Russian. But worry not—even I, a native speaker, probably know only half of those words. (Difficult to count, you know?) Anyway, as a beginner in Russian, you'd need no more than 300-500 words to start expressing simple ideas.


What is the most effective way to learn Russian?

Tips for the Best Way to Learn Russian
  1. Learn Cyrillic. ...
  2. Learn stressed (elongated) and unstressed (shortened) vowel sounds.
  3. Memorize Russian phrases and basic Russian words.
  4. Practice speaking Russian as much as possible, especially with native speakers.


What is B1 in Russian?

B1 « Threshold »

Use of Russian language in standard daily life and work situations. The participant can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.