This site was created for people who want to achieve a basic understanding of the Russian language.

It operates according to the following learning principles:

• Read
  
• Listen
  
• Understand
  
• Remember

Learning from textbooks provides a good foundation, but you may be surprised how little you can understand when someone speaks to you in normal-paced, native Russian. The way Russians talk on the street is significantly different to the ideal pronunciation presented in language books. The aim of this website is to help visitors to the Russian Federation understand Russian as it is naturally spoken.

AND BEST OF ALL IT'S FREE!!

The lessons are designed with the beginner in mind, especially those who are planning to travel to countries where Russian is spoken. We have tried to make learning as easy as possible via original sound recordings combined with the Russian text, English translations and phonetic transliterations (guides to pronunciation). The focus is on building vocabulary, and, unlike other websites and textbooks, grammar is introduced very slowly.

Listening to Audio on Listen2Russian.com

To listen to the audio and see the navigation buttons on this website you need to have Flash Player Version 8 or above installed in your browser. However, we recommend all users upgrade to the latest version of Flash as there were several security issues with older versions.

Do you see a graphic just below this paragraph that says "Flash Player Detection"? If so, then note the version number of the Flash Player detected. If the version number is 8 or above then you will be able to listen to the audio on this website. If you do not see this graphic or receive an error then you will need to download and install the latest version of Flash Player available from Adobe here. If you just see a big blank space below and are browsing with Internet Explorer then you may need to download the complete Flash re-installer here.

Format of the Lessons

Within each lesson, words and phrases are presented in the following format:

1. The English word or phrase. For example: 'I would like three kisses'.

2. The Russian form of the word / phrase written in Russian script (Cyrillic). For example, 'Я бы хотел три поцелуя'.

The Russian script between the ' ... ' above should look like this

If the text doesn't match then you will need to adjust your browser settings to display Cyrillic. In Internet Explorer, go to the menu View / Encoding / and try 'Unicode (UTF-8)' or the different Cyrillic options.

3. The phonetic pronunciation of the Russian translation, with emphasis marked in CAPITALS. For example, 'ya bei khatEl tri pats-el-lOO-ya'

4. Two sound recordings of the Russian translation spoken by a native Russian speaker. The first recording is spoken at normal speed, while the second recording is spoken at slow speed.

Press the buttons below to test your audio. Remember to turn-up the volume!

I would like three kisses

Я бы хотел три поцелуя

Pronounced:

ya bei khatEl tri pats-el-lOO-ya

Listen:

(Lena)

Choose Your Lesson

To begin, click the Let's Begin link below to choose your lesson.

We hope you enjoy the learning materials on this website. If you would like to contribute to making this website better (i.e., quality sound recordings from native Russian speakers; phrase suggestions) then please contact us.

Browser Specific Issues

Internet Explorer: There appears to be an incompatibility issue with Internet Explorer, Flash, and the little clock you see in the bottom-right corner. Clicking the Flash navigation buttons throughout this site do not allow the clock to update. As you browse through the site, click one of the white, text links in the top-right corner of any page to update the clock.

Firefox: With Firefox 3, Mozilla seems to have fixed the Flash audio bug that was causing many problems (not just on this site). However, if you experience stuttering audio can you please Contact Us with a few details of the problem. For some users there is still a page caching bug (sometimes it loads an old version of a page instead of downloading an updated version). If you aren't seeing new content press the blue refresh button at the top or clear the cache. Internet Explorer does not have this problem.

Opera: Similar to Firefox, Opera used to have a problem playing multiple Flash audio buttons on a single page. We have reports that this issue hasn't been completely fixed yet, so we recommended you use one of the other browsers to view this website.