Is The Russian Language Hard To Learn

The Russian language has been classified past the Defense force Language Constitute, a segmentation of the Section of Defense, as Level III (out of four) difficulty for native English language speakers.

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 form valedictorian and spent a few years away in Eastern Europe might find learning to speak Russian a piece of cake. On the other mitt, if you are but starting to larn your first strange language, yous might find Russian to exist 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 tin can exist difficult. Nonetheless, we can look at some facts most learning the Russian linguistic communication that lends to its appearance of being one of the most hard languages to learn. First, we will cover what is "difficult" about Russian, which is "easy" near Russian and offer some comparisons to other languages that are considered hard to learn.

How is Russian Hard to Larn?

How difficult is it to learn Russian? The following listing briefly describes the means in which Russian tin can prove difficult to many learners.

Cyrillic Alphabet

1 look at a Russian website and it'south already similar you've been thrown overboard from the Germanic- or Latin-based language transport. The Cyrillic alphabet, though offer 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 ain singled-out sound.

Few Cognates

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

Example System

Russian uses six cases and each one requires a unlike spelling of the noun. Each case has its own suffix added to the noun, so the instance 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 y'all might find information technology to be easier to acquire.

No Articles

No articles are used in Russian. Personally, this is a selling point for me. Yous do non have to memorize whether your nouns are masculine or feminine or whether you need de, het, le, la, etc. to go along 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 about languages word order is important, only with Russian's case arrangement, information technology matters much less. In fact, information technology doesn't matter if you brainstorm sentences with the object or the verb. This makes it easier for new learners to convey their letters from the go-go.

why are you learning Russian — Why are you lot learning Russian again?

How does Russian Compare to Other Languages?

Chinese is oft considered aslope Russian as i of the hardest languages to learn. Over again, this volition vary depending on the native linguistic communication of the learner. A native English speaker might take an easier fourth dimension learning Russian, while a native Japanese speaker might fare amend with Chinese. Hither are a few comparisons between Russian and Chinese.

Chinese has near 2,400 basic characters. Russian has 33.
Chinese words do not alter. For case, the verb "go" is the same whether the subject field is "He, She," or "We." Russian nouns modify depending on the case.
The Chinese Alphabet is completely different from the English alphabet, whereas Russian uses some of the same characters.
Chinese sentences begin with the topic, while Russian sentences can begin with the object, subject or verb.

How long does it take to Learn Russian?

Most experts will hold that to take a sufficient understanding of Russian with intermediate fluency, y'all will need about one,100 hours of immersive report. The Defense Linguistic communication Found offers Level III Russian as a 48-week grade. This means that contained study and class fourth dimension would need to exist about 22 hours per week.

Obviously, learning with an online program or such would grant you a bit more than leeway. Ultimately, the length of fourth dimension it takes you to acquire Russian will be determined past your motivation to acquire, the corporeality of fourth dimension you spend in it, and your desired fluency level.

How long will information technology have to Speak Fluent Russian?

As with learning Russian, becoming fluent will depend highly on the learner. It goes without maxim that the more time yous spend practicing something, the improve you volition become at information technology. Most experts believe that to become truly fluent in Russian —that is thinking and speaking in Russian— requires vii-10 years of study.

Immersing yourself in the language is frequently thought the all-time 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. Once more, 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 messages including the Russian "Нн" look similar English language messages but sound very different (Нн= "Nn" sound like nine). Still, other Russian messages expect and sound like cypher from the English alphabet.

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

The Best Free Resource for Learning Russian

I of the most popular free Russian learning sites has to exist Duolingo. Information technology is a fun, colorful program that makes language learning almost feel similar a game. There is footling grammatical explanations with the free version, but when used in conjunction with other programs, Duolingo tin be a great way to break the monotony of traditional written report.

Another great gratis resource to consider is Anki, which is the Japanese discussion for memorize. This app uses spaced repetition flashcards to help increment your vocabulary.

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

Best Paid Programs for Learning Russian

RussianPod101 past Innovative Languages, is — in our stance — 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 class with a monthly subscription fee for serious learners who cannot nourish a grade.

MimicMethod is the abstraction of polyglot, Idahosa Ness. It focuses on "learning by ear" and mimicking what is heard like a immature child does. MimicMethod offers three-role courses including over 6 hours of video lectures with Ness, training exercises and learning tools like flashcards. This is an platonic organization for those who excel in audio learning.

Mimic Method Founder Idahosa Ness with Conor Clyne Tsar Experience

Decision: Russian is Difficult, merely non Incommunicable!

While the Russian language can prove difficult for some and easy for others, ultimately the answer to this question depends on the educatee, their native language, and how much fourth dimension they can devote to learning Russian. Is information technology incommunicable? No way! With the above-listed resource, you tin can start learning to speak Russian today.

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 acquire a language. He is currently learning Japanese, French and Indonesian.