6 Apps to Learn the Russian Alphabet, Tested and Reviewed
A lot of apps boast that they can teach you the Russian alphabet, known as Cyrillic—sometimes in under three hours.
I’m a native Russian speaker but my reading skills are toddler-level, at best. I installed and tried every one of these apps on my Android phone to see if they could improve my Russian reading skills.
Contents
- Best for Learning to Read: Russian Alphabet in 3 Hours
- Best for Learning to Write: FunEasyLearn
- Best for Contextual Learning: Memrise
- Best for Learning Cursive: Write It! Russian
- Best for Fun Learning: Russian Animal Alphabet
- Best for Reviews: Russian Alphabet Letter Script
- Other Resources to Learn Cyrillic
- And One More Thing...
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Best for Learning to Read: Russian Alphabet in 3 Hours
As the name implies, this app aims to teach you the Russian alphabet in under three hours. After thoroughly testing it, I can definitively say that it accomplishes its goals with flying colors. The app has nine video lessons, with the ninth being a “final exam” which challenges you to read the Russian signs from photos before the native Russian speaker does. And… that’s all. And it works!
Each video consists of an English explanation of each letter’s use and pronunciation, paired with photos of real-world street signs, movie names, restaurant awnings and more. All reading in Russian is done by a native Russian female and male voice. The videos teach logically, starting with letters that look and sound like their English equivalents and moving on to the Russian language’s more unique letters. This means you can immediately start reading some Russian, even if you’re only reading simple words at first like мама (mama).
The app uses contextual learning—videos introduce each new letter as part of an English word and encourage you to figure out the pronunciation on its own. The videos don’t just teach the alphabet but also how to pronounce the letters, word stress, etc. (Stressed syllables are underlined in bright green since Russian word stress is its own beast to learn.) By the end of the final lesson, you’ll actually be able to correctly read complicated Russian from photos.
Best for Learning to Write: FunEasyLearn
FunEasyLearn is a Russian vocabulary learning app and its alphabet section is one of the best I’ve seen for teaching how to write the Russian letters. You study each letter one at a time, learning its sound and how to write the uppercase and lowercase versions.
You’re taught how to write the letters in increments: First it shows you how, then it lets you try it with the stroke order illustrated for you, then without the order and finally with just the outline of the letter. You hear the sound of the letter at each step to reinforce it. Finally, you’re asked to listen and choose the right sound from several choices as well as determine if its a vowel or consonant.
Each letter has a progress bar that fills up as you study it, filling up completely once you finish a letter without making any errors. You can repeat any letter as many times as you need. A honey theme and cute bee illustrations accompany you throughout your learning process. It’s simple, playful and effective!
Best for Contextual Learning: Memrise
Memrise works like this: You get a prompt, consisting of audio, writing, video or all three. You then choose from four multiple choice options. At each step, you’re shown videos of different Russian speakers pronouncing the word or letter naturally.
The Russian course on Memrise dives straight into the alphabet from the very first lesson. At first I wasn’t sure what logic it was using to choose the letters it teaches, but it quickly became clear that the letters weren’t chosen at random. It teaches you the three letters д (d), в (v) and й (y), and then shows you the words да and давай. In one fell swoop you not only learn three letters from the Russian alphabet, but you also form two new words with them and learn from context that the Russian а (a) is pronounced the same way as the English one is. Nice!
The app then tests you on a mix of the meanings, English readings and Russian writing for those new letters and words. Once you get familiar enough with a word, you’re asked to spell it out from a selection of letters (so you don’t even need to have a Russian keyboard—though I highly recommend it). Memrise is a good option for learning the alphabet if you want an app that’ll continue to grow with you throughout your learning journey, not just for the alphabet.
Best for Learning Cursive: Write It! Russian
Russian cursive is notoriously difficult to read, but thanks to this app you can at least learn how to write it. The app is made up of 13 lessons that chunk four or five letters together in alphabetical order and by case (upper or lower). In each lesson, you’re shown how to write the letter then tasked with writing it yourself.
In the true spirit of traditional Russian education, the app is very particular with the way you write each letter. For instance, although the Russian A looks identical to the English A, but the app will only recognize your writing as an A if you include the particular swoop of the cursive Russian letter.
As the lessons progress, you’re also shown a few multiple-choice questions to identify print (non-cursive) letters. I personally found parts of this and the letter writing sections confusing because the app uses English letters to prompt which Russian you should write. So, for instance, it’ll show B when you’re writing Б and V when you’re writing В. Despite this downside, this is a good app to use once you already know the alphabet and want to learn how to write cursive the proper way.
Best for Fun Learning: Russian Animal Alphabet
This app was created for kids, so it’s fairly repetitive and pretty silly, but that’s what makes it so charming and effective. Everything, including the instructions, is spoken in Russian by an adorable-sounding Russian narrator who might actually be a kid (or someone who’s very good at voicing a convincing kid).
Each word has its own minigame and, while they all teach you how to write and identify the letter, they’re all different. For example, to learn how to write the letter А, you guide an alligator chasing a monkey through the letter (the monkey, for some reason, is holding various foods like cherries, eggs and fish, which he drops as you catch him). Then, you have to feed the alligator the letter A, which you choose from a growing group of other letters. Every time you do, the cute narrator says the sound the letter and various exclamations like “Ух ты!” (Wow!) or “Nyam nyam.” Basically, it’s all absolutely adorable.
You can also learn Russian numbers on this app. You can access some letters and numbers for free but the full game is a mere $2.49. It’s definitely worth it if you find this whimsical manner of learning effective.
Best for Reviews: Russian Alphabet Letter Script
Available on: Android
I was immediately intrigued when I saw that this app lets you choose a learning type, and the options are “Quizzes,” “Flashcards” and… “Freaking”?
Quizzes play the sound and have you choose the corresponding Russian letter from a multiple choice set. Flashcards show you the letter paired with a picture of a word that begins with it. You can hear the letter and the word pronounced by a clear native Russian speaking voice. Tap on the card to turn it over for the cursive version of the letter. Somewhat disappointingly, it turns out that “Freaking” is just a true-or-false game. While this is as straightforward as it sounds, it’s an effective way to double-check that you remember the sound that each letter makes.
For each type of review, you can choose which sequence of letters you want to be tested on, as well as the difficulty (except in the case of flashcards). The basic version of the app is free and ad-based, and only allows you to choose the “easy” versions of each review. A one-time payment unlocks the rest of the features.
Other Resources to Learn Cyrillic
The apps above are excellent ways to learn the Russian alphabet, but they’re not the only resources out there. For some more support, try these additional learning resources to learn Cyrillic:
- Print out an iconographic of the Cyrillic alphabet and keep it somewhere that you can see it frequently to reinforce your learning.
- Physical flashcards are another great option if you like to learn hands-on. You can buy a pack of Russian alphabet flashcards on Amazon, make your own or use one of the many printables available online.
- Everything is easier with music! Learn the Russian alphabet with this adorable animated YouTube video or this extra-charming song from the Russian version of “Sesame Street.”
- There are also countless YouTube videos that teach the alphabet. You can go the traditional learning method but if you want a more fun option, one of my favorites is Language Simp’s “Russian Alphabet Explained by an American,” which is wholly unhinged and delightfully memorable.
- You can use the FluentU learning app to see written Russian paired with an English translation and a native speaker pronouncing each word naturally.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
All these apps make learning the Russian alphabet simple. Simply choose one that suits your learning style and you’ll be reading Russian in no time.
And One More Thing...
If you love learning Russian and want to immerse yourself with authentic materials from Russia, then I should also tell you more about FluentU.
FluentU naturally and gradually eases you into learning the Russian language and culture. You'll learn real Russian as it's spoken by real Russian people!
FluentU has a very broad range of contemporary videos. Just a quick look will give you an idea of the variety of Russian-language content available on FluentU:
FluentU makes these native Russian videos approachable through interactive transcripts. Tap on any word to look it up instantly.
Access a complete interactive transcript of every video under the Dialogue tab. Easily review words and phrases with audio under Vocab.
All definitions have multiple examples, and they're written for Russian learners like you. Tap to add words you'd like to review to a vocab list.
And FluentU has a learn mode which turns every video into a language learning lesson. You can always swipe left or right to see more examples.
The best part? FluentU keeps track of your vocabulary, and gives you extra practice with difficult words. It'll even remind you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You'll have a 100% personalized experience.
Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
