Renata Ilitsky
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From Videos to Podcasts: 5 Resources to Learn Business Russian for Every Type of Learner
If you are looking to open a business in Russia, invest in a Russian company or simply find a job in Russia, you must perfect your Russian skills to maximize your opportunities!
Below, we provide five of the very best sources that will help you improve your reading, writing, speaking and listening skills to effectively learn business Russian!
Contents
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Why Do Business with Russia?
Every country presents a unique opportunity for business, and Russia is definitely no exception.
- Size: Russia is a big country with a large population—over 145 million! Plus, we cannot forget other countries and territories that speak Russian since they were part of the former Soviet Union. These include countries such as Latvia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belarus and so on!
- Growing Economy: Russia is one of the world’s top oil producers, and with the growing energy and oil prices, its economy is growing as well! This means that this country presents opportunities for investment.
- Rising Income: There’s been a rise in stable employment in Russia and growing income for its residents. This has created a large potential group of new customers that have the funds to shop for your products or services.
- Location: Russia is situated in a perfect location for business—it provides access to seas, roads and rail routes, and has major airports that fly to multiple international locations.
5 Trusted Sources to Help You Learn Business Russian
When starting to do business in or with Russia, learning Russian is imperative. However, if you need to brush up on your Russian skills fast, learning Russian slang or conversational Russian may not be the best choice of action for your purposes. Instead, it would make more sense to find specific resources that focus on business Russian, teaching you the vocabulary particular to your needs!
We have handpicked the five most trusted sources for learning business Russian below:
Book: “Learn Russian to Work with Russians”
This book is conveniently offered as a paperback or a Kindle version on Amazon. It is designed to provide a wealth of information to help you start speaking in Russian for professional purposes in no time.
The book includes basic business vocabulary is intended for beginner to intermediate learners. It also teaches the conversational Russian necessary for sparking up and maintaining a conversation, by introducing you to the words and phrases you need for a well-rounded Russian business dealing.
The text uses illustrations, highlighted keywords and tips on improving your Russian skills. Plus, there are many exercises to help you master both speaking and writing in Russian for business purposes.
Learning Program: FluentU
Plus, the videos are all naturally entertaining since they come from the shows, movies and channels that native Russian-speakers enjoy on the regular. You can watch documentary footage, television show clips, funny commericals and more all while learning the Russian language!
Take a quick look at what FluentU has on offer for yourself:
Didn't catch something? Go back and listen again. Missed a word? FluentU makes native Russian videos approachable through interactive captions. Tap or click on any word to see a definition, in-context usage examples, audio pronunciation, helpful images and more.
Access a complete interactive transcript of every video under the Dialogue tab. Easily review words and phrases with audio under Vocab.
Don’t stop there, though! Use FluentU’s quizzes to actively practice all the vocabulary in any video. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you're on.
And FluentU always keeps track of vocabulary that you’re learning. It uses that information to give you a 100% personalized experience by recommending videos and examples.
Start using FluentU on the website, or better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes store.
Video: Ru-Land Club
This is a YouTube video that uses 20 minutes to help you perfect your telephone etiquette for doing business in or with Russia. Intended for intermediate to advanced students, you can learn how to make an outbound call, the proper way to answer business-related calls as well as common phrases related to this topic. The creators of the video thought of everything, including how to say that you have a bad connection for those pesky international calls.
The video offers both Russian and English subtitles so you have the ability to first practice writing down what you hear, or mute the video and read from the Russian subtitles and translate the English subtitles into Russian—providing multiple modes of studying with just one source!
Podcast: UCLA Business Russian
This resource offers seven podcasts that cover business-related terminology, as well as business topics and cultural aspects of doing business in Russia.
The topics include:
- Company structure
- Personnel
- Corporate finance
- Taxes
- Supply and demand
- Company representations
The great thing about these podcasts is that you can actually learn a thing or two about doing business while learning a foreign language! The podcasts offer so much more than just learning words: They also include important discussions about doing business and interviews with experts on this topic, such as actual Russian businessmen.
Online Course: Business Russian IC
This is an online course that will teach you the Russian skills to do business in Russia. Over an eight-week period, you will go through an intensive training and learn how to:
- Arrange meetings
- Discuss the terms and conditions of a business deal
- Negotiate prices
- Make a business agreement
Throughout the eight weeks, you will receive new homework assignments every Saturday and access to a closed Facebook group where you can meet other students, discuss the work and even make business connections!
The course gives you a chance to study with an actual Russian-speaking teacher, and also to study on your own time. The lessons include real-life scenario videos, audio and video exercises and tests to help you gauge how much you are learning!
The seven above-mentioned sources provide a wealth of information through articles, exercises, videos and podcasts. You can learn business Russian to speak like a native and open up a world of opportunity for your business needs!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Renata Ilitsky is a professional content writer with over 10 years of experience. She specializes in creating unique and engaging content for any industry. To read some of Renata’s other work, please view her writing portfolio.