Try FluentU for Free
russian-conversation-for-beginners
By Elisabeth Cook Last updated:

10 Video Resources to Master Russian Conversation for Beginners

Talk is cheap.

That is, until you start learning a language.

So what do you do when you’re all set on literature, on textbooks and even on movies, but you just want to learn some basic Russian conversation for beginners?

Luckily, on YouTube, Russian talk is still cheap.

Contents

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Why Learn Basic Russian Conversation Skills Through Videos?

  • You can read and listen at the same time. Many Russian conversation videos include text within the video, or separate Russian subtitles. Unlike with just audio, or even audio with text, you can use the same platform to read as to listen. No fumbling to open that PDF file or find the right page in your textbook.
  • Ordered playlists and longer videos make continuous learning easy. YouTube playlists and videos with multiple Russian dialogues for beginners give you an easy, comfortable way to keep learning without having to switch resources. This means you can, if you choose, focus purely on conversational learning for a longer period of time.
  • Videos with high quality subtitles in Russian and English. Subtitles allow you to see exactly what is being said so you can mine for unknown words and incorporate them in your own Russian usage. Some video platforms even have clickable subtitles for you to get instant translations and in-depth dictionary entries. One such program is FluentU, which uses authentic Russian videos for its lessons. The goal is to immerse yourself in Russian the way native speakers really use it, while the personalized flashcards and quizzes actively grow your knowledge.

10 Video Resources to Master Russian Conversation for Beginners

Russian Lessons for Beginner and Elementary Students from Russian with Anastasia

This is an ideal course for someone who’s just starting out with Russian and wants to learn with more of a conversational focus. Anastasia starts at the very beginning, with the Russian alphabet, before moving into Russian conversational phrases like Спасибо (“Thank you”) and Как дела? (“How are you?”).

Lessons are short and easy to squeeze into a busy schedule, and the playlist, which progresses into topics like train travel and ordering dessert, is easily bingeable for review purposes.

“Learn Russian in 5 Days—Conversation for Beginners” from Education World

This video contains a ton of useful words and phrases, many of which are conversation-friendly. But despite the name, it’s probably best for someone who’s studied Russian a bit already and wants to work on memorizing useful phrases for conversation.

There isn’t a teacher or any kind of real instruction, so you may want to think of this as more of a line of pre-made video flashcards.

While the video includes pronunciations (both audio and Romanization), you should probably learn Cyrillic before using it, if only because you’ll gain a lot more from being able to match the sounds with the text.

Also, the video alternates between single words and conversational sentences, so if you hit a list of words you already know, you may want to skip ahead to the next section of sentences.

“Basic Conversation” from Be Fluent in Russian

If you’re in a hurry to get some Russian conversation tips and don’t feel you have time for a full course, or if you’re more into learning by example through authentic material and just want some very brief instruction, you may find this short video useful.

In it, Fedor gives you a crash course in Russian conversation for beginners, focusing on greetings, polite inquiries and closings.

“Basic Russian Conversation/Small Talk” from World With Natalie

This is another quick video covering conversational basics that’s a bit shorter on explanation but brings in more vocabulary. It extends beyond basic greetings vocab and gets more into actual small talk.

Like the “Learn Russian in 5 Days” video, this one’s probably best if you’re already somewhat familiar with Russian but looking to consolidate and review some phrases that are especially good for conversation.

This one gets into ages, nationalities, hobbies and the weather. Natalie shares conversational Russian phrases with blanks to plug in information, so you could easily use this video to make your own flashcards.

Speaking Lessons from Real Russian Club

This playlist is a little different from the other video resources above and can be used in combination with any of them. It’s less about teaching you vocabulary for speaking, and more designed to get you actually speaking Russian.

Daria uses basic vocabulary and pictures to set up questions that you can then try to answer out loud. When it comes to learning Russian speaking, don’t underestimate the importance of talking out loud, even before you have a real conversation. This is a great resource for practicing your speaking in a controlled and supportive environment.

Videos are available with English and Russian subtitles, so you can switch between them as needed.

“20 Daily Russian Conversations” from RussianPod101

This playlist is for “absolute beginners,” so it’s a good place to start with conversations if you’re a newbie. Each dialogue is first spoken without any subtitles, then repeated with English and Russian subtitles. It also includes visuals to help you work out what’s being talked about.

“2 Hours of Daily Russian Conversations” from RussianPod101

This video contains more than two hours worth of Russian dialogues spoken at a relatively slow pace. It follows the same format as the RussianPod101 video above but is a bit more complex.

While the dialogues focus on common scenarios—like clothes shopping, booking a hotel room and going to the theater—they go a bit beyond the basics, with some conversations branching off realistically into more detailed questions or requests.

russian-conversation-for-beginners

There’s some overlap between the two videos, so if you’re looking for a larger chunk of conversation to study with, it’s probably best to just jump right into this one.

And if you enjoy the content on this channel, you may also love learning with the RussianPod101 website, which has similar videos as well as podcasts, audio, transcripts, grammar notes and much more.

“Slow and Easy Dialogue for Beginners” from Russian Level 1

This video contains three different Russian dialogues for beginners. Each dialogue includes characters introducing themselves and asking each other questions about personal details. The dialogues are broken down into slow, repeated chunks for learners. In other words, each line is said at a slow pace, then repeated at a relatively normal speed.

The text for each line is shown as it’s being spoken, and you also get marks to indicate the stress in words, along with some cheerful cartoon images to help you keep track of the two sides of the conversation. Russian text is shown in the video with English subtitles underneath for instant translation.

While this is just one video, it’s useful for a number of aspects of basic Russian conversation, including pronunciation, vocabulary related to getting to know people and word stress.

Russian Dialogues from Foreign Language Dialogues

russian-conversation-for-beginners

This playlist is straightforward dialogues with Russian text. What you see is what you get.

That said, while there are a lot of dialogues in this list (nearly 100), they’re very short and seem to be designed around basic vocabulary use (like what you’d get in a textbook, but more extensive).

russian-conversation-for-beginners

The material is provided by a group of self-described Russian language enthusiasts who say they want to encourage you to try translating the Russian dialogues yourself. These could also be great for dictation exercises (listening, trying to copy down the words and then checking your work).

Note: The playlist above was compiled by an individual user account on YouTube and is useful for accessing the dialogues in order, but you can also access them (along with additional material) from their original source.

Short Russian Dialogues from Russian Language—Easy Learning

This playlist is broken into 10 videos, with each three- to nine-minute video providing a dialogue to cover a particular topic (like hobbies, greetings, daily life, etc.).

As with the earlier airport conversation, each line of dialogue is repeated three times. In this case, though, you see the full dialogue text in Russian and English right away.

The dialogues are followed by short quizzes that enable you to test your knowledge of what you heard.

 

Finding some useful Russian conversations for beginners may not be as easy as ordering a pizza.

But it’s pretty darn easy with the resources above.

And you don’t even have to worry about requesting pineapple on your half.

Elisabeth Cook is a freelance writer who blogs at Lit All Over and is in favor of pineapple on pizza. Her opinions on this extremely sensitive topic do not necessarily reflect those of everyone at FluentU.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Enter your e-mail address to get your free PDF!

We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe

Close