Offering a variety of Russian lessons, this website has an intermediate blog category focused on providing useful lessons for those who have learned the basics and want to hold conversations in the real world.
These free courses are especially useful for specific situations, such as making airplane or train travel plans in Russia, ordering a meal in a Russian restaurant or talking about the weather.
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.
Even if your goal doesn’t involve passing the CEFR, you can learn how to converse in Russian with this helpful online tool that can be accessed from any device.
For a one-time payment of $59.95, you’ll have access to 1,800 words to improve your Russian skills.
For $127, you can also get access to Russian vocabulary proficiency, business and travel courses.
You can even get the courses to all the languages offered for $197.
It also includes a free placement test, which tells you where to start in the course. What’s best is that 17 Minute Languages claims you’ll reach a B2 level after only 30 hours of learning.
You also have access to 23 free Russian courses on the website, including the Russian Intermediate Course, Intermediate-Advanced Course, Advanced Course and more.
Learn about types of Russian verbs, pronouns and other grammar rules as they pertain to everyday vocabulary.
This course also offers a pronunciation tool that allows you to record yourself to hear how you pronounce common Russian words.
In total, you’ll have 146 e-books and 498 audio files as supplement course materials.
Russian for Free offers three free courses, including two intermediate level options.
The first one—called “Step 2: Learn to Speak”—starts at an upper beginner level in part one where conjugations and basic grammar are introduced. But intermediate learners can skip to Part 2, which has five lessons covering intermediate-level grammar.
The lessons cover topics like the past tense, reflexive verbs, possessive pronouns and more.
Part 3 then goes into more advanced verbs, such as imperfective and perfective verbs, the imperative and the future tense.
Finally, the third course—called “Step 3: Russian Cases”—is a deep dive into the five Russian cases and how to correctly use them.
Altogether, the Step 2 course contains 14 audio lessons and 30-50 hours of study time. And the Step 3 course has 11 audio lessons and 40-60 hours of study. They both come with 150 videos.
Easy Russian is a YouTube channel that teaches you Russian through real, on-the-street interviews with native speakers.
All the videos are completely in Russian and come with bilingual subtitles.
The host asks native speakers questions like “What was your weirdest date” and “Do Russians believe in zodiac signs?”. They last 8-10 minutes on average, and there are currently 50 street interview videos.
You’ll also find more lesson-based videos on the channel, such as explanations of Russian cases and verbs.
Depending on the tier you choose, you get access to their Russian podcast, full transcripts, a community Discord, worksheets with exercises, vocabulary lists, Quizlet flashcards and more.
Tips on Successfully Using Intermediate Courses to Learn Russian
Not everyone who sets out to sharpen their Russian skills reaches the intermediate level.
If you don’t want to carry a dictionary with you every time you want to say something in Russian, you should use the following tips to set yourself up for success with Russian intermediate courses.
Write down words you don’t understand to look up later. It’s easy to speed through a course’s lessons, but learning Russian isn’t a race—it’s a journey. Take your time and write down anything you don’t understand to look up later.
Work in groups to study together. To motivate yourself and to have more fun studying, create study groups with others. This way, you can practice your new intermediate Russian skills by having conversations with one another.
Stay consistent. Without the pressure of attending a physical classroom every week, it can be hard to remember to stick to your studies. Create schedules and set alarms to remind you to study.
Whether you want to read an e-book or do self-driven exercises, these Russian intermediate courses should get you conversing in Russian in no time!
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.
Renata Ilitsky
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