Renata Ilitsky Last updated: 3 Russian Speaking Practice Methods to Sound Fluent Faster
To start speaking Russian, whether you’re a kid or a foreign language learner, you’ve got to put in those practice hours.
So how can you accomplish that as an adult language learner?
We’ll show you three different methods that you can mix and match for effective Russian speaking practice. We’ve included lots of online practice resources to help you start one or more of these techniques and get the most out of them.
Contents
- 1. Build a Foundation Solo
- 2. Set Up an Online Language Exchange
- 3. Get Focused Practice from Virtual Tutors
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
1. Build a Foundation Solo
Many people are intimidated by speaking in Russian because they don’t think they’re ready. It can be difficult to start a conversation if you don’t feel you’ll have the words to hold it up.
Of course, one of the best ways to get over that fear and make real progress is to just start speaking as soon as possible! But for practice that’ll help you feel more prepared going into your next conversation, try these great options below.
Real Russian Club’s “Practice Speaking Russian”
This video lets you practice speaking Russian by yourself. Presented by Real Russian Club, it uses a question-and-answer format. This helps viewers follow the context of the material and answer questions to practice listening and speaking skills through the art of storytelling.
The video asks basic questions and provides answers about topics such as describing the looks and age of a person, locations, the weather, colors and directions. Don’t be afraid to speak out loud and compare your answers to those in the video!
Utilizing the same words over and over makes it easier for students to learn how to phrase questions and provide answers when conversing with others.
FluentU
FluentU teaches you Russian the way it’s actually spoken by native speakers. It offers a large library of video clips from authentic media including Russian movie trailer, music videos, cartoons and more.
Every video comes with a downloadable transcript and interactive subtitles so you can improve your comprehension and build your vocabulary as you watch. These tools also make it easier to repeat the video’s dialogue for extra speaking practice.
After watching a video, you’ll take a personalized vocabulary quiz to test your understanding of the key words and phrases from the clip. You can also add new vocabulary to a flashcard deck and complete exercises to review and memorize them for use in your Russian conversations.
To take your learning on the go, you can download the FluentU app on iOS or Android devices.
2. Set Up an Online Language Exchange
Language exchanges are a tried-and-true method for foreign language speaking practice. And thanks to awesome online resources like the ones below, they’re now easier than ever to set up.
Here’s how they work. You’ll be partnered up with a native Russian speaker who’s learning English (or your native language, if not English). You’ll spend part of the time speaking one language and part speaking the other. This way, everyone gets the speaking practice they need—and you might make a great new friend in the process!
Tandem
Tandem is a free language exchange app. Unlike with other similar products, you don’t need to make any commitments to speak to another person. You simply create an account and log on, browse profiles of language learners who are online and message or call someone interesting!
There’s even the option for users to leave references for one another after chatting, which are an added tool as you’re browsing for who to reach out to.
If it’s a good fit and you both feel you can contribute to each other’s learning, you can make a plan to speak again later. If not, you can keep looking!
To squeeze some extra writing practice in, you can text message language partners through the app. There’s even a “correction” feature that makes it easy to point out each other’s errors in a judgment-free way.
In addition to the language exchange feature, Tandem connects users to “Tandem Teachers,” who can help with a variety of ways to learn Russian. We’ll talk more about tutoring for Russian speaking practice below, but this is a cool way to get the best of both worlds. If you need help with a particular pronunciation or just want an expert’s opinion on your speaking abilities, Tandem Teachers is a great option. The first lesson is free!
The Fluency Project at Break Diving
The Fluency Project is one of several programs run by the nonprofit Break Diving. Its purpose is to make free Russian speaking practice easy and accessible for all learners.
It’s a little different from the resources above as it’s not specifically designed for one-on-one language exchanges. It’s a more informal community for Russian learners, where you can meet other students or Russian speakers to set up conversations with. The whole idea is to introduce you to a supportive language community and connect you with other Russian speakers.
Just click the “Start Chatting” button and you’ll get an invite to Break Diving’s Slack—an online chat space. Once you’re signed up, just navigate to Channels and then select “fp-russian.” Now you’re in a Russian-only online chat! This is a perfect resource that forces you to speak in Russian because there’s absolutely no English allowed!
While this space is primarily for written communication, you’ll meet plenty of other Russian speakers and language lovers that you can set up video chats with for speaking practice.
Plus, the site encourages you to keep up with your studies by sending you weekly reminders asking you to share your experience throughout the last week. You’ll even get additional resources, such as a language learning blog, a vocabulary builder, quizzes and more!
3. Get Focused Practice from Virtual Tutors
Looking for some focused, productive speaking practice? Online Russian tutors will get you on the right track. The trick is weeding out the inexperienced fakes and finding a good deal on studying with a quality teacher. The sites below are trusted resources for connecting with a virtual language tutor.
Verbling
Verbling is an online site that connects users with thousands of native-speaking teachers around the world. You can get access to a multitude of Russian tutors that have been hand-picked by Verbling.
The site’s belief is that students learn best through communication. Keeping in mind that everyone has a unique learning style, Verbling allows users to try an unlimited number of Russian tutors before they settle on the right one.
As with most similar sites, every tutor’s profile has their name, image and profile, along with reviews. What’s cool about Verbling is that it features the tutor’s schedules, helping you avoid the tedious back-and-forth emails to try to set up a time while accounting for the time differences.
Preply
Preply is another site that connects students with virtual tutors on Skype. They have highly-reviewed Russian tutors who can help you with your specific learning objective. Each teacher’s profile states whether they specialize in teaching children, adults or college students.
You can do a trial lesson with a teacher, and can even private-message each potential candidate before deciding who’ll be the best tutor for your needs.
If you’re short on time, Preply will help you with this process. You can email your preferences and Preply will find a teacher for you!
When learning Russian, don’t focus all of your energy on just learning the letters and grammar rules. Remember that a language is meant to be spoken, and you must practice it to master it!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
