renatailitsky Last updated: June 13, 2022

Comprehension Jackpot: Where to Watch Russian Videos with Subtitles

Some experiences are simply life changing!

For example, the right videos equipped with subtitles can absolutely build your vocabulary, improve your comprehension and get you on the road to Russian fluency.

You may not know where to start—don’t worry! We’ve got seven fantastic Russian video resources below including options for videos with English and Russian subtitles.

The Russian Subtitle Challenge
Where to Watch Russian Videos with Subtitles

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The Russian Subtitle Challenge

Turning on those subtitles can have instant benefits for your Russian comprehension skills. If you can’t recognize a word by its sound, you can learn it in-context by seeing it written down. This process then reinforces the word in your memory for the next time you read or hear it.

To really ramp things up a notch, however, we challenge you to take our Russian subtitle challenge! This involves two steps:

Turn off or cover up the subtitles and try to understand the context of the videos without any help. Listen for words that sound familiar or perhaps resemble their English counterparts and see how far you can get!

Then, rewatch with the subtitles on or uncovered to evaluate how accurate you were in your translation! Be sure to take notes of areas you missed or misunderstood that are now clearer with the subtitles on.

If you’re a beginner, you can watch with English subtitles to start learning translations for Russian vocabulary in-context. However, you should also try using Russian subtitles as soon as possible! This will help you flex your Russian comprehension muscles and get comfortable existing in a Russian-only environment.

Whichever subtitles you use, this challenge will put you in an active rather than passive listening mode, which means more focused learning and faster growth.

Where to Watch Russian Videos with Subtitles

Make It Easy with Lilu

Lilu, a fun and enthusiastic Russian teacher, provides short videos to help you learn the language. Her videos are between two and 14 minutes long, making it convenient to learn even when you’re on a small break!

While many similar videos cover basic vocabulary, Lilu focuses on the more difficult parts of the Russian language. Her videos include topics such as:

Along with the YouTube subtitles in English and Russian for everything Lilu says, each video provides on-screen annotations in both languages for the word, phrase or concept that’s being presented.

FluentU

If you want to be 100% sure that any video you choose to watch has subtitles, FluentU has you covered—every single video here complete with both English and Russian subtitles, plus full transcripts and more.

Hovering over any Russian word in the subtitles gives you an instant translation, and clicking the Russian word allows you to access its definition, pronunciation and examples of how it’s used in sentences and other videos across our library. Then you can use the quizzes and flashcards to actively practice any vocabulary you’ve come across.

Natasha Speaks Russian

Natasha, a self-touted lover of languages, takes the fun and exciting (in her own words) route for teaching Russian to foreigners. Her videos are subtitled in English and Russian, plus she has a helpful blog with additional resources for learning Russian, also titled Natasha Speaks Russian.

Through her YouTube videos, Natasha introduces viewers to Russian movies, cartoons, songs and books, such as:

“Трое из Простоквашино” (“Three from Prostokvashino”): A famous Russian children’s cartoon about a boy and animals living in a village.

“Прекрасное далёко” (“Glorious Future”): A nostalgic children’s song about the future.

“Три поросёнка” (“The Three Little Pigs”): A world-famous children’s story, but the Russian version!

In addition to these videos, Natasha presents Russian lessons with subtitles, focusing on topics such as Russian tenses, particles, verbs and vocabulary organized by topic.

This resource is great for beginners because much of the content is geared towards children, which means the words are easy to understand!

Russian Listening and Reading

Put a smile on your face with this YouTube channel’s seven short Russian cartoons, all about five minutes long. They feature adorable bears that know how to speak Russian and live a life fairly common to humans.

By watching and listening to the content, you can hear real Russian as spoken by Russians. You can reinforce what you see with the subtitles. Plus, you can learn a bit about Russian culture.

For example, did you know that Russians refer to soccer as football, as much of the rest of the world does? If you didn’t, you can learn that from the cartoons!

You can also see for yourself what games Russians play, such as Крестики-нолики (Tic Tac Toe).

Find out that Russians love to drink tea with honey, and more!

Lyric Videos (English Translations of Russian Songs)

It’s not uncommon for us to have a favorite song that we don’t really even know the lyrics too. However, music is a wonderful resource to learn about a country’s language and culture!

This YouTube channel contains about 60 different songs to introduce listeners to popular Russian artists.

Most of these videos actually have Russian subtitles available as well, either in the YouTube interface or displayed alongside English in the video itself.

Our top favorites include:

“Мальбэк ft. Сюзанна – Равнодушие” (“Malbec ft. Suzanna – Indifference): This is the lyric video to a pretty popular song by Russian duo Malbec. The song explores a relationship that has fizzled out. The lyrics are a great place to learn words related to love and relationships as well as city vocabulary.

“Юлия Савичева – Мало” (Yuliya Savicheva – Few): Unlike the first song chosen from this YouTube playlist, this song focuses on the positives of a relationship. In it, the singer takes us through all her feelings toward her lover, using quite colorful vocabulary to do so. You can learn more vocabulary about love as well as vocabulary about nature and the weather.

Soviet and Russian Movies with English Subtitles

Nothing can help you understand the Russian people and Russian culture more than movies that showcase its history. This resource presents 270 different options of various genres from the Soviet era. Every title has English subtitles to help you along the way!

Join the ranks of Russians everywhere after you watch and undoubtedly fall in love with classics, such as:

“Москва слезам не верит” (“Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears”): A 1980s film that helps viewers understand the lives of hard-working Russian people during that time. The story describes the friendship of Russian women who work and raise families.

Learn words that describe familial relationships, romance and more! Plus, listen to the famous song about Moscow featured in this film, “Alexandra.”

“Ирония судьбы, или С легким паром” (“The Irony of Fate, or with Light Steam”): The title may seem bizarre to you, but the Russian equivalent for the phrase “with light steam” is something that’s said to people going to take a shower or a bath, or those visiting saunas.

There are two takeaways from this film, other than the vocabulary, which is centered around the winter holidays and allows you to learn words to describe New Year festivities.

The first is that Russians love to go to the sauna, which started in the days when villagers had no running water, but still continues to this day. The second takeaway is that during the Soviet era, when the focus was on self-sufficiency over importing goods, most of the furniture and insides of Russian households looked the same.

This led to some strange accidents (such as walking into the wrong apartment and assuming it’s yours) represented in the movie that may seem unreal to Americans.

Russian Movies with Russian Subtitles

This YouTube source provides seven titles with Russian subtitles. Other than the one contemporary film, “Метро” (“Metro”) from 2013, the other six titles are Russian cartoons.

In the cartoon “Rosa Goes to the City,” an elephant visits a city, thereby teaching you the names for different attractions and landmarks.

“The Greatest Treasure,” made by the same team behind the above video, is a cartoon that focuses on a story about a treasure hunt, teaching words to describe actions such as walking, searching, finding and so on!

The best part about the options above is that they’re family friendly! Watch with your small children and help their young minds absorb a new language together with you!

Subtitles provide an opportunity to easily study the Russian language from home! You can choose titles for different levels of fluency, using subtitles as you go along. Once you feel you’ve mastered a certain show, movie or cartoon, remove the subtitles altogether to see what you understand!