{"id":64545,"date":"2018-08-30T03:06:52","date_gmt":"2018-08-30T07:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/learn-to-write-russian\/"},"modified":"2025-02-04T00:13:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T05:13:08","slug":"learn-to-write-russian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/russian\/learn-to-write-russian\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Learn to Write in Russian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mastering Russian writing isn’t as hard as it seems. And learning how to write in Russian is essential to truly becoming fluent in Russian.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So stop putting it off. Discover my seven-step process so you can start writing in Russian today.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc skip=3]<\/p>\n

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1. Learn the Cyrillic alphabet.<\/h2>\n

If you have any experience with the Russian language, you already know that Russian has a different alphabet from English. While we use the Roman (or Latin) alphabet to write English, Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet, which originated (fun fact) in the 9th century.<\/p>\n

There is good news and bad news when it comes to learning the Russian alphabet.<\/p>\n

The good news is that some of the letters look, and even sound, the same or similar to English ones. These include letters like A<\/strong>, K<\/strong>, M<\/strong>, O<\/strong> and T<\/strong>. Other letters look similar, but don’t (or don’t always) have the same associated sound as in English, such as C<\/strong> (pronounced like the English S), B<\/strong> (pronounced like the English V) and E<\/strong> (pronounced like “yeh”<\/a>)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The bad (but definitely not super bad) news is that some letters will look brand spanking new. However, that is great news for your brain, which will definitely get a boost from all the new letters you will become acquainted with. These include\u00a0\u0414<\/strong> (pronounced like a hard D, as in “dog”),\u00a0\u042f<\/strong>, (pronounced like “yah”<\/a>)<\/em> and \u041f<\/strong>\u00a0(pronounced like a hard P, as in “pig”).<\/p>\n

Resources for Learning the Russian Alphabet<\/h3>\n

\"Foxit<\/a><\/p>\n

You can find the full Russian alphabet here<\/a>, and you can learn the Russian letters more efficiently by creating flashcards with the Russian letters on one side and the pronunciation using English letters on the other side<\/strong>. This will help you test yourself on the sound of each letter.<\/p>\n

You can also purchase Russian flashcards\u00a0as an alternative option. This set<\/a> contains 33 cards that not only help you memorize letters, but offer a guide in pronunciation. Each card has the letter in upper and lower case, a pronunciation guide and a word that starts with the letter in Russian, along with an English translation. On the opposite side, you can find an image that starts with the letter to test your knowledge not only of the letter it starts with, but the Russian term for the image.<\/p>\n

2. Learn to produce the letters yourself.<\/h2>\n

When memorizing foreign letters, we start by learning to pronounce a letter we see; however, to truly master a language, we have to reverse that process.<\/p>\n

This requires listening to the letters said out loud and writing them down from memory. This is the only way to learn to write Russian on your own\u2014by forming the letters in your mind and writing them without having a reference set in front of you.<\/p>\n

Resources for Learning to Produce Russian Letters\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Thanks to the wonderful world of the internet, you can find many ways to practice writing in Russian.<\/p>\n

You can start with these worksheets from Happy Child<\/a>,<\/strong> which will help you practice writing and typing common phrases and vocabulary words. While the worksheets can\u00a0 be used online, you can use them to practice your handwriting by printing them out. Fold the paper in half so you can only see the English or the Russian at one time. You can try copying the Russian, or translating the English into Russian.<\/p>\n

Check out this YouTube video<\/a> that teaches viewers the Russian alphabet<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

The trick to utilizing this video for your needs is not to look at the screen! While this may seem counterproductive to using YouTube, this is a way of being able to test yourself and check your answers later. Listen to the letters pronounced a few times and write them down as fast as you can before the video moves on to another letter.<\/p>\n

Another great resource is this Russian Learning Mat<\/strong><\/a>, which uses colorful visuals to engage you as you learn, as well as audio of every letter.<\/p>\n

3. Learn Russian cursive.<\/h2>\n

The steps above have likely helped you learn the Russian letters and their associated sounds, so feel free to congratulate yourself. However, don’t celebrate too much yet, as you still need to learn a whole other script\u2014Russian cursive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While in America, we don’t use cursive as much as we used to, Russians still rely on handwriting as a method of communication quite a bit.<\/p>\n

Resources for Learning Russian Cursive<\/h3>\n

Once you learn Russian printed letters, learning to handwrite them will be easier as you already know how they sound.<\/p>\n

A few Russian cursive worksheets<\/a><\/strong> are really all you need for this step. That and practice, practice, practice.<\/p>\n

LinguaLift<\/strong> has an excellent resource<\/a> for learning the often tricky cursive. Here, you’ll find clear images of how to form the cursive version of each Russian letter, as well as a PDF practice sheet you can download and print.<\/p>\n

There are a number of apps<\/strong> that can help you practice with more feedback, like this Russian Cursive app for Android<\/a> or “Write It!” for iOS<\/a>. These might be good options if you prefer to learn on the go, and if you want a more guided and interactive way to learn. Russian handwriting apps often let you trace each letter, provide audio and examples and even practice recognizing each letter.<\/p>\n

4. Learn to type in Russian.<\/h2>\n

Although Russians still use pens and pencils to write, many are embracing the computer and typing away. Learning to type in Russian is essential for business purposes<\/a>, finding Russian videos<\/a> and other content and keeping up correspondence across the ocean.<\/p>\n

Just as with learning cursive, learning to type in Russian will be fairly painless once you know the Cyrillic alphabet. All this will require is memorizing where Russian letters are placed on a keyboard and then working on your skills.<\/p>\n

Resources for Learning to Type in Russian<\/h3>\n

TypeIt provides access to a free Russian keyboard<\/strong><\/a>, which is fully functional. Simply type letters using your mouse and see them written in the field on the page.<\/p>\n

\"Russian<\/a><\/p>\n

You can also purchase Russian keyboard stickers<\/strong><\/a> or a keyboard cover<\/a> <\/strong>and use your own keyboard to learn the placement of the letters.<\/p>\n

When you are ready, you can take it a step further and set up your keyboard to type Russian<\/a>. Like with learning cursive, this will be an ongoing process, and you will get more out of it after continuing with the steps below.<\/p>\n

5. Start forming basic words with the letters.<\/h2>\n

The last four steps had you learning individual letters, but writing requires the ability to form the letters into actual words. Remember how you learned to write in English\u2014you started with basic words, such as “mom,” “dad,” “cat” and “hat.”<\/p>\n

Do the same when learning to write in Russian\u2014form the letters into short words to start writing on your own.<\/p>\n

Watching videos with subtitles is a great way to compare the words you hear with how they’re written. You could use auto-generated subtitles on YouTube (though be forewarned that they’re not always accurate), or try to find a channel with proofread subtitles.<\/p>\n

For instance, FluentU<\/a> is a language learning program that has Russian videos with expert-edited, interactive subtitles.\u00a0

FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n

P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a><\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

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