Alphabet

The Russian alphabet consists of 33 Letters divided into 10 vowels, 21 consonants, and 2 letters which do not designate any sounds. Each letter can be either capital or small.

The letters can be print or handwritten, what you call cursive.

Only by understanding both print and cursive letters can you accurately read Russian.

When a Russian sends a Christmas card, makes a shopping list or writes a love note, they will always write it in cursive.

Compare print and cursive Russian writing:

Learn the names of the Russian letters

Listen to this Russian Alphabet Song to understand the pronunciation of the letters.

See how well you know the sound of each letter with this game

Reading

Practice reading Russian cognates (names, countries, and other words).

Watch the video with sign cognates, try to read them, and figure out the English meaning.

Culture

Watch this Alphabet Video from Sochi Olympics Opening Ceremony featuring world-famous Russian cultural concepts and names starting with each letter.

Read some basic information about Russian geography and culture.

Look at this Brittanica cite on the origins of Slavic languages.

Explore the website Academia  to learn more about Eastern Slavic Name Customs.

Vocabulary

Knowing numbers is very important! Play this video to practice counting from 1 to 20 in Russian. Listen and Repeat.

Use these interactive flashcards to learn and practice the Unit Vocabulary. Use all the different modes (Flashcards, Match, Gravity, Text, etc.) both to memorize the words and to test yourself.

Songs

Listen to the following Russian popular songs featuring greeting phrases you learned in this unit:

Кино – Последний герой 

Земфира – До свиданья

Library Resources (on reserve for 1st and 2nd year Russian)

Pronunciation rules: Essentials pages 4-10.

Stress: Essentials pages 10-11.

Nouns in the singular: Russian in Exercises pages 11-14 (rules and exercises with answers).

Information about Russian names: The Russian’s World pages 65-82.