Learn spoken Russian while also getting to know some Russians. From a rocker and a tennis player to Dmitri at the disco and the average Joe. Educational and entertaining: these are the most useful and fun interviews на русском.

First, you learn the rules (years of work), then you hear a Russian speaking in real life and don’t understand a single *^&% of it (just an example). Theory is always slightly different from practice, and sometimes the differences are significant.

There’s quite a bit of stumbling over Russian words. Whether it’s due to not knowing where the stress falls, strange sounds, or simply because they’re tongue twisters. This may sound exaggerated, but that’s just what they’re called. Here are difficult and long words that may—or may not—trip up your tongue.

With Russian films, you can learn the language and practice listening while lounging on the couch with chips and soda (just to paint a scenario). Learning becomes enjoyable, and watching films becomes productive—almost the perfect combination.

Whatever your opinion may be of Russia’s president, his language is excellent material for learning. He expresses himself clearly, but with sentences that are not simple or impoverished — something not all presidents manage, even in their own language. While the language isn’t always easy and may not be ideal for beginners, there are subtitles and explanations available, and it’s about more than just language alone.

For beginners, there are plenty of sentences to see, listen to, and repeat so that you can quickly make your own beautiful sentences. Useful for this purpose is the video below from RussianPod101, featuring words like потом (then), но (but), тем временем (meanwhile), and seven more.