Lesson 1

Introduction / Вступление

This introductory course guides you through the fundamentals of the Russian language. You’ll learn the alphabet, phonetics, and basic spelling rules, which will enable you to read Russian texts and manage essential communications, such as greetings, expressions of gratitude, and salutations.

By the end of the course, you’ll have a solid foundation for further studies in Russian grammar, vocabulary, and cultural insights.

The course content is based on the textbook and study guide Resonance: Russian for Beginners by Dr. Elena Berg.

Basic facts on the Russian language / Краткие сведения о русском языке

The Russian language belongs to the East Slavic language group.
It is the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages.
Russian is the eighth most-spoken language in the world by number of native speakers and the seventh by total number of speakers.
According to Ethnologue research data, the Russian language is spoken by 256 million individuals.
For 42% out of those persons Russian is a second language.
Russian is also the second most widespread language on the internet after English.
Russian is one of the official languages of a large number of international organizations, including the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the World Health Organization, the International Civil Aviation Organization, UNESCO, the International Olympic Committee, the World Bank.
The Russian language is also one of two official languages aboard the International Space Station.
The Russian language uses the Cyrillic alphabet.

Core Russian online