How to Learn Russian for Free Offline

Head to your local library to check out its Russian learning resources, which should include Russian books for travelers (such as Russian at a Glance by Thomas R. Beyer) as well as Russian textbooks (Начало [Nachalo], ' пути [V puti], Голоса [Golosa] and Modern Russian 1 are all good options) and grammars. If these are not available at your local branch, ask for an interlibrary loan.

Select textbooks with accompanying audiovisual materials. This is particularly important with Russian because the language has several sounds that need to be heard to be produced correctly. These include the letters ж (zh), ... (kh), щ (shch), and ы (transcribed as y, but difficult to describe without hearing), as well as ь (soft sign) and ъ (hard sign), which are silent but affect the way other letters are pronounced. It is also important to hear spoken Russian because vowel length and word stress are closely associated: every Russian word has only one stressed vowel, and and only that vowel is given its full pronunciation value.

Use Russian media to improve your skills. This could include singing along to Russian CDs from popular bands like Kino and t.A.T.u. and watching Russian movies like "Ирония судьбы, или С л'гким паром" ("The Irony of Fate, or Easy Steam," a Russian New Year's classic) with English subtitles. This will give you an idea of both pronunciation and what kind of idioms Russians commonly use. If available, you can also watch movies in your own language with Russian subtitles on for much the same effect.

Seek out free Russian tutoring and conversation groups. These services will be available especially in university towns and locales with Russian populations. Tutors can broaden your knowledge base, answer your questions and correct your mistakes, while conversation groups allow you to interact in real time with more experienced speakers of the language.

Check for free Russian classes in your area. Especially if you are in a field in which speaking Russian might help you better contact your client base, your employer may be willing to help you take Russian classes.

Challenge yourself. As your knowledge increases, select increasingly difficult textbooks as well as Russian newspapers (Новая газета [Novaya gazeta] or Независимая газета [Nezavisimaya gazeta], for instance) and novels such as Dostoyevsky's early works to check and improve your reading comprehension.