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Learning Russian is like making lasagna. It seems relatively easy, but it isn’t lasagna anymore if you forget one of the ingredients. So, you have to make sure that you have all the ingredients necessary on the table.
One particularly necessary ingredient for learning Russian is listening comprehension. Improving your listening skills is one of the most important parts of learning any new language.
How can you get used to listening to Russian native speakers if you don’t know any of them? Is there some efficient way for you to improve your listening skills?
Listening to podcasts is one of the best ways to master your listening comprehension.
To help you out, we’ve listed the 9 most entertaining Russian podcasts to help you with your learning journey. So, let’s dive in.
The 9 Most Engaging Russian Podcasts You Should Listen To
Podcasts are generally made for intermediate and advanced students. But what about the beginners? How can they start learning Russian?
Beginners, as well as other students, can and should use the help of Russian tutors. But what if they want to listen to Russian while cooking or cleaning, for example?
It took us some time, but we managed to find podcasts for every language level.
We’ve divided the podcasts by proficiency levels so you can find podcasts for beginners, intermediate, and advanced Russian learners in the following lines.
Russian For Cats
Suitable for beginners
Even though the name of the podcast is a little unique, this podcast is not for cats, but for people. When we tell you that the podcast host is a cat called Nadia, you won’t think it’s a bit weird. Or maybe you will?
Anyway, it is perfect for beginners because it is mainly in English, but you can come across Russian words and phrases throughout the episode. Every episode contains some funny and entertaining story, so this is an excellent way to start with your Russian.
It's available on Spotify and Apple.
Russian Made Easy
Suitable for beginners
Another podcast ideal for beginners.
Students who just started learning Russian can hear some simple Russian phrases and expressions.
In each episode, the host, Mark, talks about real situations using simple conversations, such as introduction topics. His teaching style is efficient and engaging.
Russian Word of The Day With Kira
Suitable for beginners
When you encounter Russian for the first time, you feel delighted how it sounds. But, you are also terrified because pronunciation seems very difficult. Some sounds don’t exist in your native language or English, and the alphabet is different.
That’s why this podcast is ideal for beginners.
Kira, the host, helps you with the pronunciation. Every episode takes two to three minutes, where Kira slowly pronounces each word. In case you are a visual type of learner, you can also look at her YouTube videos. Otherwise, you can use the podcast app.
Slow Russian
Suitable for intermediate level
If you want to learn about Russian history and culture but to practice Russian at the same time, you should give this podcast a chance.
The host, Daria, walks you through Russian songs, geography, history pretty slowly so that both beginners and low-intermediate learners can easily follow. Every episode is followed by a vocabulary section where you can find unknown words and phrases Daria uses.
The podcast is available for free, but if you want to download the transcripts, you have to pay around 20$. It's also available on iTunes.
Russian Podcast
Suitable for intermediate level
Although you can find that this podcast is available for everyone from beginners to advanced students, it is somehow difficult for beginners to find anything because the podcast is in Russian.
Therefore, we should correct and say that this podcast is better for intermediate and advanced students or for those who know the basics- to read and some words and phrases to find what they’re looking for.
Apart from that, the podcast has a lot of useful information where learners who just started with Russian can find out how to use some common questions. In contrast, more advanced ones can listen to psychotherapy podcasts and boost their vocabulary on others, not so common fields.
Every podcast is followed by PDF transcription, as well as English translations to help students study.
A Taste of Russian
Suitable for intermediate level
This podcast is perfect for intermediate learners.
Even though the author emphasizes that it isn’t some boring podcast with even more boring grammar rules, you can easily notice some grammar parts while listening to podcasts. It doesn’t mean that the podcast is focused on grammar. On the contrary, there are many different topics worth listening to because the author focuses on everyday conversations. He also strives to use colloquialisms, so here’s a chance to learn those, too.
Like with most of the podcasts, you can download free transcripts of every episode. The first 36 episodes are free to download, and for the others, you will need to become a premium member.
Очень по-русски (Very in Russian)
Suitable for advanced learners
If you want episodes divided by various themes and you are an upper-intermediate or advanced learner, don’t miss out on this podcast. Every episode covers a different topic where you can practice and hear common idioms, slang, colloquialisms, and sometimes even some Russian curse words.
You can choose to listen to episodes on the website, or you can download them. Every episode is followed by an English translation as well as a vocabulary list. At the end of the home page, you can find Russian flashcards to practice the language, study grammar a bit if you want, even laugh with some Russian jokes.
Business Russian Podcast
Suitable for advanced learners
Whether it is because of a job promotion, going to Russia to work, or having business meetings with Russian speakers, this podcast can help you learn Russian business expressions. Like in any language, the business language in Russian is somewhat different from the phrases we use every day. Therefore, listening to this podcast can be quite useful.
If you want to know expressions about taxes, finance, or company structure, just listen to the episodes. Even though there are not many episodes, the available ones are definitely worth listening to. Every episode is available for free, and on iTunes, too.
Arzamas
Suitable for advanced learners
You can’t find many podcasts like Arzamas. It is all about history and culture but in a completely different way than advanced students are used to. A variety of different topics is available for free. You’ll have trouble choosing them because each episode is entertaining.
Whatever you are interested in, you can find it here.
Listening and reading about suggestions of how to spend time with your kids, which movies you should watch together, books to read or podcasts to listen to is an excellent idea the authors created under Детская комната (Kids’ room). Apart from the website, podcasts are available on AppStore and iTunes.
Final Thoughts
Since you’ve come this far, you are surely interested to learn to speak Russian.
Like we said right at the beginning, you need to have all the ingredients to make lasagna, or in this particular case, the Russian borscht.
And one of the most important ingredients you can add to your Russian meal is practicing the language with Russian tutors.
