How to Master “the Great and Mighty,” or What Difficulties You Will Have to Face while Learning Russian

The Russian language is often called “great and mighty.” That’s really so. Its greatness and mightiness are in its beauty and uniqueness and in its infinite diversity but also in its complexity. It is an open secret that Russian is one of the most difficult languages in the world. Why is Russian so hard to learn? Let’s try to figure it out together.

Three Challenges: How to Avoid Chaos

When international students come to Russia for the first time, their first problem is phonetics. Try to say, “слышать (hear), рыба (fish), защищающийся (protecting themselves), здравствуйте (hello).” Have you managed to pronounce these words at the first attempt? Or another example: “лес (forest) / лис (fox) / лыс (bald)”—have you felt the difference?

But correct pronunciation is half the battle! You should also know how to read the written words. Russian phonetics is tricky! For example, in the word “его” (his), the letter “г” (g) must be read as [в] (v): “е[в]о,” and the word “собака” (dog) reads as [сабака], and “гриб” (mushroom) devocalizes to [грип] at the end of the word. But, if you talk about many mushrooms, it will be correct to read “много гри[б]ов” rather than “много гри[п]ов.”

The second difficulty is stress. In the Russian language, it is unpredictable and mobile. It can change its location even inside the same word: пИшет (writes), but звонИт (calls); люблЮ (I love), but лЮбишь (you love). It is also distinctive, i.e., the extent to which people around you will understand you depends on it. If you make a mistake in the stressed letter, you can mislead others, informing them about your mood (плАчу (I am crying)) instead of paying for your purchase (плачУ (I am paying)). Different things, aren’t they?!

The third challenge is cases. There are six cases in the Russian language, and we need them to understand, for example, who performs the action (мама читает (mom is reading)) or who this action is directed at (люблю маму и папу (I love mom and dad)). Without cases, chaos will reign in a Russian sentence.

Russian Verb: What Makes It So difficult?

Aspectual verbs denoting the process and results of an action, such as “читать – прочитать (read)” and “говорить (tell) – сказать (say),” as well as groups of verbs of motion and verbs of motion with prefixes, are particularly difficult. Many learners find it hard to understand the difference between “идти в университет” (only go in the direction of the university) and “ходить в университет” (go to university every day), or why Russian has so many variants of one verb: “пойти (go), прийти (come), уйти (go away), выйти (go out), зайти (come in), перейти (go over), пройти (pass), подойти (come up to).” 

From the First “Hello” to Reading in the Original

Certainly, you can try to master the “great and mighty” by yourself, memorizing rules and transcribing words in your exercise book, but you can immerse yourself in the language environment, which is much more effective and faster. For this purpose, Russian universities, for example, St. Petersburg State University, have preparatory departments. Here, under the guidance of experienced teachers, you can work your way from the first shy “hello” to confident reading of Russian literature in the original in a single academic year. Teachers at these departments are aware of all the pitfalls that foreigners face and will help them not only learn but also feel Russian deeply, turning its complexity into an exciting game.

Natalia Maximova, Russian language teacher at the Preparatory Department for Foreign Citizens of the Language Testing Center of St. Petersburg State University