Russians and English

Another reason to learn Russian (see Why Russian) is that Russians don’t speak English. Or rather, not everyone does. And among those who do, not all are equally fluent. Why is that? There are two main reasons – with the Russians themselves having their say at the end.

English is difficult for Russians

For native Russian speakers, English is just as foreign as Russian is for English speakers. It’s challenging for Russians to learn English, and the sounds feel unnatural. To them, English mostly sounds like you have a hot potato in your throat. This popular comparison is depicted in the video below.

On top of that, English education often focuses more on theory than real conversation. Many people understand some English, but are not used to speak it.

See also How English Sounds to Non-English Speakers (Mary Z Russian, 2019, 8 mins)

English is unnecessary for Russians

For most Russians, learning English isn’t particularly necessary or the obvious thing to do. They have little exposure to it and can access everything they need in their own language: work, media, and daily communication all happen in Russian. If you want to travel in Russia, you will need to know at least a little Russian. Outside major cities like Moscow and Saint Petersburg, getting by with English alone can be difficult.

• Why do Russians speak English so badly? (Igor Black, 2020, 3 mins)
• Why most Russians cannot speak English (Dmitry Chemankov, 2017, 19 mins)
• Why don’t Russians speak English or other foreign languages? (AnastasiaLbova, 2017, 8 mins)
• Why do Russians speak English so badly (RusBoriska, 2015, 2 mins)

Also see Why do so few Russians speak good English? (Russia Beyond, 2019) and Why Are (Most) Russians Bad At Speaking Other Languages? (Russian Language Blog, 2019).

Why Russians Don’t Speak English
(Those Russians, 2017, 3 mins)

Hear, Hear (Russians speak English)

Do Russians Speak English? And how does that sound? Judge for yourself, it’s the best way. And in this case, also the most fun.

Russians Try To Speak English
(1420, 2020, 4 mins)

From the same channel, check out How many languages Russians know? (2020, 4 mins).

Update and re-examination (2025)

The channel has been renamed into 1420 by Daniil Orain, and it conducted similar research in 2025. Watch this Can young Russians speak basic English? (6 mins) and Can Russians Understand Basic English? (8 mins).

Russians Try to Pronounce Words in English
(How they Changed, 2019, 10 mins)

An old but classic clip: Russians Speak English (1 min). From “I washing English” to “Give me please one thousand.”

More Russians and English

• Russians Try To Pronounce Difficult English Words (Afro Rossiya, 2020, 3 mins)
• Do Russians Speak English? Let’s See (Russian Plus, 2019, 11 mins)
• Can I survive in Moscow if I don’t speak Russian? (Jonny Tickle, 2019, 10 mins)
• Russian Words That Sound Like Swearing in English (Taya Ukraine, 2019, 3 mins)
• How I Learned English in Russia (NFKRZ, 2018, 10 mins)
• Americans Speak Russian. Russians Speak English (Love & Peace Planet, 2018, 2 mins)
• Why Russian Is Better Than English – Russian vs. English (Rush into Russian, 2017, 5 mins)
• How Russians Speak English (Crazy Russian Dad, 2017, 4 mins)
• Easy Russian – Which Language Would You Like to Learn? (Easy Languages, 2015, 5 mins)
• Fareed: Putin Speaks… in English? (CNN, 2013, 1.5 mins)

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Last updated April 08, 2026