How Difficult Is Russian?

Subject: learning

Keywords: i Speak Russian

A frequently asked question, which is not so easy to answer. The Russian language has simple as well as complex rules. And what is a piece of cake for one person can be an ordeal for another: one person runs a marathon with ease, while another cannot even cycle a half. ‘How difficult is Russian?’ seems like a difficult question.

The hardest language to learn is probably one you don’t feel much for, while the easiest is the one that attracts you. But those are clichés, and still don’t answer the question. So, how hard is Russian?

Not difficult at all (Russian is easy)

Russian isn’t Chinese. And if over 150 million people (or even 258 million) can speak it, it can’t be that hard. Many Russian words are easy or quickly recognizable. They resemble (or come from) English, German, or even Dutch. Check out (besides the examples below) Любой голландец знает эти 42 русских слова (Every Dutchman knows these 42 Russian words) by Ари говорит по-Русски (2020, 14 mins); also see 10 Russian words that you can easily pronounce (Comrade Helps, 2019, 2 mins).

Also convenient: several letters from the Russian alphabet are just like ours; questions and past tense are often simple; Russian doesn’t have articles, and much more. Russian is easy!

Why Russian is easy

Watch

Why Russian is easy: no articles (Learn the Russian Language, 2020, 3 mins)
Чем русский язык впечатляет иностранцев (Ари говорит по-Русски, 2019, 9 mins)
10 Reasons Why the Russian Language is Easier Than You Think (MosaLingua, 2017, 2 mins); from the same channel: Why Russian isn’t as Hard as You Think (2019, 7 mins)

Read

10 reasons why Russian is easy to learn (Enjoy Russian, 2020)
6 Reasons Russian is easier than you think (Liden & Denz, 2019)
4 Reasons Why Russian Is Easier Than German, French or Any of The Other Popular Languages (Learn the Russian Language, 2019)
Russian is way easier than you think! (Russia Beyond, 2019)
10 Reasons why Russian Language is not as hard as you think (Babbel Tower, 2018)
10 Reasons Why the Russian Language Isn’t That Difficult (Mezzoguild)
Why Russian is Easier than You Think (Fluent in 3 Months)

Not that easy (Russian is hard)

Now, don’t get overconfident. For every ease in Russian, there’s at least one difficulty. Six cases (actually seven). Each verb has two forms with separate conjugations – and there aren’t just two conjugation patterns, but around forty. Then you have verbs of motion, prefixes, gerunds, and much more. No, Russian isn’t Chinese – Russian is harder! Even Chinese people say so (more comparisons below). If that sounds exaggerated, try the math with RusTongue, who explains (below) how you can form 597 new words from the root слово (word). Russian is Difficult Even for Native Speakers and a Real hell for foreigners.

Bridget Barbara is less absolute and lists (for Russia Beyond) the top 5 struggles in the life of Russian learners (2018, 5 mins). More about this New Yorker (also on Russia Beyond’s channel) in My Life in Russia (2018, 10 mins); also featured (speaking Russian) in An American talks about Russia in Russian (Russian with Anastasia, 2016, 6 mins).