Is Russian Hard to Learn? Travel Tips From the Pros

What is Eastern Europe? While you can argue the technical part of this argument forever, most people would probably just say it’s anything east of Germany. Russian is spoken in many of these questions, and travelers always want to know: is Russian hard to learn?

The short answer: yes.

The long(er) answer: yes, but it’s doable.

Why would you want to learn Russian? Well, it’s used in a lot of Eastern European countries:

• Russia
• Ukraine
• Belarus
• Latvia
• Estonia
• Moldova
• Georgia
• Armenia
• Kazakhstan‎ [not EE]

…and more, albeit not as commonly as in the countries we’ve listed above.

So yes, it’s definitely worthwhile to study some Russia before heading off to some of these places. This is despite the fact that Russian can be hard to learn, especially for those who speak English as their native tongue.

On another note, Russian isn’t the official language of most of these countries, but most people will speak and understand it on a basic enough level that you could get by with some basic Russian.

The Problem(s) With Learning Languages

The thing is, when you travel to a place like Spain or Mexico, it’s likely that you’ve had some basic levels of Spanish. This could also apply to other languages—French and German come to mind.

However, it’s very rare that any people who were educated in the West have had exposure to Russian. More than likely they haven’t even had a chance to learn Russian—it’s never available in school!

In addition, many people take a flawed approach to learning a language.

Rather than learn stuff they can use on a day-to-day basis, they instead memorize a textbook full of words and phrases that are never actually used in real life. It’s akin to playing Mario Kart as a way to practice for your driver’s test.

It just doesn’t work.

So to answer the question of regarding is Russian hard to learn, the answer’s yes—but maybe not quite as hard as you think it needs to be. That’s because of great tools such as Rocket Russian.

What Is Rocket Russian?

The Rocket Language Russian program is designed to get you into learning Russian no matter what your skill level is.

If you’re a self-learner, you’re absolutely going to love Rocket Russian.

And sure, there are a million excuses you can make. It is difficult. There are other more pressing things in life (usually). And, well, yeah—it’s a whole different alphabet to learn!

Investing in a good, self-paced program will give you the motivation you need to start buckling down and studying Ruskie.

Learning a language as hard as Russia is a big time investment. Even if you’re headed to Moscow just for a couple of weeks, it’ll seem like a daunting task to learn the basics. However, in some of these far Eastern European countries, the English levels are actually VERY poor.

Being able to communicate just a few words in their native tongue will give them a healthy respect for you as a Westerner. A native Russian speaker will be far more kind and willing to help if you make a genuine effort in Russian rather than just walking up and speaking English directly.

Rocket Russian will give you the tools and confidence to be able to speak Russian whether you’re visiting for a day or a year.

The Best Features of Russian Rocket

Rating System

Who doesn’t love to beat their friends?

For those of us with a competitive streak, this program features the ability to rate yourself and then compare against other users of the program. All the better if you have a friend to begin the journey with, right?

The Price

Russian Rocket is actually incredibly affordable if you look at the big-picture of things. How much would it cost to hire a Russian tutor on an hourly basis? Their costs compared to Russian Rocket probably wouldn’t even get you five hours of tutoring. A semester of classes at a college will run you at least $300.

In comparison, Russian Rocket is a bargain.

Lifetime Access

A lot of courses on the internet now utilize a monthly fee to keep access to the content. While this approach isn’t bad, per-se, it is nice to know that you have peace of mind and you don’t owe anything.

The Methods

As described on the Rocket website:

Their methods to teaching work. That’s not to say that other methods don’t work (certainly plenty do), but the creators of Russian Rocket are really on to something here.

Is Russian Hard to Learn? YES! But…

You can solve that problem by going at your pace and leisure, and doing it all in the convenience of your day-to-day life. Have a long commute full of stop and go traffic? Just plug your phone into your car and listen to some Russian lessons.

Do the same thing while jogging on the treadmill or as a way to wind your evening down.

Learning Russian only seems difficult when you think of it in the grand scheme of life. Enrolling in an online course like Russian Rocket will make it far easier to learn Russian.

You’ll likely end up enjoying it!

If you’re ready to get started on learning Russian, sign up for Rocket Russian (make sure to click ‘Free Trial’ if you’re not sure!).