How to read your way to a good level of Russian

If you are like me and love reading you will enjoy this post. If you don’t enjoy reading that much but want to learn Russian you should still find this article useful. When learning a language all aspects of learning are important; listening, speaking, writing and reading. In this article I will turn the spotlight on the last one, reading, and how reading books in Russian can really help your learning. I will also give a few tips on what to read.

Tip number 1
Reading is an amazing tool to improve your skills and especially your vocabulary. A good way to start is to read adapted literature for foreigners. These are, often, famous books that have been rewritten in a simpler way. Maybe have you wanted to dive into Tolstoy’s War and Peace but found the language too hard and therefore rejected the thought? Start with the adapted version and then once your level has increased you can go hardcore Russian and read the original. Reading Russian classics in adapted forms not only help you advance in your Russian but you will also learn about their cultural heritage in the process. You can find texts from beginner level (search for Метод чтения Ильи Франка) to more advanced (Библиотека Златоуста). The second one is where you find the classics. Reading books used in Russian school could be a good start as well since they also are wellknown books but the language is adapted to suit younger readers (or in our case us studying Russian). Don’t be afraid to read something that’s slightly too hard, usually if you understand the context you can many times guess the meaning of the words you don’t know.

Tip number 2
My second tip is to read books written by foreign authors, maybe in your mother tongue, and then read the Russian translation. This way you are already familiar with the story and it will be easier to follow and understand when reading it in Russian. This is something I have done myself. Some of my favorite books are the ones about Harry Potter and I have started reading them in Russian. I know the books by heart so I can focus on the grammar and new words rather than the story itself.

Tip number 3
Even though the majority of us studying Russian are adults, I will still recommend you to start reading children’s books. Here you can find books with a language level all down to A1. Maybe it feels a bit silly at first and the stories are not so interesting but as we say in Sweden “you must learn how to crawl before you can walk”. Reading Russian children’s books can be interesting though, since you can find many of the most famous Russian fairytales that all Russians heard in their childhood and you will get a deeper understanding of their culture and mentality.

Tip number 4
If you want to make your reading more effective, read out load. This way you not only practice your reading skills but also your pronunciation. This is maybe not something to practice on a café or on the metro but by all means try it at home. You may feel a bit silly at first but it quickly goes away. Maybe I can only speak for myself here but sometimes when I just read a word I don’t understand it but when I say it out loud I do. Maybe it is because I remember a time when I heard the word and then subconsciously also remember the context and meaning of it. I don’t know, I am not a doctor but nevertheless it works for me.

I will finish off with a tip I got from a Russian friend of mine when we were discussing the topic. The book is called “Russian Reading: 20 Easy Stories for Beginners” and is written by Tatiana Mikhaylova. The book consists of 20 short stories that tell about everyday Russian life so you will once again get some cultural knowledge as a bonus. The book uses simple grammar and easy words and there is a vocabulary list at the end of each story so you can read the book without having to use a dictionary every other minute. Once you completed this one there is a following book in the same format but with more difficult language: Russian Reading. 20 Easy Stories For Intermediate Students.

So what are you waiting for? Читайте!

Posted by Vera Ahtonen

I am a 26 year old Environmental Scientist from Sweden, who is deeply in love with Russia. My dream is to be able to live and work in Russia in the future. I believe that this internship, along with my Russian studies, at Liden & Denz will be a great first step on my journey.
My interest in Russia is not limited to a certain area, instead I find everything about this country interesting and this will be noticed in the wide range of topics for my articles.