“During long, cold, harsh Russian winter nights, Russian people got bored, and looked for something to keep themselves entertained, so they decided to invent an intricate language, with thousands of details - they wanted it to be like an artwork”. That’s how one of our followers, Selim, theorized the Russian language’s origin story!
Learning Russian is indeed no joke, so we’ve selected three of the biggest stumbling blocks, according to our readers.
Cyrillic alphabet
The first hurdle many encounter is the Cyrillic alphabet. But, take a closer look, and you'll realize that many letters are either long-lost cousins or deceiving doppelgangers of their Latin counterparts.
Our reader with the handle ‘Z’ writes: “I study Russian everyday and suffer! But, day by day, my brain is getting used to it. Now when I see ‘P’ in English, my brain says ‘R’ in Russian lol.”
Quick Guide to Cyrillic:
Friendly Familiars: K [k], A[a], O [o], C [s], M [м], T [т], E [е]
Deceptive Doppelgangers: У [u], H [n], X [h], B [v], P [r]
Magical Unicorns: Ц [ts], Щ [shch], Ж [zh], Ъ [hard sign], Ь [soft sign], Ы [a deep 'i' sound]
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Handwriting
If understanding the alphabet wasn’t enough of a challenge, deciphering Russian cursive is a mission-and-a-half!
Our reader Nu complains: “Why is an ‘m’ suddenly a ‘t’??? Why is ‘d’ written as a ‘g’?? But, you get used to it at some point. The human brain is fascinating.”
However, as our Russian reader Sveta quips, even native Russians sometimes find it hard to decipher their own hurried notes.
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Cases and verbs
Our reader Marcin simplifies the conundrum of cases in Russian, drawing a parallel to English: “In 'he loves her' and 'she loves him', 'he/she' and 'him/her' swap roles. Similarly, in Russian, nouns change forms based on their roles in sentences, making word orders flexible."
In Slavic languages, such as Russian, all nouns are declined and the case is dependent on the noun's role in the sentence (direction, instruments, etc). Put simply, the word order is more flexible than in English.
Zhesry, an Arabic speaker, finds parallels between Russian and Arabic, suggesting that tackling noun cases intuitively can be helpful. However, the journey through Russian verbs can be a winding one. Nu voices a sentiment many share: “The verb system can be intimidating, especially when delving into past tenses.”
While Russian offers its unique set of challenges, learning any language is a voyage of discovery. As Owi wisely puts it: "Practice is the magic key. And remember, learning knows no age."
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