What are the best places to take Russian lessons? Thinking about starting your study in Russian lessons, but you're not sure where to dive in? There are so many reasons to learn a new language. Whether you have family that speaks Russian, want to visit a new country, or just enjoy some Russian literature in its original language, it's exciting to jump into something new.
Average
Busuu is an online platform for Russian lessons that's run by the Chegg company. For those unfamiliar, Chegg is a textbook site that's known for college-level assistance like textbook rentals, tutoring, and more. The Busuu platform was founded in 2008 and is currently headquartered in London, UK. The company was acquired by Chegg in 2022. Busuu has access to 14 languages, including Russian, and according to research studies completed by the City University of New York and University of South Carolina, the results showed that 22 hours of language learning with Busuu equaled sitting one college semester of that same language. This research was updated and confirmed in 2025 and is published by the University of Maryland. In general, Busuu offers a 7-day free trial of Busuu Premium to start your Russian lessons.
Listen, match, and review
Russian lessons at Busuu prioritize learning with real speakers. The sound clips and videos you see will be from native speakers, showing examples of natural pronunciation. You'll generally get a range of different speakers to help you learn new vocabulary words. This way, you can get comfortable with different possible inflections or voices as you move forward. The practice lessons we tried out included photos and sound files alongside Russian characters. Most of the questions in our first lesson were multiple-choice or "yes/no" answers. We were also asked to put together sentences to build on the new vocabulary we were introduced to.
Quick lessons, but no immediate work on the alphabet
Busuu's lessons are a mix of matching words and listening skills. We were a little disappointed that the learning methodology didn't start out right away with the Cyrillic alphabet. The course at the A1 level jumped us right into learning greetings and basic introductions. Generally, each lesson takes between 1 and 5 minutes, which makes it particularly easy if you just want to jump in with some quick Russian lessons to review during the day.
Build your knowledge on Premium
Generally, the study material for Busuu lessons is divided into themes that are based on common conversational scenarios. You can find lessons with vocab, grammar practice, pronunciation exercises, interactive quizzes, and practice with natural conversation with native speakers who are members of the Busuu community. You can chat with them on Busuu forums or type out sentences to be checked by native speakers. However, many of the most helpful features are dependent on subscribing to a Premium membership. If you try to use Busuu for free, you'll be missing out on a lot of helpful learning materials, like grammar.
English translations for most exercises
Busuu's initial lessons (at the A1 level) all had direct translation to English during the course. All of the examples we were shown during our trial showed Russian words in the Cyrillic alphabet, and then directly below it (or beside it) were the English/Latin characters. If you're looking for true immersion, Busuu isn't as helpful. One thing we liked as the lessons leveled up was that sometimes, the "direct translation" was more of an English overview. For example, in a lesson for greetings, the English notes said "The woman says hi and tells you her name," but didn't directly translate, "Hi, I am Lena," from the spoken Russian phrase.
Best for travel vocab if you use the free version
Busuu offers language courses that are designed to match the CEFR language levels. You can take your Russian lessons from the A1 level to the C1 level. If you're looking for a free way to review the Russian lessons that you're taking elsewhere (like school or through a different online course), Busuu is a helpful review tool. It also has a fairly gamified approach with short lessons that keep you engaged. So, if you're worried about lengthy study books or long-winded videos, Busuu won't put you through that. If you use the free version, this is ideal for students who want to master conversational basics for travel purposes.
Pricing from $12.49 to $14.90 per month
Busuu has a completely free version that you can use as long as you want. The free membership allows you to access lessons from one language on your account, but the approach is much more basic. It is missing full grammar lessons, offline mode features, and education certificates. If you want all the features, you'll have to pick between one of Busuu's two Premium membership plans which each offer a 7-day free trial (after you put in your payment information). Here's what you can expect:
Unique community grading and corrections
Busuu offers an online or app version of its Russian lessons, but there's no live tutoring for general students, sadly. It does have a program for businesses to offer live lessons, but the form to fill out requires that you are an employer to get started. On the bright side, Busuu does have an online community. You work with other students within Busuu to correct one another's work and help with natural writing and pronunciation. For example, during our first hour on the site, we were notified that two students would like corrections for exercises. Since our account was set to English as the starting language, we were asked to correct sentences written by those who are learning English. You will get the same help from students who are native Russian speakers during your Russian lessons.
Generally praised, but not ideal for Russian
Busuu itself doesn't have a page on the Better Business Bureau, but its parent company, Chegg, does. Currently, Chegg holds an impressive "A+" rating and accreditation from the BBB. As for Busuu itself, we checked out its ratings on third-party review sites like Trustpilot. Our research shows that Busuu holds 4.3 stars out of 5 on average. In general, recent reviews for Busuu compliment the program's work to build students from absolutely no knowledge in a particular language to receiving a B1 certificate. Busuu is praised for offering quick progress (on the paid tiers), and students love the community tab, where you can offer and receive help in your new language. However, for customers who specifically wanted to take Russian lessons, Busuu has some recent complaints. For example, one customer subscribed to the advanced features promised and said that grammar and AI conversations weren't available for Russian. The only benefit at the time was that the paid plan on Busuu did not have ads. Other reviewers said the Russian A1 program was solid, but the A2 moves too quickly and feels "aggressive" without helping students out.
Best as a study assist
Busuu is generally a fun and helpful site for earning a B1 language certificate. It has academic praise and a research-backed method, but when we look into students who tried the Russian lessons, specifically, it doesn't quite hit the mark. While you might enjoy the free version as a study aid (especially if you're taking a more robust Russian course elsewhere), at this time it isn't the best choice for a fully fleshed-out Russian program. Until Busuu's Russian lessons get all of the features that the premium membership promises, it may not be worth your time to subscribe.
Continued from above...
Thinking about starting your study in Russian lessons, but you're not sure where to dive in? There are so many reasons to learn a new language. Whether you have family that speaks Russian, want to visit a new country, or just enjoy some Russian literature in its original language, it's exciting to jump into something new.
But it can be hard to figure out where you want to start (or continue) your studies. There is a seemingly endless stream of apps, videos, or online "bootcamps" promising the best Russian lessons on the market. However, picking the right language course and site is essential as it can affect your final level of fluency or conversational understanding of Russian.
The first thing to keep in mind as you start your Russian lessons is the Cyrillic alphabet. Unlike many languages you might be familiar with that use the Latin alphabet (you, know, your ABCs that you're used to), Russian lessons require learning a new set of alphabet characters to get started. Some platforms spend lots of time helping you master this new skill (both writing and sounding out your letters). On the other hand, other Russian lessons might ask you to jump into "transliteration," which is where you start by writing Russian words in English or Latin letters. This will help if you want to speak phrases quickly, but may not be great to rely on if you want to be able to read or get around in a country where the Cyrillic alphabet is standard.
The grammar of Russian can also offer some fun challenges as you get started. For example, the endings of words will change their meanings from case to gender to noun or verb usage. So, the order of words doesn't matter as much as it does in English, whereas knowing the word endings is going to be essential to understanding conversational Russian. Many more casual Russian lesson sites will gloss over some of these grammar structure rules to keep your learning fun, but over time, you can feel frustrated trying to understand grammar rules intuitively without direct instruction on the matter. More robust Russian courses will offer you explanations for the grammatical structures to help you build your own sentences with understanding.
Now, your goal for starting Russian lessons should help you make decisions on what time of app or course you want to go with (you may even choose a blend of a few options). Self-guided apps are ideal if you want to be a short-term "tourist" in a Russian-speaking country. This means you should be able to get around a train station, order a bowl of borscht, or exchange greetings and ask basic questions to native speakers. However, if you're looking for a more intermediate or advanced understanding of Russian, you might want to look for a more structured course. Russian lessons that are more detailed can help you enjoy Russian literature, work professionally in a Russian-speaking country, or gain complete fluency.
At the end of the day, it's your Russian lessons, your way. If you're ready and motivated to learn a new language, we're excited for you. Whether you're looking for gamified quizzes and short clips to review during a commute or a live instructor who can give you tips on pronunciation and colloquialisms you might not get on an app, there's something out there for everyone. If you're not sure where to start, here are some factors that can help you narrow the field:
So, whether you're hoping to visit Russia in the next few months or you want to start parsing through Dostoyevsky works in their original form, there are Russian lessons out there to get you to your language goals. To make sure you get the best education you can, Top Consumer Reviews has researched and ranked the top sites and programs for Russian lessons available today. This way, you can start impressing your Russian friends with your new skills. Удачи (good luck)!
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