An autistic guide to learning (decent)Russian in about a year:

--------------------------------------------------------Preface----------------------------------------------------------

Russian is a rather easy language once you get down to it. You could learn it by simply asking “Что э́то?” to a native speaker for a while. However, in this guide I’ll be showing you rather than telling you.

One thing to keep in mind is that any language requires patience, much more if that language has a differing alphabet (Cyrillic) from your native one (Latin). Russian tends to scare people off when you mention there are 33 letters to memorize. Totaling to a list of 10 vowels, 21 consonants, and 2 signs.

Another thing that scares people off is the amount of words. Russian has around 130,000 to 150,000 words. Being one of the bigger languages, it has a big selection of words to memorize. But don’t be worried; though it is one of the big languages it’s still less in comparison to English with 171,476 words currently in use. And even less in comparison to Spanish, with 200,000 to 300,000 words, and many more annoying rules.

And finally, Russians are lazy - it might sound racist or stereotypical - but Russians are very simplistic by nature. They tend to simply live calm lives as long as tradition, family or friends aren’t involved. Historically they mostly react rather than act; and their language reflects it by borrowing insane amounts of words from other languages. Why bother making new words when you can simply pronounce the existing one slightly different? E.g. кофе is the word for “coffee” and it’s pronounced the same; Russians never had coffee before the west introduced it. This is the case for many words, Russians are retracted and simple and so is their language.

In this guide you’ll find a very simplified guide that should get you started on your path to understanding communism, vodka, and Russian cyka memes. I’ve made an index that should help you find things easily in the guide; furthermore, I’ve ranked it in what I consider the most “logical” way to learn the information, but you’re more than allowed to skip around and go back to things depending on your learning style. Just press Ctrl + F and type the index topic.

--------------------------------------------------------Index--------------------------------------------------------------

Resources
The alphabet
How it’s written
How it sounds
Variations
Numbers
Sentences
Structure
Grammar
Pronunciation
Vocabulary
Easy words
Intermediate words
Hard words
Swearing
Application
Speaking
Media
Cultural


--------------------------------------------------Resources-----------------------------------------------------------

There are plenty of resources to learn Russian. The Russians are quite kind on that part, they don’t usually pay-gate you with scam classes that barely work. They are very proud of their history and culture, so naturally they appreciate anyone wanting to learn about them. Here’s a compiled list of good resources to practice the language as a whole while still enjoying and learning (list will be updated if needed):

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUkt0wzOLfgmPoLAAwkbHYQ | Russian man who gets you started on knowing Russian culture.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxDZs_ltFFvn0FDHT6kmoXA | Bald and bankrupt is not a Russian man; rather, he is a Brit who likes Soviet History. He spends his time traveling old eastern bloc countries. Very comfy viewing.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCdC-MqeDAEDvADQnAtGZzw | Not a very verbose channel, but friendly for beginners. Tends to help with pronunciation.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtMqRKjQcFJoq4TOIdHDiew | A Russian man who is very friendly and gets to the point. He was also kind enough to provide Russian movies and shows that are friendly for beginners and intermediates. Just look through his playlists.
http://www.russianforeveryone.com/ | one of the biggest resources you’ll find. This is a perfect example of Russians wanting you to learn their language. You will be coming back to this page often.
https://learnrussianstepbystep.com/en/home/ | Yet another free resource that teaches you grammar extremely well. Though, I’d recommend this one more at the intermediate or higher level. As they tend to be much more specific.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyJznKYS9kkP7RWWq3YAbFw | A channel created by Russians who were tired of bad Russian learning channels made by non Russians.
https://www.studystack.com/Russian | Studystack is an absolute godsend for linguists. This nifty website usually compiles no holds bar flashcards to practice your vocabulary.
https://en.openrussian.org/ | pretty much the best free Russian dictionary, compiled by nice Slav Anons. You’ll notice it from the mascot being Russia ball.
Once you get more advanced, I will recommend books by complex authors like Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. Though, you’re welcome to read translated versions first if you want.
Of course, Russian memes and stuff always helps.



--------------------------------------------------The alphabet----------------------------------------------------------

http://www.russianforeveryone.com/RufeA/Lessons/Introduction/Alphabet/Alphabet.htm

The Russian alphabet will be a surprising breeze to learn. Cyrillic is essentially the midpoint between the West and the East. Thus, sounds are easy, especially if you know a language that tends to already strongly pronounce it’s vowels. E.g. Spanish or Gaelic.

How it’s written:

There is no specific brush order for the letters. Do with them as you please. This is probably the most straightforward part. Just do repetition like your first grade teacher did. “Una hora de planas al dia.”

How it sounds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC7MOhRPy4Q Here’s a good pronunciation video for it, but I’ll try to help you with that myself.

Variations:

Since Russian is spoken in various countries you must always remember that some countries tend to do things differently. Much like Spanish or English have variations. American English differs from British English, Mexican Spanish varies from Colombian Spanish.
For Russian, there are 3 Major players for the Russian variations: Russia, Ukraine, and Serbia. Each with it’s own small variations. E.g. кофе is coffee in Russian, but Ukrainians put the extra effort and write коффе. It’s a slight variation but an important distinction. In most resources they will specify any differences, and if not, I will teach you with time.

Numbers:

Numbers in Russian are pretty easy. You’ll notice they borrowed some from Latin, making it even easier. Numbers are just memorizing so I’ll get to the point and let you start counting like a kid on your fingers: https://www.studystack.com/flashcard-73468.


---------------------------------------------------Sentences--------------------------------------------------------

Sentences are rather easy to learn in Russian, I’ll be more specific as the guide goes on. For now, here are a couple of my favorite links to look through as you advance past this section.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB7lQNCL8xY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgOF_0tQlko&list=PLJ9HaJ0LGmvplPta6rB_O7Ojliq02XPrL

Structure:

Structure in Russian is a cakewalk. You will have absolutely no trouble getting the general gist of it. There are some exceptions to the simple rules, but every language has exceptions and we can get to those later. For now, all you need to know is that it usually follows a rule of subject > Verb > Object. That’s it. There’s no connectors or filler shits. No need for you to memorize endings to pronouns and verbs. I.e. In English you’d have to specify the time case and subject for even simple sentences like: “I ran today.” which involves you memorizing that the past of run is ran, and that it can fall to the present progressive of ing. In Russian you’d merely say “me run before now” and you’re not limited to any specific order either. You could easily say “before now me run” or even “run before now me.” The sentence structure is essentially just there to differentiate where your Russian is from.

-----------------------------------------------Grammar-----------------------------------------------------

Here’s where it gets juicy. Up until this point it’s been a cakewalk. Now comes the moderately tedious part of this language. Grammar rules. You’ll have to learn prepositions, gender, location, countable, uncountable, pronouns, conjugations, etc. All the good stuff. I’m sure you’re looking forward to this section (lol). This unit will probably be the longest strictly because Russian is still an Asian language and Asian languages are clusterfuck for grammar. But hey, at least it’s not Japanese. Just do some daily exposure as you practice the rules at your own pace and you’ll get the ball rolling, unlike other Asian languages, Russian actually gets easier with time. (I’m looking at you, Kanji.)

There’s no links or helps for this one, no shortcuts either. Just scroll to the resources, practice, and ask for help when you need it. I’m always happy to answer grammar questions.

--------------------------------------------Pronunciation-------------------------------------------------------

Pronunciation of sentences is a minor thing, words can sometimes slightly change depending on what context or dialect you use. Honestly, you’ll just learn it from the resources without even noticing. As long as you watch Russian media you’ll get this. Our brains are pretty natural at absorbing minor language changes. I only included this section so you’d know that sometimes words change.

--------------------------------------------Vocabulary-----------------------------------------------------------

In the resources I mentioned study stack. That’s the main thing we’ll be using for this; however, you’ll probably also be using open Russian a lot. I’ll also include nifty things I thought helped me out.
Vocabulary is just memorization, I tend to suck at raw memorizing, but it must be done. Russian media absolutely helped me, as context usually is what helps me remember things so perfectly. It also goes without saying, the flash cards won’t include all the words in the language, and media is always the filler for those gaps.


Easy words:

https://www.studystack.com/flashcard-46212
https://www.studystack.com/flashcard-434305
https://www.studystack.com/flashcard-630393

Intermediate words

https://www.studystack.com/flashcard-630396
https://www.studystack.com/flashcard-300742