Russian
Russian that keeps up with you.
Four courses take you from the alphabet to real conversation. Everything around them — flashcards, graded stories, audio, someone to talk to — is generated at your exact level and rewritten as you improve. Nothing to outgrow.
Generated for you, in real time
What nobody tells you
Your lazy vowels are an advantage here.
Russian has a reputation it half deserves. The alphabet is a weekend of work, not a wall. The cases are genuinely hard. But the thing that trips up most learners of Russian — that unstressed vowels change their sound — is a habit English already has and Spanish doesn't. You have been doing the hard part your whole life without noticing.
You already reduce your vowels
Say «Moscow» out loud. The second syllable isn't a clean «o» — it slides toward «uh», because English relaxes every unstressed vowel. Russian does exactly this: Москва is written with an o and said «Maskvá». A Spanish speaker has to be taught this from nothing. You have to be told you're already doing it.
The alphabet is a weekend, not a wall
Thirty-three letters, and you get a running start. Some are simply Latin letters doing their normal job. Some are Greek you half-recognise from maths. The ones worth slowing down for are the false friends — В is «v», Н is «n», Р is «r», С is «s», У is «oo» — and once those stop ambushing you, you can read street signs.
The sounds have English anchors
Х is the ch of «loch». Ж is the s in «measure». Ц is the ts in «cats». Ч is the ch in «church». Only ы has no English twin, and the course says so plainly instead of pretending otherwise. You are borrowing sounds you own, not manufacturing new ones.
Words you already use
Russian is already in your English
English borrowed a small, memorable set of Russian words and kept them nearly intact. They're the first things you'll be able to read in Cyrillic, and they're the proof that the alphabet is a code rather than a barrier.
That last line is the whole thesis in one word. The final o is unstressed, so it reduces — and you'd do that instinctively in English without anyone teaching you. This is why stress marks appear from module two: without them you can read a Russian word and still not know how it sounds.
- водкаVOT-kavodka — literally «little water»
- спутникSPUT-niksputnik — «travelling companion»
- тундраTUN-dratundra
- тройкаTROY-katroika — a team of three
- спасибоspa-SEE-bathank you — written with an o, said with an «a»
The full path
Four courses, from the alphabet to conversation
One continuous story with the same characters from the first lesson to the last, anchored to an English ear rather than translated into one.
- 01A1
Russian from scratch
From the alphabet to your first conversations. Two foundation modules teach Cyrillic — familiar letters, then the false friends, then the genuinely new ones — plus stress and reduction. Then ten lessons: greetings, family, food, the city, home, work, free time, numbers, weather and plans.
- 02A1 → A2
Russian on the move
Your daily life in Russian. The cases stop being a table and start being the thing that tells you who did what to whom, and verbs of motion arrive — the ones that distinguish going on foot from going by vehicle, and going once from going regularly.
- 03A2 → B1
Russian in depth
Your first stories: telling what happened, in order, over time. Aspect is the spine of this course — the perfective and imperfective pair that decides whether you did something or were doing it, and which English handles with tenses instead.
- 04B1
Russian in flight
More natural conversation: the particles that carry tone in spoken Russian, softening and sharpening a request, and the difference between correct Russian and Russian that sounds like a person.
Already studied Russian?
You learned the alphabet. Then it got quiet.
Russian has a very particular drop-off point. The alphabet is satisfying and fast, and then the cases arrive and the material available to you thins out dramatically — there is far less good intermediate Russian than there is beginner Russian, and native content is a long way above where you are.
There is no last level
The material isn't drawn from a catalogue that runs out; it is generated for you. As your profile climbs, the content climbs with it, all the way to C2. That matters more in Russian than in most languages, because the intermediate shelf is where the supply usually dries up.
It tells you where you're actually stuck
The placement test measures vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing, listening and speaking separately instead of giving you one number. In Russian the answer is often grammar, and often a specific corner of it, which is not something a single score can show you.
Conversation without an appointment
You talk by voice with partners who have their own personalities, whenever you want, for as long as you want. Speaking practice is the hardest thing to arrange for Russian in most places, and it's the one thing the cases only really yield to.
What's included
Everything else is in Russian too
The courses are the backbone. Around them, Lemma generates new material at your exact level, every day, without running out.
Decks
The core of vocabulary. Flashcards by level and topic, with spaced repetition that shows you each word right before you'd forget it. Inside every card: an explanation in your language, examples, and answers — generated on the spot.
Spaced repetition + AIQuick Practice
Short readings and audio capsules, generated instantly, that mix the vocabulary you've already studied with new words to challenge you. Calibrated to your exact level.
Reading and listeningLibrary
Eight-chapter short novels, written by AI at your level, with cover art and an immersive reader. Pick the genre and the world. You'll never run out of something to read made just for you.
Immersive readingPartners
Create partners with different personalities and practice by text or voice. Real conversation that sharpens your expression — and gives Lemma a precise read on your progress.
Text and voice conversationWhy Lemma
This is not a streak app
The content is generated for you, not for everyone
A streak app hands you the same lesson it hands a million other people. Lemma measures where you actually are — six skills, separately — and starts there.
Spaced repetition, not a daily quota
Every card comes back right before you'd forget it. That timing is what makes it stick, and with Russian's case endings it's doing real work. You're building memory here, not a streak.
Built for the shelf that's usually empty
Beginner Russian is well covered. Intermediate Russian is where learners stall, because the material simply isn't there. Generated content doesn't have that problem: it stays just above you, for as long as you keep climbing.
Frequently asked
About learning Russian with Lemma
Is Russian hard for English speakers?
Harder than French or Spanish, and the honest reason is the grammar rather than the alphabet. Cyrillic takes a weekend. Six cases, verbal aspect and verbs of motion take real time. The compensation is that Russian pronunciation is friendlier to an English mouth than most people expect, because English already reduces unstressed vowels the way Russian does.
How long does the alphabet take?
Days, not weeks. The course front-loads the letters that are already Latin, then the false friends that look Latin and aren't — В is «v», Р is «r», С is «s» — then the genuinely new ones, and each block ends by reading real words built only from letters you've already met. There's no transliteration anywhere after that, on purpose: you can read, so you read.
Why is стресс — I mean stress — marked in the lessons?
Because in Russian, stress decides how the vowels sound, and it isn't predictable from spelling. Teaching forms carry the accent mark (приве́т) so you know how a word sounds even when you've only ever seen it written. The mark is a teaching aid; Russians don't write it.
Do I need to know any Russian to start?
No. «Russian from scratch» begins with the alphabet. If you already know some, Lemma runs an adaptive placement test when you sign in and starts you at your real level.
How long does it take to learn Russian?
The US Foreign Service Institute puts Russian in its second-hardest category for English speakers — roughly 1,100 class hours to professional working proficiency, about double what Spanish or French take. That's full-time intensive study, so treat it as a floor rather than a forecast, but the ratio is the useful part: plan for roughly twice the road.
How much does it cost?
Lemma Pro is 9.99 USD a month, or 109.89 USD a year, which works out to a month free. Lemma runs on a weekly usage allowance that resets each week; Pro removes those limits.
Can I study another language besides Russian?
Yes. Lemma has ten languages, and with Pro you can carry several at once from the same account, each with its own profile and its own progress.
Do I need to install anything?
No. Lemma runs in the browser on your computer and your phone, and you can pin it to your home screen like an app. You sign in with your Google account.
Read your first word today
Sign in with Google. Lemma finds your real level of Russian in a few minutes and starts there.
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