How to Learn the Russian Alphabet Easily

So, you want to learn the Russian alphabet?

You probably looked at it, saw some familiar letters, and thought, “This should be easy!”

Then you tried to read a word and realized… nope.

The sneaky look-alikes

Some Russian letters look exactly like English ones but sound completely different.

“P” is actually an “R,” “B” makes a “V” sound, and “H” is an “N.” Your brain sees “POT” and wants to read it in English, but surprise — it’s actually [ROT] (“mouth”). Meanwhile, some letters look totally bizarre, like Ж and Ы, making you question all your life choices.

How to learn the Russian alphabet easily

Your brain loves shortcuts, so let’s use them! Here are 5 ways to learn the Russian letters easily.

Visual associations (best method!)

This is how kids learn letters — and honestly, it works better than staring at a chart:

• Р (R sound) looks like a rucksack on your back.
• С (S sound) is a semicircle.
• Н (N sound) looks like a neck with a chocker necklace.

Now, try to read the word “ресторан”!

More about this method you will find in the article: How to memorize the Russian alphabet.

Your brain will stick to these images like glue. (I teach this in my reading course, by the way — check it out: Learn to read Russian in one day.

Sing the alphabet song

Remember how you learned your ABCs? Songs are powerful memory aids. Find a catchy Russian alphabet song and sing along. It’s like karaoke, but educational. Plus, it’s a great way to annoy your neighbors.

Use Russian words you already know

You know “балет” (ballet), right? Boom, you just learned the Russian letter Б. “Такси” (taxi)? That’s the Russian letter “И”. Grab familiar words and let them do the work. More words like this you’ll find in this Russian Reading course.

Write it out like a kid

Muscle memory is real. Write each letter while saying the sound.

Read signs like a spy

Take a simple sentence in English and slowly replace some letters with their Russian counterparts. For example, swap every “ch” with the Russian letter Ч [ch]:

“How muч wood would a woodчuck чuck if a woodчuck could чuck wood?”

Now, your brain is decoding a secret message, like a spy. Gradually, add more Russian letters, until the whole sentence is in Cyrillic. Before you know it, reading Russian will feel natural.

Be creative

Forget boring drills. Make it fun, or you won’t do it. If you want a guided way to do this, my course teaches reading with these tricks built in: “АБВ: learn to read Russian“.

Also, hop into my Telegram channel for daily Russian bites.