Russian for Real Life
Like Duolingo, but for Russian for Real Life. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
195 levels across 9 sections, about 390 minutes end to end, roughly 78 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Your First Conversation, Cracking the Secret Code, Eating and Drinking Like a Local, Navigating the City, Making Friends and Small Talk, Handling Real Situations, Understanding the Russian Soul, The Engine Under the Hood, and Mastering the Details. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Russian for Real Life
- Zdravstvuyte is the formal greeting for authority figures
- Privyet is strictly for friends and peers
- Choosing the correct greeting based on social hierarchy
- Zdravstvuyte is the 'default' polite greeting for strangers
- Formal greetings are safer than informal ones in professional settings
- Identifying the most versatile greeting for uncertain settings
- Utro means morning
- Den means day
- Vecher means evening
- Do svidaniya is a general 'until we meet'
- Do vstrechi specifically implies 'until the next meeting'
- Mapping greetings to the correct time of day
- Distinguishing between final and temporary goodbyes
- Proshchay implies a long-term or final parting
- A firm handshake is the standard for men in formal settings
- Poka or Do svidaniya are used for daily departures
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Russian for Real Life the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
In which scenario is it appropriate to use the greeting 'Privyet'?
Get it right to open this lesson and 194 more in the app.
Where Russian for Real Life takes you
Skip the boring grammar drills and start speaking Russian from day one. Learn to navigate Moscow, order like a local, and unlock the secrets of the Cyrillic alphabet through the lens of culture.
- 1
Your First Conversation
- Saying Hello and Goodbye
- Introducing Yourself Simply
- The Magic Words: Please and Thank You
- Yes, No, and Maybe
- 2
Cracking the Secret Code
- Letters That Look Like English
- False Friends: Letters That Trick You
- The Strange New Symbols
- Reading Your First Russian Signs
- Typing in Cyrillic
- The Silent Letters: Hard and Soft Signs
- 3
Eating and Drinking Like a Local
- Ordering at a Cafe
- Common Russian Foods You Must Try
- Asking for the Bill
- 4
Navigating the City
- Surviving the Moscow Metro
- Asking for Directions
- Taking a Taxi
- Numbers for Prices and Times
- Left, Right, and Straight Ahead
- 5
Making Friends and Small Talk
- Talking About Your Family
- What Do You Do for Fun?
- Describing Your Home
- Weather Talk: Surviving the Winter
- 6
Handling Real Situations
- Shopping for Souvenirs
- At the Pharmacy or Doctor
- What to Do if You Get Lost
- Booking a Hotel Room
- Using Public Wi-Fi and Phones
- 7
Understanding the Russian Soul
- Important Russian Holidays
- Gift Giving Etiquette
- Famous Russian Stories and Cartoons
- 8
The Engine Under the Hood
- How Russian Words Change Their Ends
- The Concept of Gender in Objects
- Verbs of Motion: Going Places
- Past, Present, and Future Tense
- Formal vs. Informal Speech
- 9
Mastering the Details
- Perfecting Your Accent
- Slang and Modern Text Speak
- Common Idioms That Make No Sense
- Writing a Formal Email
9 sections · 39 units · 195 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Russian for Real Life is taught in the The Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Russian for Real Life today.
Download Tomo, search Russian for Real Life, and play your first lesson in under a minute.