How to memorize Russian vocabulary: 5 techniques

Why do we forget?

New information that is never reviewed is largely forgotten within a few days. That’s natural: the brain treats unused information as unimportant.

The good news: trying to recall a word just as you start to forget it makes it last longer each time.

1. Spaced repetition

Instead of repeating a word many times on the same day, review it at growing intervals: the next day, a few days later, a week later. LinguDay’s daily test follows this idea and asks about recently learned words.

2. Say it out loud

Listening to a word and saying it out loud uses both visual and auditory memory. That’s why every Russian word has audio and a pronunciation written in letters you know.

3. Learn words in sentences

A short sentence that uses a word is easier to remember than the word alone. Example sentences and conversation lessons give each word a context.

4. Make your own links

Connect the word to a word you know, an image or a memory. The more vivid and odd the link, the better the word sticks.

5. How many words a day?

Starting with lots of words is tempting, but the review load grows fast. 10 words a day is a sustainable balance that leaves time for both new words and review.

At this pace you finish the 300-word Russian core list in about 30 days. If you want to go faster, Premium lets you add “10 more words”.

Sample Russian words

As a member you learn 10 new words like these every day, with pronunciation, meaning, an example sentence and audio.

Tips for learning Russian

• Cognates help

  Many Russian words are familiar to English speakers: телефон, такси, ресторан, школа. Recognizing them once you can read Cyrillic gives you a quick vocabulary boost.

• The 33-letter Cyrillic alphabet

  Some Russian letters look Latin but sound different: В is “v”, Н is “n”, Р is “r”, С is “s”, У is “u” and Х is like the “ch” in “loch”. Learn these “false friends” on day one and you’ll read Cyrillic within a few days.