Reviews | Russian with Movies

TESTIMONIALS

WHAT OUR STUDENTS SAY

SETH, USA

Learning a language with movies is one of the best ways to learn how to speak that language. But to really learn through movies requires a certain process that blends the proper speed with repetition. This course excells.

Each scene is broken into three parts. First, you watch the clip with Russian subtitles. Then the scene is broken down sentence by sentence so you can really understand the pronunciation and slang. This for me was the most important element. Then you watch the scene a third time with no subtitles. It’s such an engaging way to learn.

The course also includes the text in Russian and English, which is also very helpful for daily reading practice.

This program has a very high production quality and made study time fly by. I can tell the results have been effective and lasting.

Highly recommended.

JOE JAMES, USA

It is most definitely helping my Russian language skills.

— I like how every scene is broken down (including non-formal Russian) slowly and clearly.
— The PDF is very helpful when I am not watching the film.
— The video is clear and the audio is exceptional.
— The website is easy to navigate and the links are working.
— The scenes are a great length. I like how they are not too long and not too short. Each scene is the right size for one lesson.

SCOTT, CANADA

I enjoyed that this course takes real Russian so you can gain a better insight into how people communicate and use grammar instead of learning sentences you would never use unless they are for specific scenarios.

KURT PORTER, USA

I really like the fact that the course has QUALITY subtitles both in Russian and in English! You can watch the movie: 1) no subtitles 2) with the subtitles in Russian or English 3) Together! The dual-language transcripts are also very helpful for reviewing vocabulary either before or after watching the movie. Using all of the materials can improve: 1. Vocabulary 2. Pronunciation (stress marks provided, just repeat)! 3. Listening comprehension

ANGELO, ITALY

Enjoyed all sections and found each of them valuable. The course positively helps to improve both hearing and speaking skills namely because of the availability of slow Russian version and the full transcript. In the latter, the red and green colour notes and the explanation of colloquial/slang, etc., words and phrases, along with the indication of their social acceptability (‘somewhat offensive’/’vulgar’) are very useful and help the student to understand everyday spoken language in different situations/contexts and choose the more appropriate expressions when speaking.

VALERIE, FRANCE

I think the way the course is built is very effective (1 – watch with subtitles, 2 – listen to you slowly then fast, 3 – watch again, 4 – read the notes). I guess that after I’m done with all the bits, I will watch the whole film again with even more pleasure, because then I will understand the colloquial bits I had missed before.

NETTE, THE UK

It’s very useful to hear more real life speech, and to be introduced to colloquialisms and idioms. This is the kind of thing you don’t tend to get in text books and model dialogues.

It works very well having bite sized chucks of the film to watch. It’s good to hear the dialogue spoken clearly and to see the translations and any relevant notes about the words and phrases.

I know this is an iconic film, and I felt it was good to watch something that tells you something of this period of Russian history.

PAUL BATES, CANADA

Once again with “Russian with Movies”, Kristina has crafted a valuable learning resource that’s accessible, easy-to-follow, and well-paced. Breaking the movie into manageable Parts (each with three learning Steps) is particularly helpful. Her attention to detail and thoroughness is evident. It’s obvious that Kristina has put a great deal of effort into developing and preparing the course and its presentation is very professional. All-in-all, this course delivers full value for the money.

YOSHIKI ETO, JAPAN

First of all, I liked that this course divided the entire movie into 19 parts so that you can watch and learn little by little. In addition, she added an accent to every word in the Russian subtitle, so you can easily remember where the stress is. Moreover, the PDF files in the course have explanations of slang and colloquial expressions in the movie. Those helped me very much to understand the movie completely and greatly improved my Russian vocabulary.

ANA, SPAIN

I really loved this course, because it’s original and entertaining. I consider specially helpful the fact there is not only a literal translation or a proper translation, but both. This helps to understand the mechanics of the russian language and the construction of sentences, but also to properly understand their meaning. Also, watching films is a great way to have a taste of the culture. The scenes are repeated with different ways of analysing the language, so it becomes memorable. Highly recommended.

PAUL WOODS, THE UK

The course is excellent. I really like the use of film, with real language and cultural information too. The full transcript is very helpful. I also like the way the film is divided into ‘bite-size’ chunks whose vocabulary I can absorb. The way that the course shows how many words are pronounced in a short or truncated way is a big help. Sometimes it can be hard to grasp such things without a native speaker teacher showing how this all works. The format of clip with subtitles and then with English translation and repetition works very well. This is an outstanding use of real language material for learners. It is still helping me improve my Russian language skills and I will come back to it many times in the future.

RAZVAN BALAJI, CYPRUS

Watching the movie without subtitles, doesn’t help much, only few words understood since the characters speak fast and in a lot of jargons . With Russian subtitles is a bit better since I can add few more words to the understanding and finally watching with double subtitles Ru/Eng makes sense of the movie since I could easily link what I know with what I don’t…..so these 3 steps I have followed at every part of the movie and I felt like being enough for full understanding. Of course the order of the words in the sentence looks very strange in movie and very different from what we’re taught in theory but as I could see the Russian language is full of exceptions and hard to find stable rules.

IOANNIS PARMAKIS, GREECE

I always held in high esteem courses that both enjoyable and focus on natural speech. Learning through movies is the epitomy of these courses. I really enjoyed the abudance of translation information (transcript – subtitles – grammatical notes etc)! I also liked that there is a special lesson where the phrases are repeated at slow speed and there is also a translation with comments provided on top of the russian words.

REGGIE BLAKE, AUSTRALIA

I really enjoyed the movie aspect of the course, to be able to hear the language spoken as may be used in everyday life is really helping me with the language but also in getting some understanding of being a Russian. How Russians think and the culture that comes with that. It is interesting to note how similar certain sectors of the community are across the world. I found ” Learning from the clip ” where you have given a written and oral explanation of each sentence especially regarding how a word may be pronounced compared to how it is written has been very helpful. I also like the addition of how you have shown good language you can use to language you need to be very careful using. Again thank you for sharing your teaching abilities, fantastic job!

WALDIR CURY, BRAZIL

Russian with Movies goes beyond all expectations! From the point of view of Didactics applied to the teaching of the Russian Language, it could not be better nor more effective. It is a perfect amalgam, a complete mixture, an ideal combination of theory and practice. It is indeed an extremely agreeable, pleasant way of learning Russian.

MICHAEL, USA

The course is excellent! It is helping me improve my reading and listening skills. I watch with subtitles, and then without. I feel that watching movies is the best way to improve my Russian skills. I speak Russian with my in-laws in Kharkov and they are very proud of my progress in Russian Language. They watch me improve day by day.

MARCELO ASSIZ RICCI, BRAZIL

I knew the method and I like the whole process: at first, watch the clip with native subtitles; after, without any subtitles and finally with dual subtitles. The best part of this course is “the learn from the clip” with explanations about every dialogue: it’s so enlightening. I can memorize and learn better the Russian language with a film inspired in real life dialogues and so detailed explanations.

PIETRO GRANDI, MALTA

I tried to watch “Brat” in the past but I always gave up after the first minutes because I couldn’t really follow it. When I saw that there was a course with the same movie, subtitles, and explanations, I didn’t have to think twice about it. I must say I’m very happy of my choice and I’m looking forward to new movies: being able to watch the movie without subs and understand what they say is simply AMAZING!

SPENCER, USA

While it’s a bit above my head at this time, this is a fantastic resource to use for improving my understanding and skill with the Russian language. Not only are the words explained through video, but Kristina also includes transcripts of each video and the explanatory slides. This makes it a great pronunciation resource too. In the movie words are said quickly and aren’t enunciated well–the way real people speak. Having the words spelled out on screen, and then broken down in the video with Kristina’s clear pronunciation is awesome. I’m very glad I made the purchase!

ANDY HIBYAN, USA

I’ve just started the lessons and I can already tell that this method of learning will be very positive. The literal and actual translation help to reinforce the Russian language structure. I needed a new method because I am struggling to make real progress and this way of learning is going help me make progress.

PATRIK LOOF, MALTA

A great way to learn colloquial, every day Russian. Also a great movie, so it feels more like entertainment than studying. I find myself listening a bit every time I have a spare moment, just for fun. The lessons/clips are just long enough to make a good lesson. I never feel overwhelmed by long texts or monologues. The short clips also make it possible to pause whenever, and then take it up again when you have spare time. I heartily recommend this course for any student of Russian.

ZEBULAH, USA

I’m still working my way through the movie, but I love it! The movie itself (Брат) is fascinating, with powerful visuals. I have watched it before, with (not very good) English subtitles, but I appreciate it much more now that I can actually understand the Russian.

The methodology of learning the film is excellent for someone like me (who has a low-intermediate level of Russian). The movie has been divided into 19 parts. Each part is presented first with Russian subtitles. Then it is shown again with the Russian spoken slowly and translated into English. Then the segment is shown again, without any subtitles. The amazing thing is that by this 3rd viewing, I can understand a large amount of the Russian. That’s exciting! (Note: there is also an option of watching the segment with both Russian and English subtitles, but I have not needed that because by the 3rd viewing I already understand enough of the Russian.)

I also enjoy the fact that we get to learn some Russian (impolite) slang that we would never be taught in the classroom. I don’t think I’ll ever use those words, but it’s good to know them anyway.

I expect that once I finish watching the 19 parts I will start the course again in order to really solidify my understanding of the language. Fortunately, Брат is such a rich film that it can be watched many times over.

SYBILLE BACKERT, GERMANY

All in all the course is very useful. It gives me the possibility to watch the clips several times. I appreciate the pdf‘s to check out the entire text once again and to highlight important parts and expressions. The course is excellent to practice the listing comprehension. I watched that movie earlier and sometimes I had no idea what’s going on because of slang and the natural way of talking. I’m very happy to be able to watch it again, slowly but surely.

JOHN LECH, CANADA

I liked the way you translated the phrases both word by word and how they go together to form the intended meaning. This is very helpful in understanding how to structure our own sentences in conversation. I was happy with the translations not being censored for the swear words/expressions as this is a natural part of Russian conversation among friends. I am happy with the method of study as well, since we are able to go back and review passages at our own pace to make sure we understand all the phrases. With movies on TV, it is easy to get lost once you get to passages you don’t comprehend.

TONY LYVER, CANADA

Although I have seen this movie a couple of times, I was mostly guessing at the dialogue because while being not that all that fast, it has words and slang I could not catch, only guess. Well, I made a lot of wrong guesses. But that is over as I am breezing through it now with a greater understanding of the plot and, of course, the new additions to my vocabulary.

DAN, USA

Slang (жаргон) very helpful. Also, the the four-step process – first listen with text, then to slow version, then see without subtitles, then subtitles in both languages. For me, a perfect format. Seeing the film in shorter subsections also makes it very possible and agreeable to watch one section each day. This makes for a one- or two-week period of a consistent learning curve, and has a beginning and an end.

PATRICIA MCCORMICK, USA

ERIC SHAY, USA

Having the film broken up into small chunks is very helpful. The order of the steps for each video clip is very useful, going from Russian subtitles to translation to no subtitles. I especially appreciate the work put into the transcripts, such as marking when words are truncated in colloquial speech, which words are slang, which words are incorrectly used by uneducated people, and the excellent full translation.

JOHN BURNS, USA

By watching a movie in a foreign language, one can hear the language spoken naturally by many different voices, and hear words that are familiar and pick up new words that seem to stand out. Subtitles help to understand the syntax and the meaning of the words in context. That said, the understanding and learning gained from just a movie with subtitles, falls far short of what Kristina offers in the Russian With Movies course. First, one watches the movie with just subtitles in the traditional sense, but then…the Kristina Magic happens. She speaks the dialog in SLOW Russian which immediately clears up ambiguities that naturally occur in spoken Russian as heard by a non-native speaker (learner). Her slow Russian totally makes clear the correct pronunciation and intonation of the words. Another great feature is that Kristina gives both a literal and a conversational translation of the dialog into English. This is very useful because of the fact Russian seems to say more with fewer words – in other words Kristina “fills in the dialog blanks” for the learner. With this course, I feel confident that, if I devote the time, I will achieve my goal of much greater fluency.

RAYMOND BORSOI, USA

I really enjoyed the lessons. It is really helpful the transcript and repeating the sentences twice I like the vocabulary lists and that you have imperfective and perfective aspects of the verbs I enjoy the cultural insights I like the subtitles in Russian and being able to download the transcript .I like being able to watch the lesson with both English and Russian subtitles and then watching it only with Russian subtitles. I also like being able to watch only in Russian I like being able to listen to the movie multiple times.

STEVEN KAYE, RUSSIA

I love that I can watch a real film and see the dialogue subtitles in Russian and then English. I’m still working through the course obviously. But it’s great to have learning materials that are interesting.

SHARON THOMS, USA

I really liked having the subtitles with the accent marks and also having the dialogs read slowly and distinctly. I also liked the transcripts and vocabulary notes. Very thorough and a great way to study! I really enjoyed the movie, too. I had it already with English subtitles, so having the Russian subtitles and especially with the accent marks helps with learning. It goes into a lot of detail, so you learn a lot.

LANE, USA

I’m really enjoying watching the movie. It’s helping my listening skills a lot. It’s so fun and challenging to listen, watch and try to understand what is being said at full speed! It has surprised me to see so many words that are shortened when spoken. I am grateful for the text that shows that. Very helpful!

GIANNI, SWITZERLAND

I like that you get basically the whole movie script, color coded and translated. It is a good way to watch a movie and to get a good translation with an explanation (not just subtitles).

CONNIE SWENSON, USA

Thus far, I have listened to 14 of the 19 episodes. I love having accents on all the words, as I find in most courses, after beginning episodes, teachers drop them. These accents help me learn Russian pronunciation.
In step 2 Kristina pronounces each word carefully, and she has a lovely clear voice. I believe that with a lot of repetition of the episodes, I will remember many of the new words. She specifically notes when an actor is a foreigner or an illiterate person, and thus, mispronounces a word. That is helpful.

VINÍCIUS, BRAZIL

Learning with movies is a valuable asset for mastering a language. With it, I was able to master the cases in a practical manner, as well as sociocultural guidelines and habits of the Russian people. I like that I can come back and rewatch it whenever possible. It helps me feel challenged to come back when further learning the language. It was a great experience watching it the first time, despite the difficulties.

THIERRY, FRANCE

Lots of valuable explanations. Real pleasure and useful to me. I get the impression I can understand every single piece of dialogue, which is very satisfying. I try to speak in the same time as you speak, which helps a lot.

ROGER GUERRERO, MÉXICO

I enjoy the possibility of hearing the accent of native speakers, I also enjoy the understanding that is achieved by knowing the meaning of idiomatic expressions and all this while enjoying an adventure full of action and suspense. Very fun and useful to improve the knowledge of the language at the same time. Of course the possibility of repeating the scenes as many times as you want allows you to affirm your new knowledge.

MUZAFFER EGE ALPER, FINLAND

The material is very interesting, making the studying that much more fun. The selected movie is a great choice, it gives the incentive to re-watch every scene just for viewing pleasure. The UI is easy to use and helpful. Outlining the most challenging parts of the script. It is definitely helping my studies a lot, it alone revitalized my interest and helped increase my pace of study. All in all, highly recommended.

ELIEN, BELGIUM

The results I got out of this well-structured course were outstanding. My communication skills (understanding, being understood and fluency) in Russian improved significantly. It’s a very detailed course from the often-overlooked fundamentals of accent work to the specific sounds your struggle with. Every step along the way is carefully explained which makes it easy to understand what you need to do. The course builds up gradually and is divided into sections, so it’s possible to do a class a day and fit them in a busy schedule. Unlike accent classes, this course provides you with a daily routine. I feel like it’s the key to really improve. Highly recommended!

BARBARA WEST, UK

I am a 65 year old Russian learner…a big effort to learn! Once passed the basic courses, there are no other courses I can access from where I live.. Thanks for a fantastic resource to help me keep going! The format in which you present not only the podcast, but also the interactive web-based transcript is perfect…. Thank you so much.