5 TV shows to improve your Russian
Everybody knows what it’s like when you’re learning a new language, you aren’t that motivated and the only thing you want to do is lie down, watch a TV series and relax. Here are a few TV shows that are fun to watch and will also improve your Russian skills. There’ll be the perfect way to wind down after school. So sit back and enjoy!
Маша и Медведь
This is one of the best resources to improve your Russian, especially if you aren’t that experienced. On YouTube you can watch the series with subtitles and it’s easy to follow because its designed for young children. It’s about a young Russian girl that lives with a bear and tells short stories about her daily life, always using a wide variety of simple words. The vocabulary is careful to cater for younger audiences. The majority of episodes are online and in nearly every language, so if you aren’t able to understand every word you can try watching them in your native language. I’ve found this to be a useful technique to help me understand the story-line.
Смешарики
If you do have advanced language skills and you’re able to understand some Russian phrases, this TV show may help you take your language skills to the next level. There is an episode for nearly every topic going; sport, history, technology and many more. The show is also designed for children and portrays everything in a way that is easy to understand. The only drawback is that all subtitles are in Russian. That said if you read along with the Russian words it will really help you to memorize new vocabulary and improve your reading skills.
Винни Пух
Everyone’s heard of this series. A huge percentage of people from across the world have grown up watching Winnie the Pooh. It’s been translated into Russian and should definitely help you to learn Russian verbs, as well as getting to know basic sentence structures. For those who have just started with Russian and are watching their first TV series it may be a little hard to start with – but stick to it, the result will be really rewarding. Just to make sure it’s not the yellow Winnie Pooh that everybody knows, it is a brown bear that has the same name.
Чебурашка
It’s not really an animated show – it’s performed with puppets instead. It goes at a pretty slow pace, so even those who are new to the language should be able to follow it. With the help of this traditional Russian programme, you’ll Russian will really improve. Even after watching the series for a few minutes you will start to recognize some phrases as they like to repeat themselves.
If you are not into comics, here are is an examples of another TV show:
Моя прекрасная няня
If you have some experience with the Russian language and Russia’s TV shows, you’ll have heard of this one. They even show it in schools after a few months of practice. It shows you a glimpse of daily life in Russia, even if the main character is from Ukraine and has a bit of an accent. In Europe they had a very similar show called The Nanny, it was an absolute hit in the 90s. There is a lot in common between the two series and its always easy to understand what’s going on.
What’ s your favourite TV show for language learning? Have you seen any of these before? Tell us on our Facebook page or visit our website for new related posts.
