День 1 из 37: Приве́т!
📚 Слова́ дня · Words of the day: 15 – приве́т, я, ко́фе, шокола́д, бана́н, пи́цца, пиани́но, телефо́н, интерне́т, метро́, теа́тр, Ло́ндон, Пари́ж, кирпи́ч, ударе́ние.
🔤 Бу́квы дня · Letters of the day: none. Today you don't read – you listen, say and show. Letters start on День 2.
⏱ Part 1 = 15 minutes – everybody finishes it. Part 2 = more, only if you want. · 🗺️ All days
37 days · 15 minutes a day. You don't need to know anything – start from zero. Stand up: this is aerobics – you move, you say, you remember. 🤸
In 37 days you will:
- 📖 read every Russian letter
- 📍 say where a thing is – «Кольцо́ на столе́.»
- 🙈 say that a thing is gone – «Кольца́ нет!»
- 👂 hear the little words – из, с, от, к, у, о́коло, о
- 🥒 tell a real Russian riddle – and read 39 proverbs!
On День 37 you check yourself. ✔
🗺️ All 37 days on one page: Курс 1 – the map
You will meet: Natasha – your teacher 👩🏫 · Richard – the everlasting student 📒 · Slinky – she listens 🐈 · Scuffles – she makes all the mistakes, so you don't have to! 😾
Every day: Part 1 = 15 minutes – everybody finishes. Part 2 = more, only if you want. Tap a word to hear it 🔊, tap a picture to open the dictionary 📖.
Wave your hand and say it with Natasha: ПРИВЕ́Т! 👋 Louder: ПРИВЕ́Т! Now whisper it: приве́т… Now say it to the cat. 🐈
You can already say one Russian word. That is your first win – one minute in.
- Don't read anything yet. Tap the word and listen: Приве́т! Приве́т! Three times.
- One word today. Hear it, say it, wave. 👋
- This is how приве́т looks. Tap it to hear it. Don't read the letters – just know the shape, like a road sign.
- You will meet its six letters one by one in the next days. Today it is a picture.
You can already read Russian. These words sound almost the same all over the world. Tap a word or its picture – the dictionary opens. 🔊 = listen (when Natasha has recorded it).
Say every word aloud and show it – the gesture is under the picture.
🧠 Scientists (Max Planck Institute, Leipzig) found: a word you say and act out with your own hands stays in your memory much longer than a word you only hear. Watching is not enough – move your own hands. Feels silly? Do it anyway! 😄
👂 Listen, don't read yet. Point to your chest on every «я». 👉 Nobody asks you to speak – just listen, point and laugh.
- Ната́ша: Приве́т! Я Ната́ша. 👉
Ска́ффлз: Приве́т! Я Ната́ша!- Ната́ша: Ска́ффлз! Я Ната́ша. 👉 (points at herself, then at the cat)
- Ска́ффлз: Я… Ска́ффлз. Р-р-р.
Сли́нки: Приве́т! Я Сли́нки! 😺- Ри́чард: Приве́т! Я Ри́чард. 👉
- Ната́ша: Приве́т, Ри́чард! Приве́т, Сли́нки! Приве́т, Ска́ффлз! — Ска́ффлз: Р-р-р…
🌱 The seed of the day: «Я Ната́ша» – I'm Natasha. Just «я» and the name. (The cat got it wrong – you never will.)
Say every line aloud, with the gestures (the ones under the pictures). Mix them up!
Приве́т! Я…
Ко́фе, шокола́д, бана́н, пи́цца.
Пиани́но, телефо́н, интерне́т.
Метро́, теа́тр.
Ло́ндон, Пари́ж.
Приве́т, Ло́ндон! Приве́т, Пари́ж!
Ой! Кирпи́ч!… Ударе́ние! 
🐢 👂 listen – say it only if you like, slowly: Ти́ше е́дешь – да́льше бу́дешь.
Type your name in Latin letters (as in your passport) and see how Russians write it:
- Say: Приве́т! Я (your name). 👋👉
- Switch the video off. Say приве́т to the cat, the kettle, the window. 😄
- Speaking is optional – listening and doing count too.
Can you say it without the video? – Молоде́ц! Go to the tap quiz.
Guess, then tap. A wrong tap is not a mistake – it is a guess. 😊
Хорошо́! Молоде́ц! Two small things left – two minutes.
Seven of today's 15 words have a rolled r – р-р-р, like a tiger 🐯 or a motor 🏍️: приве́т, метро́, теа́тр, интерне́т, Пари́ж, кирпи́ч, ударе́ние.
- Put the tip of your tongue just behind your top teeth. Blow out – let the tongue flutter: т-р-р-р. Try тр-тр-тр, then метро́. 🐯
- Can't roll it yet? Say the words anyway – Russians will understand you. The Р comes back on День 3 with its letter.
- 30 seconds, every day. The tongue is a muscle – this is aerobics.
Tomorrow morning say «Приве́т!» with a wave 👋 to three people or things – the cat, the kettle, the mirror. To the mirror say: «Приве́т! Я …» 👉
That is the first minute of День 2. You already know it – so День 2 starts with a win.
- Gesture → word. Don't look at the cards. Make a gesture – say the word. Mixed order: 📱 · ☕ · 🗼 · 🍕 · 🚇 · 🍌 · 🎭 · 🎹 · 🍫 · ☂️ · 🌐 · 👉 · 👋
- Word → gesture. Say a word – your friend (or your cat) shows the gesture. No friend? Say it, then show it yourself.
- Faster and faster. All 13 gestures with their words in a row, like aerobics: приве́т 👋 – я 👉 – ко́фе ☕ – … Finish with a wave: Приве́т!
Remembering a word from the gesture works better than reading it again.
How are you? – Natasha sings the question and seven answers: Отли́чно! Хорошо́! Норма́льно. Пло́хо…
Every answer has a hand sign 👍 👌 ✋ 👎 – show it as you sing. Hear the stress at the end: де-ЛА́, хо-ро-ШО́. Tap the title – the song page opens; the bar at its top brings you back here.
What is it? Coffee or tea? – Natasha and Masha in the kitchen: «Э́то са́хар? – Нет! Э́то не са́хар, а соль!» 😄
Ко́фе is one of today's words. «Э́то чай» – no is, like «Я Ната́ша». Tap the title – the page opens; the bar at its top brings you back here.
The slower you go, the further you get. The English say: Slow and steady wins the race.
Natasha rushed off to London and to Paris – and a brick fell on her head. So she says it slowly, with a smile. It is the motto of this course: one day at a time, 15 minutes a day. You will read it yourself on День 13. 🤸 Gesture: hands on the wheel, drive slowly.
🔊 Sound, meaning, word by word: tap the proverb – it opens its own page.
Приве́т! Я… Ко́фе, шокола́д, бана́н, пи́цца. Пиани́но, телефо́н, интерне́т. Метро́, теа́тр. Ло́ндон, Пари́ж. Приве́т, Ло́ндон! Приве́т, Пари́ж! Ой! Кирпи́ч!… Ударе́ние! Ти́ше е́дешь – да́льше бу́дешь.
Hello! I… Coffee, chocolate, banana, pizza. Piano, telephone, internet. Metro, theatre. London, Paris. Hello, London! Hello, Paris! Ouch! A brick!… Stress! (ударе́ние – stress; уда́р – a blow) The slower you go, the further you get.
- Today you don't read – you recognise, like the no-entry sign
– Russians call it кирпи́ч (a brick): you know it before you can read anything. - Russian letters start on День 2 – 2–4 a day, always in real words.
- «Я Ната́ша» = I'm Natasha. Just «я» + the name – Russian has no am here.
- Tap a new word or its picture – the dictionary opens 📖. Tap 🔊 to hear it.
ударе́ние – stress – shows the syllable you say louder and longer, just like in English: LUN-dun (London), TEL-ih-fohn (telephone).
ЛО́НДОН – the stress is on the first syllable, as in English. But Russians say a real, round о: LON-d’n, not LUN-dun. The second о comes after the stress, so it is short and weak (like the a in sofa).
ТЕЛЕФО́Н – not like the English TEL-ih-fohn: the stress is on the last syllable: ti-li-FON (е without stress sounds like a short и). That is why we mark the stress.
🎯 Why does о sound like а?
ПРИВЕ́Т ≈ pri-VYET – think "private vet". 🐶👨⚕️
And your alphabet in Russian letters: эй, би, си, ди, и, эф, джи, эйч, ай, джей, кей, эл, эм, эн, о́у, пи, кью, ар, эс, ти, ю, ви, дабл-ю, экс, уа́й, зед.
🔬 Почему́ так · Why this way
- A win in the first minute. The day starts with a word you can already say. Anxiety costs learning; a safe, funny start makes adults try. Botes et al. (meta-analysis of foreign-language anxiety); Pomerantz · Bell 2011 (humour as a safe house).
- 15 minutes a day, not one long lesson. Short daily sessions beat one long one on the same material: 35 min × 6 days scored 83 vs 70 for one 3.5-hour lesson. Study with adults – Stoltzfus · Sukseemuang 2018; spacing of 1–4 days works best – Rogers · Nakata · Chiu 2025.
- Say it and show it. A word said with a matching gesture, made by the learner, stays in memory far longer than a word only heard. Study with adults – Macedonia · Knösche 2011 (Max Planck Institute, Leipzig); review of the whole field: Macedonia 2014.
- Приве́т as a sight word. You recognise it like a road sign before you can read a single letter – and from День 2 the letters arrive inside words you already know.
- The homework is tomorrow's first minute. Remembering yesterday's words without looking is one of the best-proven tools – 50 classroom experiments: Agarwal · Nunes · Blunt 2021.
- The proverb lives in Part 2. Interesting extras inside the core lesson lower learning of the main thing (Mayer, seductive details; Sweller, one new thing). Heard today with Natasha's voice and the brick, read on День 13 – an idiom learned with its picture and story is remembered better than with a bare translation (Boers 2001).
- The cat makes the mistakes. Nobody corrects the student. The student laughs, points and is never the one who is wrong.
