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Russian Short Stories For Beginners: 20 Captivating Short Stories to Learn Russian & Grow Your Vocabulary the Fun Way!
Do you know what the hardest thing for a Russian learner is?
Finding PROPER reading material that they can handle … which is precisely the reason we’ve written this book!
Teachers love giving out tough, expert-level literature to their students, books that present many new problems to the reader and force them to search for words in a dictionary every five minutes — it’s not entertaining, useful or motivating for the student at all, and many soon give up on learning at all!
In this book we have compiled 20 easy-to-read, compelling and fun stories that will allow you to expand your vocabulary and give you the tools to improve your grasp of the wonderful Russian tongue.
How Russian Short Stories for Beginners
Each story is interesting and entertaining with realistic dialogues and day-to-day situations. The summaries follow a synopsis in Russian and in English of what you just read, both to review the lesson and for you to see if you understood what the tale was about. At the end of those summaries, you’ll be provided with a list of the most relevant vocabulary involved in the lesson, as well as slang and sayings that you may not have understood at first glance! Finally, you’ll be provided with a set of tricky questions in Russian, providing you with the chance to prove that you learned something in the story. Don’t worry if you don’t know the answer to any — we will provide them immediately after, but no cheating! We want you to feel comfortable while learning the tongue; after all, no language should be a barrier for you to travel around the world and expand your social circles!
So look no further! Pick up your copy of Russian Short Stories for Beginners and level up your Russian right now!
Finding PROPER reading material that they can handle … which is precisely the reason we’ve written this book!
Teachers love giving out tough, expert-level literature to their students, books that present many new problems to the reader and force them to search for words in a dictionary every five minutes — it’s not entertaining, useful or motivating for the student at all, and many soon give up on learning at all!
In this book we have compiled 20 easy-to-read, compelling and fun stories that will allow you to expand your vocabulary and give you the tools to improve your grasp of the wonderful Russian tongue.
How Russian Short Stories for Beginners
Each story is interesting and entertaining with realistic dialogues and day-to-day situations. The summaries follow a synopsis in Russian and in English of what you just read, both to review the lesson and for you to see if you understood what the tale was about. At the end of those summaries, you’ll be provided with a list of the most relevant vocabulary involved in the lesson, as well as slang and sayings that you may not have understood at first glance! Finally, you’ll be provided with a set of tricky questions in Russian, providing you with the chance to prove that you learned something in the story. Don’t worry if you don’t know the answer to any — we will provide them immediately after, but no cheating! We want you to feel comfortable while learning the tongue; after all, no language should be a barrier for you to travel around the world and expand your social circles!
So look no further! Pick up your copy of Russian Short Stories for Beginners and level up your Russian right now!
247 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 27, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 8, 2021
Oyoyoyoyo this was awful. This book highlighted every other word as a vocab word, with seeming randomness. It didn't have stress marks, and the stories were just not interesting at all. Not great.
December 5, 2019
As a newbie to the language these stories were a great help in adding to my vocabulary. And the stories were fun as well. I love languages so this book is a great help to me.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
February 2, 2020
Love the format. Though it is "for beginners" I would say that at least some basics are needed to read this without frustration.
December 14, 2025
Useful, easy, not that fun, the stories are clumsy.
September 21, 2020
Very well structured short stories, with many commons words coupled with specialized terms. I highly recommend for learners who want to begin to read in Russian.
October 26, 2023
I loved these stories. Some of them were really uplifting and inspirational. Very nice selection -- a lot of heart. Very interesting and engaging despite the beginner level -- which, by the way, is plenty challenging for a beginner like me! It is very satisfying to be able to read a story in Russian. So, thank you, LingoMastery! What a great company. Every resource that I have gotten from them has been super-helpful. They make learning Russian do-able and fun!
My ONLY complaint is... there are no stress marks, which beginners like me really need! I kept having to either look up words in my Russian-English dictionary, or visit the helpful website где-ударение (Where Is The Stress) to find out where the stress is.
https://xn----8sbhebeda0a3c5a7a.xn--p...
The lack of stress marks is the only reason I'm giving this book 4 stars instead of 5, since I loved the stories themselves.
My ONLY complaint is... there are no stress marks, which beginners like me really need! I kept having to either look up words in my Russian-English dictionary, or visit the helpful website где-ударение (Where Is The Stress) to find out where the stress is.
https://xn----8sbhebeda0a3c5a7a.xn--p...
The lack of stress marks is the only reason I'm giving this book 4 stars instead of 5, since I loved the stories themselves.
March 26, 2020
This is an excellent primer for Russian language studies. If you have tried to read even kid's books or Pravda online and can't make any sense of them, this book is perfect for you. Each simple chapter is a simple little story about everyday life and then there is a vocabulary list of some of the harder words. Usually a intermediate level student should have some idea what the story is about and then going over the vocab reinforces what you have read.
I got it free with Amazon Prime but think it is probably worth the money. I read the stories out loud and I think it helped quite a bit. I think apps like duolingo are good for review but not learning a language. This is the most helpful tool I have found to increase my knowledge.
I got it free with Amazon Prime but think it is probably worth the money. I read the stories out loud and I think it helped quite a bit. I think apps like duolingo are good for review but not learning a language. This is the most helpful tool I have found to increase my knowledge.
July 23, 2020
I'm just about done with this book and found it to be a great resource! I'm definitely going to look into other books by this publisher.
So, what makes this a good resource for language learning?
* The stories are all 1-2 pages with story lines that are easy to follow.
* The stories aren't just about students going to class, OMG, so boring.
* The grammar is simple but thorough.
* Definitions for many words and idioms are available in the order they appear at the end of the story.
* There is a paraphrased summary at the end of each story (in English and target language).
* There is a series of comprehension questions at the end of each story (in English and target language).
* There is vocab repetition between stories.
So, what makes this a good resource for language learning?
* The stories are all 1-2 pages with story lines that are easy to follow.
* The stories aren't just about students going to class, OMG, so boring.
* The grammar is simple but thorough.
* Definitions for many words and idioms are available in the order they appear at the end of the story.
* There is a paraphrased summary at the end of each story (in English and target language).
* There is a series of comprehension questions at the end of each story (in English and target language).
* There is vocab repetition between stories.
September 12, 2020
As a complete newbie to the Russian language, I thought this book was very challenging. Given that I was going in knowing almost no vocabulary, it was easier for me to read through the vocab lists first and then jump back to the stories, which I personally had no problem doing. The audiobook actually helped take away some of the initial anxiety I felt about the book too. I'm not much of a fan of audiobooks but I found this one to be quite helpful.
As an aside: I've also tried the Spanish Short Stories for Beginners audiobook by LM, and I have to say that I much prefer the way the Russian book is laid out and the content of the Russian stories are (in my opinion) more interesting as well.
As an aside: I've also tried the Spanish Short Stories for Beginners audiobook by LM, and I have to say that I much prefer the way the Russian book is laid out and the content of the Russian stories are (in my opinion) more interesting as well.
December 24, 2019
I found the book very useful for me as a beginner in Russian :) The stories provided are plentyful, interesting and not too long in length which helps with the intial frustration and challenge of foreign vocab and grammar.
Very unique to this book are the comprehension questions at the end of each story. I love the overall approach of this book and language learning and it is definitely something one could eventually implement else where. This book really helps introduce to this idea though. Would very much recommend to beginners :)
I was given a free copy on behalf of Lingo Mastery and am offering this review to show my appreciation and my own personal opinion.
Very unique to this book are the comprehension questions at the end of each story. I love the overall approach of this book and language learning and it is definitely something one could eventually implement else where. This book really helps introduce to this idea though. Would very much recommend to beginners :)
I was given a free copy on behalf of Lingo Mastery and am offering this review to show my appreciation and my own personal opinion.
August 22, 2020
The book is quite helpful if you have some of the basics already. Lots of vocabulary, and clearly written.
Some of stories were too easy, with almost no new words while others were a touch above my level. Apart from that, the topics were mildly interesting, certainly enough for the purpose intended.
Overall, a solid choice if you want to expand your Russian.
Желаю тебе удачи!
Some of stories were too easy, with almost no new words while others were a touch above my level. Apart from that, the topics were mildly interesting, certainly enough for the purpose intended.
Overall, a solid choice if you want to expand your Russian.
Желаю тебе удачи!
October 23, 2025
These were good practice. I read each of the twenty stories twice (on successive days), and the second time was naturally a bit easier than the first.
The stories themselves were decently interesting - not amazing, but fine. The main thing was getting me to sit down and focus for a bit and work through not understanding every word and being okay with that.
The stories themselves were decently interesting - not amazing, but fine. The main thing was getting me to sit down and focus for a bit and work through not understanding every word and being okay with that.
January 11, 2020
The book is great for beginners. It allows you to see how beginner level vocabulary can be used in the day to day. It gives you an idea of the Russian cases in use.
It also has new vocabulary that isn't too advanced. Would definitely recommend for all beginners as it helped my Russian improve.
It also has new vocabulary that isn't too advanced. Would definitely recommend for all beginners as it helped my Russian improve.
October 6, 2021
That was fun and useful. I would have enjoyed at least one girl's or woman's story that is not about her being a mother and/or wife.
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February 19, 2023A good review of vocab and grammar in context if you’re already on A2/B1 level. Some wack stories — when the женщина said «мне не нужна свобода» I had to laugh.
April 30, 2023
2.5 stars
Boring stories on the whole but I enjoyed the mini biographies about various famous Russians. Too many words in the vocabulary lists. Only rating this high because it was a useful resource to practice Russian nonetheless.
Boring stories on the whole but I enjoyed the mini biographies about various famous Russians. Too many words in the vocabulary lists. Only rating this high because it was a useful resource to practice Russian nonetheless.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews