Nabokov's guide to foreigners learning Russian

Learning Cyrillic and Other Scripts

• Many argue learners should master Cyrillic immediately rather than rely on Latin transliteration; it’s described as phonetic, small (33 letters), and memorizable in days to weeks.
• Comparisons to learning Japanese kana and Korean Hangul: phonetic scripts are quick; difficulty comes later (Japanese kanji, Chinese characters).
• Side discussion on Chinese vs Japanese: Chinese characters usually have one reading in Mandarin, while Japanese kanji often have multiple historical and native readings, greatly increasing complexity.
• Greek speakers and people used to mathematical symbols report Cyrillic feels almost trivial once you know Greek; others note the deep historical links between the scripts.

How Hard Is Russian?

• One camp: aside from inflectional grammar, Russian is “not that hard,” comparable to German.
• Others: inflection is the hard part—six cases, rich declensions, moving stress, verb aspect, verbs of motion, and many irregularities; even natives struggle with correct writing after years of schooling.
• Stress patterns are unpredictable, can change meanings, and differ from English and often Ukrainian.
• Writing is seen as the hardest skill for natives; learners find spelling logic easier than natives but are overwhelmed by morphology and aspect.
• Comparisons:
  • Easier in some ways than Chinese/Arabic (no tones or abjad), harder than Turkish (far less regular), and quite different from analytic languages like Vietnamese or Mandarin.
  • German inflection is called much simpler; Bulgarian notably less inflected than Russian.

Grammar Awareness and Language Learning

• Several people realized they lacked explicit grammar knowledge of their own language when starting Russian; learning Russian forced them to first learn English grammar.
• Others report the opposite: they only learned detailed native grammar via studying Latin or other foreign languages.
• Debate over whether schools should still teach explicit grammar vs relying on extensive reading.

Pronunciation, “Smiling,” and Sound

• Nabokov’s advice to speak Russian “with a permanent broad smile” resonates with some, who report similar guidance for English and even German (“ich” sound).
• Others find this physiologically or socially odd and argue the key is tongue and airflow placement, not smiling per se.
• Perceptions of Russian sound vary: some find it harsh or aggressive, others say beauty depends heavily on the speaker.

Motivation and Politics of Learning Russian

• Some Eastern Europeans reject learning Russian due to historical oppression and current war, seeing little practical or moral incentive.
• Others push back, pointing to hypocrisy given English-speaking countries’ wars, and distinguishing a government from hundreds of millions of Russian speakers worldwide.
• The idea of learning an “enemy language” for understanding resurfaces, with disagreement on whether that’s a major or marginal motivation today.

Color Words and Semantic Side Threads

• Georgian uses compounds like “coffee-color” and “sky-color”; parallels noted in Russian (“cinnamon-colored” for brown), Chinese (“coffee color”), Turkish, and others.
• Extended discussion questions claims that old languages “lacked” certain color terms, arguing the real issue is ambiguity in surviving texts and multiple competing metaphorical bases for brown/orange shades.

Miscellaneous Practical Points

• Tips and resources mentioned: Anki + spaced repetition for alphabets, Duolingo’s alphabet section (but weak overall Russian course), Heisig’s Remembering the Kanji.
• Some note self-segregation of expat groups and how that shapes language use.
• Brief note that Nabokov himself was effectively bilingual from childhood, so his path to English differs from ordinary learners.