Russian Intensive Course in Berlin

Absolute beginners with no prior knowledge who want to learn Russian from scratch, starting with the Cyrillic script.

Your journey begins with the Cyrillic alphabet: you learn to read, write and pronounce all 33 letters correctly. You become familiar with your first soft and hard consonants and with the mobile stress, and you form simple sentences in the nominative case. First encounters with the cases (such as the prepositional after «в» and «на») and the distinction between «ты» and «вы» are also part of this stage. You communicate in everyday situations such as greetings, introductions and shopping.

Learners with solid foundations who want to expand their vocabulary and use the first cases confidently.

At this level you systematise the Russian case system and master the accusative, prepositional and genitive in common everyday contexts. For the first time you recognise the difference between the perfective and imperfective verb aspects (e.g. «делать» / «сделать») and apply it in simple past-tense sentences. The first verbs of motion («идти» / «ходить», «ехать» / «ездить») are introduced as well. This enables you to talk about your daily routine, family, leisure and travel.

Learners with extended foundations who want to express themselves more fluently and with greater grammatical accuracy.

At intermediate level you handle all six cases, including the dative and instrumental, confidently in the singular and plural. You deepen your command of verb aspect and consciously choose between the perfective and imperfective, also in the future tense and imperative. You extend the verbs of motion with prefixes (при-, у-, вы-, по-), which lets you fine-tune their meaning. This allows you to discuss work, plans and experiences and to handle most everyday situations on your own.

Advanced learners who want to communicate confidently in Russian at work and in their studies.

At this level you use the entire case system and verb aspect intuitively and largely without error, even in complex sentence structures. You master participles and verbal adverbs (причастия, деепричастия), the conditional with «бы», and finely differentiated verbs of motion. You increasingly handle the subtleties of mobile stress and palatalisation naturally. This lets you follow the news, specialist texts and discussions, and express your opinion in a nuanced and well-reasoned way.

Very advanced learners who want to command Russian confidently at an academic and professional level.

At C1 level you use Russian fluently and in a differentiated way, from the stylistic fine-tuning of verb aspect to the deliberate use of word formation and aspectual pairs for precise nuances. You recognise and use stylistic registers, idioms and the characteristic aspect-and-stress shifts with confidence. You also master complex syntactic constructions and the switch between colloquial and bookish language. This enables you to argue persuasively in demanding professional and academic contexts.

Learners at the highest level who want to understand and use Russian almost like a native speaker.

At the highest level you understand and use practically everything you read and hear with ease, including subtle aspectual nuances, regional colouring and literary devices. You command mobile stress, palatalisation and the finest distinctions among the verbs of motion at a native-like level. You express yourself spontaneously, precisely and with stylistic confidence, even on complex and sensitive topics. You grasp and deploy cultural allusions, wordplay and humour with ease.