Learn Russian with Interviews

Learn spoken Russian while also getting to know some Russians. From a rocker and a tennis player to Dmitri at the disco and the average Joe. Educational and entertaining: these are the most useful and fun interviews на русском.

Viktor Tsoi

The series of interviews by Boost Your Russian is modest in scope but features great names, with bilingual subtitles. For instance, Viktor Tsoi (or Цой), shortly after a viewing of the film Игла (The Needle, 1988). Watch it on YouTube, starring Shocking Blue.

Maria Sharapova

Tennis player Maria Sharapova (or Шарапова) doesn’t have much to say in the following interview. Still, it’s amusing to see the lengths she goes to, trying to make it believable that she truly has an interest in chocolate.

The same series also features goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev and singer Zemfira. The segment with Gagarin and speeches by Putin have already been mentioned or inserted earlier; see Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968) (2021) and Learn Russian with Vladimir Putin (1/2) (2020).

Vera Brezhneva

“A woman who is a dream for millions of men” – that’s how Anna Cher ( Russian From the Heart) introduces singer Vera Brezhneva (or Брежнева). Those millions of men need to have sharp ears if they want to catch everything their dream woman is saying, as Vera speaks at a blistering pace. The good news: “If you can understand this eventually, it means you can understand everything.”

On the same channel, you’ll find an interview excerpt with Konstantin Khabensky, and (in two parts) Polina Gagarina ( part 1, part 2) and Evgenia Obraztsova ( part 1, part 2). More Gagarina in an analysis of her song Обезоружена; more Obraztsova (and ballet) in Евгения Образцова. Сильфида (фильм о балете) (2019, 12 mins). See also the interview with Putin in Learn Russian with Vladimir Putin (2/2) (2020).

Ksyusha

YouTube teachers interview everyone, including each other. Артём interviews Irina and Dasha (also the other way around), Anastasia and Tamara do it together; Anna and Dasha do it with Max; Max and Anastasia interview each other; Nika interviews Daria, Anna interviews Anastasia (and vice versa), and so it goes on and on.

On Anastasia Semina’s channel there is a collection of Russian Conversations, including this one with special guest Ксюша, who is five years old.

Street Interviews

More Q&A sessions on the channel 1420, which asks passers-by questions like What is your biggest regret? and What’s your 2021 resolution? (see also Russians and English and Russia and LGBT, etc., 2020). A similar concept with similar questions (although enough to smell like plagiarism) is on Moscow Streets.

Easy Languages/Easy Russian (previously mentioned in Phrases for Beginners) asked people about their favorite music, their dreams, and their age (more in this playlist), and also what makes them happy. With (at 2:40) an answer worth framing: “Счастье мамы. Улыбка в глазах сестры. Когда дети не плачут, наверно”.

Memes and Classics

Blood, mud, and real life: saving the best for last. Mark after a car accident ( Марк был хороший), a young man talking about the main qualities of a woman ( Что самое главное в женщине?), and also check out Drunk guy in mud, which is mostly funny due to the fake translation.

The same goes for the little chat with Dmitri, who simply tells us that he is not impressed with the music. But if you don’t understand him, you might also believe that he just heard it’s Friday, that Bin Laden is dead, that he’s not going to be a father after all, what his bitcoins are worth, or that he – which is true – is a star on YouTube.

Old but gold: Я вор!