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Graded readers are a good type of material for extensive reading. But how do you find graded readers in Russian? The English Wikipedia article graded reader has no link to the same concept in the Russian Wikipedia (see the "Languages" section in the left-hand menu).

Resources for learning Russian on Russian Language Stack Exchange does not list graded readers, and What Russian poet to recommend for beginners and intermediate learners? is not a good fit if you want to learn "normal", non-poetic Russian.

So are there any graded readers in Russian and how can I find them?

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The Russian term for "graded reader" would be something like "Хрестоматия по русскому языку для студентов-иностранцев" or "адаптированные тексты для студентов-иностранцев". Or "книги для чтения" (для студентов-иностранцев) I'm a native speaker so I don't use these. Yet I've Googled it and I found this https://www.kniga.de/knigi/russkiy-yazyk/russkiy-yazyk-kak-inostrannyy-rki/knigi-dlya-chteniya/?p=1

if you want to learn "normal", non-poetic Russian.* Erm, there are plenty of poets who write in a colloquial style and their phrases can be really useful when you are in love or have a fight with someone .

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The German publisher dtv has published a number of bilingual Russian-German books for learners of Russian. Below are a few example titles:

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*** UPDATE ***

The Russian Readers app is on the app store - and we’re publishing new Russian audio stories every week.

These stories are written specifically for native-English speakers learning Russian. We focus on introducing common vocabulary, and building up from there. Each story is professionally narrated, and translated into English.

Our goal at Russian Readers is to spread the joy of the Russian Language. There are not a lot of resources, specifically readers, to help English speakers learning Russian - and that’s where we come in.

Our stories are great for learners of all ages, and with a professionally curated library, you’ll have fresh content to keep you motivated every week.

Feel free to contact me with any questions. This is our passion (!), and we’d love to help!


We've started a company called Russian Readers, and are a small team dedicated to spreading the joy of the Russian language. Full disclosure: I am the co-founder of the company.

At Russian Readers we're adding new graded readers every week. These ebooks are professionally narrated, and the words are highlighted as narration is spoken, so learners of all abilities can follow along.

We'll have an app available on the app store soon. Our goal is to help native-English speakers learn Russian!

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I found following free online resources:

Simple bilingual English-Russian texts: https://www.russianforfree.com/texts.php

Russian jokes: https://pa-russki.com/category/jokes/

Not exactly "graded", but free :-)

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