evolang.
Browse
About
слу́шатьto listen · at natural speed
At natural speed, unstressed vowels shrink and words run together. These tasks train your ear for exactly that.
Russian listening·C1 to C2

Listening at C1–C2: interview, news, talk

A radio interview with polite disagreement, a fast TV business bulletin, a speaker thinking aloud about translation. Listen first with no text, answer the questions, and only then open the transcript to check every word.

Speed:
1Listen with no textPlay the recording once or twice. Don’t look at anything else.
2Answer the questionsSay your answers aloud before revealing them.
3Open the transcriptTap any sentence for its gloss, pronunciation and translation.
NUMBERS IN THE NEWS: RUSSIAN SAYS DECIMALS AS FRACTIONS 2,5 % две це́лых пять деся́тых проце́нтаdve TSE-lykh pyat’ di-SYA-tykh pra-TSEN-ta · “two wholes, five tenths of a per cent” 1,3 млрд одна́ це́лая три деся́тых миллиа́рдаad-NA TSE-la-ya tri di-SYA-tykh mi-li-AR-da · “one whole, three tenths of a billion” Russian writes a comma, not a point. After a decimal, the noun is always genitive singular: процента, миллиарда.
In the TV bulletin you will hear numbers like these at full speed. Listen for це́лых / це́лая (wholes) and деся́тых (tenths) or со́тых (hundredths). In fast speech you may also hear the shorter два и пять.
C1 · Radio interview

Интервью́ с архите́ктором

Interview with an architect · 5 sentences
Answer before you read
1 What does the presenter suggest about old buildings?
2 Does the architect fully agree?
3 What does he think matters most?
C1 · TV news

Но́вости эконо́мики

Business news · 5 sentences
Answer before you read
1 What rose last quarter?
2 By how much?
3 What do analysts expect next year?
C2 · Public talk

О перево́де и оригина́ле

On translation and the original · 5 sentences
Answer before you read
1 What can a translation never fully pass on?
2 Does the speaker think translation is pointless?
3 What does he compare a translation to?

Related guides

Listening practice Shorter listening sets from A1 to B1. Reading Russian literature Tolstoy, Chekhov and Pushkin openings at C1–C2. Pronunciation rules Why unstressed vowels shrink in fast speech. Intonation How Russian questions and statements sound. Advanced listening Forecast, voicemail and lecture at B2–C1. Money and the economy The vocabulary of the TV bulletin above.