Hi, over a year of immersion I have collected the best of the best – a series of 16 courses/channels/music artists/etc. that consistently have good, audible, and meaningful content.
Everyone has their own interests and interpretations on “good” content, but I believe some of these references will come in handy for those looking for new immersion opportunities.
Why should you consider my suggestions? These were the criteria I used to find good immersion:
- clean audio
- transcript available
- not flooded with advertising/self-promotion
- references that seek to make a concrete assertion use logic and/or reliable, unbiased sources (with some exceptions)
I’ve labeled them by estimated CEFR level and organized them under themes.
STORIES
-Mini Stories A2 = an excellent starting point for beginners to acquire common vocabulary Login - LingQ
-The Linguist by Steve Kaufmann B1 = a dubbed source for those who are interesting in the process and rewards of language learning Login - LingQ
MUSIC
-КИНО B2 = an extremely popular ~90s Russian rock band, with iconic songs most people would recognize Группа КИНО - YouTube
-ДДТ B2 = an extremely popular modern Russian rock band, with song themes ranging from anti-war/corruption to abstract ideas officialddt - YouTube
-Rustem Sultanov B1 = honestly the equivalent of Coldplay, with light rock РУСТЭМ СУЛТАНОВ - YouTube
HISTORY
-Pages of Russian history by evgueny40 (Pages of Russian history) B1 = another great course that provides an overall history of Russia from the very start to today Login - LingQ
NEWS
-Saint Petersburg News B2 = good quality, local news on a variety of topics ГТРК Санкт-Петербург - YouTube
-Euronews in Russian B2 = good quality, international news. the pre-2023 videos are better, due to more Russian dubs Euronews по-русски - YouTube
-Air Catastrophes B2 = a channel that does use ~2 minutes of advertising per video, but has interesting content and clear story telling that is better than most air catastrophe videos in English Air Crash Investigation - YouTube
CULTURE
-Russian Culture by evgueny40 B1 = covers traditions and crafts of Russian culture Login - LingQ
-New Russian Podcast by evgueny40 B1 = a great podcast by that covers different aspects of Russian culture (regions, political situation, national cuisine)
Login - LingQ
FILM
-Кинопоиск B2 = focuses on the meaning and use of filmmaking techniques that make certain films or shows stand out Кинопоиск - YouTube
-Right Hemisphere Introvert B2 = reviews the overarching themes and philosophies of famous movie characters (ex. Tyler Durden) Правое полушарие Интроверта - YouTube
TRAVEL
-Andrey Burenok B1 = a light travel channel with high quality content and a variety of countries, that also features the stories and perspectives of Slavic immigrants to them Andrey Burenok - YouTube
-Capitals of the World B1 = mostly focused on the USA, but offers interesting perspectives on the USA from a Russian point of view https://www.youtube.com/@StolitsaMira
SELF IMPROVEMENT
-Improvement Pill (rus) B1 = dozens of hours on interesting self-improvement methods and thinking strategies, that are mostly founded on science/research (some are definitely not though) Login - LingQ
Big thanks to evgueny40 for creating so much great content. I will add to this list next year.