Bridget Barbara (or Varvara) lives in New York, her dad is Russian but she didn’t grow up learning the language. When she went to university she decided to take up Russian, and later even travelled to the country. She currently has over 203K subscribers on her YouTube channel who follow her around NYC, and her Russian language learning adventures.
Ari is a popular young Dutch vlogger with a Russian girlfriend who takes people through all the funny and strange things he has learned about Russia and the Russian language. His most popular videos so far, with over 1 million views, were about 11 things that surprised him in Russia, and the 5 things about the Russian language that were the most challenging for him to learn. In one video he talks about why he decided to learn Russian saying that his main reasons were to talk to his Russian girlfriend and her parents in their native language. He also explained that learning a new language is useful, trains your memory and opens a lot of doors, and, finally, Russia is an interesting country with a fascinating culture and history.
Justin, from the United States, and probably the most popular Russian speaking foreigner vlogger, has his own English language teaching business and has gathered together a large following of over 1 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. His focus is on teaching English to Russians but he also talks about the strange things he experiences as a Russian language learner. His most popular video shows him and another American taking the English language Unified State Exam for Russian high school students to see how they manage.
Nuria, a Russian language enthusiast in Barcelona, Spain, talks all about the Russian language, Russian culture, her experiences of living in Moscow, and life in Spain on her YouTube channel. She also has some fun videos where she interviews Russians in Spain. She decided to start her channel after leaving Moscow to keep up her Russian skills and connect with the Russian community.
Kike from Mexico, teaches Spanish in Moscow, and boasts nearly 23K subscribers on his channel. There, he teaches Spanish to Russian speakers, talks about life in Russia as a foreigner, and the differences between Russia and Mexico. In one video he explains some of the things in Russia that surprised him like opening windows in the winter, returning Tupperware with something inside, and asking permission before giving out someone’s phone number.
Kousara Anastasia, from Malaysia, has a Russian mum and a Malaysian dad. She came to Vladivostok to study at university, and is now married to a Russian. She only started her channel about a year ago but already has a humble following. She talks about her life in Russia, and all the interesting things that she has learned.
Jon from Canada and Eva from Russia, take fascinating trips around the world with their gorgeous family and share the experience on their YouTube channel. They’re currently based in Canada in order to get Eva’s Canadian citizenship. Their experiences are varied and interesting, and it’s extremely hard to believe that Jon is not Russian as he speaks in a perfect Russian accent.
Orelen from France has loads of funny videos on his channel highlighting the plight of a Frenchman learning Russian language and culture. The most popular video with nearly a million views shows him reading Russian memes about France.
Koki from Japan, sometimes with his Russian wife, Natasha, gives Russians a window into Japan on his YouTube channel as he talks about Japanese culture, life and funny differences between Russia and Japan. He explains that his journey of learning Russian started in St. Petersburg where he came during his second year of university to take Russian courses and live in a Russian family.
And if you think you’ve seen it all, Yang Ge’s TikTok page takes the cake. Dubbed the most famous Chinese person in Russia by the host of Modniy Podcast, she explores Chinese and Russian culture in her short and humorous videos, often with a bit of an edge and the ever-famous “spasibaaa”.
The nicest part about all these videos is seeing the beautiful comments under each of them, telling the vloggers their Russian is amazing, and encouraging them to keep practicing the language. That’s the kind of spirit that helps the tentative Russian learner keep going.
….and if you want to learn Russian from a native speaker, watch Max.
Discover expat blogs in St. Petersburg and if you are interested in languages, read about ITMO international students speaking Russian, and learn to speak like a Russian with these handy words and phrases. Learn Russian at our summer and winter schools, or take our foundation program.
