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When people talk about studying a foreign language, they often mention the alphabet to measure their success (or lack thereof) in mastering the language. You may often hear comments like “I just know the alphabet” or “I don’t even know the alphabet!” In other words, the alphabet is seen as the first, unavoidable step in learning a language.

Knowing the alphabet — or, rather, the sounds that the letters of the new language correspond to — is indeed very important. This is especially true of languages like Russian, in which nearly every letter corresponds to only one sound. What a relief from English, in which one letter often represents several sounds, depending on the word it’s used in. In fact, for those poor souls who are studying English, knowing the English alphabet isn’t so much a help as an obstacle.

Not so in Russian! When you study Russian, the Russian alphabet (also known as the Cyrillic alphabet) is your ticket to reading Russian, and knowing how to read Russian is very important in mastering spoken Russian.

If you’re like most English speakers, you probably think that the Russian alphabet is the most challenging aspect of picking up the language. But not to worry. The Russian alphabet isn’t as hard as you think. In fact, the alphabet is a piece of cake. In the following sections, we show you how to recognize all the letters of the Russian alphabet.