If you're at the University of Sussex and interested in Russian, please take a look at the Russian Society pages.

Most of these websites use Cyrillic - your computer should cope fine (including computers on campus), but if not, you might want to consult the concise guide at Stanwardine, or read through Russify Everything if you're not using a recent Windows PC.

I don't recommend it, but it's possible to work around the need for Cyrillic fonts by transliterating the text into Latin script - see the Automatic Cyrillic Converter which converts online between other encodings too, and can output a reformatted web page. There's even an online typer. If you're typing much Cyrillic though, you may want to invest in a set of keytop stickers such as those made by Latkey.

• Yandex is one of the more advanced Russian web directories/search engines, but there's also a Russian Google. Alternatively, try Rambler or Aport.

Teaching resources

• Russian Language Learning - a literature-based online course designed at Sussex to complement Literature and History options within Russian Studies here. For each author there are biographical details and a text for study with vocabulary hints, a stressed version of the text with audio, English translation, exercises, grammar, historical background, a critical essay and video dialogues about the author.
• Russian as Russians Speak It - a series of bitesize videos on YouTube. See also the Only4Russian channel on YouTube which collects videos for Russian learners.
  
• S azov (Russian from Scratch) is a communicative ab initio Russian language textbook developed at the University of Wolverhampton, available as PDF files plus interactive tests on each chapter.
  
• Introduction to Russian guides you easily through learning the Russian alphabet, picking up useful vocabulary along the way - includes audio and doesn't need Russian fonts installed..
• Interactive Russian Reference Grammar - a comprehensive and well-presented guide, courtesy of Robert Beard.
• Conradish.net has lots of classic 19th and 20th century literature, with reading aids for Russian learners - point the mouse at a word to see its English equivalent, click for a more detailed description. Lib.ru and Russkaia virtualnaia biblioteka have more, but without the dictionary help.
• From the Ends to the Beginning is a bilingual anthology of Russian poetry, many with audio readings.
• Novosti nedeli na uproshchennom russkom iazyke is a fortnightly pick of a few news topics, spoken at a slightly slower rate than normal, for upper-intermediate students. Full transcripts are provided along with vocabulary, pre-listening information and post-listening exercises.
  
• • If that's too basic, UCLA has some podcasts on literature or business, at intermediate to advanced levels.
  • Much too hard? Start off with A Spoonful of Russian audio & video podcast.
• Gramota.ru - portal for the Russian language with a great deal of advanced content including a selection of specialist dictionaries and a free reference service where you can ask questions. The site isn't aimed at foreign students, so it's all in Russian.
  
• Ruslan produce well-designed CD-ROMs (as well as books and tapes) for learners of Russian. The site also includes listings of where to study Russian in the UK.
  
• Master Russian - plenty for the novice and advanced students of Russian; from language lessons to web cams, dictionaries to pen pals, alphabet to crosswords, grammar to Tolstoy.
• Russnet is a large online Russian language learning and teaching network which includes several high quality language modules (e.g. Business Russian or a Cultural Map of Russia). It's a project of the American Council of Teachers of Russian so there is provision for teachers to maintain dedicated virtual classroom space and to make assignments for use in conjunction with the modules, plus plenty more of interest to teachers (materials, jobs, professional bodies, assessment tools etc.)
• Russian Language Mentor - extensive site from the US military for intermediate to advanced students. Loads of reading and listening comprehensions, grammar review (ask your own questions) and sections on cultural and scientific literacy sit alongside crossword puzzles and linguistic oddities. Constant reminders of its origin apart, there's a lot of useful material here, all presented in a surprisingly light-hearted way.
• Russian Language Program at Cornell University has some pioneering on-line multimedia materials, such as Beginning Russian through Film and Dictionary of the Human Body.
• Posobie po russkomu iazyku is an online textbook for Russian learners.
  
  
• Bilingual dictionaries:
  • Multitran is an interesting translation dictionary which allows phrase searches, and can disregard morphology. It contains over 2m entries for more than 20 subjects, and also has a good list of subject-specific dictionaries.
  • Smirnitsky Russian->English and Apresiana & Mednikovoi English Russian from Russkii Iazyk courtesy of Rambler.

• Mainly for teachers:
• Teach Russian is an online resource centre for teachers of Russian as a foreign language, comprising lots of  freely downloadable materials such as class worksheets.
  
• Russian Teachers Group for UK teachers to help one another.
  
• MAPRYAL, the International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature, and their journal Vestnik.

News & media on-line

• RTR Planeta is the Russian television channel available in the Language Learning Centre here at the Sussex Language Institute - there are programme schedules online. Channel One can also be received free in the UK via satellite.
• Russian News Online shows many publications' current headlines on one web page.
• Ekho Moskvy - a Moscow radio station widely seen as a source for unbiased reporting.
• Gazeta.Ru offers news in a digestible format, and plenty of other journals.
• BBC Russian - news stories and broadcasts.
• Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty includes news in English and Russian, and live audio feeds.
• Itar-Tass - the famous Russian news agency provides breaking news in English and Russian.
• The St. Petersburg Times and The Moscow Times - Russian news in English.
• Zhurnal'nyi zal hosts over a dozen literary magazines and journals, including Inostrannaya literatura, which carries literature reviews and translations of foreign literature.
• Ogonyok could be described as the Russian equivalent of Time magazine.
• Voice of Russia - international state radio station; their latest news broadcasts in Russian and English are stored by World Radio Network.

Background

• Museums of Russia - tour through Russian museums, culture and art.
• A taste of Russia - guided tour.
• Little Russia is a treasure trove of Russian resources, including a good section on music.
• Far from Moscow is a weekly bilingual podcast dedicated to new music from Russia, courtesy of David MacFadyen, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at UCLA. Very Californian, and there's some great stuff in there.
• MOCT is a 'bridge between Britain and Russia', with information and links on Russian education, culture and charities in Britain.

Sources for further research...

• Sussex Russian Studies Internet Resources - loads more links, not just for language-learning.
• Intute: Russian Studies selects the best sites for an academic audience and reviews them carefully.
  
• Paul Gorodyansky maintains in-depth information about using Cyrillic in non-Russian versions of Windows (mostly).
• Russia on the Net web directory (English version).
• The University of Pittsburgh's department of Russian and East European Studies maintains the WWW Virtual Library entry for Russia.
• IM Translator (@PROMT Online) does a pretty good job instantly translating web pages or short texts between Russian and English, also offering an online Russian keyboard and decoding.
• Automatic Cyrillic Converter can transliterate a web page or text into Latin script as well as converting between encodings. Here's another.