Mastering Russian Cursive

Dear students of Liden & Denz, maybe some of you missed the lessons on cursive writing, so I thought I’d give you a few tips on how to learn to write like a Russian.  Many of our teachers use block letters on the board, because Russian cursive can be quite difficult to read. Writing in cursive, however, is much faster and prettier. The Russian word for cursive is чистописание – “clean writing,” translated as “penmanship.” As you spend more time in Russia, you’ll see how different people have different styles of cursive, but there is a gold standard, much like in your own language. Being able to write in neat cursive denotes education and will earn you a lot of respect!

Here is a handy video, with appropriately dramatic music from Swan Lake, to remind you how the individual letters are written.

(Here you can download the guidelines for lefties!)

Here you can download a whole PDF you can print out and fill in according to the model letters, just like a Russian first-grader! Here and here you can download more full books for more elementary exercises.

Remember: boring, grinding practice makes perfect. Good luck!
(This article is brought to you by Esther – student and intern at Liden & Denz St. Petersburg)