Private one-to-one tuition · Русский
Private Russian lessons for people who want to read it, not just order in it.
Russian gives very little away to the casual learner and a great deal to the serious one. One specialist chosen for you from our selected network, and a programme built around what you want Russian for.
Who it is for
Who books private Russian with us
Nobody arrives at Russian by accident. The briefs are unusually clear, and unusually different from one another.
The reader
Literature, poetry, history or music — a lifelong intention to read Tolstoy, Akhmatova or a libretto in the original rather than through someone else's choices.
Reading-led tuition: grammar taught through real texts, vocabulary built from what you are reading, and translation compared line by line.
The heritage speaker with a literacy gap
Russian at home, fluent understanding, and reading, writing or grammatical confidence that never developed alongside it.
A programme that skips the beginner material entirely: Cyrillic and cursive, case endings made explicit, register and written style built on the speech you already have.
The family keeping the language
A Russian-speaking partner or grandparents, children growing up bilingual, and a wish to be genuinely inside the household conversation.
Everyday, family-register Russian, with listening at natural speed and the affectionate diminutive forms families actually use.
The professional or researcher who needs the source
Law, energy, journalism, security studies or academia, where a translation is not sufficient and the primary text matters.
Field-specific reading and listening: formal register, long sentence structure and the specialist vocabulary of your discipline.
The Learn&Co method
A selected network first. Your match, second.
We do not go looking for a Russian tutor once you enquire. The selection has already happened — our network is built slowly, from specialists we have interviewed, observed and chosen to work with.
What happens after your enquiry is the second layer, and it is personal. Maria hears the brief, chooses the specialist inside that network who fits it, and introduces you on a chemistry call before anything is committed.
“Amazing at understanding what people need and matching students with the perfect tutor…”
A network selected before you arrive
Russian specialists we have already interviewed, referenced and chosen — for teaching skill and subject depth, not simply for a passport.
A conversation before a tutor
Twenty minutes with Maria: what you need Russian for, by when, and how you learn well.
Matched from the network
The specialist who suits your goal, level and temperament is identified inside the existing network and named to you, with Maria overseeing the match. No rota, no directory, no algorithm.
A chemistry call, then oversight
You meet them before anything is booked. Monthly reports, a founder check-in at week six, and rematching if the fit ever stops working.
The tutors
What a Russian specialist brings that a generalist cannot
Russian is systematic and unforgiving, and the order in which it is taught decides whether a learner continues. Every tutor in our network teaches Russian to English speakers professionally.
They teach the six cases as meaning
Cases are how Russian says who did what to whom, which is why word order is free. Taught function first, they become usable; taught as tables to memorise, they end most self-study.
They make aspect intuitive
Every Russian verb comes in a pair, and choosing perfective or imperfective is a choice about how you see the action. This is the single largest hurdle for English speakers, and a specialist teaches it through use.
They handle stress and reduction from the start
Russian spelling does not mark stress, and stress changes the vowels around it. Marking, drilling and hearing it early is the difference between being understood and being asked to repeat.
They teach heritage speakers differently
Someone who speaks fluently but cannot write is not a beginner. A specialist diagnoses the actual gaps — endings, cursive, formal register — instead of restarting the language from zero.
Life in the language
Russian is the language of the conversation that runs until two in the morning.
It is a culture where poetry is quoted from memory at kitchen tables, where a guest is fed relentlessly, and where the conversation goes straight past small talk into what somebody actually thinks. Russian friendship is slow to start and then unreserved.
That is the part you cannot reach in translation, and it is what your programme is built towards: not phrases, but the ability to sit at that table and belong in what is being said.
Directness, then warmth
Russian conversation skips the English preliminaries. Learning the register — including when the diminutive is doing the emotional work — is part of the teaching.
Literature as practice
Poetry and prose are not an advanced-only reward here; short real texts are used early, because they are what most Russian learners came for.
Culture as material
Music, film, history or current affairs, chosen around your own interests so the reading habit survives.
In practice
What the lessons actually look like
The most common question after price. Here is the shape of the thing you are buying.
- An hour a week, or considerably more
- One hour a week is the standard rhythm and the basis of our guide prices. Reading-focused clients often prefer longer, less frequent sessions; families and professionals usually keep to a steady weekly hour.
- Online, in person in London, or both
- Most clients learn online with the same tutor throughout. Face-to-face tuition at home or at your office is available across London and is quoted individually.
- Your material, not a course book
- The novel, the archive document, the news broadcast, the family conversation you want to follow. Real Russian, worked on closely.
- Written up every month
- Your tutor writes a monthly progress report against the objectives agreed at the start, and Maria checks in with you at week six.
Corporate clients
Trusted by global businesses
Language programmes delivered inside law firms, hedge funds, publishing houses and global property groups.
Partner schools
Working with leading schools in the UK and Europe
Exam preparation, tutor placement and curated exchanges with demanding independent schools here and with partner schools across Europe.
Investment
One rate, four ways to commit to it.
Every client receives the identical service — the matching, the chemistry call, the bespoke programme, the reporting and the founder oversight. The only thing that changes is how many hours you commit to, and the hourly rate falls as you do.
Guide prices are based on one hour of private online tuition a week and include VAT. Face-to-face lessons in London, additional weekly hours and intensive programmes are quoted individually.
Flexi
4 hours
Month to month
£75/hr£300 in total
Discovery
12 hours
Up to 3 months
£71/hr£855 in total
Momentum
24 hours
Up to 6 months
£68/hr£1,620 in total
Mastery
48 hours
Up to 12 months
£64/hr£3,060 in total
Every private plan, whichever you choose, includes
Bespoke programmes — not lesson bundles.
- A discovery call with Maria, our founder
- Personal matching from our selected network
- A chemistry call before you commit
- A programme written from your objective
- Specialist tutors, vetted and selected
- Monthly written progress reports
- Week-six founder check-in
- Rematching at any point, at no cost
Not sure which plan? Maria will recommend one on the call.
Before you book
Private Russian lessons — your questions, answered.
- How much do private Russian lessons cost?
- Private Russian tuition is bought in hours. Flexi is 4 hours at £75/hr (£300 in total); Discovery 12 hours used within up to 3 months at £71/hr (£855); Momentum 24 hours within up to 6 months at £68/hr (£1,620); Mastery 48 hours within up to 12 months at £64/hr (£3,060). All prices include VAT. Face-to-face lessons in London and intensive programmes are quoted individually.
- How is my Russian tutor chosen?
- The selection happens before you enquire: every tutor in our network has already been interviewed, referenced and chosen by us. When you come to us, Maria listens to your objective, level, temperament and timetable, then names the specialist inside that network who fits the brief. You meet them on a chemistry call before anything is committed.
- How long does Cyrillic take?
- About two weeks of light practice to read slowly, and a couple of months to read comfortably at speed. It is genuinely the easiest part of Russian and, unhelpfully, the part people most fear. Cursive handwriting is taught separately and only where you want it.
- I grew up speaking Russian but cannot write it. Where would I start?
- Not at the beginning. Heritage speakers are assessed separately, and the programme targets the actual gaps: case endings you use correctly but cannot explain, spelling, cursive, and the formal register that household Russian does not include. Progress in these cases is usually fast.
- What if my tutor is not right for me?
- We rematch you, at no cost and without any argument. Fit is our responsibility rather than yours, and rematching is a normal part of the service rather than a complaint.
- Do you teach in person in London, or only online?
- Both. Online lessons are available anywhere in the world and are what our guide prices are based on. Face-to-face Russian lessons are available across London and some surrounding areas, subject to tutor availability. Many clients run a hybrid of the two.
- Can you prepare me for a Russian examination?
- We prepare candidates for TORFL and for school Russian at GCSE and A-Level, subject to specialist availability. Tell us the examination and level and we will confirm honestly whether we have the right specialist before you commit.
- Do you run Russian group classes?
- Not at present. Our ten-week group terms currently run in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Russian is taught one to one, which is also the format that suits it best at the early stages. If a cohort ever becomes viable you will hear about it first.
- How quickly can I start?
- Most clients have a proposed tutor within a few days of the discovery call and a first lesson in the week that follows. A highly specific professional or dialect brief can take a little longer, because we would rather match well than match quickly.
Ready to start Russian?
Twenty minutes with Maria.
Tell her what you need Russian for, where you are now and how much time you honestly have. She will tell you how we would approach it — and who, from our network, she would match you with.
Maria Toubbe
- 20 minutes
- A conversation, not a sales call.
- With Maria
- Our founder, every time — not a call centre.
- No obligation
- Advice you can use even if you never book.
20 min · video call · free
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