Learn Russian or Kyrgyz,
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1. Cyrillic and Computers

Translit.cc offers a very handy online transliteration tool that allows you to type in Russian with English phonetics (for example, press "i" for "и," etc.).

Russian Transliterated Keyboards offers a program that allows you to type in Russian with English phonetics. 

Russian for Gringos is another language program that enables your keyboard to type Russian characters in a format that's easy to learn for English speakers.

Hyroglif is a spellcheck program that can check several languages including Russian. The site is all in Russian. To download the program directly (with instructions in English) click here.

Universal Cyrillic Decoder can fix the problem of Cyrillic letters turning up as little boxes or gibberish. Automatic Cyrillic Decoder and Decoder Lebedeva are two other sites for the same thing.

Alfa Typing is a free, online tutorial that teaches you how to type properly in Cyrillic characters!

Sense-lang.org offers another simple program to aid you in learning Cyrillic touch-typing.

AATSEEL offers lists of fonts and drivers for Windows and Macintosh. AATSEEL also offers several medieval slavic fonts.

The Non-Roman Script Initiative strives to provide fonts for minority language groups and includes resources for Cyrillic.

George Washington University offers many solutions for cyrillicizing computers.

Russification of Macintosh offers troubleshooting solutions for Macs.

Glyphmaker has hundreds of fonts for Cyrillic typers.

Keybr.com has an option that teaches typing in Russian. Click "Language/Layout" and change the settings to move away from English.

Sense-lang.org has some step-by-step lessons. Choose "Российская клавиатура" and then "Урок 1" (at the left of the screen) to get started. 

Mydiv.net gives a compendium of lots more options for learning how to type in Cyrillic.

Want to make subtitles? Submerge is great (and very cheap) for Mac users. You can also check out this list of freeware for making subtitles - for users of all types of computers.

4. Eurasia-Friendly Publishers

Slavica Publishers offer a range of scholarly journals and books for Russia-related subjects.

Michigan Slavic Publications also offers a range of scholarly journals and books.  

Hypocrene Books is a specialty publisher offering a number of books on learning FSU languages.

EastView.com is an excellent (pay) source for books and periodicals about Russia and the CIS. See also their "Guidebook to Russian Archives," an index of what's available where!

BiblioRossica is a Russian language project from American publisher Academic Studies Press. It is a continuously expanding portal for modern academic literature on the humanities, in an electronic format.

The Association of Women in Slavic Studies offers a sizeable list of publishers with Slavic-themed offerings.

Ruslan Limited produces and distributes quality materials for learning and teaching Russian from absolute beginners to advanced level, and advises on the learning and teaching of Russian.

Hertfordshire Press is an imprint of Silk Road Media that translates and publishes books from Central Asian languages into English.

Ugly Ducking Press publishes many texts by authors from the former Soviet Union and other locations. 

5.  Russian/FSU Food and Cookbooks

RussianFoods.com offers many recipes, as well as an on-line service for purchasing Russian food products.  This site is amusing if only for the fact that many who write for it apparently know just enough English to be dangerous!  Run your search from the box at the top of the site - change the engine from "Shopping" to "Recipes."

VodkaCookBook.com provides information about a new cookbook co-sponsored by Smirnoff vodka and Rose Advertising. You can also check out the author's personal weblog at CookingwithVodka.blogs.com.

Eda-Server.ru offers several English-language recipes for Russian foods. However, it's original Russian version is much more informative and extensive and even offers advice on dinner etiquette and a series of old Soviet-era food advertisements and propaganda posters.

Ossetians.com features recipes for Ossetian pies and feta cheese... mmmm.

RussianTable.com delivers affordable food products from Russia to addresses in America. Never tried kvass? Here you go!

Foodperestroika.com is run by a Frenchman in New York who is fascinated by the foods of post-Soviet lands. He gives recipes, travel reviews, and restaurant reviews.   

7. Special Focus: The Russian Economy and Markets	Russian Financial Markets and Finance Click the trading floor of Russia's leading stock market for more info on Russian finance
Russian Resources: Extraction and Export Click the Siberian oil worker for more on what makes Russia powerful today.	General Issues in Russian Business Click "Predicted Growth in Russian GDP" for more information about the Russian economy and foreign investment.

9. Environmental Issues in Russia

Tahoe-Baikal Institute was established in 1990 to help preserve threatened natural areas around the world through environmental education programs, research, and international exchanges.

The Great Baikal Trail Association is an international volunteer-driven non-profit membership organization working to develop, maintain, promote, and protect the first 1,300-mile long national trail in Russia, and in that way advocate sustainable development of Baikal region.

10. Journals (online, etc.)

Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies is run by SRAS and publishes the best in student research on all subjects related to Russia and the FSU. Submissions are open to all students and are continuous.

The Birch is a student journal run at Columbia University. They publish mostly culture-related articles including creative writing in both Russian and English. 

Studies in Slavic Cultures is run by the University of Pittsburgh and publishes papers written by graduate students on specific themes as set by the editorial staff.

The Bridge-MOST is run by The International Association for the Humanities (IAH) and publishes articles in English, Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian.

SlavFile, is the a quarterly newsletter of the American Translators' Association and provides information that will help facilitate the careers and professional development of translators and interpreters of Slavic languages.

Bridges is a subscription Russian journal devoted entirely to articles on translation and interpretation. It is now available in America with articles in both Russian and English.

Tolstoy Studies Journal is everything you ever wanted to know about Lev Tolstoy, but were afraid to ask. Lots of online references, photos and other resources - produced by the Tolstoy Society of North America.

The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law "strives to create a world where civil society, in all its forms, can freely develop and participate in public decisions."  It provides Russian legal documents, an e-journal, and other information in a free, searchable database. 

Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization focuses on politics, economics, social issues, legal systems, nationalities, international relations, and human rights. 

Forshungsstelle Osteuropa provides an impressive collection of materials concerning Eastern Europe. 

Stanislavski Studies is a English/Russian, peer-reviewed eJournal, presenting scholarship on subjects related to the work of Konstantin Stanislavski.

KinoKultura is the only English-language e-journal devoted to contemporary Russian cinema.

Nabokov Online Journal is a new refereed multilingual electronic edition devoted to Nabokov studies. The editors of the journal invite submissions of original, unpublished manuscripts. Submission of scholarly articles, comment pieces and book reviews is welcome.

Pushkin Review is a bi-lingual, peer-reviewed journal published annually in print and for free online.

SEEFA, The Slavic East European Folklore Association, publishes a free e-journal, Folklorika, twice a year and provides a year-round forum for those studying Russian, Polish, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, and Serbian Folklore.

Russian Analytical Digest offers articles written from around the world, translated into English. Each issue focuses on a specific subject, which have included those focused on international relations, domestic politics, and social issues.

Landshaft is a multi-disciplinary, bi-lingual journal of scholarly articles on philosophy, literature, and culture, with a focus on the intellectual landscape of contemporary Russian thought.

E-Scholarship Editions publishes free, online versions of recent scholarship on various topics. The link will take you directly to those books related to Russia. 

Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema is a thrice-yearly journal devoted to visual culture and media studies. Submissions are open and continuous.  The journal is by subscription only.

eXchanges is the University of Iowa's literary e-journal devoted to translations both in and out of the English language and aims to foster cultural interchange and expand awareness of translation as a valid art form.  

WordsWithoutBorders is an online publication devoted to translations. They accept submissions on a continual basis.

Central Eurasian Studies Review is a free publication that reports on a range of topics concerning Russia and Central Asia.

Heritage Language Journal is a unique publication focusing on learning and teaching languages to heritage speakers of those languages. 

The Journal of Russian Icons is published by the folks at the Museum of Russian Icons.

Africana.ru is a publication in Russian about Africa and African culture in Russia.

14. Special Focus: More SRAS Resources and Services	SRAS Travel Services  Not looking to study abroad? Visas and housing are included for most of our programs. For those looking to arrange more independent research trips and adventures, we offer these services.		Funding for Study Abroad Afraid that money will be an issue for your study abroad plans? You'll be surprised at the myriad of scholarships, work study, and other help that's out there!
SRAS Resources for Teachers Want to grow your program? Increase your curriculum? Network with other education professionals? Click here!	Study Abroad in Russia Chose a program that's right for you and get on your way to learning!	Contact SRAS! Arranging group travel? Have questions or a comment for us? Click here!

15. History and Culture Sites

SovietHistory.org presents a brief but interesting overview of major events in Soviet history.

Mapping St. Petersburg gives perspectives on St. Petersburg history through clickable maps of the city - created a professor at Berkeley.

Russian/American Cultural Contrasts gives a brief, concise, bulleted list of the contrasts between American and Russian culture. Like all such lists, it is debatable how accurate, mythologized, or simplified it might be - but it is interesting.

Meeting of Frontiers is a bilingual, multimedia English-Russian digital library that tells the stories of American and Russian Expansion, that would eventually meet at the Bering Strait.

Structurae is an expansive international database and gallery of structures. It provides pictures, info on date built, and often the architect, building materials, and more.

Skyscraperpage offers lots of info on Russia's existing and planned skyscrapers.

Beyond Borders is an interesting - and free - comparative geography of the US and Russia. We are far more similar than one might think.

Theater Library of Sergei Efrimov offers several modern plays and monologues online in the original Russian.

Frontline has several free documentaries on Russia and other Eurasian countries online.

Russia! is a new, irreverent online magazine about all things Russian. 

Made in USSR is a site that documents a wide range of products made by the Soviet Union.

PBS's "Face of Russia" is brief history in interactive time-line form.

Web Guide to Russian Ark provides footnotes to the popular movie.

Grand Illusions features several puzzles, including many designed by Russians.

Queerstudies.spb.ru lists resources in Russian for researching homosexulaity. Sources are translated western texts and original Russian works.

Russian Gay Culture, hosted on Middlebury College's site, lists many usefully resources for understanding homosexualtiy in Russia. 

Ghost Town is a photo-essay of a woman's motorcycle ride through the Chernobyl area.

Russophile.com is an interesting hodge-podge of a site including a web-forum, links to major Russian blogs, photo hosting, and other resources for the Russophile in all of us.

Russia's Great War and Revolution offers a range of scholarship on the subjects.

Pobediteli.ru is a Russian-language multimedia tribute to the Russia's participation in WWII (The Great Patriotic War). Lots of interactive maps and presentations. 

The Ukrainian Folklore Project is an interesting site sponsored by the University of Alberta.  Lots of info, pics, video footage and other multimedia presentations.

The Moscow Architecture Preservation Society (MAPS) consists of young architects, historians, heritage managers and journalists from different countries and works in close cooperation with preservationists, architects and historians within Russia and abroad to raise awareness about the present destruction of the city's historical buildings.

American Friends of Russian Folklore mission is to support and promote American understanding of Russian traditional life and culture. To this end, AFRF supports a wide range of projects: field research, recordings, film making, archiving, and analysis of Russian folklore and oral histories.

Russian-American Cultural Center is a new organization in New York that regularly hosts events and offers an attractive, informative website (mostly devoted to art).

The World Academy of Rusyn Culture is an academic and charitable institution for the purpose of encouraging new work and preserving the insights and beauty of Rusyn culture for the benefit of all mankind.

The Ukrainian Museum Archives offers lots of "online exhibits" of artifacts from Ukrainian culture and Ukrainian immigrant culture.

Metro.ru provides pics, history and stats for the Moscow underground (subway) system. 

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has launched a site with resources for students and scholars plus showcases events designed to mark two centuries of competition and cooperation in the arts, science, sports, space, education, trade and world affairs.

Larissa Shmailo has produced several new translations of Russian poems and plays. She also runs an infrequent blog.

18. Scholar's Resources

SEELANGS is an academic discussion list aimed primarily at teachers and students of Russian and other Slavic and East European languages and literature. It exists to facilitate discussion of topics of interest to those people.

19. The Book Store Click A History of Russia for books on an array of subjects. Presented in partnership with Amazon.com.

Slavic Information Literacy attempts to ascertain and enunciate many of the core competencies students and scholars of Slavic need to be productive (and employed!) in the field.

REESweb is another virtual library, similar to the one you are currently viewing. Brought to you by the Center for Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.

Tartaroved is run by the Tartarstan Academy of Sciences and devoted to Tartar Studies.

Post-Soviet Armies Newsletter is an electronic newsletter devoted to armed forces and power ministries in post-Soviet countries. The newsletter comprises a database which tends to assemble the maximum of references of works, books and journal articles on post-Soviet militaries and power institutions.

Russian Law Online has an enyclopedia of law concepts and application in Russia and publishes articles on Russian legal matters.

The American Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC) seeks to encourage and support scholarly study of the South Caucasus states (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia) in all fields from the earliest times to the present. ARISC aims to provide an ongoing American scholarly presence in each country in order to facilitate research and establish and nurture ties between institutions and individuals.

Looking for a Russian program at an American university?  AATSEEL (American Association of Teachers of Slavic and Eastern European Languages) has recently compiled a listing of programs available from America's top 50 liberal arts colleges and top 50 research universities.  (Note: these are not the best Russian programs, but programs available from top universities.)

Looking for an Early Learning Program? The National Directory of Early Foreign Language Programs was developed in response to the need expressed by teachers, school administrators, researchers, and parents for information about schools that teach foreign languages to young children.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies is a bi-partisan think tank dealing with international and global issues, including Russia. Their website bristles with information, including the email addresses for experts in Russian domestic and foreign policy, and a list of publications with some available for download. Look in the bookstore section for many others.

Crash Course in Copyright - exactly what it says.

Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States - what you need to know if you are publishing or using Russian or Soviet images in the US.

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