Stuck at intermediate Russian? Mishka helps you move past the plateau and start understanding how Russians actually speak. Built by a certified tutor. Tested with real learners.
WHY MISHKA IS DIFFERENT
Every lesson comes from a tutor with a certificate in teaching Russian as a foreign language, a bachelor's degree from Moscow State Linguistic University, and a master's in educational sciences from the University of Vienna. Then tested with intermediate learners. Just carefully structured Russian, built for the gap where most language apps stop being useful.
Your study time is valuable. Mishka exists because we couldn't find an app that actually met the needs of A1+ students ready to go beyond the basics, so we built one where every lesson counts.
• Created by a certified language tutor
• You choose what to focus on, not a locked path
• Every lesson tested with real learners at the target level
• Grammar sequenced so concepts build on each other properly
• Hundreds of stories with recurring characters and a consistent world
• Exercises that test comprehension, not just recognition
• Most content works offline. Learn anywhere
• New lessons and features added regularly
STORY-BASED LESSONS
Learn through short stories featuring Маша, her dog Пряник, wise neighbor Иван Петрович, and a cast of characters who grow with you across levels. At B2, you follow characters who moved to Russia and face real situations like job interviews, banking, and official documents. Tap any word for an instant translation. Listen with professional audio. Then practice with quizzes, fill-in-the-blanks, sentence reordering, matching, writing, and more.
• Stories across 5 CEFR levels (A1 to C1)
• Professional audio with word-by-word highlighting
• Tap any word for instant dictionary lookup
• 10 exercise types, not just multiple choice
COMPLETE GRAMMAR COURSE
Hundreds of interactive grammar lessons from basic sentence structure through complex subordinate clauses. Every lesson sequenced intentionally, no random topic jumps.
• Cases, aspect, motion verbs, conditionals, and more
• 10+ exercise types including sentence building, error correction, and minimal pairs
CONJUGATION & DECLENSION TRAINERS
Russian has hundreds of word endings and keeping them straight is one of the hardest parts of the language. Mishka has dedicated drill modes for both verb conjugation and noun declension. Pick which endings to practice, choose from built-in words or add your own, and drill until the right forms come naturally.
• Choose specific cases or verb forms to focus on
• Add your own words to practice with
• Instant feedback on every answer
AI CONVERSATION PRACTICE
Practice real Russian with AI that adapts to your level. Complete structured missions or have a casual chat with real-time corrections and grammar explanations.
• Dozens of guided missions and casual chat scenarios
• Real-time corrections and vocabulary building
• Three difficulties for each CEFR level (easy, medium, hard)
WRITING PRACTICE
Practice free writing in Russian with AI feedback, or test your spelling by writing prompted sentences in Russian.
SPACED REPETITION FLASHCARDS
Save any word from any lesson with one tap. Spaced repetition scheduling surfaces cards at the right time. Speed review and matching modes keep it fresh.
ADVANCED CONTENT (B2 to C1)
This is where most apps stop. Mishka keeps going with culture deep-dives, idiom lessons, and real slang, all taught through stories, not dry vocabulary lists.
• Culture lessons (баня, Масленица, the world's deepest lake, and more)
• Idiom lessons taught through context, not definitions
• Slang mini-lessons
• Full Russian immersion at B2+
ALSO INCLUDES
• Placement test to find your level
• Bilingual interface (English or Russian)
• Free preview at every level.
Built by a teacher. Tested by learners. No shortcuts.
Давайте начнём!
Privacy Policy: https://getmishka.com/privacy
Terms of Use: https://getmishka.com/terms
This app does an amazing job at meeting the needs of intermediate Russian language learners. The user interface is beautiful and a pleasure to use, but below the surface it is paired with thoughtful and intelligent pedagogical design. Mishka combines a number of existing kinds of apps in one. It has spaced repetition of flashcard apps like Anki. One feature that I love it that you card click on any word practical anywhere (e.g., from stories) and easily add it to you deck of to-be-learned words. The stories are great - both as a listening and reading exercise. There are followed by questions that test comprehension AND GRAMMAR. The grammar lessons and quizzes are particularly well done. There is actual explicit grammatical instruction and the questions focus on applying these idea. In Russian, the case declension system is very challenging to learn. Having completed the entire DuoLingo Russian course, I have never once experienced targeted testing of word endings. Mishka does exactly this. The app focuses on these important and difficult grammatical concepts, giving learners the practice they need, but does so in an intelligent and supportive way, with explanations about what is happening in the language. I cannot recommend this app more highly. It’s clear to me that it was created by people who genuinely know what they are doing in terms of both software/app development and importantly language instruction.
Next Best Language Learning App
ThatSkyFlame
This app is totally revolutionary! It took the ideas of many other well-known language apps and then added necessary grammar and curriculum guides. It’s totally adorable, user friendly, and seriously well-thought out. I love the stories section; how it’s narrated and can be paused, that words can be pressed on for definition and pronunciation. I love that the tests at the end of each story have 3 parts; comprehensive, grammar, and recall. This is a mega combo for fast learning. This is the kind of learning that sticks with you. Meaningful learning. I also love there there are so many sections to work on so you never feel bogged down by repeating the same tasks over and over. This app is going to take the Russian language community by storm!
Developer Response
Wow thank you. We're so happy to hear about your experience with Mishka and this absolutely made our day.
Incredibly balanced and effective!
drusa17
I’ve been chipping away at Russian on and off for years, and made some progress, but Mishka is a next-level tool for learning! The perfect balance of focusing on reading and listening to native speakers, customized spaced-repetition flash cards, fill-in-the-blank, matching, and a little bit of gamification, all in a super slick and professional technical package. One suggestion for future updates: I’d love to see an easy way to listen to a playlist of audio while doing chores, commuting, etc. maximum audio input is key to language learning, so I’d love to listen to all the lessons I’ve already completed, for example, in a loop. Congrats on an amazing app!
Developer Response
Thank you so much for your suggestion and and kind review:)
Potential to be a game changer for Russian learning
llandru2
This app has the potential to be a stand alone language learning app. It has pretty much everything you could want. Case practice, reading, vocab, listening, verbs of motion and pretty much anything else you can think of! The problem is it’s not completely set up yet. Each part of the grammar section has a huge amount of practice subsections, but only the very first part has been programmed in. So you have around 8 sections, but can only use 1 for each section. I will try this app again in a few months time and am excited to do so… but it just isn’t ready yet.
Developer Response
You were right to hold off, and I'm glad to say it's ready now. All the practice subsections you found empty are filled in, and Grammar Mastery has landed too, a deeper set of tracks built with a certified Russian tutor that takes each topic across multiple lessons. You said you'd try again in a few months and the timing is about right. Would love to know what you make of it.
Meet First Steps, a new course for complete beginners.
Never studied Russian, or found Mishka's lessons too hard? First Steps starts from zero and takes you all the way to reading your first real story:
- Learn the alphabet by sound, a few letters at a time, with recordings from a native-speaking tutor
- Read and say everyday words and phrases from day one
- Short conversations and stories with audio. In stories, each word lights up as it's read
- A daily plan with a lesson, a quick review and speaking practice
- Your first two units are free
Already read some Cyrillic? Take the placement test or skip the alphabet. You can skip ahead any time.
Also in this update:
- Conjugation tables: tap a verb, then Conjugation, to see every form
- New results screens
- iPad: a new full-screen button in Stories, Grammar, Culture, Slang and Idioms
- Flashcards now show stress marks on the review card, the card list and Speed Review
- Fixes and polish throughout
Version 1.2.2
The developer, JAMES RICHARD DRISCOLL, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Linked to You
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
Purchases
Contact Info
User Content
Identifiers
Usage Data
Diagnostics
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Purchases
Identifiers
Usage Data
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
Seller
JAMES RICHARD DRISCOLL
Size
258.7 MB
Category
Education
Compatibility
Requires iOS 16.0 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 16.0 or later.
iPad Requires iPadOS 16.0 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 13.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
