Russian listening comprehension is shaped heavily by two features covered on Russian Pronunciation: unpredictable word stress and vowel reduction — both mean spoken Russian can sound noticeably different from what its spelling alone suggests.
Because unstressed vowels reduce (an unstressed "o" often sounds like "a"), a word's spoken form depends heavily on knowing exactly which syllable is stressed — guessing wrong doesn't just sound slightly off, it can make a familiar word momentarily unrecognizable by ear.
Because stress isn't marked in normal writing, listening practice has to do work that reading alone can't — deliberately learning each new word's spoken form, not just its spelling, is a habit worth building from the start rather than adding later.
Practicing new vocabulary aloud immediately after hearing it (shadowing) trains stress placement and vowel reduction together, rather than treating pronunciation as something that follows automatically from correct spelling.
Largely because of unstressed vowel reduction (like akanye) combined with unpredictable stress placement — a word's spoken form depends on knowing exactly which syllable carries the stress.
Not automatically — since stress isn't marked in writing and affects pronunciation significantly, listening comprehension needs its own dedicated practice separate from reading skill.
Shadowing — repeating new vocabulary aloud immediately after hearing it — builds stress placement and vowel reduction habits together rather than relying on spelling alone.
Yes, matching the audio-based approach already used in Tarc's existing Arabic and Latvian courses.
See also: Russian Pronunciation · Russian Grammar · Learn Russian