For those interested in learning to speak Russian or learning to speak English, one of the best learning tools available is flash cards. We have a set of English and Russian Flash cards, which you can download for free and print them out on business card paper. You will need Avery Style 8371 Business Cards, which you can put in your printer and print them out like printing a letter.
These Russian flash cards are common words. There's 600 words, which is enough to actually be able to communicate to a fair degree.
Here's the download links for the Russian flash cards and the English flash cards (print on the other side).
To use the flash cards, you'll need to learn the Russian Alphabet. The Russian Alphabet is phonetic, which means for the most part words sound exactly as they are spelled. So you are best to learn the Russian Alphabet, rather than use other systems.
Once you learn these 600 words, you'll notice that about 25% of the rest of the words sound similar to English words. So you'll be able to understand people speaking Russian to you to some degree.
It is not enough to just know basic words to speak Russian. You must also learn a little of the Russian grammar system. That tells you how to make sentences from the words. We also have a free Russian Grammar booklet which you can read on-line.