There is absolutely no need to learn cursive as a beginner. If you want to, there is certainly no harm in learning it, but if you don't then there's no harm in putting it off. I had already been studying Russian for several years before I learned cursive, and I only learned it because I wanted to sit a Russian exam. In fact when it comes to reading cursive it makes the job a lot easier if you already know the language well.

Guys and gals, I agree that cursive/handwriting is not the most important part of learning Russian language. However, I remember words better when I handwrite them down. And I know this method works for many students. Soooooo... Yagmur, my advice is to focus on studying words, grammar rules and pronounciation but if you want to train Russian handwriting here is the link for you: http://tobemum.ru/deti/kak-nauchit/generator-propisi/ No need to understand much in Russian to use it. It is quite simple! 1st step: choose type of stripes in your copybook, choose type of line(I suggest dotted line), choose type of page (tick a box "Альбомное" that means album view) 2d step Insert name of the text into the smaller space Insert Russian text/words into the bigger space (You can copy and insert any Russian text from your laptop) Click blue button.... and VOILA! The service will generate PDF file with "written" text. You can print it and write following dots. It is good practice that most of Russian speaking kids do in schools. Hope it will help!

As was said above, it does depend on what you need Russian for. If you don't think you will need to read what other people write on paper (because, unlike English-speaking countries, ALL Russians write in cursive with the only difference in the level of illegibility), then there's no need. On the other hand, we Russians, too, sometimes (or often, in case of it been written by a medic XD ) find it hard to decipher what gibberish our fellow countrymen write)))

Hello Yagmur, As someone who also learned Russian as a second language, I will tell you that what I did (and think is probably best) is to force myself to write in cursive from the very beginning. There is a reason all Russians write this way: because it is much easier! (This is also true of Hebrew and some other languages.) I think you will find that when simply writing something down is second nature instead of a chore, all learning becomes much faster and easier. Then again, I also learned in an immersion-type environment where I sort of had no choice but to read what native speakers were writing...so perhaps someone will have another opinion. Abby

People mostly use cursive for personal notes. Like, shopping lists, or lesson notes. You don't really have much need to write/read in cursive, even if you come to live in Russia. I would say, if it's slowing your language learning progress, then don't worry about cursive so much :)