I've been learning Russian for a while now, mostly Duolingo alongside some online courses, plus my wife is Russian so that helps. I originally built Dead Souls Daily for her: one line a day from Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pushkin and others.

One bit I've ended up enjoying is seeing the original Russian. Each quote can be flipped to the Russian text, checked against the original sources rather than loosely quoted or translated back from English, with a close English translation, so you can compare the two. For a learner it's a nice daily dose of classic literary Russian in small chunks. You might notice, if you’re from the UK, that today’s theme in the video is linked to the clocks going back and the miserable British weather coming in!

To be upfront: the daily English quotes and the home screen widget are free, and the Russian originals are part of premium, with a 7-day free trial.

I'd love to hear from people here, learners and native speakers alike. Are the translations useful?…