B2 Upper-Intermediate Russian

B2 is where the language starts behaving like a real one — full of nuance, sarcasm, hedging, and references that aren't in the textbook. You can follow extended conversations on both familiar and abstract topics, including the speaker's attitude: are they joking, being polite, mildly annoyed? The challenge isn't vocabulary anymore; it's the layers underneath the words. Implicit meaning, cultural references, idioms, the way meaning shifts with intonation. Start paying attention to how speakers signal their stance — through prosody, hedging, irony — not just what they literally say. Pick clips with one speaker arguing or telling a longer story so you can track register and tone over time. Slow down your judgement: the first interpretation isn't always the right one.