Product Description
Whether you're learning alone or attending classes, you'll find this complete Russian language course for beginners both accessible and indispensable. Designed to provide the student with an excellent command of basic Russian (the equivalent of A level standard) this book features thirty lessons punctuated by revision exercises to ensure you have fully understood what you have learned. The emphasis is on acquiring vocabulary, experiencing conversational language and learning useful grammar. This book also includes a vocabulary of 1,500 words and a glossary of grammatical terms. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (88)

Russian course for beginners
Great course if you apply yourself, you'll be reading and understanding written russian in no time.

My two cents
This book taught me how to pronounce Russian in only two hours.I learned so much grammar from this book, but you have little guidance when learning from vocabulary lists.It desperately needs more exercises, but usually has enough dialogues and texts.I am a third through it and intend to finish it.The pages fall out, it is poorly held together.Every page I have read and revisited has fallen out, but I have not lost any pages.

Excellent beginners course handbook
This book is excellent.I have bought many other books and this one by far has been the best one I've purchased hands down.This book has alot of examples, exercises and is really easy to work with, easy to understand.I have learned alot from this book as well.I totally recommend this book.

Penguin's Russian Course on track for the Experienced
The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners by Nicholas J. Brown is right in line with previous language texts in that once material is introduced, the author can then move on.This assumes, of course, that you totally assimilated every bit of what has so far been introduced.Or should I use the dreaded "M" word?( Memorized )

For example, all past language books I have encountered had the alphabet on one of the first pages. Once introduced, it then employed the alphabet AS IF you already knew it without any teaching/learning activities.The assumption is, don't go to page 2 until this alphabet is ingrained like your mother's telephone number. For those with Memorize-itis, this would just about be as far as you would get in learning this new language unless you had been imprisoned by the KGB and this was the only book you had access to.

The language I am learning is Russian.I have been working on it during spare moments for about 1.5 years and have even taken the first class at a local Community College.With that background, I am much more appreciative of this book than perhaps I would be if this were my first introduction and I was truly a beginner.

What are the advantages of this text?First, I got the paperback, so it is much lighter. Next, Mr. Brown does not start with a listing of the alphabet, but rather immediately breaks it down into sections and creates a "teachable moment" by giving you starter vocabulary WHILE you are learning how to pronounce the letters. He gets points for this.

He also explains some oddities about the alphabet like, "The soft sign" and "The Hard sign" in a way that I could understand better than my teacher and the text we were using and guidebooks that I had been using previously. More points.

After he has explained all of the letters with the starter vocabulary, he then lists the whole alphabet, with pronunciation guides in dictionary order. And more points.Next there are practice exercises!Next there are some emergency "signs" like toilet, post office, pull....things that are very necessary to know and pictures of some of them. More points.

Next he introduces a short list of words that have the same sound in English as in Russian. Once you employ the sounds of the Russian letters, what comes out of your mouth is the same name as you would use in English.It is just spelled differently.

I have not gone through the book to evaluate the next important feature of any teaching text: concomitant learning.That is, once I have mastered the things in chapter one, does the structure and speed of chapter two and succeeding chapters move me along because it builds on my previous learning?Or is it completely new stuff which puts me back on page one and back into memorizing mode?I leave that for another reviewer.

So, with a little experience, this book makes excellent sense as a supplement.For the memorizers of the world, I should think it would make acquiring Russian easier than with previous texts.But for the beginner without assistance and without a terrific memory it still may not be their cup of chai.

Very helpful
I am not very good at learning foreign languages but have to do some of it for my job.For me, the key to learning is to stay interested enough to be able to continue practicing regularly. Each chapter here builds on the previous one just enough to make me feel like I am learning and making progress with each lesson. I also enjoy how the dialogues show easy to use and understand examples of the points introduced in each chapter. It is also nice to see how exceptions to the rules are introduced and demonstrated in a relatively painless fashion. If you are looking for serious grammar and vocabulary help in a fairly straightforward format, by all means give this course a try. I have made many half hearted attempts over the years to learn Russian using several cassette and workbook type courses, but I lost interest in them quickly. After taking a brief two month intensive classroom course, I found this book and decided to give it a try based on other good reviews. I am very glad I did. Perhaps because the chapters are organized in a manner similar to the language textbooks I remember from school, I found this book easy to follow and very suited to my own personal learning style. The sections in each chapter are short, and I have found that I can do one or two sections each night without being overwhelmed. Vocabulary lists at the beginning of each chapter are useful for vocabulary building. Noun declension and inflected endings were the most difficult concepts for me to grasp in the classroom, but thanks to the straightforward manner in which they are presented in this book, I am quickly coming to terms with not only how they work but also when and how to use them properly. That being said, I agree with other reviewers who mention the need to hear the spoken language in order to acquire proper pronunciation, but there are resources out there online that can be downloaded, not to mention Russian language movies available even on the rental scene.

... Read more

Product Description
Twelve superb tales by Chekhov, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Bunin, other masters. Excellent word-for-word English translations on facing pages. Also teaching and practice aids, Russian-English vocabulary, biographical/critical introductions to each selection, study questions, more. Especially helpful are the stress accents in the Russian text, usually found only in primers.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Dual Language Russion Book
This book was a gift for our son who is learning Russion.He was pleased with the classic selection of stories and the Russian and English translation on facing pages, which makes it very convenient to use.

It was a successful gift!

Great little book
I just received this little book last week, and it already is helping my Russian significantly. It is really awesome how the English and Russian texts line up side-by-side. It is laid out very well and the typography is nice. I do wish that there were more word hints, and that they were easier to access, i.e. placed at the bottom of the page rather than in endnotes. Overall, the translations are good and I think this will be a great way for me to improve my Russian vocabulary as well as read some really great literature.

Great learning tool
The stories are fun to read and since the English is right next to the Russian, it makes reading even more enjoyable and easy.

Very useful for studies of advanced English
I am a native Russian speaker and as an advanced learner of English I found this book amazingly useful. It spurs your curiosity to first read the original Russian text and then see how Prof. Struve goes about translating the endless archaisms and idiosyncrasies of the 19-th century Russian.

Kudos to Prof. Struve!

A fabulous language resource.Give me more books like this!
As a long time student of Russian, I have found it very difficult to lay hands on dual language books like this one.On the left page is the original Russian text, and on the right is a corresponding (and very well rendered) English translation.The true beauty of this volume, though, is that the modern translation provides a bridge to the literary style from the age of the masters like Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov and my personal favorite, Gogol, among many others.An even dozen stories allow intermediate to advanced Russian speakers to deepen their familiarity with this particular subset of the language.I would love to have many more books like this one.Highly recommended. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Invaluable Reference
Many foreign language books use lessons, practice, and short grammar sections to explain the concepts behind the language and the philology. Roots of the Russian Language: An Elementary Guide to Wordbuilding (NTC Russian Series) (English and Russian Edition) deviates from the traditional exposure via lessons and vocabulary sheets. Though I expected the layout to be so based in reference, I feel that getting my hands on the books really showed me how it is laid out. There is a foreword, a section concerning the component elements of Russian words, a list of the "most important" suffixes, and a list of prefixes. Each prefix, suffix and root has multiple examples and the examples used in a sentence. The prefixes are well explained, and variations of vowels and consonants are addressed. After the prefixes there are some four hundred and fifty roots to the Russian language, including around four or five words accompanying each root with each word used in a sentence off to the side. At the end of the book, there is an exercise and practice chapter to help students break down the suffixes, prefixes, and roots of words. After the Exercises there an Index of Words, so that Russian words can be looked up by the root according to the root's location in the book.
The roots are listed in alphabetical order (by the Cyrillic alphabet, naturally).
The books is a fantastic reference for any student interested in Slavic language studies, and nearly essential for those learning Russian at an intermediate level. It brings the vocabulary level quite above beginner and intermediate into the advanced range. It also builds confidence to approach giant Cyrillic words and be able to break them down into manageable parts, thus minimizing difficulty in pronunciation and the mental block of learning large, Slavic words.
Though this book does not follow the traditional styles I have seen in other foreign language books, it provides an organized reference with efficiency in mind.
I have yet to find another book sharing the resourcefulness of Roots of the Russian Language: An Elementary Guide to Wordbuilding (NTC Russian Series) (English and Russian Edition) . I would consider the reference invaluable to my own studies, and I have confidence that any true student of the Russian language would benefit from having this grand reference.

A complete waste, I sent my copy back
The book is very poorly printed.It appears to be a 3rd or 4th generation photocopy, making it painful to read. I didn't find the book to be at all useful for learning Russian in any case. I would not suggest this book for anyone but the most enthusiastic collector of language learning books. Unless you have an unlimited budget and a need to have a lot of books on your shelf that you will seldom open, there are a lot of other books that will be more useful to your study.

Learning Tool -- Somewhat, But More So, Purusing Roots Can Just Be Fun -- in any language
The reviewer who claimed Russian has more roots than any other language -- no, not really.English has roots (morphemes) for almost all our words too; it's just that English morphemes can have come to our language from so many sources (French for the fancier, German for the more pedestrian; but also Latin, Greek and even Sanskrit and Hebrew can be sources for English roots).Also English morphemes themselves transform (allomorph) due to spelling contingencies due to where the morpheme finds itself in our words.

The important thing to realize about roots is that some are obvious to you (all the medicalese ones for example:hypo = too-little, hyper = too-much, myo = muscle, olisis = dissolving, itis = inflamation, etcetera; [hypoxic sounds fancy, especially just hearing it on TV, but then you realize it's totally well-duh: too little oxygen!]), but other roots are far less obvious.Perhaps what the other reviewer meant is that, in Russian, the roots are more obvious.But let's just do one or two English ones first.First, a morphemic analysis of the word 'morpheme' (and thus the fun "the medium is the message" thing), then on to the book and Russian roots.'morpheme' = 'morph' + 'eme' ; morph = form (think our new word "to morph" or think the car that used to turn into a tiger in the old Exxon commercials, or, for the scientist, just think "morphology"); eme = unit; so morph + eme = form unit; 'morpheme' = the smallest unit of a language that bestows any kind of meaning; can be a whole word or a word part or even an affix; s is a morpheme that means plural in English for example.One more English one to go: "Eucerin" as in Eucerin creme (for dry skin) -- a morphemic analysis of an excellently named commercial product:the eu is pretty obvious (think eulogy, euphemism, or euphonic [for the audiophiles, though they mean, ironically enough, "euphonic" to be slightly pejorative, "good sound" but really the audiophile means it sounds pleasantly pretty but is not "accurate"]);anyway eu is "good"; cerin is obscure, but means "wax-like substance" -- so Eucerin = good wax-like substance. The opposite morpheme to eu is mal (think malevolent, malfeseance, maladapted, petite-mal seizure, grand-mal, maladjusted).Now on to Russian.

Let's take sahm (trasliterating, the h just means a short vowel -- like most Russian vowels ultimately end up being).sahm = selfas in by one's self.So what do you think a samovar is? var = boilverb vahreet = to boil.So samovar = self-boil.A samovar always has hot water for one's tea to the ready due to the coals inside.Older Russian word for airplane was sahmolyoht = sahm + allomorph of lyeteet (to fly), so sahmolyoht = self-fly.But yes, Russian has oodles of afixes -- prefixes especially as well as some suffixes.Morphemes definitely can be prefixes and suffixes.Guess what the English pre means in 'prefix' -- before.

I gave the cutest kinds of morphemic analyses for both English and Russian.But if you already know some Russian -- and all the better the bigger your vocabulary (two years of highschool Russian class should suffice), then you'll get a kick out of seeing how the words derived from the same root all pile together -- IN EXACTLY THE SAME WAY AS YOU GET THIS KICK FROM ENGLISH MORPHEMIC ANALYSIS.The one thing I would caution you about is that Russian gets its meanings from subtleties of its verbs and special choices of prepositions and word orders (surprised about this latter aren't you?) and a little bit of extra meaning from its cases.So while Russian roots may be very logical, more obvious, and not deriving from a plethora of sources like in English, this stiuation doesn't mean knowledge of Russian roots is going to help you master the language as much as you think.In fact, morphemic analysis will help you more in English and German.I have such books for English -- and German too!So a bit of irony is that morphemic analysis in Russian is more logical and overt than in English -- but less helpful:the subtleties of the verbs, the subtleties conveyed by the cases and, more so, the word choices and word orders -- these things are out of the purview of morphemic analysis.But to have fun with vocabulary, enjoy the book; it IS a lot of fun.Nice layout too.Just don't think of it to help you to learn Russian as much as a similar book would help you to learn German.But the book itself is perfect for its subject.The subject is just less of a shortcut to learning than you'd think for all the morphemic neatness to be found in Russian.

Very Comprehensive
This book is great, but I'm a total nerd.The layout is very easy and the flow is great.You might think it looks boring but it's all kinds of party on the inside.

If you're interested in -casually- learning Russian, this probably isn't for you because you might want pictures and a less daunting interface.

Speed Up Your Russian Learning!
Russian is such a hard language to learn you need all the help you can get! This book assists with how Russian uses compound words and the more you understand suffixes and prefixes the more you can begin to understand the language.
... Read more

Product Description
Efficient, systematic instruction in all the grammar needed for speech and comprehension: parts of speech, pronunciation, word order, negation and more. Useful phrases, glossary of grammatical terms included in this perfect adjunct to a language course or for independent study.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Great resource
Very good resource.Covers all the main points in the right amount of detail.However it wasn't easy for me to just pick up and understand completely on the first read through - going over it again certainly helps.

Some things I didn't like: it puts the formation of different cases before the usage.I just ended up reading them out of order, since that made a lot more sense to me.Also, it doesn't have all the main common sayings - an extended list would have been nice.Other than that, great book.

very impressive
This grammar review is superior to any that I already have. Not only is it simply written, but it is quite comprehensive.

review
This is a good reference book that can be used to look up any of the complexities of Russian grammar.

Worth it!
Very nice little compact book! Worth it for anyone who is struggling with difficult Russian grammar.

An excellent aid
This short book is packed with useful aids to improving your grasp of Russian. It is easy to understand, concise, and accurate.This is easily the best single book I have found to assist the student in learning Russian.It's small enough to be a carry-around reference guide that can be read at odd times of the day in hotel rooms, in taxis, and on mashrutki.The quality of the type-face is excellent so you can peruse this book even in fairly poor light.The examples are elegant and the vocabulary is always germane to everyday needs.I can't recommend this too highly to anyone who is serious about achieving moderate fluency in the Russian language. ... Read more

Product Description
Learning Russian is an exciting challenge-even saying "hello" (____________) and "goodbye" (__ ________) seems daunting! Whether you're planning a trip to Russia or adding a valuable second language to your resume, this book is just what you need. Julia Stakhnevich, a native Russian speaker, will help you to:

• Recognize and read Cyrillic letters
• Pronounce Russian words like a native
• Ask for directions, order dinner, and conduct business
• Hold your own in a conversation

Julia Stakhnevich, Ph.D., was born and raised in Moscow, Russia. She received her doctorate from the University of Mississippi and teaches English, Linguistics, and Russian at Bridgewater State College. She is a member of the American Association of Applied Linguistics and the International Society for Language Study. She lives in Bridgewater, MA. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

One of the best introductory Russian grammar books I've read
I've been learning Russian for the past 6 months. It's been a difficult language to learn. I've basically been trying every resource I could find. I've found most Russian grammar books too BORING and poorly written to read. Normally I utilize audio courses more on this topic because in most audio courses, they do a better job of keeping it interesting and describing Russian grammar in a way that I can understand. My experience with books about Russian is that they're very wordy and tremendously BORING. Not with this book, however. This book is clear, concise and very interesting. Full of sensible charts and interesting facts about Russia, this book combines learning the Russian language with learning about Russian culture. Each chapter takes you further into the Russian language, while keeping you engaged with relevant scenarios in Russian culture (one chapter teaches you about Russian cuisine and how to order in Russian whilst teaching you how to keep your adjectives in forms that agree with the words they modify).

Unlike some introductory books, this book actually teaches you (simply) how to READ Russian characters. I had already learned how to read Russian before I bought this book, but this book pointed out certain spelling rules I hadn't learned yet that have really been improving my reading. I think this book is great for beginners and will be a great reference book as well. There are quizzes at the end of each chapter (and an answer key) which help you practice the language (even giving you opportunities to practice your grammar). Most basic books on Russian have quizzes at the end, but this is the first book I've actually been inclined to answer the quizzes. The book is written in such a way that I was actually interested enough to retain the knowledge I had read and I was able to answer the quizzes.

I would definitely recommend this book.

russian learning tool
very good book, very happy with book and its condition, i would buy here again

A good place to start
As a Russian specialist, I think that this is a good choice for those who want to try their hand at a difficult language.

no good
I am a linguist. I know languages and I know how to teach. This book is not a good choice if somebody wants to learn Russian.There are no exercises for practice either to speak or write in Russian. In each lesson you will find a lot of talk about Russian language without having an opportunity to learn it. The writer gives you a list of words and that's it. The so called dialogues consist of two phrases. There are no even short texts to read, no exercises to practice your skills. I would not recommend this textbook. I do not give a single star to rate this item.

The Everything Learning Russian Book
I think this is a great book and CD to learn Russian.It takes you step by step to learn the language.I give it five stars. ... Read more

Product Description

GET D!RTY

Next time you're traveling or just chattin' in Russia with your friends, drop the textbook formality and bust out with expressions they never teach you in school, including:

• Cool slang
• Funny insults
• Explicit sex terms
• Raw swear words

Dirty Russian teaches the casual expressions heard every day on the streets of Russia:

♦ What's up?Как дела?

♦I really gotta piss.Мне очень надо поссать.

♦Damn, you fine!Блин, ну ты и шикарная!

♦Let's have an orgy.Давай устроим оргию.

♦This is crappy vodka.Эта водка хреновая.

♦Let's go get hammered.Пойдëм бухнëм.

♦I'm gonna own you, bitch!Я тебя выеблю, сука! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Most fun book ever
Excellent book, has lots of expressions, and its small size fits perfect to carry around and show to your friends

Legitimately hilarious
This book will give you a wide range of the nastiest slang available. The scope is fairly broad - from the prison language of the soviet era to netspeak. Authors have done an outstanding research in a somewhat unconventional area.

Readers should beware that unless you want to come across a "silyuk" (analogy of redneck) you should use these scarcely. That being said, you most likely will have an accent saying them sounding hilarious.

The book gives a fair amount of "disclaimers" about the appropriateness of usage of certain terms in some cases outright discouraging using of some.


Some gripes:

on page 88 it states that 9 out of 10 people attribute their sickness to atmospheric pressure, to weather or to draft; this, of course, is said in a very condescending manner, that to "westerners," the more evolved species, it would sound like a senseless noise. It is not the first time I hear this, so I feel a need to rebuke that.

- the phrase "to catch COLD" is probably the most frequent synonym for "illness" in the US

- no need to be a doctor to understand that our immune system operates with different scales of efficiency based on the surrounding temperature

- "not feeling well" and being sick are not the same thing - during soviet times radio announcers were giving a temperature and atmospheric pressure, so one's headache was easily explainable if it occurred only during certain conditions. No doubt that this would have similar effect if Western weather channels provided similar format


On page 149 Zemfira is being described as "halfway decent" I have not seen these words in the same sentence before... subtracting a star for that :)

Recommendations for second edition:

St. Petesburg's slang of Mitki is not covered at all.
Kiev club speak "Paragvaiski chos" should also be included.

Funny and good to have on hand
I bought this book before a recent trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg. I didn't find myself actually using any of the phrases I found here, but still, it was good for a lot of laughs between myself and my native Russian speaking friends.

Great book!
This book is an awesome supplemental book for learning Russian, I have found that it keeps the learning experience interesting as well as giving me a lot of insight into the Russian culture. Would recommend this book to anyone learning Russian.

Review for "Dirty Russian"
I minored in Russian at Indiana University over 50 years ago.Next year my wife and I are taking a 13 day cruise on a riverboat from St. Petersburg to Moscow and I wanted to review my Russian language skills.This book is not a "how to speak" book with grammar structures and everyday phrases (at least not the everyday phrases you might expect to encounter.)"Dirty Russian" is street slang that would not be taught in a standard university course.However, it does contain the language that might be heard on the street and in common usage.I don't expect to use such language during my trip but I feel that I should be aware of it.A warning: The language in this book is definitely "X rated" and if you blush at 4 letter words, "Dirty Russian" will turn you a deep crimson. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a dual-language book with the Russian text on the left side, and the English text on the right side of each spread. The texts are precisely synchronized. A great book for learning both languages while reading a Russian classic masterpiece. Translated by J. H. Wisdom & Marr Murray, verified and corrected by Alexander Vassiliev. ... Read more

Product Description

The guide that helps students study faster, learn better, and get top grades

More than 40 million students have trusted Schaum's to help them study faster, learn better, and get top grades. Now Schaum's is better than ever-with a new look, a new format with hundreds of practice problems, and completely updated information to conform to the latest developments in every field of study.

Fully compatible with your classroom text, Schaum's highlights all the important facts you need to know. Use Schaum's to shorten your study time-and get your best test scores!

Schaum's Outlines-Problem Solved.

Customer Reviews (1)

Comprehensive content and displays pretty well on iPad. 4.5 stars.
I'll divide my review into the book's content and how it displays on an iPad. As background, I've been studying Russian since March, 2008 (mostly self-taught, but have had some private lessons with native speakers). I don't own a Kindle; though have read a small sample of Russian text on a second-generation Kindle that I borrowed. I do own an iPad.

BOOK'S CONTENT

I originally bought the paperback version of this book based on one of my instructor's recommendations. I have about 10 different textbooks, phrasebooks, and a variety of handheld and Mac software for learning Russian. It's hard to find one book that contains everything without being too heavy to lug around in a backpack. The Schaum's Outline is very comprehensive and in some sections, provides details that I had not read in other textbooks.

The chapters are broken up into:
1. Sounds of Russian
2. Nouns
3. Prepositions
4. Pronouns
5. Adjectives and adverbs
6. Numbers, dates, time
7. Verbs
8. Conjunctions

There's a lot of grammar detail in each chapter. Beginners may find it a bit too heavy on grammar terminology (e.g., "pretonic syllable", "partitive genitive", etc.), although the author has done a good job briefly defining each of these grammar terms. Intermediate and advanced learners will find this book a nice addition to their library since some of the grammar details in the Schaum's Outline are not found in your typical college-based textbooks (e.g., Golosa, Troika). Each chapter is divided into numerous sections, which explain the grammar in detail. Then each chapter section is followed by one to two exercises. By far, the MAIN advantage of this book for self-learners like me is that the answers to the exercises appear at the end of the book. Thank you, authors. If you're looking for lots of exercises for a single topic, you may be a bit disappointed. But in my opinion, all the comprehensive grammar content more than makes up for small number of exercises on a single topic. The book has a total of 239 exercises. Another big advantage is that each Russian word is accented to show stress. This is key to pronouncing a word correctly. I'd say that declension tables are the only thing missing in this book. Such tables are commonly found in a college-level textbook. For those of us who are visual learners, declension tables help the reader visualize patterns in the word endings. Unfortunately, Schaum's Outline doesn't have a complete set of declension tables.

VIEWING ON AN iPAD

After buying my iPad the day they came out, I was a bit disappointed in the number of books available at the iTunes Bookstore. Fortunately, Amazon's Kindle software is available for free for both iPad and Mac. I won't go into the pros and cons of reading on an iPad vs. Kindle, since you can find numerous such reviews elsewhere online. Instead, I'd like to focus on how the Schaum's Outline displays Cyrillic on the iPad.

I was reluctant to buy the Kindle version of ANY Russian language book because of some of the things I'd read online about how Kindles, in general, poorly display non-western characters. Some of the old information online suggests that viewing Cyrillic on a Kindle could only be done by hacking your Kindle. These hacks sometimes made the Kindle unstable.

The good news is that whatever drawbacks the Kindle had in the past with displaying Cyrillic have been improved, especially when viewed on an iPad. About 2 years ago, I'd seen some Cyrillic on my sister-in-law's, non-hacked, second-generation Kindle, and the Cyrillic looked quite jagged. It was the main reason I didn't buy a Kindle in the first place, since my main goal was to have a handheld that I could use to study Russian.

One way that Schaum's has gotten around the problem of poorly displaying Cyrillic is to display a lot of the Cyrillic text as graphic elements (small pictures) rather than sizable text. Since the iPad displays graphics so crisply, the use of this huge number of graphic elements within a sentence or to replace a table, is not too problematic. I have not viewed this e-book on a Kindle, so cannot comment on how that device displays the book.

NEGATIVES ABOUT HOW BOOK DISPLAYS ON IPAD

1. Graphics (small pictures) replace much of the Cyrillic text in this book. Since these are graphic elements, they cannot be searched, nor can they be expanded in size using the Kindle software's text-sizing option.
2. In places where Cyrillic is displayed as sizeable text, the size of the text is variable, even within the same word. So you get something that looks LiKe THis, WhiCH I FiNd a BIt AnNOying. (I tried typing an example in Cyrillic in this review, but Amazon doesn't display Cyrillic characters in these review submission boxes).
3. In some places, the Cyrillic looks like it's in superscript size compared to the English text beside it.
4. None of these negatives has been a deal-breaker for me, but some readers might find them a bit frustrating.


SUMMARY
1. Pros - very comprehensive content, 239 exercises with answers in the back, accents appear on all the Cyrillic to show where stress falls. To date, probably the only comprehensive Russian language textbook available on Kindle/iPad. This e-book is not yet available at the iTunes store.
2. Cons - Cyrillic displays very well on an iPad (my guess is better than on a Kindle), but a lot of the Cyrillic text is not searchable or sizeable. In some places, the Cyrillic is in a mix of capitalized and uncapitalized letters. Missing summary tables of all the declensions.
3. Not perfect, but overall well done and worth the purchase (4.5 stars) ... Read more

Product Description
This deluxe course has everything you need to learn Russian from scratch or to revive the Russian that you learned years ago. Ultimate Russian combines conversation and culture in an easy-to-follow, enjoyable, and effective format. It’s the perfect way to learn Russian for school, for travel, for work, or for personal enrichment. In this book you’ll find:

• 40 lessons with lively dialogues including the most common and useful idiomatic expressions.
• English translations and explanations of Russian grammar and usage, pronunciation, vocabulary, and culture notes.
• Quizzes and review sections to check your progress.
• A complete summary of Russian grammar, and verb charts covering all major tenses.
• A section on letter writing for business or social occasions.
• An extensive two-way glossary.
• Up-to-date computer and Internet vocabulary, information on euros, and more! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

need more material for developing reading skills
Agreed with a few other reviewers: The course would be better if it would spend more time in the beginning with pronounciation and focus on reading drills.Slow and methodical at the beginning, rather than immediate immersion into dialogue.

Not bad, not great
The lessons move very quickly, so they are not appropriate for a true beginner. The CDs are helpful, but not really enough practice, and the words are not broken down or said slowly, making it tricky to get the pronunciation correct. Grammar explanations are clear, but there is not enough practice to apply and learn the new information.

User friendly?
I've been wrestling with these CDs for about 2 months. No attempt to slow down the Russian speakers or break the words down by syllables to assist with pronouncing them right. I borrowed the Pimsleur Russian course and found it much more user-friendly for helping with pronunciation and more practical than trying to memorize word and phrase lists while driving.

Good -- if it's not your only source!
I purchased the Living Language "Ultimate Russian, Beginner-Intermediate" Book & CDs, after first having started with it from the public library.It moves at a fairly fast pace (good for me but not for some).Be prepared to listen to the CDs with a player that allows you to easily rewind and replay short phrases repeatedly.You will do a LOT of that with this course!If that will annoy you, buy only the book and go with a different CD+book set for your main course.The exercises are fairly good, and there is an answer key in the back, but you will occasionally require other materials in order to fully grasp the reasons for some answers.

You will DEFINITELY need multiple materials; no single course is enough.You will also definitely need audio materials (CD, tape, or whatever) that are targeted for whatever dialect of English you speak.I grew up in the U.S., so I supplemented "Ultimate Russian" with Daphne West's "Teach Yourself Russian"-- only the textbook, because the CD seems targeted to UK English.If you're British, do it the other way around: use West's book/CD package and supplement with the book-only version of "Ultimate."

In addition to West's book, I am also using
- "The New Penguin Russian Course" (very systematic but also written for a British "ear"),
- The Oxford New Russian Dictionary,
- Pimsleur "Russian 1" audio course (checked out from the library).

The Pimsleur materials provide you with practice hearing correct native pronunciation and grammar, and with trying to speak in the same way.The other materials provide you with a broader vocabulary, an intellectual understanding of the grammar, and with practice reading and writing.Believe me, you will want to work on ALL of these together if you want to learn Russian for anything more than a few phrases during a business trip!

[I began learning Russian on my own in May 2008: this review is from the perspective of a beginner with (currently) only 4 months experience with the materials and the language.My goal is to become fluent without an American accent... with no particular deadline.]

Ultimate Russian
This is a superb language text.As a hobby, I've read the Spanish, French, and German texts in the same series.Learning was fun, and easy.I highly recommend these Ultimate Language texts. ... Read more

Product Description
Now learning non-Roman-alphabet languages is as easy as A-B-C!

Readers wanting to learn the basics of reading and writing a new language that employs script will find all they need in the Teach Yourself Beginner's Script series. Each book includes a step-by-step introduction to reading and writing in a new language as well as tips and practice exercises to build learners' skills. Thanks to the experts at Teach Yourself, script will no longer be all "Greek" to language learners--unless of course, it is Greek script! Teach Yourself Beginner's Script series books feature:

• Origins of the language
• A systematic approach to mastering the script
• Lots of "hands-on" exercises and activities
• Practical examples from real-life situations

Customer Reviews (32)

Beginers Russian Script
I really like this book. It teaches the Cyrillic script well. There are plenty of examples and exercises to help you. You can use it again and again until you know it well. I will continue to use it for some time until the Russian alphabet is cemented into my brain.

Definitely Start Here
I bought this book and Rosetta Stone Level 1 because I saw a review on here to start with this and then go to Rosetta Stone. I have to say, I am only through 3 lessons, but I feel that I've learned alot. I was skeptical at first and felt like I had learned nothing at the end of lesson 1, but the way it builds on itself and repeats what you learned from previous lessons really works.

Yes, start with this one- Sí, empiesen con este
If you want to save in money and fustration start the learning process by using this book. It is the best way to start to build up your knowledge about Russian language. The only great error I found is that the consonant X is not pronounced as the books recommends, the right way to pronounce the letter X is by using the H like in ham, human, hand. You can learn to pronounce or to reproduce the right soung of each vowel and consonant by goin to [...] and look at the menu that is in the center of the Main Page, and search for the word link: More>> click over this word and you will see a new narrow little window with a menu of words-options, select option Learn Russian, and you will be on the way to find the sounds you need to learn and memorize for good pronuntiation of the alphabet letters and more. Regarding the pronuntiation of the letter: O, the book will give you good ideas to start using the this vowel, but look for more on the way it is used and pronounced after finishing with this book in other books, taking classes or by hearing Russian speakers, it will take you some time and practice for knowing the right use of this vowel with regard about pronouncing it like a O, or as A. Nevertheless,this book is the best starting point - no other book can surpass its effective and simple way of teaching Russian language.


In Spanish - En Español

Si usted desea ahorrar en tiempo, dinero y fustración, empiese con este magnífico librito. Con él podrá edificar su conocimiento sobre el idioma Ruso, de manera segura, rápida y agradable.El único gran error que encontré usando el libro fue que la X no se pronuncia como el libro recomienda, si no como nosotros pronunciamos la J, o sea que, para realmente pronunciar correctamente esta consonante, deben pronunciarla, como se pronuncia en jamás, Jueves, jornalero, jornada,Jaime, etc. Por ejemplo, si van a decir azúcar en Ruso, en vez de decir sukcar, deben decir sujar. Si desean más detalles sobre como pronunciar bien las letras del alfabeto y adquirir un conocimiento extra sobre el idioma Ruso dirijance al siguiente sitio web donde encontrarán la información necesaria, para complementar la instrucción de este libro y algo más; el sitio es el siguiente: [...]. Cuando llegen a la Home page the [...], busquen en el centro de esa página, el menú con opciones, y traten de encontrar la opción: More>> hagan click sobre esta opción del menú central y aparecerá una pequeña, alargada y delgada ventana con otras opciones; por favor seleccionen Learn Russian, y estarán en camino a encontrar los sonidos e información que necesitan para aprender correctamente a hablar en Ruso. Hace poco [...] incluyó servicio en Español, por medio de otra web page, que está en link con esta que les dí en idioma Ingles; solo tienen que encontrar el link en la parte superior del Home page y averiguar si tiene la opción de aprender Ruso en idioma Español. Otro detalle; con referencia a la pronunciación de la vocal: O, el libro les dará buenas ideas sobre como usarla, pero no se conformen con lo que el libro les recomienda, busquen más en otros libros, classes, o escuchando a personas nativas hablar el idioma Ruso, porque toma cierto tiempo para dominar cuando es correcto pronunciar la O como O, o como una A. Por lo demás el libro es bastante bueno. Para comenzar a aprender idioma Ruso en Ingles, esta es la mejor opción o punto inicial - no existe otro libro que le iguale.

Beyond Helpful
Russian is a very difficult language to self-teach and my first few attempts were futile because the materials I consulted showed one page of the Cyrillic alphabet and then proceeded immediately to entire words. This book takes the time to really teach the alphabet so that by the time you have finished it, you can at least pronounce any Russian word you encounter. However, if you are an American, keep in mind that the author is from the UK and not every example works for American English. For example, on page 25, Ms. West writes that "ë" is pronounced like "yo" in "yonder." For Americans, "ë" is pronounced like "yo" (the slang term, or as in "yogurt"). Still, my copy is already well-worn and I know I would still be lost without it.

Well...
I haven't read any other Russian language-learning books, so I have nothing to compare it to, but it seems just okay.There was a whole chapter on names, which I found a bit tedious.But learning the sounds the letters make is very important, so...it's a great start!However, I'm sure there's better stuff out there.Worth buying, but you could probably do better. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the most accessible and carefully paced Russian course on the market. It is aimed at beginners with little or no previous knowledge of the language who want to understand, speak, and read Russian confidently. Along with the book, readers have access to an interactive website full of videos, audio, and self-correcting exercises. The wealth of material on the website provides an invaluable, enriching experience for learners. It features useful and relevant lessons cover everyday situations related to family, jobs, introductions, eating and drinking, the internet, and much more. It offers a gradual introduction to the language, cyrillic alphabet, and grammar with thorough explanations and instructions. The interactive website features correct pronunciation by native speakers and helps learners start speaking Russian right away. It is written by the authors of the highly regarded intermediate text, "V Puti". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

One of the best (if not the best) Russian language book out there
What can I say!! this is one of the best books about learning the Russian language. It scores maximum points on many things including the following:

1- It is as complete as any academic textbook.
2- It is a 2 in 1 book. Textbook and workbook.
3- The books website has all the audio/video and answers which makes it ideal for self learners who don't have to rely on an instructor to correct them. Also the audio and video files can be downloaded to be played on a computer or mp3 player and the answers are in PDF which can be printed or downloaded.
4- The price of the book is under $30 which makes it affordable to everyone (note: Golosa, the only book that comes close to this one costs more than $70 with no answers to exercises and the workbook is sold separately).
5- I like the pace at which the book moves forward. The chapters are bite size and the vocabulary and grammar can be absorbed and understood by everyone including absolute beginners.

Bottom line, I've purchased many Russian language books, dictionaries, and software including Rosetta Stone; This is the first book that I will be recommending from now on to anyone interested in learning Russian. So buy it with confidence because it is worth 10 times it's value. ... Read more

Product Description
Russian is spoken by nearly 450 million people, and demand for Russian-speakers is growing. This introductory course includes an audio CD with practice dialogues-just the ticket for readers who need basic Russian for business, school, or travel.

Serafima Gettys, PhD (Newark, CA), is Coordinator of the Foreign Language Program at Lewis University.
Andrew Kaufman, PhD (Charlottesville, VA), is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia.

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

No Cyrilic -- A waste of time
I'm sorry to say that "Russian for Dummies" was a waste of time...at least for me.Russian is a phonetic language and relatively easy to read...if you can sound out the words in the original cyrilic text.Unfortunately, pronounciation in this text is provided in an "English equivalent" which only approximates the Russian pronounciation and word sound.Russian uses 33 cyrilic letters...many of which have English alphabet equivalents...and is fairly easy to learn.For a serious student of Russian, "Russian for Dummies" is useless. If I had known this before purchasing the book, I would not have bought it. I would not recommend this book to anyone desiring to learn or add to their knowledge of Russian. I will add that Amazon has many other Russian texts to consider and are more useful.

Just right for a beginner
I was looking for book that did not assume I knew anything. I have enjoyed working with it. I would recommend it for self study

great product
I was very happy with my purchase. The seller was proffesional and quick to respond. Thank you.

Don't buy this book! Transliteration only!!
This book teaches Russian by spelling out Russian phrases in the English alphabet. This means that you could finish the whole book and then not be able to read one word of Russian.

Crash Course Use Only
I normally like anything published by this company, but this is one of the more useless books I have ever purchased.If you find that you are going to have to travel to Russia on a short notice, and you want to learn how to say some basic things like asking for help in an emergency or finding a rest room, then you will get that out of this book.This book will not teach you how to carry on conversations in Russian, nor how to read or write or understand the Russian language and grammar. It is, simply put, a crash course to teach the non-Russian speaking person how to ask for help if they are in Russia, and have not had ample time to learn Russian. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume uses both Roman and Cyrillic alphabets. It opens with a diagnostic self-test to help students determine what they already know of Russian and how to get best use from the book. Following chapters include a grammar brush-up covering all parts of speech, and special topics including Russian word formation, idioms, and much more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Excellent Guide to Grammar
The major strength of this book is the organization of the complex morass of inflections into categories and tables where one can start to see how they make sense. I have read other books which set forth the grammar but lack the concise organization that enables you to compare and recognize how the various forms compare with each other based on their function. The tables in this book look straightforward enough, but having attempted to assemble similar tables from the information in other books, I immediately recognized and appreciated what the author has achieved. The author shows a good sense of when to suggest that the principles are not as difficult to learn as they first appear and when to be upfront about having to resort to some degree of rote memorization. Another good aspect of the book are the example sentences that show how grammar is applied in practice. This is extremely helpful if you tend to be an inductive learner. The book is likewise good at presenting the numerous exceptions in a direct (and not discouraging) manner. Big thanks to the author.

Best Reference for Use with Other Learning Tools
If you're looking for an introduction to Russian, with dialogues and lessons, this book is not for you.It is, however, the clearest book I've found to explain the grammatical concepts.If you're self-teaching with tapes or software programs, you will most likey come to a point where you've learned an expression or a change in word endings without fully understanding the grammar behind it, this is where to look to quickly get the explanation.It does not contain much vocabulary, or full sentences, it is made up of chapters explaining particular grammatical structures and rules, so you're not going to learn to speak using this book alone.

Excellent reference
I agree completely with the reviewer from Oregon.I am starting to learn Russian from a cassette series (Learn in Your Car, which I also highly recommend) and this book is a very well-organized, valuable reference.In fact, it is one of the best organized special-purpose reference books I have seen anywhere.It has plenty of tables, and very clear descriptions of things like 'Why do Russian nouns have so many cases?' After teaching myself Spanish, Russian is my next goal, and it is quite a challenge.I think I would have given up by now without this book.

Excellent backup reference
I bought this book as an additional reference to my class textbook. I use it constantly to review key concepts. Most language textbooks are not organized to make good reference material, but this one (inexpensive) bookmakes up for such a shortcoming completely.

You can use Master theBasics to quickly zero in on a particular concept whether it be the partsof speech, pronouns, verbs, case declension and the concepts are presentedin a very concise and straightforward manner. I especially like thewell-organized charts scattered throughout as they make a clear summarywith graphical-style impact that makes things easier to remember.

If youintend to pursue Russian seriously at any level, then this is a must-havebook, handy and gets right to the point. Do svidannya! ... Read more

Product Description
Almost every aspect of the Russian language has been affected since Glasnost, from grammatical features to vocabulary. This book is the first major analysis in English of these dramatic changes and provides the most up-to-date guide to the contemporary Russian language. The authors focus on radical changes in Russian vocabulary. The language has become inundated by new words, mainly from American English, especially in the field of business and economics but also in technology, the mass media, fashion, sport and life-style. Supported throughout by extracts from contemporary press and literary sources, this is a comprehensive overview of present-day Russian and an essential text for all students of the Russian language. ... Read more

Product Description
An all-new guide that applies the proven self-teaching method to Russian
Joining the successful Self-Teaching Guides to French, Spanish, Italian, and German, this thorough primer is perfect for business and leisure travelers as well as the 23,000-plus college students enrolled every year in Russian-language courses. Lively dialogues, concise lessons on grammar and usage, lots of exercises and self-tests, and a compact Russian-English glossary let readers progress at their own pace and pick up basic Russian quickly. The book comes complete with notes on Russian culture and tips on mastering the Cyrillic alphabet.

Kathryn Szczepanska (New York, NY) is a Professor of Russian at Hunter College in New York City. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Wish I Hadn't
I hated this book.It's hard to read, and you have to back to previous pages to make your own translations of phrases they give you to "fill in the blanks" to complete sentances.

I picked this one because it was less expensive.I already had the actual book of Idiot's Guide to Learning Russian, so I figured I'd give something else a chance.I would have been better off getting the same book I had for my iPad, so that I could study it when I was on the go with less weight to carry around.

If you're shopping for a beginners lesson book, get the Idiots Guide to Learning Russian.

Tough but good
I have been studying in Russia (as a total beginner) and this is the only book I took with me. I'll grant you, it does throw you in the deep end a bit, but I find it follows a very logical order and matches what we're learning in class. I do each chapter twice, I muddle through once on my own, and find I'm much better prepared in class. Then, once I've covered it in more detail, I go back over the chapter again. If you are trying to teach yourself, I would recommend getting a companion book that is a little easier, or shows more pictures like another review recommended, but it really is necessary to learn the grammar, despite it being drudgery, and this book will really help you do it.

Russian:A Self-Teaching Guide
Very good book, useful in teaching a class also in addition to being well arranged for self teaching.

Not "college textbook" quality
I was looking for a textbook to teach Russian to a student of mine (I am a private teacher) without breaking the bank by buying a more expensive textbook.This was just about the only book available on-hand in bookstores that actually had exercises in it.

I was impressed at first with this book since the spelling rules and hard and soft vowels, etc. are discussed at the very beginning of the book. However, that first impression quickly wore off after using it to teach Russian to my student, who had a familiarity with the alphabet, but nothing beyond that.

My student and I have found that although the discussions of spelling and grammar or word usage were interesting and helpful... we have found a lot of problems:No cursive alphabet; no drawings of clocks, relatives, animals, food, "cheat charts of declensions", etc; not all of the words used in exercises are defined in the book; there are incorrectly spelled words; words are given for the first time in a case other than the nominative case, etc.

I have been bringing my dictionary and verb conjugation book along with me to the classes I teach since a lot of words aren't defined in this book and there are very few verb conjugation examples in this book.

After using this book for three months with my student, we are now looking for a "college textbook" since this one does not meet our needs. ... Read more

Product Description
Available September 2003

Created for the serious language-learner, our deluxe Ultimate Russian Advanced course has been revised and updated. It teaches a sophisticated level of conversation and grammar and is equivalent to two years of college study. Free additional exercises are now available on line!

Perfect for the businessperson and anyone traveling or living abroad, Ultimate Russian Advanced course contains a 400+ page book with eight 60-minute CDs covering 20 lessons. Each lesson includes lively, up-to-date dialogues, vocabulary, exercises, culture notes, and detailed explanations of grammar and usage.

KEY FEATURES:
• Ideal for anyone planning to live or conduct business abroad
• Includes extensive business vocabulary and details of
business etiquette
• Free extra practice on line with more than 100 additional practice sections
• Updated with new vocabulary and information about culture and everyday life; and now include references to the euro
• Now available on CD for ease in moving between lessons–perfect for use in the car, at the gym, or anywhere you please ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Not as easy as you may think.
This product is advertised as a "second year" Russian course.But it quickly becomes harder than that.I began to struggle right away.

Solid
I don't care if this review is helpful or not.Here are my comments:

-The dialogues are often times poorly parsed.You'll be asked to repeat "spacebo" followed in the next line by seemingly the entire text of War and Peace.By the time you get to the end of the sentence, you'll forget half of it and end up faking it with Slavic sounding gibberish.

-The dialogues are also, as others have noted, loosely translated.You'll need a dictionary to learn the literal translation.It would have been helpful if the translation accompanied the text, as it does in the Beginner-Intermediate.Also, where liberties are taken with translation, parenthetical call-outs would have been a good touch.

-Many of the dialogues are seemingly geared toward the international businessperson. For instance, I do not know what an L/C is, and I don't care how to say it in Russian. I also doubt I will have a need to converse about the liquidity and market capitalization of my joint business venture.However, clearly the intent was to appeal to a wide audience, so the creators cannot be faulted for attempting to generate as wide an appeal as possible in this niche market.

-A list of new vocabulary at the end of each chapter, as is present in the Beginner-Intermediate set, should have been included.Cutting these lists was not a good editing decision.

All in all, a very helpful set, but the complexity of some of the words and concepts, which are never fully explained or identified, will lead to some head scratching and hair pulling, which you are probably doing anyway, since you are trying to learn Russian.

Very good book and CD, with a few minor complaints
I bought Ultimate Russian Advanced several months ago hoping to improve my vocabulary, grammar, but most especially my listening comprehension. About the CD's:
The book includes four CD's with very crisp, clear recordings of native Russians speaking to one another on topics likely to be encountered by a businessperson traveling and working in Russia, along with a few topics on cuisine, leisure and daily routines such as transportation and shopping. Each recording lasts around three minutes, and is followed by extract sentences from the dialogues that you've just listened to; after each extract sentence or phrase you have several seconds to repeat the native speaker's words and intonation. This type of exercise is very useful for boosting listening comprehension, and one's ability to repeat unfamiliar phrases.
As a couple of reviewers noted, the English transcript can be a shade off in meaning from the Russian one, but overall I think the quality and content of the recordings is laudable, especially as this is to my knowledge the only textbook with listening exercises geared for an intermediate to upper-intermediate level student.
About the book:
I have been living in Russia for over two years and doing my best to learn the language. Frequently, when speaking with Russians, I hear what I think must be exceptions to grammatical rules, and this book has so far done a fine job of giving very practical, very straightforward explanations for many aspects of Russian grammar that had previously left me scratching my head, for example chto-nibud' versus chto-to and chto-libo, the difference between perfective and imperfective command forms, and many others. The grammatical explanations, which are backed up by concrete example from modern, colloquial Russian speech, illustrate these grammar points well.
After the grammar explanations follow written exercises including translation, word order exercises, and fill in the blank, which manage to review the key points from the chapter. While the exercises are useful, there are simply not enough of them- usually about twenty sentences in all, not nearly enough to reinforce knowledge of the grammar points they deal with, especially in chapters where two grammar points get covered. This problem is partly rectified by a link to internet exercises provided in the book, but the real solution would be to buy a separate grammar reference/ workbook to complete the ensemble.
A few minor complaints:
-One of the chapters refers to an appendix containing a table of Russian numerals declined in all cases, but this table has been for whatever reason left out- an annoying omission requiring some searching in the net for answers.
-A few times the answer key and the transcript differ, chiefly on points where more than one answer is possible. A note explaining the difference in meaning between the two answers would be useful.
-One point of grammar is omitted: the uncountable plural numerals, which are used with some common Russian nouns such as ochki (eyeglasses), djinsy (jeans), deti (children).
-The very, very sticky point of whether to use the perfective or imperfective infinitive with modals is entirely omitted. But to be far, that topic alone can fill an entire textbook.
All told:
-The text is useful both as a textbook and as a non-exhaustive reference work covering the most important points of Russian grammar, the CD's are incredibly helpful, and overall after completing a chapter with the listening exercises, one has the feeling of having solidified and expanded one's knowledge of Russian. A good buy.

Supplemental Russian
I have a slightly older version of this product, but based on viewing other reviews am confident that its basic worth remains intact.I have 3.5 years of university Russian and have spent time in Russia in addition to speaking Russian at home on a regular basis.For me the CDs are the point; the book is for support and clarification.

This is not a language program for beginners; you will not go from zero to fluency with this set.I used it a few years back to supplement my book learning when I realized that there are very few people with whom to speak Russian in the US on a daily basis.As another reviewer noted, learning Russian language is very demanding, and I don't think it can be done well without a significant amount of listening to Russians speaking Russian.This program offers not only listening, as you might be able to do with streamed news from Russia, but it gives you the opportunity to first, listen to a dialogue, and then, to interact with the dialogue, both answering questions and parroting the narrator--which does wonders for your pronunciation, surpassing by far listening to your American classmates, for example.There are/were also useful exercises based on the lessons.The ideal use for this product, in my opinion, is during exercise and highway driving to polish up and augment your previous learning.

The lessons, listed in another review, range from interesting to overly specialized--boring (I really don't need to know joint-venture construction vocabularly; hopefully they dropped that lesson).This is the program's weakness.Yet, all of the listening is useful and practical, and the sound quality is excellent.As another rater states, this is not high literature, but is conducted in more the practical Russian that Russians actually speak, which is often lamentably absent from academic courses, where you get plenty of Gogol and Dostoyevski then can't understand your bus driver in Moscow.

Great for the Money but...
Great product. I listen to the CDs in my car to/from work in preperation for a language proficeincy test. Awesome review of grammar. Great price, but some of the language used is not current or unspoken in Moscow. ... Read more

Product Description

The next best thing to a year in Russia!

Streetwise Russian with Audio CD offers you a unique opportunity to learnfirst-hand how Russian is actually spoken. With the help of more than 25 everydaydialogues performed by native speakers, you pick up on the idioms, colloquialisms, slang, andvulgarisms currently used by people from all walks of life.Fascinating features help explain the cultural attitudes behind many expressions. And exercisesenable you to flex your comprehension and conversational skills.

Includes one 75-minute audio CD.

Customer Reviews (3)

Physical copy more accessible than Kindle version
This is a great book for learning conversational Russian, but the Kindle version is hard to flip through and does not include the CD as an mp3. The way the book has Russian conversation followed by the English translation is harder to follow when you cannot bend the pages to show them side by side nor listen to the conversations as you read them.

Great addition to the streetwise series
It's about time they made a streetwise Russian slang book. I actually waited for this book since last year. They are Russian slang books but not as good as the streetwise series.

If you want to know about Russian slang, this is a really good book. It starts off with dialogues - Russian and English together - then the vocabulary and synonyms for them, then some exercises to strengthen your memory for the slang and close off the chapter with a bit of cultural notes.

This book is designed for the intermediary level, so a good basic Russian background such as reading and understanding is required because it is written in Cyrillic.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to take a step further in Russian.

A step beyond textbook Russian
If you have mastered the grammar and have a good vocabulary, this book will go beyond the slang dictionaries to how Russian slang is used. You wouldn't trot out these expressions at a diplomatic event, but you will likely hear them used around you and to you, so this is a valuable start on learning the way people talk in everyday life. The dialogs make the context (students planning a party, young women shopping etc.) clear, and there's an excellent glossary with each chapter and at the end of the book. A good way to improve listening comprehension...after all there are only so many subtitled Russian movies you can watch. ... Read more

Product Description
This collection of short stories by Anton Chekhov contains The Lady with the Dog, Ward No. 6, The Black Monk, Anna on the Neck, The House with the Mezzanine, and In the Ravine. This is a dual-language book with the Russian text on the left side, and the English text on the right side of each spread. The texts are precisely synchronized. A great book for learning both languages while reading Russian classic masterpieces. ... Read more

Product Description
This book contains five major plays by Anton Chekhov - "Ivanov", "The Seagull", "Uncle Vanya", "Three Sisters" and "The Cherry Orchard" - in Russian and English. The Russian text is on the left side, the English text is on the right side of each spread. The texts are precisely synchronized. A great book for learning both languages while reading Chekhov's plays. Translated by Marian Fell and Julius West, verified and corrected by Alexander Vassiliev. ... Read more

Product Description

RUSSIAN in 10 minutes a day® Book

Customer Reviews (15)

Excellent Starter Program for Russian
I was a Russian linguist for the military many moons ago.My son showed an interest in the language, and he signed up for a non-credit course at the local community college.This book is used as a text for the course.When it arrived, I looked it over and was highly impressed with all of its features:from flashcards to the software on disk, I could not imagine a more complete program for beginning Russian.Here comes the "if only":if only I had such a tool and guide to conversational Russian when I was learning the language, I could have done so much more at the outset.Excellent product.You get more than your money's worth.

Excellent add-on for any complete course
This book cannot teach you the language, but it's a good add-on for any complete language course you have to get in order to master the language. Labels and CD-Rom are very useful to memorize the new words. The missing accent on the Russian words is the only flaw, because a Russian "o" may be pronounced as "oh" or "ah" if it is stressed or unstressed. Anyway, I absolutely recommend this book to review the most important words.

Not really worth it.
I have been learning Russian with a tutor for 16 months. When I first started, my first tutor recommended I buy this book as a supplement. Needless to say, I am no longer with that tutor, and this book only collects dust. First off, there is no possible way to teach yourself Russian using only a book. The case system is complex and sometimes things just need to be explained before you can start using it. This book only teaches things like colors, numbers, dates, weather -- but you could finish it 4 times, and not be able to hold any sort of conversation. Unfortunately, I have don't really any other recommendations as I now use a book my tutor brought with her from Russia. All I know is, that you will not learn much from this book.

Great as a secondary teaching tool
If you are using an audio language program and have a feel for Russian pronunciation, this book is a very good tool.[...] is my primary source for my Russian education. Native speakers are a must for learning any language the right way.But there are going to be times when those learning Russian aren't going to have access to the web or their audio program.For such times, this book is great.

No book is going to teach anyone fluent Russian, and certainly not in 10 minutes a day, but as a complimentary tool, I highly recommend this book.It is particularly useful for those times you happen to forget something you have already learned such as how to order something at a restaurant or a day of the week (though it certainly offers far more than that).

The book looks like a grade school kid's book, but the information is very good, easily understood and practiced, and setup so that later lessons build upon prior ones.It also does a good job of introducing words, and hammering them home through repetition, inserting Russian words into an otherwise English sentence, for example.

The book's shortcoming is clearly pronunciation, but with a quality audio course, this is easily overcome.Again, this book is not of much value by itself, but as an additional tool, quick reference point, or a fun and easy way to drill home beginning Russian you have trouble remembering, it is well worth the price.

learning russian
this is an excellent resource. We use it for homeschooling. it provides worksheet type papers to document your progress. we fill it out only aftr mastery of section on reg. paper. WE combined this with some fun word picture book, early russian reader, a russian-english dictionary, library audio and a tutor once-a-week and less as we progress accurately. ... Read more