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Russian for Everybody

  Tags: Russian
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
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workerbee
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United States
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Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish
Studies: Russian, German

 
 Message 1 of 13
29 December 2006 at 7:05pm | IP Logged 
My attempt to get a deal with older language materials has left me a bit disappointed. I recently purchased Russian for Everybody which came with the audio. (This program has been mentioned in other threads.)

Much to my chagrin, the course booklet is entirely in Russian cyrillic script. I have no idea how to best use this material. I was hoping for something I could read while shadowing... a new approach for me. The edition I have looks to be about 94 pages with a red cover. It seems to be published in Russia in 1988 (but has ISBN numbers?). There are 5 cassettes.

Does anyone have any experience with this course and can provide guidance? What am I missing? Do you work in English at all?
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fanatic
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 Message 2 of 13
30 December 2006 at 11:23pm | IP Logged 
I have a red book with about 150 pages which is all in Russian. Although it shares the same title as Russian For Everybody (Russky Yazyk dlya Vsyekh) it has no connection with the course.

The good Russian For Everybody course consists of 6 or 7 books and a set of records or cassettes. The main textbook is entirely in Russian except for the preface which is written in a number of languages in most editions or just English for the latest American edition.

It is designed for the books and recordings to be used together.There is a grammar, reader, dictionary, games and puzzle book and, in some editions, a book to accompany the audio with pronunciation drills.

I love it. It is an excellent course with a sense of humour and it teaches well, although I did go outside the course material to clarify verb aspects.

The recordings are entirely in Russian, including text and dialogues from the textbook and some exercises which can be used on language laboratories.

My red book was written by Knyazeva and Melnikova. It says it is a course for slides and film.

If this is the book you have I'm afraid I have no advice except to use it for supplementary reading.

Edited by fanatic on 30 December 2006 at 11:25pm

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MeshGearFox
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United States
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 Message 3 of 13
31 December 2006 at 2:18am | IP Logged 
Why's the book being written in Cyrillic a problem? It's an easy alphabet, and you're going to have to learn it eventually anyway.
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workerbee
Senior Member
United States
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Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish
Studies: Russian, German

 
 Message 4 of 13
31 December 2006 at 10:23am | IP Logged 
Thanks for the advice. Looks like I will do some more research and purchase some of the other books I see on Amazon. Hopefully, they will correspond.

While it is true that I will need to learn cyrillic, if I am to get serious with Russian, I am in the early beginning stages. I am trying to get my ears accustomed to the sounds of the language and pick up a bit of conversation. I find that, for me, in the early stages of a completely learning a language with a different alphabet, I get easily frustrated and overwhelmed by written materials. I guess I like talking first and grammar last...
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lucvileyn
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Belgium
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 Message 5 of 13
01 January 2007 at 2:07pm | IP Logged 
If you care only for speaking, you can use Pimsleur. I see you posted this a
long time ago. How is your Russian now?
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workerbee
Senior Member
United States
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Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish
Studies: Russian, German

 
 Message 6 of 13
02 January 2007 at 8:18am | IP Logged 
At this moment, I care mostly about speaking. Sad to say I have not improved all that much since this thread was originated. Let's see...in 4 days I have completed only one more Pimsleur lesson, so I am up to 10 at this point. Definitely in the hesitant and awful pronounciation stage.
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querido
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United States
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 Message 7 of 13
25 April 2009 at 5:47pm | IP Logged 
I used this for two years in college, some decades ago.
I still have the text I used, complete with notes to myself and old exams.

*edit*:
I see there was some confusion about which book is being discussed.
My post was about the older, "Russian for Everybody" (V. Kostomarov, ed, Russky Yazyk Publishers), with recorded supplement by Robert L. Baker.

Hoping for downloadable audio (since it is pretty old by now), I discovered that this book-set and audio is still being used at the U. of Minnesota, and is purchasable there.
*end edit*

Edited by querido on 25 April 2009 at 6:40pm

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fanatic
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Australia
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Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch
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 Message 8 of 13
26 April 2009 at 8:46am | IP Logged 
I have the audio for two versions of the Russian For Everybody. My favourite is the older version, more politically incorrect and it seems friendlier than the revised versions. I have made mp3 files of the audio for the 1970s version that I use but I haven't converted the records that came with the newer version.

I don't know how different the version is that you write about. It might be quite different. The version I have in front of me is by Kostomarov but is published by Progress in Moscow. Lesson ten is about Our Newspaper Kiosk.

This is probably my favourite language course.


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