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New Assimil Russian for English-speakers | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Heather McNamar Senior Member United States Joined 4780 days ago 77 posts - 109 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Latin | Message 9 of 29 16 March 2012 at 4:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks, MacSasha! While I unfortunately don't have time to take up Russian at the moment, it's on my
bucket list. Some other time...:) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tennisfan Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5358 days ago 130 posts - 247 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish Studies: German | Message 10 of 29 16 March 2012 at 5:23pm | IP Logged | ||
what exactly is it like compared to previous Assimil versions (not necessarily the English Russian course). is it dense? I remember Prof. Arguelles said that he was displeased with the newer Assimil versions because they simply didn't have as much content, there was a lot of white space and a lot larger text and not nearly as much actual content.... does that hold true for this new version as well? I really wish they would just post excerpts on their website so we could take a look. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| MacSasha Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4690 days ago 7 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Italian, Russian | Message 11 of 29 16 March 2012 at 5:49pm | IP Logged | ||
I've randomly selected a chapter from mid-way through the book. The photos can only be on my site for a few days. Hopefully not really a breach of copyright - no more so that The Prof's youTube videos, I suspect. Hope this helps. ***Sorry: photos now removed*** Apologies for the lousy photography, however it gives you an idea of the white space vs substantive content. And I made my decision - I will study both this and their Italian course. Eeep! :) Edited by MacSasha on 21 March 2012 at 11:43pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tennisfan Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5358 days ago 130 posts - 247 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish Studies: German | Message 12 of 29 16 March 2012 at 6:44pm | IP Logged | ||
you're a saint! thanks so much! from what I can see it doesn't look to be any "worse" in the density department than the most recent Assimil courses. But at the same time it doesn't look to be nearly as dense as the older versions either. The fact that it's in English, though, is enough of a reason to celebrate. :) maybe someone else more familiar with the various Assimil editions can comment in more detail. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| MacSasha Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4690 days ago 7 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Italian, Russian | Message 13 of 29 16 March 2012 at 6:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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Certainly compared to the 'fifties edition, there's a dash more white space surrounding the text.
It is approximately the same ratio of print:space in my modern Italian With Ease. I vaguely recall someone saying that the "New With Ease" are the worst waste space culprits I do own the 1952 version: Russian friends inform me that the language is hilariously Soviet in places. Some of the cartoons included are uncomfortably racist by today's standards. Either way, after a sixty-year gap, I'm delighted with this modern English publication. Edited by MacSasha on 16 March 2012 at 6:53pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jase27 Newbie United States Joined 5667 days ago 21 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, French | Message 14 of 29 16 March 2012 at 9:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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For those who have it, how does it work as a starter Russian course? Those pictures don't show the beginning. Are
the first few chapters easy enough with the Cyrillic? I've only done French Assimil, and I already had a base in romance languages, so just curious how tough a non- Latin based language is with Assimil. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 15 of 29 16 March 2012 at 10:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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They're just fine, but then Cyrillic is really easy to learn.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| MacSasha Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4690 days ago 7 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Italian, Russian | Message 16 of 29 16 March 2012 at 11:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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Cyrillic is a real con. :) It looks baffling, but in a couple of hours any reasonably intelligent person will have it
memorised. I've flicked through the early lessons, and they appear to be as well-constructed as the majority of Assimil courses. What was immediately obvious is the that the Russian course is considerably more weighty (in terms of plain bulk) than the Italian one - something like an extra 300 pages, I'd guess. Russian is one of the more challenging language, I suspect. :) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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