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Starting out with Russian: which course? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| shahvlad Newbie Belgium Joined 5104 days ago 19 posts - 38 votes | Message 1 of 12 21 May 2010 at 11:35am | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi all,
I am planning on teaching myself Russian during summer but I can't make up my mind as to what course book I should begin with. I'd rather stick with one book than using several courses simultaneously. Preferably something that is not too heavy grammar-wise (though providing a solid basis for further study) as my short-term goal is to become conversational in Russian. I have some limited knowledge of the language and I can read Cyrillic so that's not an issue. I have the following courses, including the accompanying audio:
Which would you recommend? What are the advantages or disadvantages of these courses? I'd greatly appreciate the input of intermediate to advanced learners of Russian. Best regards, shahvlad Edited by shahvlad on 21 May 2010 at 11:40am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kounotori Triglot Senior Member Finland Joined 5139 days ago 136 posts - 264 votes  Speaks: Finnish*, English, Russian Studies: Mandarin | Message 2 of 12 21 May 2010 at 5:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I don't know much about the two other as I haven't used them, but:
Princeton course Pros: + Free. + Thorough. Very thorough. I'd recommend this course for anyone serious about Russian. + Fun, tongue-in-cheek conversations and useful vocabulary (well, most of the time). + Grammar is explained well, and especially the verbs and phonetics have a great annotation system. + A lot of audio practice that helps you develop active skills. + Attention is drawn to features of the language native English speaking learners often get wrong/find difficult. + Vocabulary has notes. + All the lessons are just the right size (from my point of view at least :P). Cons: - There is no key for the written exercises (however, I've found that the MasterRussian.net forums have many threads where a person studying the course has posted his answers to the exercises, which have been corrected by native speakers). - Confusing order; e.g. it's unclear when the Sara stories should be studied. N.B.: there are no missing lessons; lesson 27 = Sara story 1; lesson 29 = skipped in numbering. - In some few cases there is a disparity between the audio and the text. Nothing majorly inconveniencing, though. - A bit slow-paced (which is good in that all the cases aren't thrown at your face all at once). I think the Princeton course definitely offers a solid base for further studies in Russian. 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| WortDrauf Already banned: zarathustra, lifelover Newbie Canada Joined 5190 days ago 23 posts - 47 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 3 of 12 22 May 2010 at 12:23am | IP Logged | |||||
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If by "Russian Complete Course" you mean the Penguin one, then I'd recommend it once you've went through an introductory course and have a firm base in vocabulary and the basics. It's essentially a grammar so it takes some prior experience in the language to get through it.
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| shahvlad Newbie Belgium Joined 5104 days ago 19 posts - 38 votes | Message 4 of 12 22 May 2010 at 1:47pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Kounotori and WortDrauf, many thanks for your answers! I will probably go for the Princeton course. I don't mind it being a bit slow-paced as I have several Russian grammars at my disposal which allows me to study Russian grammar independently from the Princeton course.
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| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5380 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 5 of 12 24 May 2010 at 5:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yes I agree. I have the Penguin course :D I just don't know enough Russian to even begin. :P 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| WortDrauf Already banned: zarathustra, lifelover Newbie Canada Joined 5190 days ago 23 posts - 47 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 6 of 12 24 May 2010 at 7:47pm | IP Logged | |||||
Haha, I made the same mistake. I learned the alphabet then jumped in and it gave me a headache pretty quickly. But I took Russian 101 at a nearby university and went back to the book and it was much more manageable; I already knew a considerable portion of it. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| josht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6241 days ago 635 posts - 857 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch | Message 7 of 12 24 May 2010 at 8:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Unless we're all using widely different Penguin courses (the New one by Nicholas Brown, right?), I'm not sure what the problem is with starting out with it. That's how I began my Russian studies, and it worked just fine. It's made for complete beginners, starting out with the alphabet and then moving on to basic words and sentences. It does introduce grammar at a fairly rapid pace, but considering how inflected Russian is, that can't really be avoided, unless you want to just keep saying things "I like wine" and "I don't want any tea" - and even those things require some declining.
The only issue I have with it is that it would be much better if it had some accompanying CDs with the dialogues / texts, to better help new learners get used to the pronunciation. 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5380 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 8 of 12 28 May 2010 at 3:16am | IP Logged | |||||
That's the exact problem. I want to start out with good pronounciation before I even go into the actual grammar/vocabulary. It's just how I "start off" I can pronounce almost anything in Spanish, German, and Portuguese, (and a little Italian) but Russian I didn't have a clue. Especially with the Tb ending lol like "ch" 1 person has voted this message useful |
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