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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4803 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes  Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 1 of 4 23 June 2015 at 5:37pm | IP Logged |
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Hi,
time to procrastinate a bit, so I'm finally posting my question. My next language is either Italian or Russian (not sure which one yet). I expect to acquire the passive skills really fast thanks to my knowledge of French+Spanish and Czech+Slovak but the active ones are likely to be a struggle. I have good quality basic courses for each already in my bookshelf. They are of the more or less classical TY style but Czech based and with more content, from what I've found out. I know and plan to use resources like russianpod101 and Italianpod101, memrise courses, verb tables, FSI (as I've said in past, their pronunciation drills tend to be a miracle), music, tv series, books. Given my past experience, I do not plan to use Pimsleur or MT or beginner class aimed photo-heavy courses. There is an Italian and a Russian library in Prague, there are some bookshops where I could get native input. And both languages are well represented on the internet. One of the things that I'd love to get links to is good quality and interesting input (even though I've already searched older threads on those). What is your favourite newspaper? In case of Russian, what are the best pro-government AND pro-opposition sources these days? Does any tv offer free content like rtve.es does? Favourite native authors for an intermediate reader? (detective novels, sci-fi, fantasy, young adult, comic books...) What are your favourite original tv series, what tv series have got good quality dubbing? However, the most important and practical part of my question. I've had great results in past with grammar and vocabulary workbooks. Things like Progressif series for French and de Uso for Spanish. Are there such for Italian and Russian? Either monolingual or high quality bilingual ones? I love these for practice and overview. So far, I have found these for each: Italian: -Una grammatica Italiana per tutti It looks like a good series, even though it lacks the C levels. Any experience with others? -Basic Italian, a grammar and workbook Is it good? It looks a bit poorer than the previous one at first sight. -Practice makes perfect, both for vocabulary and grammar What is your experience? Are they worth it? -Grammatica essenziale della lingua Italiana con esercizi -Modern Italian grammar workbook. -Using Italian Vocabulary so, any experience with these, recommendations, warnings? Any good quality French or Spanish based resources for Italian? I guess those could be awesome for me. Russian -Russian, a practical grammar with exercises -Using Russian Vocabulary -some verb table books, frequency dictionaries etc but not with exercises I've as well a Czech based translation grammar exercise book, those are usually great, and a few books like the Progressif, even though not sure about the quality yet, obviously the publishers have noticed this gap on the market. Any more ideas? Either Russian is a much less supported language or I am just bad at searching. Thanks for your advice in advance 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 3846 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes Studies: German | Message 2 of 4 23 June 2015 at 7:25pm | IP Logged |
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Hi Cavesa,
Russian Materials If you respond well to the "FSI-style" method, "Modern Russian" by Dawson is the relevant course. The FSI did not produce their own course in this style; rather, they acted as a co-sponser of the initiative that resulted in the publication of the Modern Russian course and adopted it. As it happens, there is a very recent discussion thread that contains all of the LINKS to the course materials, including the 50-plus hours of free audio: Modern Russian - HTLAL discussion thread. In my opinion, you can discount the comments about Soviet-era vocabulary. Yes, the course does refer to some out-dated nomenclature. However, the vast majority of the vocabulary is equivalent to what one finds in any well-designed introductory language course. And, as always, assuming that you like working with intensive drills, this course has no equivalent. You are undoubtedly familiar with the Assimil series and you are aware that, whereas their basic courses are offered in several languages, this does not necessarily apply to their more advanced offerings. Here's the selection from a French base: Assimil Russian. Some users report that the incremental lessons in the Assimil Russian course increase too rapidly in terms of difficulty. Perhaps this is so, and perhaps it is more of a question of the "linguistic distance" between English and the Slavic languages and, if so, users should begin with a more basic course. Speaking of very basic courses, the U.C.L.A. developed and introduced a "very" basic course not too long ago. The exercises and audio/video files are freely available on the university's website Beginner's Russian via the "Student's Corner" at the bottom of the webpage. The text, which is really more of a guide to using the website than a true textbook, can be purchased directly from the U.C.L.A. or from Amazon and elsewhere. I have no experience with the Princeton Russian Course; however, some people have commented rather favourably on it. Here are a few LINKS that I managed to collect: Princeton Russian (from Coyote), Princeton Russian (audio download), Princeton Russian (free language courses), Princeton Russian (YouTube), Princeton Russian (Google Search Results). Some people seem to have a high opinion of the Russian Stage One series. The publisher has a supplementary Website, as does L&S Learning Support Services, Website, as does Study Blue Website. I have never used these materials and, for all I know, they could be textually poor, multi-coloured offerings, filled with photographs of white-toothed, attractive, smiling adolescents, but I simply do not know, one way or the other. As you are aware, Linguaphone developed a solid reputation with their "Complete" courses. I find their regular prices simply too expensive; however, the prices for their Refurbished courses are reasonable. As always with Linguaphone, you'll need to consult a Grammar so as to have a more complete understanding of the accompanying course notes. There is an HTLAL discussion thread that covers this course and that contains some interesting links. I assume that the DLI Russian on the JLU Archives website would be quite useful to someone who already has a basic knowledge of Russian. However, wading through the files and trying to match the audio to the text is a bit of grind and, in any event, based on my expériences with the FSI materials, I suspect that "Modern Russian" would be better suited for self-study than the DLI materials. Italian Materials After having bumbled around with a number of programmes, ultimately, I found that FSI Italian FAST and Assimil Italian (both volumes) were the most useful materials. However, in both cases, one should keep a basic Italian Grammar at hand. Practice Makes Perfect versus Schaum's Outline I have complete copies of the Practice Makes Perfect series AND the Shaum's Outline series for learning German, French, Spanish, and Italian, as well as the Shaum's Russian Grammar book. While we all have our personal préférences, I feel that the Schaum's series packs more information, and just as many exercises, in one small volume than Practice Makes Perfect does in several. Ciao for now! Edited by Speakeasy on 23 June 2015 at 8:20pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4803 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 3 of 4 23 June 2015 at 7:47pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks, speakeasy.
I have a digital copy of the Princeton and some others normal courses and I won't be using them because I suppose my Učebnice Současné Ruštiny should be sufficient normal course. But I doubt it will give me enough grammar practice and enough vocabulary. Modern Russian sounds good and I think I've heard of it before, I'll have a look, thanks. I know Assimil but I am as well aware there are better and worse Assimils and that it is not always that needed, especially as I plan to read normal books really soon. Is Assimil Russian good? I wouldn't expect that much trouble with steep learning curve as it wouldn't be my only source. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6391 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 4 of 4 23 June 2015 at 7:50pm | IP Logged |
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(try Ditto and Lazarus to avoid losing what you type)
I'm not familiar with the resources but lyricstraining has Italian (and I think one song in Russian uploaded by YnEoS, karaoke mode only). Russian is also available at GLOSS, I checked out one medical lesson and liked it. Radio Arlecchino is a hilarious podcast, mostly for solidifying your knowledge of Italian grammar rather than learning it from scratch. Works well for systemizing what you've learned through input, too. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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