Customer Reviews

Basic Russian Workbk (Berlitz)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a good book of excercises for the beginner and is meant to be used with a basic textbook. Berlitz has their own language course, but this can be used with any beginners text, and I happen to like the Penguin Russian Course, so I used it with that.

I like it because it's reasonably priced and not eye-crossingly difficult. There's a good mix of vocabulary, grammar and word usage excercises. This book requires you to use Cyrillic cursive, but you should be learning that from your textbook. This workbook will give you good practice and a break from the excercises from your main text.

I purchased this book as my first introduction to the Russian Language. I spend a lot of time rewinding the tape in order to try and understand what is being said. About 75% of the phrases on the cassette are written in the book in Russian along with the English translation. I wish 100% of the sentences on the cassette were written in the book. The book is good because you get a combination of grammar and conversational skills.

I did some further research and for developing conversational skills possibly the Pimsleur approach is the best. I have ordered the Pimsleur introduction course which is audio only.

I used the cassette version and was disappointed. With the tape version I the sound quality was so low that I had a hard time understanding what was being spoken. A native speaker verified the accents to be accurate, so it wasn't the quality of the language, just the shortcomings of the cassette tape. However, I did enjoy the book and found it to be very useful.

As an EFL (Enlgish as a Foreign Language) teacher, teaching abroad for nine of the last 10 years, I have a pretty good idea of what a person needs to learn a language, reading, writing, listening, and speaking are the four elements of Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Because of that, I was unsure about getting a workbook without a teacher's manual or a listening CD/Tape. Still I needed something to supplement The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners (Penguin Handbooks) and Teach Yourself Russian Complete Course Package (Book + 2CDs) (Teach Yourself . . . Complete Courses), as both of those books have limited exercises. I needed to test my memory and skills more. The day this book arrived I had my first lesson with a native speaker of Russian and this was the only text she used and it was fine, with her guidance and explanations as to how to divide the words, pronunciation, etc.

About this book: You need some basic vocabulary before you start. I memorized vocabulary from lessons 3-5 in the Penguin book and understood a little less than half of this on the first reading. You also need to be able to read Russian as well as Russian cursive writing for some of the exercises. If you don't have these skills, then you need to go back and acquire them before beginning. Otherwise you are going to need to translate the whole lesson which is a laborious and boring task.

Content: I think the tasks and exercise are fine. The conversation is an ongoing story and builds, which is a very good way to learn another language; it's familiar but keeps moving. You will need a dictionary and you need to use other materials if you are serious about learning Russian. There are no pronunciation exercises in this book. There are some reading and small writing sections. Unit 2 has this exercise: "Write a letter to a Russian penpal about yourself and your family. We have started it for you." Up above that there is an example, so with some substitution and labor you can do it. I haven't done this exercise yet and it looks intimidating as I need to write in Russian cursive, something I'm a little weak at.

THIS BOOK DOES NOT STAND ALONE if you are trying to learn Russian. It might be fine as a review but I am still a learner so that is what I need. I use the two above mentioned text with this one and a dictionary. My teacher uses this book for our lessons and I work on the vocabulary in advance. If you have no choice, you can try this on your own, but I think it is good to have a tutor with it if you are a beginner.

Would I buy this book again? Yes. No book is perfect and if you are looking for supplemental exercises, this is a good choice. The pages are filled with exercises, that's all. There are helpful aides in the back: they include the answers to all exercises, grammar guide and a dictionary

This is a very good study aid to your Russian language study, wheather your doing self study or just taking a course. It teaches you in reading comprhension, by using all cyrillic in the excercises. It's a great help with your text book, if studying on your own, I like the New Penquin Russian Course by NJ Brown

Overall a good course. Gives you an overall good grasp of spoken Russian. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that there is some material it does not cover. It does not cover particples & gerunds and you need this knowledge to read Russian. The book's coverage of verbs of motion is also inadequate. They should also have some audio material to cover the book. Other than that for general speaking capability it is a good book.

I am a 15 year old student and I wan't to learn russian. This is brilliant for someone like me who has a little bit of extra time, etc. It doesn't bore you with grammar but there is some still there. all around this is a great program