Customer Reviews

Colloquial Russian: The Complete Course For Beginners (Colloquial Series)

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

 

 

When I first time found this book in the university library,I was attracted by this book so much,and again and again I reborrowed this book from the liberary.And when I travelled in Russia last year I bought the travel guide of lonely planet series,it also recommends this book as good russian textbook.Finally I decided to have one my own copy ,and I searched it at Amazon.com.

But when I saw the general review of this book I was surprised that this book has "only" three stars!And I can't help but write a review to counterbalance it.This is really a rather good one on the market with its relatively low price.The downstairs said that this book doesn't have English translation to accompany the Russian text.I don't see it as a drawback.If there's English translation beside the Russian text,you would probably rely on the English translation and would not spend time to read the Russian one, which I think will hinder the learning of a new language.

The content of this book is well organized and the materials are very authentic whihout losing fun.I really think it's one of the best text book for the beginners of this difficult language, and I truly recommend this to everyone who would puck up Russian language efficiently and happily!

This is one of the better courses in the Routledge Colloquial Series, many of which are plaged by irritations ranging from typographical errors to incomplete grammatical explantions to simply not adequately glossing new vocabulary. This book avoids all of these problems and provides a very stimulating introduction to a language that most learners will find full of challenges. Since texts are not translated into English it will be necessary to 'over-learn' the vocabulary in each lesson, and maybe even the grammatical coverage before moving on to tackling the Russian. This material is so well prepared that the crutch of an English translation really isn't necessary, although even very independent students might need to consult with a teacher or native speaker from time to time. Those who prefer a slower pace have some nice alternatives- try "Teach Yourself Russian", "The Penguin Russian Course" or Duff's oldie-but-goodie "Russian for Beginners". The last two don't have any audio, though.

I absolutely LOVE this book by Routledge! I love how they pretty much just...throw you into the Russian language "pool" with no muss or fuss; so hold your breath! This ain't your mama's course! From Jump street, you are in it and up to the throat in the language which is fantastic and I think that a lot of these other courses can take a lesson from. It is alittle grammar intense, so if you are not into that, then you may not like it. I am not a big fan of grammar at ALL but this book didn't bother me as much, though it still might others.

One poster complained about the Russian man mispronouncing the English but come on, if you are a native English speaker or know English, what's the problem? If you know they are mistakes and you still understand, I really don't see that as an issue. It just lends more authenticity to the recordings!

This book is really intense Russian learning so it may frighten the beginner who has never learned a language before but if you hang in there, you will love it and learn a LOT. I am a little scared what book 2 is like; I haven't ordered it yet! lol! Buy this book, you will love it and learn volumes. Later in your learning, you will even come back to it for guidance. Unlike a lot of courses, this is indeed one I can truly say is worth the money!

The book is fairly good, but I had studied Russian before and it's unclear what it would have been like without earlier knowledge. The cassettes ought to be very good. The vocabulary gets read before the text. That should help, but the Russian man reading the English pronounced most words incorrectly, usually creating difficulty in understanding. Cough was pronounced cotch, peasants, something like peasan. I use tapes while biking, and it was impossible much of the time to figure out which word he was saying.

Hopefully the newer edition has re-recorded the dialogs. Check this out before buying.

I have read and used a lot of language books and I didn't feel like this book really helped the students along well enough. The first few chapters, I was excited about learning Russian, but by chapter 5 I was lost. I have even taken Russian in college before. So I guess I just think the pace of this book is a bit fast or illogical.