Customer Reviews

First Reader in Russian (Language - Russian)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I used to teach English as a foreign language and during that time I learned how difficult it is to create a decent learner's text. You need enough variety and enough storyline context to keep the reader's attention while simultaneously reinforcing key words and grammatical constructions. At the beginner level you also need to avoid colloquialisms and odd constructions. This wonderful little book is very well structured indeed and is a great first step for anyone wanting to move beyond the "teach yourself Russian in 30 lessons" stage. It starts out simply and by the end you're reading enough Russian to get through about 25% of a typical newspaper or magazine, which is pretty good for this level.

Some reviewers have commented that the book doesn't really convey accurately life in Russia, and while this is true I think it completely misses the point. This is, after all, just a stepping-stone along the road to acquiring the language and a better feeling for the culture. I speak French fluently but I don't expect the Tintin stories I read to my children to prepare them for the reality of French daily life. In fact, if I didn't make a habit of reading French news online and talking to French friends regularly, I'm sure I'd fail to notice the various changes that occur in France between my fairly regular visits. No entry-level text is going to prepare the reader for the grim reality of Putin's Russia; but this marvelous little book does actually help you to learn enough vocabulary to get around, ask questions, and understand what people tell you in response.

I have struggled through several other supposedly begginer-level Russian texts and the worst are those written by Russians (there's too much childish quasi-language along the cutsie-wootsie model). I'd like to see an entire series by Ann Rolbin, moving from this simple beginner's book through to complex adult conversational Russian. As it is, I'm moving on to less adequately thought-out books but the memory of this little delight will stay with me for a long time.

The drawings in this easy-to-read, short book made learning to read Russian very easy.

By glancing at them you can guess what is happening most of the time. Although initially a page does not appear to provide much in the way of vocabulary, studying the drawings greatly increases the scopy of learning and builds vocabulary rapidly. Repetition through the frequent questions and answers re-enforces learning.

You think what you see, and say what you think. Easy only begins to describe the benefits flowing from this great reader.

The process seemed so natural by the third page. Hope that author puts out a series.

Useful for building up your reading confidence for very beginners. The first couple of texts are extremely simple, and all of them only use the present tense. I found the end-dictionary comprehensive enough for my use, although it didn't include some words from the Exercises that follow the texts, which is an unfortunate oversight. You will go through this book quite quickly though. I much preferred the slightly more difficult "Beginner's Russian Reader" by Lila Pargment since it is useful much longer, but is more difficult when you are first beginning. Its also unfortunately a bit difficult to find in the US for some reason although very easy to get in the UK where I purchased it.

This book will help early students (mid first semester) students develop reading confidence and to get a feel for how the language is used in very elementary texts, such as journals, etc.
It does have a couple of drawbacks though. The dictionary at the end is rather incomplete, perhaps covering as little as 75 percent of all the words encountered in the text. Granted that most of these words are not necessary to understand the storyline, and may only appear once in the book.
The other drawback is far more serious. It claims to give some insight into the cultural lifestyle of the Russian family. The storylines and character development are far too limitted to give any substance to this claim. The Westerner reading this book will only interpret the events of the story within the context of his own cultural experience. I can easily imagine an American and a English reader getting two completely different notions of Russian life from this book.
Instead of jumping helter-skelter from event to event with no logical flow, it could have been worked through with a little more depth. For example, in an early part of the story, it could have mentioned that one of the character's dad worked as a produce vendor, and then later have the story about that character helping his father at the market. Threading the stories together like this will enhance word retention because the word for fruit vendor would appear in different contexts.
As it is now, it is mainly a collection of very simple, unrelated anecdotes with modest punchlines at the end. Almost like reading "Life in America" from Reader's Digest, only not as rich in texture as even that.

This book is definately a 'first reader', as it is quite simple. All the text is in present tense. I do not mind this, but the thing that I find most wrong with the book is that it has a dictionary in back that ostensibly contains all words necessary for reading the passages, but in reality contains about 50% of them. This only means that one must look the words up in another dictionary. But at the same time, there are some words that have multiple meanings, and you look them up in a seperate dictionary, and will not be able to glean any meaning from a sentence. But overall, I have found this book to be very helpful.

The title and introduction are written in English. There is also a three-page glossary at the back that contains cyrillic Russian and roman English. Besides that, it is 55 pages of cyrillic, with some simple pictures drawn in.

There is absolutely no help in reading this--you need to either possess this vocabulary already or have a dictionary handy. This is what I needed--a book that doesn't contain a cheating transliteration 1 inch away. I was thrown to the wolves, and had to read on my own in this book.

One thing I should point out is that this book was written for teenagers from the perspective of teenagers. I felt like I was reading "Dick and Jane" in Russian. Be prepared that this is a very simple book, and not something an adult with pride would want to be seen reading in public. However, pride comes before the fall, and this book was valuable to me in learning to read Russian.

I own this book.

I was a top student in Russian during a two-year course I took in college 20 years ago. It has been about 15 years since I last used or reviewed the language. I still have some insight into the language and a basic familiarity with the grammar.

Nevertheless, this book stopped me.

The glossary simply does not contain the words that are most likely to be needed. I was constantly defeated by knowing everything EXCEPT the critical noun or verb.

This is a major weak point because it negates the entire value of the book, at least for me. You see, the small size and wide variety of stories would have made this the perfect practice-book to carry on the train while going to work. Not knowing the meaning of the critical words defeats this. The whole point of this book can be summed up in four words: small size, everyday situations. The first advantage is negated if one has to carry a dictionary. The second advantage is negated if one does NOT carry a dictionary. Duh.

The stories say little or nothing about Russian life. The stories could be set in any reasonably-industrialized country. Ochen Zhal! (Too bad!)

One reviewer said that this is not important, giving the example of the Tintin stories in French. I find this argument disingenuous. The Tintin stories are classics, beloved by generations of the French. When you read them, you ARE immersing yourself in French culture. These stories do not have that advantage. Having said that, they do offer variety, if you can understand the vocabulary.

I like the idea and format. I hope they revise it to correct the deficiencies.

Avoid this one or be prepared to make your own glossary (a genuine solution, I think).

Before purchasing this, a student should have at least seen all the cases and tenses in Russian, but not necessarily know or use them well. Most of the grammar is basic, with each sentence having one or two clauses and almost no conditionals. Each of the 27 sections of the 55 page book use a good variety of cases, although most of the language is in present tense.

It has the style and content of a children's picture book, but its still more enjoyable to read than examples in a grammar book, even for an adult. There is no english apart from the three-page dictionary at the back, allowing the reader to focus more on the russian. Drawings of each story occupy about half of two-thirds of each page, so it can be read pretty easily even without using the dictionary.

The strong point of this book are really the use of different cases, and its pretty refreshing to read compared with a basic grammar book. In all, its good to read after or during a first level grammar book to reinforce what you've already learned.

I had read several reviews of this book and thought it would be a good first reader. However, no previous reviewer stated that there is no translation! So, you really need to have a good command of vocabulary (nouns, verbs, adjectives).

The desription of this book, made it sound useful in helping your Russian reading skills, and all the words used are supposed to be in the glossary in the back of the book. They're not, so be sure to have a dictionary on hand. Also, for the cost, it's not a very thick book. However, it is somewhat useful, if you're a beginning student.