The First Thousand Words in Russian (Usborne First Thousand Words) (Russian Edition) [Hardcover]

Heather Amery (Author), Katrina Kirilenko (Author), Stephen Cartwright (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 2 and up | Series: Usborne First Thousand Words

-- Offers a wide range of learning opportunities from early reading and spelling to dictionary use

-- Foreign language editions include dictionaries and phonetic pronunciation guides

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 2 and up
  
• Hardcover: 63 pages
• Publisher: E.D.C. Publishing (February 1985)
• Language: Russian
• ISBN-10: 0860207692
• ISBN-13: 978-0860207696
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #648,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for adoptive parents of Russian children!, May 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The First Thousand Words in Russian (Usborne First Thousand Words) (Russian Edition) (Hardcover)

This picture book was great because we could look at it together with our Russian son. He helped us pronounce the words in Russian as we taught him the words in English. I highly recommend it for parents going to Russia to adopt. Very comprehensive. Great illustrations. (I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 only because it was lacking accents in the pronunciation guide; hence I didn't know which syllable to accent for best pronunciation. I would recommend that the next edition show which syllable is accented; then it would certainly merit 5 stars!)

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars two major shortcomings, December 27, 2003

By 

Ken Clark "gr8white" (Kent, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: First Thousand Words in Russian (Russian Edition) (Library Binding)

As a beginning student of Russian I thought this book might be a good vocabulary builder, and for the most part that is true. The illustrations aren't always sufficient to identify the word depicted, but there is an English translation in the back so that's only a minor annoyance. Another minor annoyance is that words are given in either singular or plural form, whereas it would have been nice if both were included.

However, I found two major shortcomings relating to pronunciation. One that has been mentioned in the other reviews is the lack of anything indicating stress, which could easily have been done with either accent marks on the word itself or by capitalizing the accented syllable in the phonetic rendering (PEESma).

The other major shortcoming is that certain vagaries of pronunciation aren't taken into account, such as the devoicing of a consonant at the end of a word (e.g. the word for iron would be more correctly rendered as "ootyook" rather than "ootyoog") and the assimilation of consonants when they occur together ("foodbol" rather than "footbol").

I still would recommend this book but I also recommend getting a good dictionary that shows word stress and making sure you learn the rules of pronunciation and take them into account.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Illustrations, Keeps Attention!, February 5, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The First Thousand Words in Russian (Usborne First Thousand Words) (Russian Edition) (Hardcover)

My husband is a native Russian speaker and speaks only this language to our 2 yr. old. This book has ended up being our son's FAVORITE book. He loves the illustrations (so do I) and will look at one page for a good 10 minutes. I helps me brush up on my Russian also.
I must add, however, that if you are a BEGINNER to the Russian language this book won't teach you how to correctly pronounce the words. Words are spelled out phoenetically but do not include any clues as to pronunciation.