Guide to Russian Idioms [Paperback]

Loretta Gray (Author), Dinara Georgeoliani (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 11, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0844242462 | ISBN-13: 978-0844242460

This guide helps readers understand the Russian language and culture through popular phrases. Half remembered phrases can be tracked down with the Russian index, while the English index shows whether an English idiom has a Russian equivalent.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Russian

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies (May 11, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0844242462
• ISBN-13: 978-0844242460
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,504,047 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A poor resource for intermediate students., May 1, 2007

By 

T. Cooper (Redmond, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Guide to Russian Idioms (Paperback)

There's lots of material in this book, but it has several major shortcomings that make it less than useful for an intermediate student of the Russian language.

A. The idiom in Russian is printed without accent marks, so unfamiliar words must be looked up in a dictionary just to find out where the emphasis should be.

B. There is no literal translation into English. They only provide the closest equivalent English idiom. So, again, unfamiliar Russian words must be looked up in a dictionary, just to get an idea of the colorful language. For example, they translate one idiom as "to give someone a pain in the neck." But you need to pull out your dictionary to learn that the literal translation is the delightful "to pester worse than a bitter radish."

C. Some of the English equivalent idioms are so obscure that they are no help in understanding what the idiom is supposed to mean.

A very advanced student of Russian might not be hampered by these issues. But for everyone else, I'd recommend A book of Russian idioms illustrated =: Russkie frazeologizmy v kartinakh instead of this book. Or just get a good dictionary that includes idiomatic uses of words, such as the excellent Katzner dictionary ( English-Russian, Russian-English Dictionary).