Roots of the Russian Language: An Elementary Guide to Wordbuilding (NTC Russian Series) (English and Russian Edition) [Paperback]

George Z. Patrick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 1989 | ISBN-10: 0844242675 | ISBN-13: 978-0844242675

Designed to help students of Russian increase their knowledge of wordbuilding and, as a result, increase their vocabulary, "Roots of the Russian Knowledge" includes 450 of the most commonly used roots of the Russian language. After mastering Russian prefixes and suffixes, students develop an ability to construct words and terms from a given Russian root.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: National Textbook Company (January 11, 1989)
• Language: English, Russian
• ISBN-10: 0844242675
• ISBN-13: 978-0844242675
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #236,700 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #39 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Russian
  • #77 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > Russian
  • #83 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Russian

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great way to learn basic Russian vocabulary., October 28, 2000

By 

Beeyl "Beeyl" (Portland, ME USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roots of the Russian Language: An Elementary Guide to Wordbuilding (NTC Russian Series) (English and Russian Edition) (Paperback)

More than any other language I know, Russian is built upon roots. This book does a good job of presenting the most important roots of the Russian language, usually listing five or more different words formed from each root. Each new word is used in a sample phrase with English translation. The introduction discusses suffixes and prefixes (including prepositions that are used as prefixes). And, importantly for beginning students, all the Russian text is shown with accents!

71 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent WordbuildingTool!, February 3, 2001

By 

Misha (Staten Island, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roots of the Russian Language: An Elementary Guide to Wordbuilding (NTC Russian Series) (English and Russian Edition) (Paperback)

This book of 450 different roots of the Russian language is the ultimate tool and guide to learning not only how to build your own words in conversation and in writing, but also (and I feel most importantly) in determining how to deconstruct words you pick up in reading and listening to better grasp their meaning.

Patrick could easily have stopped at simply providing the roots, as well as words built from those roots, but he also gives you sentences with the words in them as examples. Last but not least, he provides a handful of exercises for practice at the end of the book.

This book should be on the top shelf of every translator and/or student of the Russian language.

74 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have for serious students of Russian, December 22, 2004

By 

Geri Rinna (Plainwell, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Roots of the Russian Language: An Elementary Guide to Wordbuilding (NTC Russian Series) (English and Russian Edition) (Paperback)

I first heard about this book from my college Russian teacher, who gave it a strong endorsement as a must-have for all serious students of Russian. I couldn't agree more. This book provides Russian language roots alphabetically and lists around 3-10, sometimes even more words that are derived from that particular root. Memorization of the root leads to a rapid expansion of vocabulary derived from that root, cutting the amount of time spent memorizing vocabulary down significantly. It also allows you to figure out words with great accuracy if you're reading a text and stumble across an unfamiliar word. I strongly reccomend this book for all those who seek to learn to speak Russian fluently for any reason, as well as linguists who will be studying Russian and other Slavic languages.