Customer Reviews

Russian, Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand Russian with Pimsleur Language Programs (Pimsleur Instant Conversation)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I disagree with the previous negative reviews. Pimsleur's audiotapes are for those people whose preferred cognitive style is auditory. This is how we learn language as a child--by listening and speaking. I have learned other languages in school--French, Spanish, Hebrew--and the teachers bog the students down with the "rules" of the language. Instead, in these audiotapes, the rules emerge naturally through the repetition of different phrases with shared grammatical patterns. I have learned so much so quickly. Now, if I want to learn more grammar or the alphabet, I already have a basic grasp of the spoken language to refer rather than learning about the rules abstractly. So, if you want to learn how to speak conversational Russian quickly, these tapes are a great place to start!!

If you want to start learning Russian while driving your car this is probably the best system available. It is completely audio and gives you 6 hours of very well-designed tutorial. You hear the English first, then the Russian, two or three times times, then you repeat it. Another sentence. Then the first one again. Amazing how quickly you forgot. But by the mix of new things and repeating, it starts to stick. The lessons are very well paced - at least they were for me - so that you only rarely have to stop the CD to go back, while it is also rare for it to feel slow or boring. The Russian is spoken by two native speakers giving you a good idea of correct pronunciation (intriguing how sometimes they pronounce the same word differently!). By the end of the course you have learned about 150 words and can speak and understand several dozen everyday sentences. There is even a little bit of grammar here and there. What you don't get: anything about the alphabet or the written language. Please do realize that the strength of this program is also its weakness: The 8 hours of teaching can very easily be accomodated, one 30-minute lesson at a time, on a daily commute. But doing that means you will be done in 3 weeks (they don't recommend more than one lesson a day). And then what? The program is so good that you have, in fact, learned all there is on these CDs and so repeating them is pretty useless. I guess you'd have to buy the next course...
But all in all, this was the perfect introductory course for me wanting to learn while driving to work. Hope it works for you, too!

PS I read some negative reviews here that say you only learn to say one or two things over and over again. That's hogwash. I suspect they only listened to the first lesson.

I have to say my weakest area in school was learning other languages. I was always the poorest student in class. At age 47, I found myself needing to learn Russian. I looked at my options. I tried two other programs and they did not work for me.

Now I am learning Russian using Pimsleur. I am not fast at learning it, but I am learning Russian! This course is more an introduction to the full Pimsleur courses. It is a good place to start.

If Pimsleur is teaching me Russian, I assume it will work for most people.

It takes effort, but it is working.

I recommend the full Pimsleur program.

I'll be traveling to Russia and needed a very quick crash course in speaking the language. I've learned other languages but this course, by far, is the easiest way to do so. I've been teaching myself to read Russian but after listening to these CDs, I've realized I was really off on my pronunciations. Not only have these CDs strengthened my speaking ability but they've made reading the language so much easier as well. These CDs will definitely complement any studying you are doing of this language. True, the CDs may initially seem repetitive and a tad boring but get past lesson one and you find that this really works Give it a chance and you will learn quite a bit in these sixteen lessons.

I am 62 years old and worried that I had passed the 'maturation' level where it was possible for me to learn a new language. I had attempted French, Gaelic, and Czech in the past, thinking it necessary to learn the 'structure' of the language as well as the spoken word. I was so relieved to find that after a very short time, I felt comfortable with basic Russian phrases. I found myself able to pcik up limited dialog in Russian movies, and even to recognize printed words in transliteration. I think the learning process is different for each of us, but I know that when I am on my extended visit to Petersburg next year, I will feel comfortable that I have a foundation for communication.

I have studied all 16 lessons in this program many many times. I was feeling very confident about my new found Russian knowledge. I tried out the sentence, "Wouldn't you like something to eat?" on a Ukrainian woman I met. She did not understand what I was saying. Then after some discussion I learned that only about 80% of what I learned on this program was right.

Feeling very frustrated with this I called my brother who speaks Russian very well. I tried the same sentence out on him. He also did not understand me. He then proceeded to correct my Russian. After some discussion with him I was convinced that only about 80% of what is taught on this program is correct.

Phrases like, "I don't understand" and "maybe later" appear to be correct. However, the way they teach you to say, "What time is it?" is too formal. I'm still very much a beginner in my studies but I would not recommend this program. Hopefully I can find something that's more accurate when it comes to teaching the spoken language.

I have tried numerous Russian learning courses, classes online, books, etc. They all teach writing/grammer and I have that down but, I couldnt have a conversation. I am only on the 4th lesson of Pimsleurs conversational and I can already understand more and respond in Russian. You have to be patient and you cant just do each lesson once, you may have to listen to each lesson two, three or four times. This is very basic so far, but a great start and a fun way to kill time in the car.

I bought these CDs as a way of working on basic speaking and listening skills. In addition to these CDs, I'm using a text book to learn grammar and writing. If you are using a different approach, this review might not be very useful.

Working on the Pimsleur CDs definitely has improved my speech and listening skills quite a bit. They also have some useful vocabulary on them, although that wasn't a primary goal. I would give this product 5 stars, but I think they should add more indexing to the CDs. There are two tracks per CD, and fast-forwarding and moving backwards are a lot more annoying than they should be.

I haven't used any competing products, so I can't do any comparisons. I don't think that these CDs would work well as a substitute for a text book, but that's just my opinion.

I am a native English speaker, now living in Ukraine, and so have ordered 3 different teach-yourself audio sets to learn Russian. The Pimsleur set is far and away the worst. As another reviewer has already commented, the conversation never advances beyond the first converstaion, about whether you are American and whether you speak Russian. Other CDs cover this in the first dialogue. Also unacceptable that there is no written book or pamphlet accompanying, since you have a new alphabet to learn.
I was surprised by the bad quality, because I was quite satisfied with the Pimsleur-Albanian, which I used previously.
I think the best Russian set I bought was the book and 2-CD set called "Teach Yourself Russian." The book is so helpful that I am now using it in class with my Russian teacher. Also good is "Learn Russian in Your Car," although it spends more time on vocabulary, and less on dialogue.

I already own Rosetta Stone in Russian, and while I really like RS, I noticed the program doesn't teach you conversational and everyday phrases. I wanted to supplement Rosetta Stone, and did my research to find the best audio language tapes. I wasn't sure what to expect with these tapes, but I think they are great! The pronunciation and phrasing is legit and if you follow the tapes, you will learn helpful and basic conversational Russian.