Customer Reviews

Russian III - 2nd Ed.: Learn to Speak and Understand Russian with Pimsleur Language Programs

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have studied Russian for three years, but unfortunately, because I am graduating, I will be unable to take the advanced course that my college offers. For the past couple of months, I've been trying to find a good package so that I can learn Russian on my own. Out of all the ones I have explored, Pimsleur looked to be the most promising. While it did help me in that I am able to speak more clearly, I don't see it as being a replacement for an advanced Russian course. For one thing, the vocabulary is extremely limited. It will help you have casual conversations, but don't expect to be having any deep discussions about complex subjects. Two, because the reading supplement is so limited, many problems will arise when you have to write. Three, and most importantly, I feel that the speakers speak too slowly, at least compared to the people in the listening supplement of my textbook.

It's important to be as precise as possible in determing first off what level of speaking ability you aim to achieve. If you have studied Russian sufficiently well before you start the course (at least a year at university getting A's), Pimsleur will have you speaking at the level at which you write in no time. The problem with most people is that they haven't studied enough Russian to benefit from the program. You need to be able to know how to spell the words you learn (in cyrillic of course), not just pronounce them. Let's say you've studied Russian really really hard for a year in a top university program. You probably know about 800 words at least (and many points of grammar) but you haven't had much opportunity to speak them. The words are in your head but the speech connections haven't yet been set up. Speaking a language is a separate form of training entirely. But having a strong enough background in grammar and being able to write the language will allow you to blaze through Pimsleur I in no time while perfecting your pronunciation and getting a "feel" for stringing sounds together. You may likely learn a few new subtleties even in Level I as your ear gets better at recognizing the nuances of native speech. By the end of Level II, you've caught up with one year of grammar points which are EMBEDDED within the sentences and structures, all of which you should be able to pronounce very well. By the end of the first semester of your second year at univeristy, you should be finishing Pimsleur III, know about 1500 words and be speaking Intermediate Mid, quickly on your way to Int-High. Now is definately the time to find some real live Russian immigrants to converse with. You'll be amazed at what you can say; they will, too. Other programs to get you to the advanced speaking level require lots of commitment to the language and at least 2-3 years of intensive university study. If you want to be fluent, you'll have to go to Russia to study the language and live there for at least a year after a minimum of 2-3 (3 is better) years of consistent high level effort stateside. True fluency will take at least 5 years' dedication, first stateside then in Russia. But Pimsleur gets you to a point where you have a good feel for getting the sounds from your brain and then out your mouth correctly. With solid university training to add to it and some time overseas you'll speak very well. Pimsleur on it's own is NOT enough unless you're just looking to get by on Red Square or something basic like buying a souvenir or holding a conversation on a routine topic like the weather or what you like to do in your free time, etc. What Pimsleur will do is get you confident enough in your pronunciation to start speaking more and more. It will get you over the initial phase of perfecting prononciation and get you speaking the language at a solid intermediate level (if you study at university simultaneously as previously mentioned - I can't mention this fact enough). BUT, only Pimsleur + University + Dedication + Time + 1-2 years in Russian = Fluency. Even then, you still have to practice to maintain your fluency. Sounds like quite a commitment to become fluent, doesn't it? Fluency is really the result of many factors mostly driven by consistent high levels of motivation and desire. That is why very few achieve it. Learning a language thoroughly is similar to embarking on a long journey. As the Russians often say: Íå ñìîòðè âûñîêî: ãëàçà çàïîðîøèøü. It's important to be realistic. Ñ÷àñòëèâî!

The reader from Tel Aviv got it exactly right. This course is good, but it is extremely expensive and offers only a limited amount of vocabulary and grammatical structures. The result is that you will be able to say a certain amount of things clearly and with good pronounciation, but you will be broke and will have trouble understanding (let alone expressing) even moderately complex thoughts.

I've gone through French and Italian and am working on Russian. These are just simply the best way to get yourself quickly to a point where you can say things in an another language, accurately, quickly and easily. Unlike some other courses, it's not just rote learning of phrases, it actually teaches you grammar and sentence structure. Nothing else even comes close. It's worth every penny. I would give it ten stars if I could. These really work. Yes, to be really fluent you will need to study more, read more, get more books and dictionaries and learn more words, but this will give you a firm foundation in whatever language you are trying to learn, and enable you to travel to a country where they speak that language and communicate successfully and accurately. In response to another reviewer, I wouldn't recommend lugging the whole program in its box around with you. Just do like the teenagers do with their CDs, get a small portable CD carrier and decant Pimsleur CDs into the carrier. They are all numbered and it's easy enough to keep track of them.

Ok. Even Pimsleur III won't get you very far, is expensive as hell, and is somewhat cumbersome to work with. So the rest of this review will be about how in hell did I get to giving it five stars. There are several ways to go about when wanting to learn a language in an audio-only manner. You can get the "Learn in your car" from Penton Overseas. You can get the audio-only course from Living Language. Or you can take Pimsleur. From the lot, Pimsleur would be the ONLY decent answer for the utter beginner, and Pimsleur III will give the best stability with the language for beginner to intermediate level with the other options, you will find yourself replaying the tapes a couple of times. Does any language course that is a self learning course worth this kind of money? No. That's why we have the next paragraph.

Money. First of all, by all means get it used. It is an audio course that I recommend going through only once. So if you're lucky enough to find a CD version used, it will be exactly the same (of course - assuming that the seller is decent enough to sell unscratched CD-s). As for used audio cassettes, well, as much as we want to hear the correct pronounciation, we have to remember - this is not Mozart, it is only recorded speech. However even if you don't find it used, you can buy it, and after completing the course, sell it as used. As this is suitable for first time learning, and is too much for review purposes (perhaps the other audio-only courses will be better for review).

One last thing. Usability. I'll talk technology, but it's essential here. When I bought the heavy package, the first thing I've done was to move it to MP3. So then I had the entire audio collection on a single CD. In such a way you take a single disc to your car, play it with a mobile MP3 player, and stock the valuable course in your closet for backup. In that way, when you finish with the course, the originals stay in a good enough state to be sold as used. However, if you won't convert to MP3, the need to each time take another cassette/CD to your car would be a serious drawback, since storing the entire course in your car doesn't sound as a sensible alternative to me.

To wrap it up, buy it, MP3 it, learn it, sell it.

I've been through all 3 levels of Pimsleur Russian and at the end of it all I still can't say "egg", "hand", "eye", "fish" or "tree", among many other simple, everyday words. Pretty basic stuff but that's the problem: Pimsleur obviously focuses on business travel conversation and omits basics. The vocabulary is somewhat limited and usage is rarely explained. Russian word structure changes based on how the word is used so one sentence says "car" one way, the next sentence says it differently and Pimsleur doesn't explain why or when or what about it. So although the technique for teaching is effective, with lots of repetition and some concentration on pronunciation of new words, the amount you learn after 90 lessons will barely bring you to a beginner level, certainly not internediate as they claim.

And on the topic of pronunciation, Russian words have very specific rules of pronunciation and in level I of these courses, the main native male speaker's diction was abhorrent. I nearly gave up after lesson 6 because he was so bad. I even let a native Russian hear this guy's voice and she said his pronunciation sounded as though he was drunk. For the price, Pimsleur should have flawless, sober, perfect speakers.

I can't say I wouldn't recommend Pimsleur because they are helpful, but they're certainly not all you need to speak the language. Go through it, sell it and move on to the next course.

This is more my experience than a review and applies to Russian I, II and III.

If you intend to use an audio method, I found Pimsleur to be the most effective way to learn a new language from scratch. For me, it's about the only way that works short of taking a class.

As for how long it takes, 2 days per lesson was my typical rate. Most lessons needed 3 or 4 total repetitions before I felt I reached the 80% level that pimsleur suggests. I also confirmed that there is little advantage in repeating a lesson more than twice a day. For comparison, German and Greek were easier for me to absorb, typically 2 repeats per lesson.

I believe that Pimsleur claims you will reach the ACTFL Intermediate-High level after the 3rd course. Unless you can practice with Russian speaking persons, I feel it will be hard to advance beyond Intermediate Low at best.

Pimsleur Russian is the best place to start. Ive done all 90 lessons. It took me over a year, but it was worth it. I have the correct accent for life. This is the very strongest point of Pimsleur. The correct pronounciation and accent. After 90 lessons, I wished I could have gone on and done another 90. The voice actors were top notch. Thanks Pimsleur. I look forward to Russian Plus, if they ever make one. Great job.

This is my third Pimisleur language. Great program. But cd case now has
a problem. The cd case for the 30 lesson editions were designed for the
user guide booklet and reading booklet to hold the cds in place. (My
earlier purchased language sets with this arrangement work great and do
not have a problem.) The publisher has changed the guide booklet to a
fold out. With this simple change they created a major problem for
protecting the cds. Now the first half of the cds will not stay in place. The
second half of the cds was designed to use clear plastic stays. They
work great. The first half of the cds will NOT stay in place and do fall
out. The act of carrying the case across the room will have the cds
sliding inside the case. Great care must be used opening the case or the
cds roll across the floor. Pimsleur will replace a damaged cd. The
plastic stay will not work on the front half of the set, only the back half.
They have no solution for the disks falling out. They suggested I buy a
cd case and move my cds into that case. My suggestion to them is they
fix the problem. I paid for a set that now has improper working storing
case.

5 star spoken language program. 1 star for case problem.

Any suggestion on how to hold the cds in the publisher's case is
welcome.