Customer Reviews

Teach Me Russian (Paperback and Audio Cassette): A Musical Journey Through the Day

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

 

 

I thought this was a very cute introduction to Russian. The tape is a great idea because you can tell if you are pronouncing words and phrases correctly. It could have been improved by using traditional Russian songs instead of translated American songs. Also--I could live without the guy oversinging the songs in English. All in all, a very good way to support your child's interest in Russian language.

I am suprised by the other reviews on here. I feel like I must be missing something.

I guess the music is cute to listen to and probably more enjoyable for my 9 yr old son but as far as learning anything from it, I can't possibley imagine how anyone could.

The tape has songs, the book has some (? who knows, maybe all --can't read it) of the lyrics written in Russian without any translation. There is NO TRANSLATION in the book or on the tape (with the exception for when they are counting to 10 on the tape).

That's it!! Nothing more! How are we supposed to learn anything from that?? I feel like we wasted our money.

I enjoyed listening to the songs on this tape, which was a pleasent change of pace from repeating phrases from other language programs I use.
The main problem I had with it was the song translations in the back. For the songs that are well known in English, they simply write down word for word the lyrics of the English version, even though the actual Russian translation would be different. For example, for the song "head, shoulders, knees and toes," the Russian translation is written "head, shoulders, knees and toes." Something didn't seem right while I was learning the song, so I started looking up the words one by one. Instead of "head," the first word in the Russian version was "mouth;" the second was "nose," instead of shoulder, and so on. You can see how this would create problems for anyone picking up vocabulary words from the songs.
I didn't notice this in the traditional Russian songs that had no well known English versions, however. These songs turned out to be my favorites, especially the "Two Happy Geese."

My husband is Russian and my kids understand and speak Russian, This tape and book helped me learn to pick out words when I hear them in a conversation. Now my in-laws have conversations and I answer them in English.

Also my daughter loves singing the songs.

Our family just returned from an extended stay in Russia, and my 11-year learned bits and pieces of the language. This tape doesn't really teach her any new language, but she loves to hear familiar songs sung in Russian. We feel that it is unlikely that Russian children sing "Wheels on the bus," but she likes listening to it in Russian anyway. Even children who do not already know any Russian will recognize some of the songs on the tape.