Customer Reviews

Teach Yourself Russian Conversation (3CDs + Guide) (Teach Yourself Conversation Packs)

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

 

 

This is the second Russian language course I've bought. I found the CDs of this course very difficult to use as a learning tool. Specifically, the problem I have is the way the CDs teach you Russian in sentence form. The course does not break down the sentence into what is the meaning of each word. For example, "oo vas yest...?" is translated as "do you have any...?" The literal translation is: "with you is...?" So you're left thinking that "oo" means "do" when it actually means "with." This may seem a small point, but when loose translation like this is used, you miss the exact translation of each word and you don't get a sense of how Russians construct their sentences and what each word means. This loose translation method is used throughout the course. Very frustrating.

Another frustrating part of this course is that the English translator spends too much time describing the situations of each conversation. For example, time is spent talking about setting up the scene with the fact that the couple is now going to order from a restaurant. That is obvious when they start to order. Wasted time.

By contrast, the first course I bought was Earworms Russian, which did a great job of breaking down each sentence into what each word means, both literally and figuratively, and repeating and translating the sentence word for word, a few times. If I had not bought Earworms first, I would be completely lost with these CDs.

On the plus side, this course does give more of a sense of how masculine and feminine words change endings of other verbs and nouns in the context of a sentence. It also gives more of a sense of real conversation between two people.

The booklet is useless. It breaks down each Russian word into the phonetic pronunciation with so many apostrophies that it's impossible to figure out where one word ends and another begins in a sentence. The Earworms booklet does a much better job of both phonetic pronunciation and actual Cyrillic script.

So bottom line is this CD course is not as good a learning course as I expected.

This is the third product from the "Teach Yourself Russian..." series that I have purchased and they are all outstanding! I have purchased other products by Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone to try to learn Russian but this series is the best I have found.

I haven't made it too far into this yet. This is because I also purchased the Learn Russian in Your Car series which I have found to be more to my taste.

The very first section in this course is quite repetitive to the point where I was losing interest fast. There are only so many times you can listen to and repeat the exact same conversation over and over. I would have preferred the course designer include more lessons rather than put so much repetition on the CD. If one nees to repeat something, that is fairly easy to do on modern day CD players.

My one big complaint about this course is that the inluded course text does not have the conversations in cyrillic (Russian). It is all spelled out phonetically in English. My opinion is that it should have both.

Overall, it is a good course for basic conversational Russian. For me, I've been reading the Penguin book at home, and then using the Learn Russian in your Car course which I like a lot. This course, Ive not been using as much, but I think if I hadn't also purchased the others, that I would be satisfied with this one.

Wowee, this CD collection literally "throws" you into the Russian language and literally trains your ear to pick up the highs and lows of Russian diction. The accompanying language manual "guide" also does a decent job.

Some cons: the voice guide goes very fast, and her quick British accent makes the language introduction sections a little "off." Why? The guide's rendition of the language is COMPLETELY different from the native speaker's version of textbook Russian, like ordering in a restaurant.

Other than that, this is a fun ear-training CD to chirp to, as you make your way through rush-hour traffic. Dashvidanya!

Overall Grade: B+ (the guide talks way too fast and she pronounces the words a little exaggerated)

Excellent start for beginners in Russian. You don't need the Cyrillic alaphabet as the words are printed in phonics. (However, if you get really interested in Russian, these CDs will tempt you to tackle that alaphabet.) It is very a British approach (which I like). If you are looking for quick conversations for travel, you will find this book very helpful.