Customer Reviews

Teach Yourself Beginner's Russian Script (Teach Yourself...Script)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ok, so you want to learn Russian. Perhaps you're thinking of visiting the country, or maybe you just want to decipher that odd-looking Cyrillic alphabet. In either case, start with "Teach Yourself Beginner's Russian Script"! By spending a few hours with this book, you'll be MUCH better prepared to follow up with the many Russian phrasebooks for tourists. I've tried the reverse -- bought the phrasebooks and tried to memorize the sayings, but this way is much better. If you can learn to "decode" the Russian alphabet first, you'll find that you already know many, many Russian words, just by the way they sound. Dr. West combines a very logical approach to the Russian alphabet with fun exercises. You will find yourself reading Russian words by page 3. I was a professional linguist for many years and have studied Czech, French and German, so believe me when I say that this is really a nice little book for getting started in Russian. Will you be able to speak Russian when you finish this book? Of course not! But you'll have the right tools to decode that darn alphabet and for continuing on in learning Russian phrases. Do yourself a favor and don't skip this important first step.

Before you start to learn Russian, I highly recommend that you get this book FIRST!!! I'm presently teaching myself Russian, and it is best to start by learning to decipher, first, the Cyrillic alphabet before learning Russian grammar.

And it's quite useful! Recently I was in the Russian neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, waiting for the bus that would take me to Kingsborough Community College to attend my swim class. As that bus usually takes a while to come, I used that time to try to mentally translate the Russian names of the stores in the area! A bit challenging, yes. But I had fun doing it! Like most people, the Cyrillic alphabet always seemed to me so imposing and frightening. But it really isn't once you've learned it. Now, whenever I come across words in Cyrillic in my routine travels, the first thing I often do is try to mentally interpret it. My desire to learn Russian came after viewing and listening to the Russian-language version of "The Amphibian Man" (1961) on DVD. Which I proudly, and happily, own!

Chapters 6 and 7 of 'TY Beginner's Russian Script' teach you how to write in cursive Russian. I'm presently in Chapter 6. Writing in cursive Russian can be a little tricky at times . But I intend to keep right on practicing until I get the cursives down pat.

I also own 'Teach Yourself Beginner's Russian' and 'Living Language Russian', which I would later use to learn how to speak in Russian, and learn the pronunciation of Russian words.

But this is an excellent aid in learning the Russian alphabet. Out of all my 'Teach Yourself' texts in French, Italian and Brazilian Portuguese, 'Teach Yourself Beginner's Russian Script' is the smallest and most compact! I love this book!

I was hoping for a book that would teach me penmanship. I have all sorts of resources telling me what Cyrillic looks like, both in print and cursive. I have no idea how I'm supposed to get there. Do I start from the left and move my pen to the right? Do I start at the right and move my pen to the left? Somehow I had the idea that this book would tell me. It doesn't.

*On the other hand*, I found that it was more handy than either websites, software, or another book I had purchased, in that it provided some room to practice my letters, and I liked that it repeats things and teaches small words and words that sound like English words right away, because now I actually have a bit of a Russian vocabulary. I can honestly say that this book, more than my other tools, was helpful in getting the letters in my head and making them stick there.

I will be buying another book in this series, "Teach Yourself Russian Grammar", in part due to my satisfaction with this book.

Now. If anyone knows how I can learn how to actually write these letters correctly, feel free to look up my profile and e-mail me.

I used this book to teach myself the Russian script and found it very helpful when I needed to decode Cyrillic in Russia. It took me through the content slowly and clearly enough, with enough examples and opportunities to practice, that I did not get confused or frustrated. However, the pronounciation guides for the letters rely on English equivalents, not exact matches. To go on to speak Russian, I strongly advise that you buy a tape rather than merely a phrasebook or book-based course because many of the sounds are so different to English.

With the help of this book I have easily and quite enjoyably mangaed to master all the 33 initially queer-looking letters of the russian alphabet in three days. I have swept with growing excitement through the first four chapters, in which the printed alphabet is introduced, and by the time I have finished them I have practically overcome the greatest obstacle of learning the basics of reading and writing in any language: phonics.

The other six chapters teach you, with the same calrity and brevity as the previous chapters, the cursive script, and build your vocabulary in topics, such as town and transport and hobbies. If you have so far been dumbfounded or intimidated by the Russian script, well, quench your fears and get yourself a copy of this book.

I had a basic grasp of the Cyrillic alphabet already having used free online Russian language resources and thought that this book would clear up some of its peculiarities. It did not. The pronunciations of the Cyrillic x or that "shsh" character are not explained completely, and the alternative pronunciations of some characters are not mentioned at all. The basics of the Cyrillic alphabet are taught in excessive detail, while missing are some of the important inconsistencies common in Russian words.

"Teach Yourself Beginner's Russian" provides a much more concise and yet more detailed overview of the Cyrillic alphabet. Combined with sufficient Russian text which can be easily found online (I used the flight manual of a Russian MiG-29 "Fulcrum" fighter aircraft), the Cyrillic alphabet is not difficult to learn.

Most Russian language instruction books cover the script in a few pages in the intro or first chapter. "Look at them, and memorize them" is the tacit instruction, because after that, you move forward as if the Russian alphabet is second nature.

But these books don't account for the various ways that the cyrillic script can confuse and blunt the actual learning of Russian. While in reality the alphabet is not that difficult to learn, most people taking up Russian are very used to a different alphabet, which can make reading Russian more confusing than if you knew no alphabet at all.

So here we have this book, which covers the script and various points of Russian language thorougly and easily. You learn capital letters, script, and typed versions of each letter. There is even reading comprehension.

Spend a few weeks with this book and it is not possible that the Russian script can be an obstacle to learning Russian, which is exactly what this book aims to cure.

TEACH YOURSELF BEGINNER'S RUSSIAN SCRIPT, by Dr. Daphne West, is a concise introduction to the cyrillic alphabet as used in the Russian language. It begins by teaching the letters a few at a time, then introduces the cursive form of the alphabet, and finally gives practice on reading common words.

I read the book to prepare for a vacation in Kyiv and was a bit disappointed that the book was written much more for future students of the Russian language than for tourists. While there are sections that deal with vocabulary of town and transport, much of the book introduces vocabulary that is not everyday. My other complaint is that cyrillic letters found in other former-soviet languages are not taught in the book. I understand that this is beginner's *Russian* script, but a two-page appendix that shows other cyrillic letters and their sounds would have been most helpful.

Also, for those hoping to finally master the difficult cursive form of the alphabet, you may be disappointed to see that there are only four pages dedicated to it.

All in all, if you are looking to learn just the alphabet for whatever reason, TEACH YOURSELF BEGINNER'S RUSSIAN SCRIPT is probably the best value, as it is less expensive than buying a full-fledged Russian textbook. It does have its flaws, however.

This might be fine for someone who wanted practice in reading the Russian alphabet. However, I made the mistake of taking the title literally. I can read (or at least sound out) Russian books, but I have trouble reading or writing cursive Russian, which often looks quite different from the printed font. There is hardly any material on handwriting the language.

I was delighted with this book, and thrilled at how quickly I picked up the skill of reading Russian typed print. I was even more impressed when I used the book to teach my hisband in 10 minutes the rudaments of the Russian Alphabet and he can now point out the letters to me. All from 10 minutes of study.

Short simple lessons with excercises at the end of the chapters and each chapter builds on the previous one. Highly recomended book.
**Will not teach HOW to write the Script**