5 comments about Nachalo Book 1 (Student Edition) + Listening Comprehension Audio CD.

1. I think this book is pretty good at teaching a student Russian, as long as the student has a fluent speaker teaching the material.



2. My class has been using the Nachalo series for two years now, and have also tried other russian study books as supplimentary information. While some other books had better exercises, the Nachalo series had much better discriptions and much more vocabulary. overall, we came to the conclusion that the Nachalo series is one of the best language learning series we have encountered.



3. Although I gather that this textbook is one of few Russian texts for English speakers to include extensive multimedia activities, and that is why it is often chosen, I would have dispensed with them to have a more organized text.
   
   This book did not present grammar in an organized way-- a single case might be taught over three [not consecutive] chapters, and the adjective endings for two or three cases crammed into one. There were comparatively few grammar activities, and the vocabulary learned seemed dictated by the activities of the characters in each chapter, whether or not this vocabulary was generally useful.
   
   In the second chapter, for example, much of the vocabulary is the names of instruments and musicians-- but we never learned body parts or colors. Telling time and the date came several chapters later; phrases that might be useful for traveling were spread out across the entire book or never encountered at all.
   
   At the end of a year of Russian study with this book, I've retained almost nothing, and it isn't just me-- everyone who took the course with me felt that the text was confusing and placed emphasis on the wrong material. Although I had an hour of instruction in this language four days a week, it was still a struggle to use what I'd learned in any meaningful way, despite having learned two other languages and picked them up relatively quickly. Having used several other language texts at the same level as this one, in two other languages, this text is hands-down the worst.



4. I have been teaching Russian for 11 years and have had difficulty finding a good first-year textbook. Golosa left me wanting more, so I thought I'd try Nachalo. Big mistake. The dearth of logical, simple, and effective first-year Russian books is the main reason I am in the middle of writing my own first-year Russian text.
   This book is organized in a haphazard manner, the logic of which I have yet to discern. For example, some of the grammatical cases (genitive, accusative, etc.) are covered over 2-3 chapters - and not always consecutive chapters - and the information is given out piecemeal. This is frustrating for an experienced instructor and I know from my students' comments that it is even more confusing for them.
   Another problem is that this book is long on pictures and little cutsie-pie dialogues, but short on useful exercises. There are other problems as well, but the issues I outline here are enough to recommend to anyone considering this book to look elsewhere.



5. I imagine that this book was once a clever, cohesive text. It was smartly combined with audio materials and a marginally competent artist. Then a large storm/animal crashed through the writers' office the night before the final copy was due. The authors threw together whatever pages they could find without severe damage in the morning and called it a wrap. And then they gave it a worthless index.
   
   The result? You're up at one in the morning searching for an thorough explanation/examples of the instrumental case and you have to dig through 300+ pages to find it, closely inspecting each page because new cases are introduced at random points in the book (and on the top, middle and bottom of pages and in similar black text) and "instrumental" isn't in the index. Oh, "chess" is in the index, "backward buildup, principle of" is in the index. But case forms? Not so much.
   
   I love languages (I'm a foreign languages major). I love learning languages.
   
   This book does not help.

5 comments about 5000 Russian Words: With All Their Inflected Forms and Other Grammatical Information : A Russian-English Dictionary With an English-Russian Word Ind.

1. I remember my own copy from 13 years ago quite well. One of the most entertaining aspects of this inflection/conjugation guide is that you can open it up to the basic form of any of the vocabulary words, wave the book, pages spread, in a non-Russian-speaker's face, and then proceed through 3 more full pages of inflacted forms, bragging "these are all forms of the same word."
   
   Ideas like case inflection, grammatical gender, and verbal aspect (just to start) are pretty much alien to a native English speaker, this book proves an invaluable guide in the beginning years of study.
   
   I only docked it one star due to the incredibly poor production values of Slavica Publications at the time when this text was published.



2. If you are a Russian student, this and the Kenneth Katzner dictionary are the best $60 you can spend. I've had this book for 11 years and rely on it when writing formally in Russian. Worth every penny.



3. This is simply the most important reference work in Russian - along with a good reference grammar and a good English-Russian-English dictionary (Kenneth Katzner is best for American words, but it's best, I've found to buy him PLUS Oxford) - that you will ever possess. You MUST have it. Buy it NOW. I've started to peddle these around our Russian students and am getting people to bite quite a bit on it. I have never NOT found a word I've looked up in it, along with full conjugation and correspending perfective/imperfective verg(if verb). Same with nouns. I get full inflection, with sometimes other information.



4. I believe the previous review is too critical of this text. Of the other Russian books of this type with which I'm familiar (501 Russian Verbs, Big Silver Book of Russian Verbs), none approach the amount of material in 5000 Russian Words. Simply stated, it has virtually every verb in these books, plus many more verbs and non-verbs. Almost every inch of each page is covered with text. It is NOT a dictionary, but it does have most words you're likely to use (for everything else, pick up the Katzner dictionary). It may not be perfect, but it's the best book of its kind.
   
   Also, I would argue geographical terms such as the names of US states are important conversational components. As someone about to move to a Russian speaking country, I imagine knowing the correct spelling and use of my home state is going to be useful in explaining where I come from.



5. I bought this book and am returning it. It is killed by its formatting - or total lack thereof. It looks like pages upon pages of words and their declensions were printed up in an Excel spreadsheet and photocopied. No layout whatsoever. None. It's all but unreadable and unusable because of it.

5 comments about English Grammar for Students of Russian (English grammar series).

1. This book (actually one in a series of books; others are study guides to Spanish, Latin, French, Italian, German, Japanese, and a 'reverse' book for Spanish speakers learning English) is unique in its concept...the examples are generally well thought-out and easy to understand. In the attempt to be very concise, the material was limited. There are few examples given, and the accompanying grammar information such as all the Russian personal pronouns is not given in the chapter pertaining to each topic. One must refer to a textbook for this. I realize that this book is not a replacement for a textbook, but for better and faster learning, having this information in table form, along with more extensive examples using all different forms of, say, the personal pronouns, would be very helpful. I still highly recommend this book. I wish I had had it two years ago when I started learning Russian on my own.



2. As a teacher of English as a foreign language, I have found this book to be invaluable when a Russian-speaking student is particularly stuck on a grammatical area. A small example: A student of mine was frustratingly unable to remember to include articles in her sentences. A glance at page 13 made this more understandable: there ARE no articles in Russian!

   I haven't used this book enough to say whether it is great overall or not, but I *can* say that each time I have used it, the knowledge it has given me has been worth the price of the book.




3. Great book. It will help you identify what parts of English grammar you've forgotten because you've never needed to discuss it.

   Suddenly, in Russian class, you must identify parts of speech and tenses and so on. The understanding of our grammar is so very important in the successful learning of Russian. Russian uses its grammar to identify the function of words in a sentence. That is - the subject pronoun could appear anywhere in a sentence. The verb could, too. The adjectives could be thrown anywhere. (This happens mostly in poetry, but it's occurred in those terribly long sentences in periodicals and books.) It's the declension of the word that lets the reader/listener know if that word is the subject pronoun or the direct object pronoun, etc.

   In order to keep up with the complexity of Russian, you must know English grammar first. That way when you are trying to identify parts of a sentence, you will not be slowed down by having to figure out what the instructor is talking about when she refers to grammar "you should know" since you've learned it in elementary/jr. high school.

   BTW, I learned to speak, read and write Russian first on my own, then on an advanced level in college and grad school. I do not believe Russian is a difficult language. Teachers tend not to teach students how to learn it properly.




4. Then this is the perfect study companion for native English speakers learning the Russian Language! I used this book while in college earning my BA in Russian and found this book to be invaluable during my studies.
   
   This book covers basic English grammar in the simplest of terms in short concise lessons that we'll help students learn Russian easier. Lots of examples are given in both English and Russian on the grammar being discussed in each chapter. At the end of each lesson are exercises to test your knowledge on the grammar topic discussed with an answer key key at the end of the book to see how well you learned the particular grammar topic that was discussed.



5. This is one of the most useful books for the teaching and studying of elementary Russian language. So many students today have no grounding in English grammar and, because Russian is an inflected language (noun cases, little word order), it is crucial that the terms of grammar and the patterns of English be understood before and while a student learns the declensions and grammatical necessities of Russian. Great book!

5 comments about The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom.

1. Well, the story itself may be untrue, and come to a point where it's even farcical in what it tries to put over on readers (seeing a pair of menacing yetis in the Himalayas while crossing the mountains in winter with all of rusty wire and animal dung as provisions). But! This is a moot point, because as a tale, it's first-rate. If you can allow the fraud (and there's no real reason to get upset about it), there are large rewards to be had from The Long Walk. The story of the trek to freedom is incredible and very compelling, page b' page. The prose isn't the best, but it serves its singular point well in keeping the action moving and gripping. It's entirely designed in this way, to be a terrific story, and true or not, it only assists itself with all its narrative tendencies.



2. This book has been thoroughly reviewed on Amazon already. I add this review in the hopes on contributing something to the discussion.
   
   This is the story of Slavomir Rawicz, a Polish cadet who was arrested by the Soviets on false charges and sentenced to prison in Siberia for 25 years, and of his amazing escape south, across 4,000 miles past Lake Baikal, through Mongolia, across the Gobi Desert, over the Himalayas, and finally into British India. The book is engaging, extremely well-written, heart-breaking and inspiring.
   
   The problem is that it may not be true. I agree with other commenters that the book loses all of its value as an inspirational story if it was fabricated. My five-star review assumes that it is true.
   
   Critics of the book can rely on two types of evidence: internal and external. (I reject objections that such a journey is impossible. Modern adventurers have retraced Rawicz' steps; granted, they were much better equipped, but they also weren't fleeing for their lives).
   
   The external evidence shows that Rawicz was released from prison and sent back to Poland; that the British (probably) have no record of Rawicz or his companions arriving from the Tibetan plateau; that no one has ever located or identified his companions. The first objection can be met by pointing out that the Soviet Cheka was not necessarily above forging documents, especially if necessary to avoid a humiliating admission that seven prisoners escaped. The second objection is undermined by the history of the book's criticisms -- for years, people pointed out that the Soviets had no record of Rawicz' imprisonment at all. The discovery of his papers is a dramatic illustration that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
   
   The final point is simply a mystery. One would expect that Rawicz's companions would try to contact him after the book was published. But that assumes his companions survived long enough to do so -- they arrived in India in 1942, and the book was not published until 1956. It is possible they died, or returned to their homes in communist countries and never saw the book, or were imprisoned again. Of course, all we can do is speculate.
   
   For me, the more interesting question concerns the internal evidence. Is Rawicz' description of a Soviet prison camp consistent with actual practice? When Rawicz crossed the border into Mongolia, he described a series of signs marking the border -- is his description accurate? He describes the clothing, houses and certain material culture in Mongolia, China and Tibet -- is it consistent with local practice at that time?
   
   Adventurer Peter Fleming supposedly challenged the internal evidence as unrealistic shortly after the book was published, but I have not found a copy of Fleming's specific charges, so I cannot evaluate them. In addition, according to a wikipedia article on Rawicz, Fleming supposedly discovered military records that contradicted Rawicz' claims. One must wonder why Fleming would bother with such external evidence if he thought the case against the internal evidence was so clear.



3. Rawicz's trek is an amazing story, and a great read. His voice comes through so strongly, and authentically that you find ourself with him almost every step of his journey.



4. The long walk is one hell of an adventure. It is well written and is difficult to put down once you start to read it. I am sceptical whether it is true. Walking across the Kobi desert with no food or water is a bit difficult to believe. I think a bit more research needs to be done to vouch for the veracity of this story. Whether the book is fact or fiction it is still a very interesting story to read.



5. The Long Walk is one of the greatest books I have ever read. The decades long battle over its authenticity is, I think, a testament to its power. Only a work of literature that brings such palpable reality to the reader could have withstood the firestorm of controversy surrounding it from so many corners.
   
   Concerning its authenticity, I think there should be some humility shown on all sides. There are those who would desire to believe it simply because it is a great tale. Others would seek to "burst the bubble" of all involved out of a cynical doubt in the human capacity for greatness.
   
   Several considerations should be made when considering the recently revealed documents disproving Rawicz's claims: 1. Rawicz' story is too detailed to have been entirely fabricated. Whether or not he himself participated in the events he describes is doubtful, but that the events themselves or something like them occurred is, in my mind, undeniable; 2. Placing a great deal of trust in Soviet documents from the Stalin era has never been a wise course to take. The fact that Rawicz, according to these documents, rejoined the Polish Army the day after he was released from the Gulag (remarkable considering the debilitating conditions he obviously suffered from in later life due to his imprisonment), make it seem a little too clean.
   
   The most likely occurrence, in my own mind, is that Rawicz appropriated the story from a group of survivors who underwent a journey similar to the one he describes. The BBC article makes this clear:
   
   "A clue may come from the story of Rupert Mayne, a British intelligence officer in wartime India. In Calcutta in 1942, he interviewed three emaciated men, who claimed to have escaped from Siberia.
   
   Mayne always believed their story was the same as that of The Long Walk - but telling the story years later, he could not remember their names. So the possibility remains that someone - if not Rawicz - achieved this extraordinary feat."
   
   Whatever the case, the story Rawicz communicates possesses a majesty and power that can only belong to the annals of Truth.

5 comments about The New Analytical Greek Lexicon.

1. As a student of New Testament Greek, I find this book to be an invaluable addition to my library. Every word in the Greek New Testament is listed alphabetically, with a cross reference to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, and the Greek word's definition, location, and source. The lexicon also contains charts of the definite article, the declension of nouns and adjectives, and the conjugation of verbs. It includes information on the use of tenses, moods, and cases. Contracted forms of verbs are not listed in the lexicon, but charts of these forms are provided.
   
   This book enables Greek students to find the definitive meaning and usage of each word in the Greek New Testament, and I highly recommend it.



2. Sou estudante de teologia no Brasil e o livro de Perschbacher tem sido fundamental nos trabalhos de exegese bíblica.



3. In my early years in NT Greek I found this volume quite helpful. Every so often I still refer to it, if my mind seems to be playing tricks on me.



4. In a world of relativism and unbridled inclusiveness, we need a clear understanding of God's Word. It is life changing. The Bible does not contain but is the absolute truth of God. As one studies God's Word in the original languages (in this case NT koine Greek), untold treasures are revealed concerning what the Lord has for those who believe. We get a better understanding of the mind of God, the value of life and the salvation that every soul needs through Jesus Christ. I highly recommend it.



5. This lexicon lists every single word found in the Greek NT. By this, I do not mean there is just a reference for agapao (love), but every form that agapao appears in the NT. So, for instance, in Ephesians 5:25, is the word agapate. Looking up this specific word, you'll find it is derived from agapao, but that it is the 2nd person, plural, present, active, subjunctive or imperative form of the word. So this book is invaluable to the person learning Greek and for studying and translating the Greek NT.
   
   It is especially helpful as it list words found not only in the Critical Text like many lexicons but also words and word forms found only in the Textus Receptus and the Majority Text. It even indicates when a word in a particular verse is in a different form in each of these Greek texts and when a word form only occurs in one of these Greek texts.
   
   I purchased this lexicon when I was studying Greek at Denver Seminary. And it was invaluable in learning Greek and for studying the Greek NT thereafter. When I felt God was leading me to translation my own version of the NT (Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament: Third Edition - ALT), I purchased the BibleWorks 7 software program. And it provides the parsing details for words in its auto-info window.
   
   However, sometimes BibleWorks parsing does not look correct to me. So I keep this book on hand, by my computer monitor. And in such cases, I will double-check BibleWorks parsing by this book. And sometimes I still refer to this book just for the lexical information. So even with computer software, this book is still valuable.

5 comments about Russian: Lonely Planet Phrasebook.

1. As the founder of Discovering Russia, a company devoted to enriching cultural and business travel to Russia, we are always looking for good travel books to recommend for our clients. "Lonely Planet Russian Phrasebook" is such a volume for those who are trying to learn more than the barest of phrases.
   
   Many guidebooks include a few pages in the back with a Russian alphabet and brief phrase guide (including Lonely Planet's various guides to Russia). This is a good book for those looking to learn a few phrases as well as basic grammar. The size is perfect for a traveler to supplement their basic guidebook when touring.
   
   As most with most other dictionaries, "Lonely Planet Russian Phrasebook" does NOT have clear syllable stress marks, which are very important in Russian. Also, many of the phrase choices are almost archaic in contemporary Russia (and the inclusion of vulgarity is a complete waste of space).
   
   The "Lonely Planet Russian Phrasebook" is useful bridge between the brief phrase lists in guidebooks and a minicourse in Russia. It is useful for travelers to carry around during their journey of Discovering Russia.
   
   Marc David Miller, Discovering Russia, New York



2. Lonely Planet Russian is basically two helpings of basic grammar followed by many sections of phases you won't likely ever use. For instance, the guide provides several pages each of lists of occupations, nationalities, college majors, items of stationary, jewellery, colors, insects, flowers, aquatic sports(!), electrical appliances, camping terms,and so on. Also provided are pat phrases to employ at a hotel's front desk, at a doctor's, at the optometrist, and eating out, among other mini-sections. The book, in effect, is set up to be taken out to be used once a day, if that. It's an improvement on Berlitz phrase books, but not by much. (Berlitz simply divides their books into 10 or so color coded sections such as: "sightseeing," "relaxing," "shopping," travelling around," "money," "eating out," etc.)
   
   Rough Guide Russian, in comparison, is structured completely differently. The first 50 pages gives you numbers, days of the week, time, etc., and a 20 minute course in Russian grammar. Oh no, you might be saying, but it is presented very simply. For instance it presents a handful of common verbs and their conjugations. So on one page you can see how to say "I have," "he has, " etc. and "I like," "he/ she likes," etc.
   
   The rest of the book is split between an English-Russian dictionary (130 pages approx), a Russian-English dictionary (70 pages, approx.), and a 20 page menu reader. What makes the English-Russian dictionary pages unique, though, is that most every other page (at least) has dialogue boxes relating to the most useful word(s) on that particular page. For instance, when you thumb through the book for the word "live," you get the word itself, but also the phrases "I live in..." and "Where do you live?" It'll take you 10 minutes to find such a phrase in Berlitz or Lonely Planet in their "getting to know others' section. But because Rough Guide is structured as a dictionary, with hundreds of really useful phrases highlighted in boxes within, you can access something you want to say rather swiftly...and actually deliver it just a minute or so after looking for it. Add the grammar section, where you learn useful verbs and how to conjugate their past tenses, and the number section, and you can learn easily to chat with someone about where you are from, where you are going, where you have traveled thus far, what you like/liked, and so on. Likewise, knowing have to say "have" make sit easily to ask whether a hotel has rooms, whether the room has a shower (after thumbing through the book for the word for shower), etc. And when the answer comes back that the hotel doesn't have one, or they say "we have...," you can actually catch what they are saying.
   
   If still not persuaded, next time you're in a bookstore compare a Berlitz, a Lonely Planet, and a Rough Guide language phrase book side by side. If you just want a book for emergencies (say, breaking a leg, etc.) then Berlitz and/or Lonely Planet phrase books will serve you well...in your pocket until you are faced with such a situation, since they do have many more specific terms (like 50 different parts of the the body), but if you really want to be able to say some things in Russian on a daily basis during your trip you'll be much better served by The Rough Guide to Russian Dictionary Phrasebook 3 (Rough Guide Phrasebooks). Cheers



3. This little book helped me immensely on my trip to Russia... basic survival skills were laid out up at the front and the pronounciation was dead on. The social section produced some smiles with the friends that I met.



4. If you just want to learn basic Russian, enough to get you through without looking like a total ignoramous, then this is for you. It has useful phrases along with sounding the words out for you. It is categorized nicely into situations with colored binding. A very helpful little (pocket sized) book.



5. I personally love the lonely planet translation series of books. This one is fantastic in how it breaks the subjects down into easy categories. I also love that certain adult conversations one might have are not left out.

5 comments about Teach Yourself Beginner's Russian Script.

1. 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.



2. I found this book just right for learning the Russian script. It is taken in gradual steps with lots of cognates so you don't get bogged down with vocabulary learning. The book keeps your interest using many tips on Russian life and introducing pertinent (practical) words which will be useful on any visit to the country. Also examples of ads, tickets, announcements, etc. to give you a real life idea of how the script is used. I didn"t give it five stars because it does not tell you how to form the letters of the handwriting and you will have to look closely at the examples to find out which letters are higher than the others and which go below the line. Would recommend this along with a basic Pimsleur audio course before tackling a grammar.



3. I got this book through InterLibraryLoan for a buck something and I was done with it in less than three weeks. By that time I could read Russian print about 100% and Russian script in a couple textbooks I have around 75%. This was only a couple of months ago and I am still learning to write and read the cursive script. But for even the new price this is a painless way to learn how to read and write Russian letters. The language itself takes somewhat longer (doh!) to learn. But this is a good start.



4. I have purchased all three of the "Teach Yourself...Russian..." books and each one is excellent. This book teaches you the Cyrillic alphabet and the transliteration (conversion) of the alphabet into Latin characters. This will help any English-speaking person learn how to pronounce Russian words.



5. Outstanding refresher for someone who studied the language 50 years ago! Very quick & wasy to use!

5 comments about Russian For Dummies (For Dummies (Language & Literature)).

1. This book is quite handy...that is if you don't ever plan on reading anything in Russia. I don't understand why there isn't any cyrillic, except for the alphebet (big help!) at the beginning, you would think the being able to read Russian would help. Besides this slight error the book is quite good. A recomendation though would be to buy a cheap russian-english dictionary with this book.



2. If you have never studied Russian, and expect to be in country for only a short period as a tourist and want to learn a couple of phrases to get around, this book will do the job admirably. For anyone who wants to really learn the language to become reasonably fluent and conversant in the language, this is not the book for you.
   
   The most obvious problem involves the decision of the authors not to use the Cyrillic alphabet at all, but rather to transliterate everything into the Roman alphabet. This will obviously pose a tremendous problem should the student then actually travel to a Russian speaking country and find everything written in Cyrillic; and worse, the pronunciation guides become pretty confusing and hard to use. The conversations on the CD are vital to gaining real understanding of the pronunciation of the language.
   
   The book is broken down into chapters based on general areas of interest to the tourist, i.e. introductions, food in restaurants, directions, getting around, and so on. These chapters then give you useful phrases, and reasonably short vocabulary to master, all again in Roman alphabet. The categories are well thought out, presented in a format very easy to assimilate, and with a certain amount of humor which makes the medicine go down a little easier.
   
   The authors make clear that the aim of the book is to give you access to some words, phrases, and sentence building tools which will make it possible to communicate the basics in Russian, and not to achieve fluency. That's fine so long as the student knows that going in, although if that is all you want you might be better off with the Pimsleur CD sets (though these are expensive). If you want to achieve greater control over the language, skip this book entirely, and work with a program that immerses you in the Cyrillic alphabet from the start. Using this book in conjunction with a course that works in Cyrillic will only confuse the student.



3. I like to content and would have used this book but...
   
   When I visited Russia, I had two maps of Moscow one in Cyrillic and one in Latin letters. Which do you think I used? I used the Cyrillic. Not because I could read it, but I could look at the street sign and find out where i was standing. I could not say it but the letters matched and i knew where I was. The latin letter map was impossible for reading the street sign.
   
   You can learn to speak Russian and not read the Cyrillic letters using audio lessons. You can not learn correctly speaking Russian using latin letters. The sounds do not always match the same letter. Until the book uses Cyrillic letters for Russian words, I can not recommend this work.
   
   The author did much hard work of very good quality. Without the Cyrillic it is poor quality book to use for learning Russian.



4. I have been learning/speaking Russian for 10 years now and I saw the book at the bookstore to see if I could use it to improve things that I missed out from classes I took with Serafima Gettys (one of the co-authors) while she was at Stanford. (I took first year Russian from her).
   
   The book seems to be targeting tourists rather than people who are into learning Russian for good. Does not teach any grammar, no cyrillic and not enough vocabulary. I think the book is mistargeted. For tourists, you need a book that is easy to carry around that have the key sentences or images to point to. Berlitz makes them, and a few other companies. Normally, the dummies series is supposed to help you learn the basics of the language, and here it's teaching no Cyrillic, so the reader will not have the opportunity to learn the language easily, and misses out there, then the lessons are not useful either. They're way too limited and confusing after they get a bit complex in the later chapters. It definitely needs a chapter in cyrillic, and needs some grammar.
   
   I must say that I am not fond of the teaching style in the book. It's hard to read also. It could be fun reading in the toilet if you want though... Russian is the most difficult language among 7 languages I speak, so I highly recommend getting a serious book to teach you.



5. This book teaches you the basics of Russian in a useful way. You don't have to read straight through either. You can skip to the part you want, like writing letters. I don't think it will teach you Russian on it's own. I suggest investing in the Rosetta Stone Rosetta Stone V3: Russian, Level 1 program and use this book to complement it. The problem is that this book does not use the Cyrillic alphabet. It gives you the basics of the Cyrillic alphabet, but won't teach you to use it. So, you need to learn to read Russian in another book.
   
   Overall: The book is fun and easy to read, it is chock full of great information, and the language CD is useful. However, you will need other assistance in learning Russian, especially for pronunciation.

5 comments about Oxford Russian Dictionary.

1. I have many Russian English dictionaries, including some you can only get in Russia and some written entirely in Russian and this is by far the most complete and helpful dictionary I have. I use it almost exclusively.
   
   I must confess though that I don't use the English-> Russian part very often. I'm usually translating from Russian. I usally learn new words from movies and books and am not looking up so many words just from English. In correspondence I use it and it always has what I need.
   
   You can look up some of the most clever dialogue in films with this dictionary.
   
   Of course, a dictionary is not a grammar book and there are stylistic things about Russian that create ennumerable combinations of useage that a dictionary cannot address.
   
   There are some complaints I have but they are not addressed by any other dictionaries I have seen. For example, the ppp is troublesome because it's hard get the stress right and they try to put all the most common ones in there but they miss them sometimes but so do all the other dictionaries. In that case you have to guess from grammar rules or consult the real dictionaries for such that are written totally in Russian.
   
   The only places it fails me are in situations where you need to go to a Russian dictionary that is written entirely in Russian. There are a few classics used there. It would not be possible in general to create such a dictionary for English speakers because the assumptions about language familiarity and grammar could not be met by any but fairly advanced users and in that case, why not just use the actual dictionary Russian speakers use?
   
   If you want to buy one dictionary, get this one. Don't get the concise version though, spend the money and get the full version. It's worth it!



2. Usually my reviews pertain to classical-music since that's my biggest field of interest by far! However, of all the several dictionaries I've so far been consulting relative to various translations and other work that these days has necessitated my dealing with the Russian language, this most certainly is the best! Pocket and concise dictionaries just won't hack it with my type of work; and this one truly is worth it!!! It has a good word-database as well as lots of expressions covered; also good is that it gives the stress for all the Russian words (VERY VITAL in that language!!). Most highly recommended!



3. I've had this for a short while and have already discovered several words missing, that sent me scurrying back to my Katzner, where the words were clearly defined. Katzner appears to have more phrases and usage examples too. The Oxford also feels cheap for its price - the paper and nondescript fonts and page design are disappointing. Only a couple of pages of extras on grammar, verb conjugations, and letter samples. The Oxford is good to have, but if I had to carry only one Russian dictionary around, it would be Katzner.



4. This product is very difficult to use. The supposed russian phrases are not there. This is just a plain dictionary in 2 languages. Not at all what it is advertised as having in it!



5. This a UK English-Russian/Russian-UK English Dictionary. It is very fine and complete for UK, but not USA English. It makes some efforts with each new edition to give more American English but...
   
   One example will show why I write 3 star USA.
   
   In most parts of the USA, a person in a public place will ask "where is the nearest restroom?" Rare/never do I hear "where is the nearest toilet?" If this dictionary is really going to present American (USA) English, it needs to have such a basic common word. Listing words with UK and USA spelling is great. However it needs also have basic USA English words. Just think you are standing is one of Moscow's airports, you need to find the restroom. Do not count on this dictionary to help. If you do, you may also need a change of cloths, before you figure out the needed word!
   
   While smaller the Random House pocket Russian dictionary has better coverage of USA English. At least you can find the word for restroom!
   
   This dictionary is helpful, but limited in help for USA English.

3 comments about Workbook/Laboratory Manual to accompany Nach Book 1.

1. Without the workbook studying Russian would be quite difficult. It really helps one practice to more depths the material in the book. I would recommend it to anyone who is purchasing the Nachalo book.



2. Many of this book's translation exercises were very helpful to me-- they would often draw on material a couple of chapters old to review, forcing me to re-check my understanding of concepts I hadn't even realize I hadn't absorbed. The single-sentence translations and short writing assignments were a particularly helpful way to prepare for tests if I hadn't already completed them.
   
   However, the book also contained exercises that really only tested knowledge of the cute little storyline being developed in the book's dialogs. While these tested reading comprehension sometimes, other exercises require one to actually go back and re-read the dialog to find the exact word and conjugation used, rather than to prove an understanding of the text. Other exercises waste space with unnecessary illustrations, or are poorly formatted-- for example, they may depend upon an illustration on the opposite side of the page.
   
   These, of course, are minor problems present in almost any foreign language workbook-- the real problem that makes this book a poor buy is that the answers are not provided in the back. I might be able to use this book to practice a concept I didn't understand, but without a fluent speaker to correct it for me, the exercise would have been useless-- someone attempting to self-teach could easily make the same mistakes over and over throughout the entire workbook, wasting their time and reinforcing their learning of an error. If this book is required by a class, of course, you have no choice, and professors will probably work around this problem by correcting work themselves or together in class. However, if you're attempting to teach yourself, the lack of answers makes this book practically worthless.



3. Let me just start off by saying that I've only been studying Russian for about two months now, and thus have had the book for a short amount of time, but already it has been very useful in learning Russian handwriting. The book is easy to comprehend and a must for Nachalo book 1!