Way to Russia Talk Lounge

sputnik · Lounge Lizard Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 141

for my russian class, 4 (rapidly improving Wink

) beginners in russian language, i am looking for some simple book.

2 of our group have never been in russia so far. it would probably be extra fun for them if it taught us something on russian life and culture.

any suggestions?

wavetossed · WayToRussified Joined: 27 Jun 2004 Posts: 337

Never buy a language learning book from other people's advice. Instead go to a large bookshop or a university bookshop and browse through the selection. Diferent people learn in different ways so the best book for you will not be the same as the best book for another person.

You need to like the book and you need to try to read a bit in the earlier pages to judge wether or not the book is the right level for you.

There are many series of graded readers in Russian that select their material from Russian classics, often abridged to use simpler language and often with stress accents to help people learning lots of new vocabulary.

Also, don't forget films and Internet radio stations.

tdk2fe · Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 5:01 pm Post subject:

I agree... don't blindly follow somebodies advice and just order the book off amazon, definately go check it out for yourself.

However, I recently started learning the language and there are a couple of books which I thought to be invaluable. The first is Graded Readers I-V. It has excerpts from Lermontov, Pushkin, and Turgenev. Basically, half the page is text and the other half are definitions of words being introduced.

Another book which i've found very helpful is Modern Russian: An Advanced Grammar Course. Don't let the title fool you, it doesn't take a Russian major to read the book. It's extremely thorough in providing details on all of the idiosynchrocies of the russian language.

And also, don't forget TV and Radio as mentioned previously! I know a good site that I enjoy is http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/ . There you can pick from a slew of radio stations to listen to. They also have a section titled 'Learn English' that is very helpful in teaching english-speaking people russian. It basically contains article excerpts and provides translations for them. Also, www.masterrussian.com has a few useful things on their site as well.

Best of luck,

tdk2fe

cook · Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 11:49 pm Post subject:

Well yeah, I agree that different ppl learn in different ways, but the Golosa book series (2 books, I think) has been really good for me. A lot of people dislike the books because of the way that they introduce the material, because it uses what it calls a "spiral approach." If you ever used Saxon math books in school this format will be instantly familiar- the "spiral" refers to the method of introducing a simple concept and building off of it to go into other things, and then returning to a slightly more complicated form of the original concept. It can be tedious, but (for me) it has made learning very easy. Another complaint about the book (this one I agree with) is the way that it mentions a concept but does nothing to teach it to you until later; "wait until chapter ____" is a fairly common sight, especially in book one. Just like anything else, it has its pros and cons, but since you asked I think that it would be a disservice not to mention the series. The pros far outweigh the cons, and besides- if you know that you aren't going to give up in your studies, then seeing "wait until chapter _____" really isn't all that discouraging.

sputnik · Lounge Lizard Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 141

ha.. actually i was more interested in a book for reading, as an added value to the lessons. our teacher has several learning books lying around already and so far i am content with them.

i guess the tips won't harm though Wink

i can look for any of them in the library or a bookshop next time i walk into one. or maybe someone else might find them useful.

tdk2fe · Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 10:18 pm Post subject:

If your interested in a book for reading, then definately check out Graded Russian Readers. Like I said before, it's basically russian novels written with brief definitions of some of the less frequent words at the bottom of the page. Very easy to get into and learn if your a beginner (like me).

tdk2fe