| The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners (Penguin Handbooks) |  | Author: Nicholas J. Brown
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $18.00
Buy New: $10.76
as of 9/9/2010 01:44 CDT details
You Save: $7.24 (40%)
New (29) Used (20) from $9.96
Seller: allnewbooks
Rating:  86 reviews
Sales Rank: 9,558
Media: Paperback
Pages: 528
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.4
ISBN: 0140120416
Dewey Decimal Number: 491.782421
EAN: 9780140120417
ASIN: 0140120416
Publication Date: December 1, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9780140120417 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Whether you're learning alone or attending classes, you'll find this complete Russian language course for beginners both accessible and indispensable. Designed to provide the student with an excellent command of basic Russian (the equivalent of A level standard) this book features thirty lessons punctuated by revision exercises to ensure you have fully understood what you have learned. The emphasis is on acquiring vocabulary, experiencing conversational language and learning useful grammar. This book also includes a vocabulary of 1,500 words and a glossary of grammatical terms.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 86
 Excellent beginners course handbook September 7, 2010
Enrique
This book is excellent. I have bought many other books and this one by far has been the best one I've purchased hands down. This book has alot of examples, exercises and is really easy to work with, easy to understand. I have learned alot from this book as well. I totally recommend this book.
 Penguin's Russian Course on track for the Experienced August 6, 2010
Charles W. Riendeau (San Diego, Ca, US)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners by Nicholas J. Brown is right in line with previous language texts in that once material is introduced, the author can then move on. This assumes, of course, that you totally assimilated every bit of what has so far been introduced. Or should I use the dreaded "M" word? ( Memorized )
For example, all past language books I have encountered had the alphabet on one of the first pages. Once introduced, it then employed the alphabet AS IF you already knew it without any teaching/learning activities. The assumption is, don't go to page 2 until this alphabet is ingrained like your mother's telephone number. For those with Memorize-itis, this would just about be as far as you would get in learning this new language unless you had been imprisoned by the KGB and this was the only book you had access to.
The language I am learning is Russian. I have been working on it during spare moments for about 1.5 years and have even taken the first class at a local Community College. With that background, I am much more appreciative of this book than perhaps I would be if this were my first introduction and I was truly a beginner.
What are the advantages of this text? First, I got the paperback, so it is much lighter. Next, Mr. Brown does not start with a listing of the alphabet, but rather immediately breaks it down into sections and creates a "teachable moment" by giving you starter vocabulary WHILE you are learning how to pronounce the letters. He gets points for this.
He also explains some oddities about the alphabet like, "The soft sign" and "The Hard sign" in a way that I could understand better than my teacher and the text we were using and guidebooks that I had been using previously. More points.
After he has explained all of the letters with the starter vocabulary, he then lists the whole alphabet, with pronunciation guides in dictionary order. And more points. Next there are practice exercises! Next there are some emergency "signs" like toilet, post office, pull....things that are very necessary to know and pictures of some of them. More points.
Next he introduces a short list of words that have the same sound in English as in Russian. Once you employ the sounds of the Russian letters, what comes out of your mouth is the same name as you would use in English. It is just spelled differently.
I have not gone through the book to evaluate the next important feature of any teaching text: concomitant learning. That is, once I have mastered the things in chapter one, does the structure and speed of chapter two and succeeding chapters move me along because it builds on my previous learning? Or is it completely new stuff which puts me back on page one and back into memorizing mode? I leave that for another reviewer.
So, with a little experience, this book makes excellent sense as a supplement. For the memorizers of the world, I should think it would make acquiring Russian easier than with previous texts. But for the beginner without assistance and without a terrific memory it still may not be their cup of chai.
Very helpful July 31, 2010
T Muller
I am not very good at learning foreign languages but have to do some of it for my job. For me, the key to learning is to stay interested enough to be able to continue practicing regularly. Each chapter here builds on the previous one just enough to make me feel like I am learning and making progress with each lesson. I also enjoy how the dialogues show easy to use and understand examples of the points introduced in each chapter. It is also nice to see how exceptions to the rules are introduced and demonstrated in a relatively painless fashion. If you are looking for serious grammar and vocabulary help in a fairly straightforward format, by all means give this course a try. I have made many half hearted attempts over the years to learn Russian using several cassette and workbook type courses, but I lost interest in them quickly. After taking a brief two month intensive classroom course, I found this book and decided to give it a try based on other good reviews. I am very glad I did. Perhaps because the chapters are organized in a manner similar to the language textbooks I remember from school, I found this book easy to follow and very suited to my own personal learning style. The sections in each chapter are short, and I have found that I can do one or two sections each night without being overwhelmed. Vocabulary lists at the beginning of each chapter are useful for vocabulary building. Noun declension and inflected endings were the most difficult concepts for me to grasp in the classroom, but thanks to the straightforward manner in which they are presented in this book, I am quickly coming to terms with not only how they work but also when and how to use them properly. That being said, I agree with other reviewers who mention the need to hear the spoken language in order to acquire proper pronunciation, but there are resources out there online that can be downloaded, not to mention Russian language movies available even on the rental scene.
Look no further. This is the best book to learn Russian. July 26, 2010
Harold Goodman (Silver Spring, Maryland 20910)
Speak Mandarin Chinese For Beginners The Michel Thomas Method (8-CD Beginner's Program) (Michel Thomas Series)Michel Thomas Method Speak Mandarin Chinese Advanced (Michel Thomas Series)Michel Thomas Method: Mandarin Chinese Vocabulary Course (Michel Thomas Series)
I am the author of the Michel Thomas Spoken Chinese ( Mandarin) series. My love is learning and teaching languages.
If you really want to learn to read, write and speak correct Russian using a book, this is the best place to start. For speaking, you will need additional access to a Russian speaker (easy with skype) or some recordings.
I have been studying the language now for a while and have used CDs, a personal instructor and many books.
Without a doubt, this is the very best book for those who really want to learn the language, bar none.
What it will give you, if you apply yourself, is the swiftest, least painful exposure to everything that you need in order to move on to a more advanced level.
I now use this text daily, on my own, to supplement everything else and I am continually amazed and delighted at how Dr. Brown, the author, has made learning Russian a very pleasant experience.
He continually explains why things are the way they are, which I find very helpful. He also shows us which words, patterns, and grammatical features are the most used and which are rarer. If you understand that he is also the author of the best frequency dictionary for Russian, you will understand this last part. Why waste your time and effort on words and patterns which you won't be using that often?
When learning a language it is a good thing to know the territory you will be covering ahead of time.
That way, you will understand where to tarry and where to move on rapidly. Your time and attention are crucial when learning and you need to use them wisely. Otherwise, you will become frustrated, bogged down, and not achieve your goal.
Many other people have covered the essential features of this text in their excellent reviews.
Buy and use this book if Russian is your goal. You will not find anything better.
 Good book for general knowledge of Russian July 17, 2010
CelticEd
This book is great for general mastery of Russian grammer. Plenty of practice covering the Russian cases. The best book I have found so far as teaching you to read Russian. The only improvement I would suggest and why I gave it only 4 stars instead of five is they should have developed an audio cd(s) for this course. This would improve the books' contribution on speaking and understanding the language.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 86
|
|
|
 Teaching Textbook | |
