Complete Russian: Teach Yourself

It is a good method to learn Russian. Very clear and effective. The CDs are very useful as the prononciation in Russian is a bit difficult! I recommend it!

1) I expected the book to come with the CD and was very annoyed that it hadn't. 2) I am not going to bother buying the book as it would be a waste of money. It only teaches basic holiday phrases. As I have learnt Russian at school when I was thirteen from one of Russia's ex Prime Minister's ex translators. He taught us very well and got pinched buy Eton. He taught if you have learned the alphabet you can read and pronounce any russian - although it doesn't mean you know the translation. I listened to the cd and was annoyed that it only has a few phrases which it has translated. I was wanting every phrase translated so I could learn the grammer better. I have found free sites to learn russian which are very good. So don't waste your money - type in learn russian for free in a google search and have a look around. Once you have learned the alphabet and gone through the written Russian look more carefully for a russian cd to Iearn the pronounciation. DON'T BUY THIS!!!!!

I found this book useful for my (intermediate) level. It has readings, vocabulary and grammar sections that correspond to that level.

I recently bought this book to begin learning Russian. I am a languages teacher by profession. I teach Spanish, Italian, French, Greek and Portuguese and I have studied many other languages. The conversations and grammar explanations in this book are good and the grammar is explained clearly. However, I would like to point out a couple of bad points about this book: 1. The book does not explain the pronunciation rules well. After working through the pronunciation chapter and upon listening to the conversations in the following chapters, you soon realise that certain letters are simply not being pronounced according to what was explained in the pronunciation chapter. You are taught that "oh" is pronounced as the "o" in the English word bore. However in conversations, it if often pronounced as "a" as in "car". There seems to be no explanation for this whatsoever in the book and it seems impossible to predict when an "o" is pronounced like and "o" and when it should be pronounced like an "a". This is just once case. There are many other letters that are pronounced in a different way to what is explained in the book. Some letters (especially the vowels) completely change their sound but there is no explanation by the author, thus leaving the learner completely confused and unable to pronounce words unless listening to them on the cd. As a beginner, this is very confusing. Having studied many languages from Hindi, Japanese & Arabic to Tamil, Yoruba, Bulgarian etc... I can honestly say that Russian pronunciation needs much more of an explanation than what has been given by the author. 2. The audio cds only cover the main conversations. This means that every time new vocabulary is introduced, you will have no idea how to pronounce it correctly or where the stress should fall. Of course not knowing how to pronounce those new words correctly could make it difficult for natives to understand you. 3. Some new words are given in the conversations without a translation at all and those words are not even in the dictionary at the back of the book. So this means you keep reading the new words again and again and still have no idea what they mean. In conclusion, the book itself is good for learning but without a Russian native sitting next to you, you are going to struggle to pronounce many of the words. In my opinion, the author should explain the pronunciation in more detail rather than just teaching the alphabet and main sounds and completely ignoring the "major" changes in pronunciation that occur depending on where letters are in words. This NEEDS to be explained to learners. New words need to be given on the audio cd so that students know how to pronounce them. Furthermore all new words introduced must have a translation so that learners are not left clueless to their meaning. Explaining grammar and teaching vocab is one thing but if you don't know how to pronounce them, you won't be understood!

I am a complete beginner and have looked at very little comparative material. Also, I have not finished it, yet. But I feel I am making good progress. I find it well-structured and easy-to-use for a complete beginner (though my experience in learning various other foreign languages has helped use it more effectively) and it manages to keep my attention and enthusiasm by focusing on vocabulary and situations one would use in every day situations. But I recommend to study and become familiar with the Cyrillic alphabet before starting it, eg using the book of the same series that teaches to read and write Russian script. I found the extra practice very helpful to get through the material in this book a lot more quickly because, after having completed it, reading Cyrillic characters has become almost as natural as reading the Latin script used in English.

I need this because of my relationship A great teaching aid

I have to agree with the review by Mr. C. L. Grindley except I would rate it even lower. Russian - like English - is a language where the pronunciation of EVERY SINGLE word must be learned. The pronunciation of most French and German words follows the spelling - not so in Russian. Mr Grindley mentions the different pronunciation of the letter "0". You need to know that it is pronounced like "0" if the syllable is accented and like "a" if the syllable is unaccented. You only get to know this by hearing the word. Only a tiny fraction of the text in the book is recorded on the CD's. Without a teacher this book is next to useless. In my own case I have recorded a Russian friend who has read out every bit of Russian text not on the CD's. If only the publishers had done the same this could have been a fantastic book, I just cannot understand how these 5-star reviewers reached their conclusions.

Is what it says and getting good use