Colloquial Russian: The Complete Course For Beginners (Colloquial Series) 2nd Edition

The authors have taken a textbook-like approach to language instruction. The material is neatly divvied up into (presumably weekly) lessons, each with a grammar topic, vocabulary list, and translation exercise. I have learned a language this way before, a dead language. While the skills I learned then permit me to pedantically plod my way through Ceasar, Cicero on a good day, or Vergil if I am lucky, I don't think I would make much headway if I fell through a time warp and had to find my way to the Forum. If, however, you intend to communicate with Russians living in the same century as yourself, there are better ways.In fairness, the audio cassettes are helpful, and the systematic approach builds basic skills very well while avoiding pitfalls. My pronunciation was, according to a Russian-speaking co-worker, nearly free of any accent after only a few chapters. That was mixed blessing though, as Russians (in Russia, that is) routinely overestimated my skill in the language. Grammar is covered rather well, though Kemple's Russian grammatica is much better.Drill materials are sorely lacking. You get Russian conversation (albeit contrived to fit in the given vocabulary) pretty much dropped on you as whole language. None of the pedagogical decompositions "This is a book...this is a blue book...here is a book...here is a pencil..." that mirror the way we learn language naturally (or for that matter, the way we learn karate, or baseball, or any other working skill).The authors don't seem to have put much thought into prioritizing vocabulary. You can master all 20 chapters and still not know how to say "be careful", or "stop kicking me". Tellingly, one of the chapters is dedicated to women's issues in Russia (in case that comes up while talking to the cabby) but nothing on automobiles, bicycles, carpentry, plumbing, or electronics, tellingly betraying an academic point of view whose bias pervades the whole course. I found myself, in utter desperation, abandoning the course about halfway through and building my own study materials: flash cards, vocabulary lists, speaking exercises, and audio tapes dictated by myself.In short, I found the earlier parts of the book useful in building basic skills. If you have other aids (or a human instructor) to help with practice drills, this course may still be useful. If you are an instructor, its weekly-lesson format may be worth considering as the core of a language course, but you are being cruel to your students if this is the only book you use. As a self-study course however, I have to say that newer products have come along that do the job better.

I like the colloquial series they teach you a lot. You just need to take your time and go through this page by page answering all questions and learning the vocabulary.

This newer edition (1993/1997) is more manageable than the original 1973 edition (orange cover with yellow, 5-pointed star), both in presentation (including typesetting) and content. It's apparently not the newest edition, however. I came across a newer one that seems to have been "stupidified", which is why I ordered this '93/'97 edition specifically. Are too many Americans no longer willing to put effort into studying other languages, or do editors think they aren't?

This book was uesd. But it a good condition.

The book is fairly good, but I had studied Russian before and it's unclear what it would have been like without earlier knowledge. The cassettes ought to be very good. The vocabulary gets read before the text. That should help, but the Russian man reading the English pronounced most words incorrectly, usually creating difficulty in understanding. Cough was pronounced cotch, peasants, something like peasan. I use tapes while biking, and it was impossible much of the time to figure out which word he was saying.Hopefully the newer edition has re-recorded the dialogs. Check this out before buying.

When I began to study Russian I bought a lot of books that were highly recommended by Amazon reviewers (New Penguin Beginner's Course is horribly grammar bent and I found it to be about useless btw) - but I've found this series to be the absolute best as far as offering a well rounded approach to a comprehensive study. If you only buy one book to learn the language - get this one. The audio recordings are well organized and use a 'listen and reply' question format. Don't be scared off by the lack of translations - you're not translating after all - and when actively using the language you won't be translating - you'll be speaking - exactly the approach that this book takes to learning. For learners seeking an instant-practical approach to Russian use - this is the absolute best. I just ordered the 2nd part today in preparation for a departure to Russia - that's how seriously good this book is.

I absolutely LOVE this book by Routledge! I love how they pretty much just...throw you into the Russian language "pool" with no muss or fuss; so hold your breath! This ain't your mama's course! From Jump street, you are in it and up to the throat in the language which is fantastic and I think that a lot of these other courses can take a lesson from. It is alittle grammar intense, so if you are not into that, then you may not like it. I am not a big fan of grammar at ALL but this book didn't bother me as much, though it still might others.One poster complained about the Russian man mispronouncing the English but come on, if you are a native English speaker or know English, what's the problem? If you know they are mistakes and you still understand, I really don't see that as an issue. It just lends more authenticity to the recordings!This book is really intense Russian learning so it may frighten the beginner who has never learned a language before but if you hang in there, you will love it and learn a LOT. I am a little scared what book 2 is like; I haven't ordered it yet! lol! Buy this book, you will love it and learn volumes. Later in your learning, you will even come back to it for guidance. Unlike a lot of courses, this is indeed one I can truly say is worth the money!

Having graduated in the fifties in Economics and Russian I have used this book before in teaching others. I haver now been asked to teach a friend and ordered a copy for him. I think it the best on the market. I have NOT seen the new revised edition but ordered this for my friend so we both have the same text and I can refer him in telephone conversations to the same page I have etc.

Daughter wanted this for uni course, she would recommend it.

An excellent book but it was in an extremely shabby and dirty condition.

Item as described

item exactly as expected, quite longue to recive though