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Can anyone sugest a good Russian language course? I found a good CD-ROM version but would prefer old fashioned books and tapes.

Before anyone yells "check the archives before you ask" - I did. No luck with my searches.

Jack, If you read this, thanks a million. You saved me $$$$ and a lot of heartache.

... in response to Russian language Course???, posted by coaster881 on Dec 19, 2001

cb

... in response to Russian language Course???, posted by coaster881 on Dec 19, 2001

I have been studying Russian Language for just a little over a year now and I still can't fully understand a conversation by native speakers. I have been trying to find the best method of language learning and it seems the only true way to learn the language is with a teacher who can tutor you in the proper pronunciation and grammar. Russian is very difficult to learn. I have spoken with native Russians and they say they had to study 10 years to learn the grammar. I worked with a guy who had 3 years of college Russian and could not speak or understand a normal conversation, but could read the language with some difficulty.

At present, there is no ideal audio Russian language course that will accomplish the task. Pimsleur courses are a just about the best but they are audio only and total memorization. The problem with that is that most people don't learn very well with complete audio memorization. I'm having to transcribe the Pimsleur Russian II lessons in order to retain them. I've already listened to the entire course but I could not remember most of it.

I have not found an ideal Russian grammar book, but the Shaums Outlines on Russian Grammar is the best I've found. Russian childrens books are very good for learning. I have 2 of them now and I'll probably get more. It's important to learn from a pure Russian language book rather than a dual language book because the way of thinking with the language is more important to understand that the translation.

The biggest obstacle is going to be the ability to listen to and understand a Russian conversation by native speakers. It takes quite a bit of time and hard work to begin to understand the conversations. Women tend to speak faster than men. Pimsleur certainly helps but is not ideal in understanding native Russian conversations. Russian movies and television are much better for this. There is no substitute for a native Russian speaker who can help you.

-blm

... in response to Reality...and Russian Language, posted by BarryM on Dec 20, 2001

I completely agree.  I studied Spanish on my own for months and was not able to carry on even a simple conversation with a native speaker.  I signed up for classes at a junior college with native (mostly Mexican) instructors and eventually completed 15 semester units.  I learned far more in that environment than I did on my own.  I was still far from fluent, but I could get by.

Studying the language of the ladies is one of the best things you can do in preparation work for this.  Not only does it make it easier to really get to know them, but it also makes you more sensitive to the difficulty of achieving true fluency.  Those who assume (naively) that a woman will be fluent after a few months here have no experience trying to learn a foreign language themselves.  

You will learn some things about the culture in a class room and college text books that you might not get from the typically tourist-oriented books and tapes you find in most commercial bookstores.

... in response to Reality...and Russian Language, posted by BarryM on Dec 20, 2001

I have been learning Russian for two years now.  I still can not understand many sentences from Russian speakers.  Some things I know and some I do not know.  If they speak slowly I can understand.  I can make myself understood, simply usually, though sometimes I suprise myself.  Anyway, I have been working with a native Russian lady teacher six hours each month (3 two hour lessons).  We did alot of grammar and now spend more than half the lesson just talking in Russian (with her correcting me as I am replying etc.).  I also have tapes and books etc., but there is no substituting a private teacher - who really knows how to teach.

... in response to Russian language Course???, posted by coaster881 on Dec 19, 2001

I've got a few different ones.

Pinsluer is good but I feel it's way over priced and lacking in printed material. It also has quite a few errors. Read BarryM's posts where he gives written transcripts of the lessons with corrections.

Living language tapes and books are good. And they're relatively inexpensive.

I just bought Teach Yourself Basic Russian Grammar. So far it looks pretty good. Teach Yourself also has a bigger set with several books and cassettes.

I think that the best thing you can do is find somebody to talk with. My biggest problem is that I only speak Russian for a few minutes a week. If you don't use you lose it fast. And I never had any real skill to begin with.

... in response to Russian language Course???, posted by coaster881 on Dec 19, 2001

I have this book and it came with 8 tapes 4 for your auto while you drive and 4 tapes with a very good book. It is called living languages [ultimate russian] The web sight is www.livinglanguage.com

... in response to Russian language Course???, posted by coaster881 on Dec 19, 2001

here is a link to an online russian language course. It's by a Russian Language Professor at Bucknell University in north central (Lewisburg, to be precise) Pennsylvania: http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/language/index.html

Here is a link to a Russian professor's page at Middlebury College in Vermont. Middlebury has an excellent reputation for teaching foreign languages in general. http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/

Finaly, here is a link to a web site that provides you with romantic Russian phrases and the like: http://www.meighan.net/alexander/index.htm

... in response to Russian language Course???, posted by coaster881 on Dec 19, 2001

Good to hear coaster!

... in response to Russian language Course???, posted by coaster881 on Dec 19, 2001

When I made my first trip to Ukraine, I didn't know a word and i bought an $8.95 book and tape that enabled me to get around.  If you want that, I can pull out the name.  I agree with you that the tapes work better than CD's but maybe I'm old school.