Customer Reviews
The new penguin russian course for beginners 
2008-08-23
very helpful to learn how to:
- pronounce the words
- read and write
- use grammar
- and for the vocabulary
Russian Instructor: Why the rave reviews? 
2008-06-21
I chose to use this book as the textbook for my Russian class because it was cheaper than Golosa or Nachalo. That was a mistake. The book includes all the grammatical information that you need to speak Russian, but a beginning Russian student needs more than just grammar. I don't know the author of this book, but I'm guessing that he doesn't place much importance on teaching. It seems he still adheres to the grammar-translation approach to teaching Russian. The organization of the book is confusing, neither thematic nor grammatical. The exercises are brief, and could have easily been lifted from a Russian textbook that was printed in the 50's or 60's. Frankly, I don't know why this book has gotten such rave reviews, unless it's being compared to not having any book at all. It's a lot cheaper than a real textbook, but there's a reason why it's cheaper. If you want a cheap way to learn Russian, check out the Berlitz Self-Teacher from the library.
Comprehensive, Manageable, Cheap 2008-02-09
This is a great book to learn russian from the ground up. Every lesson is comprehensive in its theme and there are exercises at the end of each chapter and solutions in the back. There are also consolidated grammar tables in the appendix for quick lookup and a 1500 word vocabulary. I bought 6 russian language course books on Amazon and this one is by far the best.
EXCELLENT 2008-02-07
This book is EXCELLENT in my opinion. When I don't fully grasp grammar points from my russian textbook, I refer to this. It would be nice if it came as a cd course though.
Best foreign language learner's book, bar none 2008-01-30
I have studied on my own at various levels of seriousness 6 languages in my life, (some to the extent of becoming fully fluent, some becoming basically conversational, and some starting and giving up out of disinterest or dislike for the language in general) and amid the many books I've used for all the languages, I found this book to be the best book for any independent foreign language learner (i.e. not in a university or other language class). Not just for Russian - which this book happens to cover - but any book. The reasons, below:
- reasonbly compact chapters with specific points to be learned in a logical order
- starts with basic grammar, and expands very methodically upon the fundamentals, gradually progressing to A-level Russian
- no "travel talk" - all texts and exercises are normal, everyday (and progressively harder and "bookish") rather than "hotel/airport/taxi" topics
- very clear explanations of all grammar, at basic as well as obscure levels (and the author tells which points are not so crucial and may be skipped if one wishes to do so - he even does this for an entire chapter on the vagaries of Russian numbers, counting and mathematics)
- compact in size - can be taken anywhere, and densely packed with vocabulary and grammar - this is no amateur book
- grammar terms are explained very well, and examples given very clearly
- good texture of pages and very readable print; no clutter; fonts used are very soft on the eyes and bold (mainly Russian words) are well-highlighted against the slightly tan-tinged, off-white pages - not overly-contrasty as with pure-white linen-colored pages
- texts vary from being short and to the point, to longer and more literary, providing variety and a chance to move at a good pace
- again, a very logical progression from basic nouns, verbs, then cases, endings, etc. through tenses, "bookish" style, etc. to cover nearly all the points one might encounter in Russian grammar
- an unbelievable price for all this - $20 retail, $12 or so on Amazon - worth many times that in terms of content
The downsides?
- no audio tapes - as others have noted, there is no way to know the correct pronunciation unless you supplement it with another series (Teach Yourself, Routledge, etc.) which have dialogues recorded and transcribed
- there are plenty of exercises for each grammar point but most are pretty brief; need to supplement with Teach Yourself's "Russian Grammar" or Terence Wade's grammar workbook
- later chapters have rather long vocabulary lists - probably difficult to master all of the vocabulary at once for one chapter, unless one works on a chapter a week or so; takes time to master this moreso than the grammar itself
- not much use of the often difficult-to-read italic Russian font (found in some other college-related texts) or handwriting (again, not much to say on this but one or two examples would be a nice addition, perhaps the text of a handwritten letter as one chapter addition)
- I always think the cover photo is so odd - hardly a good shot of St. Basil's on Red Square, taken wide-angle and appearing far off, with the inexplicable marching soldiers and an old Coke billboard (long gone now, I hear) in the forefront - the attempt to juxtapose the various elements of modern and old Russia are negated by the poor photo angle and distracting elements (lamppost, old-ish cars, large boring sidewalk dominating the foreground, etc.) - I know this is hardly a reason to complain about the book, but this mundane shot doesn't get one excited about a Russia visit each time one picks up the book to study; perhaps a snow-covered Orthodox church in the countryside or a nightscape of St. Petersburg, as cliched as those scenes are, would be more attractive and sell the book (also - can't translate what's on that billboard, even after studying the book! Something about "Coca Cola - always better with... [something]..." - can anyone help??)
Otherwise, the best language textbook that I have ever used. Highly recommended above all others.
Fantastic! 2007-12-25
This is just a really fantastic resource for a beginning student. Other Russian-learning products I've tried mostly attempt to have you memorize a series of useful phrases and words. That's fine if all you are going to do is spend a short amount of time traveling and only need to ask where the bathroom is. However, if you're wanting to truly learn the language, it's important to get started with the grammar. This book does that. Right away it provides grammar tables and exercises to help you learn the structure of the language. The only downside I've found that it appears to be focused toward British students because it refers to a lot of locations in the UK. Not a big deal, though. You still are able to learn the grammar.
Excellent! 2007-12-24
Real systematic, very detailed, and leaves no blind spots in your knowledge of russian... I'm not a native english-speaker, but it is perfectly understandable. Only the useful words are in the vocabulary, no childish "red-car, blue-car" stuff, just the crucial ones that you need if you go abroad. Besides it provides good exercises at the end of the lessons, and every 5 lessons (of 30) it reviews your knowledge of the past lessons. Okay some could say, there's no audio material, but I think the writer has done a good a job of explaining pronunciation. Recommended for everyone!
It's great 
2007-12-07
I like this book it is easy to understand and has been very useful for me learning Russian. It is a little difficult to understant and get into at first but once you know a few things about the language it is really good. It is useful to have a little background in Russian first though.
Excellent for Learning to Read and Write in Russian 2007-12-05
I had decided that I wanted to learn Russian on my own. I started initially by attempting to learn from one or two Internet sites. I grew frustrated very quickly with these, as the concepts weren't very well explained. After reading a number of reviews on Amazon.com about various Russian instruction books, I decided that this one was the one I would buy.
I was not at all disappointed in the quality of the instruction in this book. I was able to learn quickly, as everything was explained extremely well -- not in some vague and hard-to-understand terms as some of the earlier lessons I had seen.
Let me break here for a moment to put in a comment about the Russian language: this is not an easy language to learn. I am not trying to offend anyone by saying this. However, I am a life-long learner of foreign languages. I am already proficient in German, French and Spanish, and I have (so I have been told) a high IQ.
Yet, the Russian language was hard for me to learn. It has six noun cases, and verb tenses are handled quite differently than in English. It is, therefore, even more remarkable that Brown manages to take something that difficult, and organize it into building blocks in the way that he has done. But, on the flipside, if you have absolutely no experience with foreign languages, I would not recommend starting with Russian as a first foreign language.
All that aside, the book is excellent in teaching a person to read and write Russian, from the perspective of knowing nothing to start with, and progressing to reading a Chekhov short story at the end of the book.
As with any foreign language, the book is only a foundation, and it is up to the reader to constantly improve his or her command of the language by doing extensive reading, looking up new vocabulary words (sometimes for the tenth time, before one actually remembers the word) and exposing oneself to various topics in the new language.
Now that I have told you about the book's good points, let me tell you about the major drawback. The big deficit this book has -- and it is a major one, no matter how well it is written -- is that it falls very far short in the pronunciation department. Yes, it does have the usual English simulations, using phonetics, after many of the words (which slacks off as the lessons progress). But there is a HUGE difference between reading about pronunciation and imagining how you THINK it might sound, and actually hearing it spoken by native Russian speakers.
I am even afraid that if I progress too far without some instruction in the CORRECT pronunciation, I may develop some bad habits, even if they are mostly only pronunciations in my head.
I have searched high and low for a GOOD beginning Russian audio. I purchased one that only sounds out miscellaneous words, and was not satisfied with it. I have tried podcasts, in which I have found the speaking waaaay too fast for an absolute beginner. And I have seriously considered buying the Rosetta Stone CDs (said to be the best), but have been a bit put off by the price.
What would be absolutely ideal would be a companion audio CD to go along with this book. (Publisher, are you listening?) I could almost guarantee that it would be a big seller. If there were pronunciation going along with the actual lessons, spoken by native Russians, this book would be unbeatable!
One last thing -- just a small annoyance really. My book started to fall apart (pages coming out at the binding on the lower part of the book) as I was only in the first or second chapter. Although I was able to do a homemade repair job that worked quite well, the quality of the instruction contained in the book deserves a better quality binding job.
Simply Unrivaled...! 2007-11-13
To supplement an introductory-level college Russian class I purchased this book along with a reputable dictionary and comprehensive book on the finer points of grammar. Truth be told, it has been one of the best investments I have ever made while studying foreign languages. I spent more than $100 for mandatory textbooks that were simply inferior to this one. In my opinion, this book should be the fixture of any Russian-language class.
The author presents a clear and concise view of the most important aspects; a self-motivated student or individual learner with this book would have a solid command of basic/intermediate Russian by the end. In conjunction with good professional instruction, this book makes a fine accompaniment for the student to hone their skills. However good it is, I would recommend investing in an audio CD or enrolling in a class to get the feel for pronunciation, tone, and speed.
