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) the 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. The book also includes a vocabulary of 1,500 words and a glossary of grammatical terms.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12031 in Books
• Published on: 1996-03-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Customer Reviews

If you want to learn to Russian you need this book
As a student of Russian language I have found, and continue to find, this book incredibly useful. It's ideal for all levels of learning, from absolute beginner to advanced. It explains the complexities of Russian grammar clearly using plain English, and provides a more than adequate vocabulary base. A must for anyone wishing to learn or improve their Russian skills.

Mixed Feelings
As the title of this review indicates, I have very mixed feelings about this book.
I studied Russian at school (many years ago) and used the original Penguin Russian Course as a text book, finding it excellent. For this reason, I had no hesitation in buying the New Penguin Russian Course a few months ago, when I dedided to renew my acquaintance with the language.
At first glance, I felt the new course would be every bit as good as the original; the explanations of the grammar points are easy to understand and are written in such a way as to be not only informative and interesting but even, on occasion, entertaining. I am quite sure that, in a classroom context, with the back up of a teacher, this would be a first class course book.
However, as a self-study tool, I feel the book leaves a lot to be desired. There is too much material crammed into each lesson, to the extent that the student may feel not only daunted at first glance, but also discouraged by the seemingly slow progress, because it takes so long to cover each chapter from beginning to end. In addition, I found that, even with prior knowledge of the language, I was having to turn back the pages frequently to go over a point covered earlier in the chapter, or in a previous chapter, because there are not enough practical exercises of each grammar point to allow the student fully to consolidate the knowledge acquired. I think a complete beginner, studying alone, would find this extremely discouraging.
I now find myself in the situation whereby I feel the need to acquire a separate workbook with exercises to practice the grammar points covered in just the first few chapters of this book.
In conclusion, I would highly recommend this book as a text-book for a classroom situation, but would definitely not recommend it for those studying alone, especially if they are complete beginners.

The best book of its kind
The Penguin Russian Course is, quite simply, the best self-study Russian book there is. I own Colloquial Russian and Teach Yourself Russian, and neither of them come close in terms of attention to detail or clarity. This book approaches topics in a sensible order, building up vocabulary and providing plenty of exercises and texts as the course progresses. The most helpful aspect, in my view, is that in the key to the exercises, there are explanations for 'unexpected' responses so you are never left searching through the book to find out the reason for an irregular usage.
I use the book as a revision course before exams, but I would suggest that anyone could get a decent grip of Russian from this course through self-study. The same cannot really be said of the other two books - they may cover the same grammar topics but you are given far less opportunity to practice what you have learnt and explanations are much more concise. Highly recommended.