The best book or resource for Russian learning

[Strigo]

Hi,

I'm starting to look for more language resources. So, I was wondering which is the best resource for Russian learning? (paid ones).

Colloquial? Teach Yourself? any other method. Audio? Cd's?

[Gormur]

Dating a Russian girl, of course.

After that I would think Pimsleur. At least for me, that works best. I have the complete series in Russian, and it's great.

[CoBB]

Only if you already know at least basic grammar, which is silently ignored by Pimsleur. On the other hand, it's a great aid to develop listening skills and improve pronounciation.

[Gormur]

Only if you already know at least basic grammar, which is silently ignored by Pimsleur. On the other hand, it's a great aid to develop listening skills and improve pronounciation.

Well, I meant to learn the basics (start with the first few CDs), and then begin learning grammar in conjunction with it. That's my approach, anyway.

There are also some good resources for Russian online:

http://beeline.tv/
http://www.russiandvd.com/store/

...and probably others that someone can recommend.

[RZariski]

http://www.russianforeveryone.com/

The above is a russian course that my university prof made..I'm not sure if it's very good yet as we have only done the pronounciation exercises and such..perhaps someone with more knowledge of Russian could take a look at it.

(I'm not sure if the sound works with firefox...we had to use IE at the Uni.)

Other than that, I have the lonely planet Russian phrasebook, The Oxford English-Russian dictionary, and for grammar and little info I have "The complete idiots guide to Russian" which I'm not too happy about the title...however the book itself is quite helpful.

[E}{pugnator]

Assimil is good, but not as good as the other Assimils usually are.

I've heard that the new Penguin Course is very good.

[galatasaray]

http://www.russianforeveryone.com/

The above is a russian course that my university prof made..I'm not sure if it's very good yet as we have only done the pronounciation exercises and such..perhaps someone with more knowledge of Russian could take a look at it.

(I'm not sure if the sound works with firefox...we had to use IE at the Uni.)

Other than that, I have the lonely planet Russian phrasebook, The Oxford English-Russian dictionary, and for grammar and little info I have "The complete idiots guide to Russian" which I'm not too happy about the title...however the book itself is quite helpful.

perfect web site for beginners.. if u know nothing.. start from this web site.. i learned alphabet in one day ..

[attreides]

The penguin book is the best. I own most now and it seems easist and most detailed. No cd, thats the only draw back.

Other good web recources include:

<a href="http://www.russianlessons.net/">www.russianlessons.net</a>

<a href="http://www.alphadictionary.com/rusgrammar/index.html"> This site</a> is a good grammar reference.

Master Russian is also ok.

[Drochfhuaimniú]

I just got Beginner's Russian from Teach Yourself and it's pretty neat. i'm still on cyrillic but its super easy.

[attreides]

This is also a good book, as it comes with the CD.
It's defintaly easy to follow, although I got the feeling it was a little short on grammar. Although many people may like to avoid the grammar, especially if just travelling.

The teach yourself russian grammar book also great.

[Nukalurk]

This month "Routledge Intensive Russian Course with CDROM and CD (Audio)" by Robin Aizlewood will come out but it will cost about 99.90 €.

This foundation course in Russian is designed to take students from beginner to upper intermediate level within a year. Ideal for students with no previous knowledge of the language, the course includes lively dialogues introducing vocabulary and grammar in context, with structured exercises to develop language skills. A wide variety of materials is used to improve speaking, listening, reading and writing, with particular emphasis on active use of the language. Audio material is available to accompany the course, featuring recordings of the dialogues, comprehension and role-playing exercises.

I'm unsure because of the price, and because I don't know other books of this series.

[Nukalurk]

http://www.russianforeveryone.com/

(I'm not sure if the sound works with firefox...we had to use IE at the Uni.)

I'm just testing it, and found out that it doesn't work with Firefox.

Edit: I also have problems with it with IE. It doesn't play the sound files.

[Nukalurk]

I've ordered now the "Компендиум Лингвистических Знаний" (ISBN: 3-06-502214-1) which is especially good for the Germans amongst us because it also shows differences and similarities of Russian and German.

[Der Meister]

Get The New Penguin Russian Course : A Complete Course for Beginners and the Russian Learner's Dictionary both by Nicholas J. Brown. The first book is the most thorough beginning to end guide of Russian grammar from the cases up until participles. Then supplement that with the Learner's Dictionary which is 10,000 words in frequency order so just start memorizing them.

[Nukalurk]

I've just bought "Roots of the Russian Language" (ISBN: 0-8442-4267-5) by George Z. Patrick, and I'm really amazed how useful it will be for me in the future.

Designed to help students of Russian increase their knowledge of wordbuilding and, as a result, increase their vocabulary, Roots of the Russian Language includes 450 of the most commonly used roots of the Russian language. After mastering Russian prefixes and suffixes, students develop an ability to construct words and terms from a given Russian root.

Laid out in a convenient, reference format, Roots of the Russian Language contains numerous example sentences illustrating the proper use of the given words in realistic contexts. In addition, there are plenty of practice exercises and complete indexes of words and roots.

Roots of the Russian Language provides the necessary foundation for building translation, conversation, and composition skills.