Reading at a Beginner's Level...

[umconfused.livejournal.com]

I'm in my second semester of Beginning Russian. Are there any good books for beginner's to practice reading and learn new vocabulary? (And to help me remember everything over summer break so I won't have forgotten everything when I start Intermediate Russian in the Fall.)

Comments

[youmka.livejournal.com]

"Будем знакомы", Чубарова and another author I dont remember. There is a book with texts and a book with exercises. Grammar etc.

[philena.livejournal.com]

"Russian Stories," edited by Gleb Struve, has short stories by Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, etc., in Russian on one side of the page, and in English on the other. There's a little glossary in the back also. I confess I haven't read too much of it, but the translations seem to be pretty faithful, which means pretty helpful, and it's always nice to be reading real Russian, rather than dialogues along the lines of, "What museums have you been to, Oleg?" "Well, Natasha, I've seen the museum of Russian History, which was very interesting."

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

...thank you for the enlightening information, whitelightloom. Very insightful.

It's hard to say what books to read. Any books would help, including children's stories to Dostoyevsky. Some books help more than others (you probably shouldn't start with Dostoyevsky, lest you wish to start off with an aristocratic-type vocabulary and way of speaking), so obviously books that give vocab words that one wouldn't know off to a side are very good (that way you're not dependent on a full translation), but those seem to be only textbooks such as "Basic Russian" by Mischa Fayer. An interesting "textbook" is "Making Progress in Russian: A Second Year Course" that includes selections from driving manuals, ramblings on love, the zodiac, etc. As of right now, I'm pretty much increasing my vocabulary through children's stories and a dictionary. Gets one used to using a dictionary, knowing what all the symbols mean, etc, etc.

Did... I even answer your question? I just noticed that I kept on talking...

[suku-vse.livejournal.com]

Yes, I second the previous opinion.

Also, why wouldn't you take Чуковский? The vocabulary is quite modern and simple. Or maybe it's already too simple for you ... By the way, read "Taраканище" and try to figure out what it's about.

Another writer I love - Григорий Остер. (He has a book of stories, also.) Легенды ... какого-то там переулка, don't remember for sure.

So, I would say - children literature for the age about 7-10 years old would do perfectly. The problem with classic is that they can use archaic forms.

[myaffetto.livejournal.com]

good luck )))

[cema.livejournal.com]

So how would you say this in Russian?

[valeria-kapriz.livejournal.com]

А ты милый)

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

The only one I know by Г. Остер is 38 Попугаев. What other ones did he write?

[suku-vse.livejournal.com]

"Вредные советы". Разнообразные учебники (по физике, математике и т.д.)
"Легенды и мифы Лаврового переулка."

Если Вы еще непрочно
В жизни выбрали дорогу
И не знаете, с чего Вам
Путь ваш жизненный начать

Бейте лампочки в подъездах.
Люди скажут Вам спасибо.
Вы поможете народу
Электричество сберечь.

[suku-vse.livejournal.com]

I also think you can just take a book of poems by Владимир Высоцкий. I've heard about a learning program based on his songs.

[gluke-kanji.livejournal.com]

I'd recommend you to look through this site: http://lib.ru/
There's some russian (and not only) literature.