(no subject)

[superslayer18.livejournal.com]

Question aimed towards people who have already taken Russian in college:

Is there a particular textbook that you would recommend to someone who wants to teach himself a years worth of Russian? I've been studying Russian for a while now and I've got most of the basics down for sure, and I'm sure that if I went into Russian in college I'd have enough knowledge to get through the first semester pretty easily. I'm looking for a book that I can use to go through it and make sure that's true, as well as to go further.

A few things i like in books: plenty of examples, conversations, stories/translations, no more than 30 vocab words introduced each chapter, and even that is pushing it, teaches the stress of each word... etc etc. and readibility is very important to... I don't want a textbook that sounds like a biology book, but i also don't want it to be written for people with a low IQ level lol.

Thanks if anyone can help me out with this ^_^

Comments

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

no more than 30 vocab words introduced each chapter

I haven't seen even a high school language textbook that introduced so few words per chapter.

My college Russian book tended to have 100-200 words per chapter, and we'd take two days to do a chapter. I failed almost every vocab test.

I can't recommend anything, though, as my textbook fails on all your counts (and I frankly don't like it much, either).

[superslayer18.livejournal.com]

The Japanese textbook I'm using now only has like 20 or so each chapter... i like books with short chapters because then I can do one a day instead of doing one every couple of days or so.

[before-we-were-.livejournal.com]

If I might ask, what is your Japanese text-book?

[superslayer18.livejournal.com]

0-300-00135-5

Beginning Japanese Part 1

It's from Yale, and is used in a lot of Japanese classes. Personally I love it and want to get part 2 soon. It's designed as a class text, for study with a tutor, or for self study. Drawbacks are just that it has no kana/kanji and the romanization is really weird (like si and tu for shi and tsu etc)

[steppinrazor.livejournal.com]

Mari Noda? That sounds like my Japanese Text... One of the authors was from my university (but it wasn't Yale), and we went through at least one class per quarter of explanations for how superior their romanization was, and why it was all romanized (so you could get a better sense of roots and stems, which you can't get from kana).

But it's ruined my ability to read normally romanizations or type in romanji. XD

The kana and kanji were taught in a separate class.

[before-we-were-.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's using the older (It's like... Wade-Glydes or something, or maybe that's a Chinese system.) system for romanization. The shi, tsu, fu, chi and whatnot system is actually a fairly recent thing, and is used more in less formal texts.

off topic

[russian-bob.livejournal.com]

It reminds me a joke:
- Waiter, please cut my pizza on 4 part - i do not feel like eating more than 4 slices tonight.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

I can see why in a Japanese textbook. It's pretty darn rare for languages that aren't Japanese, Arabic, or Chinese.

[kaersaij.livejournal.com]

I've used Начало and now В пути. I love them both. If I taught elementary Russian in college and I would use Начало. I even got my old professor to use it instead of the mismatched handouts he tried to hold together for years for lack of finding a decent textbook.

[superslayer18.livejournal.com]

Can you give me the isbn numbers for these books? It would be nice if I could find them on amazon or something.

Good idea.

[kaersaij.livejournal.com]

Book 2 of Начало: ISBN 0-07-365514-7. I don't have book I with me.

В пути: ISBN 0-13-474891-3

[always040.livejournal.com]

I've also used Начало. Highly recommended. We use it in both Elementary Russian 101 and 102 at my college.

[fox-c.livejournal.com]

I must admit I didn't like either of those books. Начало is just ok, but В пути actually was awful. Bad layout, poor explanations and examples, poor organization.

I liked Голоса ( 0-13-049456-9) much better

[frolicsome.livejournal.com]

I found Начало to be awful as well. IMO, most of the stories are obtuse and many of the explanations are sorely lacking.

[kaersaij.livejournal.com]

I can't find any fault with В пути. It doesn't miss a point. Начало does have silly dialogs, but that's not a way to judge a textbook.

I've yet to see Голоса.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

I don't like Голоса -- not enough reading/translation practice, and the conversations are pretty cheesy and dated. Also, wayyyyyy too much vocabulary per chapter for the poster's specifications.

I wish I could remember the one my Russian HR used a little -- I really liked it.

[bricoleura.livejournal.com]

I used Голоса (both book 1 and 2) and liked them a lot--they come with workbooks and CDs, too.
i heard Начало is good, but i've never laid eyes on it. I skimmed through Troika (sorry, no isbn number and i don't remember the author)and it was decent.
For a good starter in conversational Russian, "let's talk about Life" isbn 0-471-30939-7 is really great!! (and i'm not just saying that because my teacher wrote the book;))

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

Голоса is a very popular Russian textbook used in most colleges. Yeah, it's the standard.

[superslayer18.livejournal.com]

standard, yes, but is it any good for selfstudy is the question lol.

[tikvi.livejournal.com]

Голоса probably could work well for self study. Most colleges use it, but I know plenty of profs who hate it. I used it for the first two years of Russian and learned a lot. I basically had to teach myself for the second year and probably wouldn't have survived if it hadn't been for that textbook. You may find yourself wanting an outside grammar guide, but I think most students do anyway. Sometimes it just helps to see things presented differently.

To throw this out here, which textbooks are around for the third and fourth years?

[lovimoment.livejournal.com]

I wasn't fond of Nachalo or V Puti, because I'd come from a program that used Troika. Troika has a very communicative approach, and it makes Russian surprisingly easy to understand. The way it's set up, you can actually start speaking with what you know, instead of having to wait another 3 to 4 chapters to understand the relevant vocabulary and grammar that goes with the information you already know.

I think Troika is used less because it's newer to the scene, and Russian professors aren't fond of changing curricula.

ISBN for the book: 0471309451
Tapes: 0471138053
Workbook: 0471309443

[that-random-boy.livejournal.com]

A lot of people already mentioned Голоса. I'd just like to also point out that the book is great because there is a corresponding website (http://www.prenhall.com/golosa/), where the example conversations and other audio and visual aids can be found. It's very helpful.

(For what it's worth, I tought myself for the second half of my first year with the Голоса text and it worked out well for me)