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[tikvi.livejournal.com]

Just wondering if you have any opinions on "Making Progress in Russian"? Frankly, I'd never heard of this textbook before, but it's used for second year Russian classes at my new school. What are its strong points and short-comings? Will I find myself needing a lot of extra help from dictionaries and grammar books?

Thanks!

Comments

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

I have that book and I LOVE it (by Davis and Oprendek, right?)! Especially the chapters on the cases. Not only do they go in depth, they always provide examples, the exceptions, instances, prepositions used with it. It's amazing. And the exercises really help to enforce what you've learned. Of course, I've found that what really helps enforce it is talking to other people in Russian and guide the conversation to where you can use what you've learned.

Each chapter always opens with authentic Russian text, could be from a constitution, a cookbook, or a book on... the Baikal Lake. :) When there's an expression, it explains it to you. It also has a mini-dictionary on the back, so the words that are really complicated you don't have to go and find in another dictionary.

The chapters on the verbs of motion are also really helpful, but I found that I keep on having to look up the past tense of вести, нести, and везти, although very simple, it's... a personal problem.

Now, the only problem with mine is... no answer key. I had to check it with my teacher. Although it probably does come with a lab manual and that should provide surely enough.

[jo464.livejournal.com]

Hehe my professors actually wrote that book - it's probably my second favorite, not bad! I liked how there were lots of exercises, and they only focused on one aspect of grammar/vocab, so you didn't have to juggle many things.

[storm-jack.livejournal.com]

I have used this book before. It's best points are the great examples it gives, and it's pretty good and thorough on grammar.

Sometimes, the translations aren't so good - but that's like using the Daum Shenk. You don't use it for translation, you use it for grammar.