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[hear-them-die.livejournal.com]

Привет - Я Кассандра! I have just finished my whole first year of Elementary Russian instruction at college and I'm eager to learn more. Unfortunately, my college doesn't offer any Intermediate Russian courses. So, my question to you all today, is if you can recommend any books that have additional workbooks for beginners or a really good computer program. In terms of my level of understanding of Russian, I must admit its very limited. I only understand the prepositional, accusative, genitive, and nominative cases and have yet to even touch dative and instrumental. My vocabulary is very basic and I would desperately like to improve upon it.

Thank you all for your help in advance!

Comments

[oncogene.livejournal.com]

It sounds like your first year doesn't even take you to an intermediate level. I feel like scolding your professors. >_<

Anyway, I completely loved my textbooks. (This is me too lazy to switch to cyrillic.)

First semester: Golasa (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0138950385/ref=sr_11_1/104-5714209-1029564?%5Fencoding=UTF8) From what you've described, you're about halfway through book one of Golasa. My second semester was just book 2 of the same series, Golasa 2 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/013895111X/ref=sr_11_1/104-5714209-1029564?%5Fencoding=UTF8). You can buy them as a set on Amazon or get them used somewhere (I recommend the latter). Really great textbooks. Very applicable and realistic vocabulary and conversational skills.

Once you hit an intermediate level, I recommend V puti (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0134748913/ref=sr_11_1/104-5714209-1029564?%5Fencoding=UTF8). That book kicked my ass, but it was worth it.

... now they just need a nice cyrillic typing tutor... ;)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_strochka_/]

I'm russian and i'll help to improve your russian language via ICQ with great pleasure)
be my guest! 1640964

[nekotjonok.livejournal.com]

the best way is to find a teacher.

A first year introduction should cover all the cases

[stpetersburg.livejournal.com]

You're behind even in that respect. I also used Голоса in my first year studies; I liked it well enough. Be sure to do the oral drills: they really do help, and having the patterns down mechanically will help you for a long time to come.

Indeed, after you master Голоса, it would be prudent, depending on your situation, to think about a trip to Russia itself. It really is the only way to learn a language, really learn it.

[ginny1985.livejournal.com]

V Puti is a good book- my advanced professor would often go back and reference that book in some of her lectures. The explanations are fabulous.

Ben Rifkin's "Grammatika v kontekse" is good. Rifkin is a linguist who works with methods to teaching a foreign language, if that gives an idea as to his qualifications. It covers everything (and I mean everything), though only at about the intermediate-advanced level. This book also includes works from Russian writers (part of his "authentic texts" kick), and they are generally well-known works or writers. The exercises in the book itself seem more geared towards the intermediate-beginner level, though. There is a companion workbook, but we didn't use it (my class used five or six different Russian books).

Troika is what I used my beginner year at Baylor, and that book has some good vocab lists in it. My dad took refresher courses in Russian at the community college, and they used the same book. The explanations are fair, and the exercises are decent. Really, if you can borrow the book from someone and xerox all the vocab pages, that'd be best. The main thing about the book that I hated was its organization- it's crap. There are some good charts at the back of the book in the index, but otherwise.... The workbook is pretty good though, I did all those exercises, even though they tended to get pretty repetitive sometimes.

As for vocab, you might also try "First Thousand Words in Russian". Sure it looks childish, but they're generally helpful words, and the pictures are just plain funny sometimes. The index section gives of a list of all 1000 words, in Cyrillic, transliterated (not sure if it's in the Library of Congress transliteration system or not), and then the English equivalent.

Hope that helps!

[belacane.livejournal.com]

definitely find a tutor/teacher.
unless you're extraordinarily well motivated you will find you learn next to nothing teaching yourself until you are on a much higher level when what you really need are only colloquialisms and more vocabulary.

And even if you do end up teaching yourself successfully, a native speaker to practice with is still invaluable in the sence that there are exceptions, and of course speaking accent.

gl!

[wiwi.livejournal.com]

if someone wanna talk in english about russian: you always welcome!
icq: 865313

Re: A first year introduction should cover all the cases

[mayzie.livejournal.com]

i remember that some of my teachers did not recommend extended travel to russia until after getting to the post-second year course level. this might be less true if someone where in some kind of language program or had unlimited funds to go back whenever they wanted.

as far as i know, the perspective is based on two things: 1) worry that students will waste funds going before they are ready and then not be able to afford to go back and 2) concern that students will pick up bad grammatical habits from getting all informal practice and no instruction.

[kav2k.livejournal.com]

I'd also like to help you out with language questions and vocabulary if you want. I'll train my english meanwhile ;)
ICQ 109602758 (remind me about this invitation, as I have a bad habit of abusing the ignore list feature)

Off topic

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Is that really the way they teach Russian at American colleges? Out of the whole case system, four cases during the 1st year, and that's it? Souds like spending a year only training two fingers of each hand for a piano player.
I'm just curios. Do they really teach it this way? 8-0

Re: Off topic

[ginny1985.livejournal.com]

My first year at Baylor (private school), we learned all the cases and aspect. When I toook first year again at University of Oklahoma (public school), we learned all the cases and aspect. However, my dad took refresher courses (well, refresher for him anyway) at the community college, they only learned four cases in the first year. The program only went to third semester, so I guess they decided to just spread it out and cover each case in depth. It really depends on how large the program is, and who the professor is. The professor who taught at the community college was the only one teaching Russian, and therefore she got to design the program and teach it at her own pace. At my two schools, the professors didn't have quite as much freedom with pacing.

Re: Off topic

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm. Thanks for the info. Strange system, anyway. I had 9 years of Advanced German in junior high/ high school (in Russia, all this is middle school) and we had the whole case system and beginnings of verb tense system within the 1st year. Then, over the next 8 years, we were expanding it, covering aspects, advanced verb tenses (like Plusquamperfekt,) enriching vocabulary etc. At Moscow State University, I had 4 years of Beginning French; again, the whole case system AND the whole verb tense system AND aspects went within the first two semesters, and then we went on to enhance all that. It's like music: you cannot just train two fingers first and then the other two etc., you start with the whole thing, however simple your initial efforts are. Dunno... maybe if I'd be in this program I'd get it, but so far, it looks quite strange to me.
Thanks for the explanations, it's really useful!

Re: Off topic

[belacane.livejournal.com]

I began learning russian in America, and it wasn't like that at all.
We got through all the cases by the end of the first semester, except for instrumental , which we learned early in the 2nd semester. By the end of the first year, We had been introduced to all the verb tenses (which includes perfective and imperfective). Second year was more of the same, with many many added constructions and vocabulary words. Skipped 3rd year, took a semester of 4th year, moved to russia for Uni... and the rest is history.

I do believe I can safely say though, that the quality of classes varries to extremes. I have sat in on random classes at other universities (usually having visited a friend and had nothing to do while she was in class), and was just miffed by how anyone could expect to learn there.

I got very lucky.

As for high school language teaching in the USA, it's pretty hard to find anything that is worthy of even the word "decent". I have known so many people who boast they have been learning languge x for 5 years, and then find out they can hardly speak a word.

Re: Off topic

[temcat.livejournal.com]

But then IMHO German is much easier to learn for a Russian than vice versa... Maybe there's just a limited amount of info that can be stuffed in one's head :-P

Re: Off topic

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Not at all: for example, the very idea of German three past tenses (Imperfekt, Perfekt und Plusquampefekt) looks ridiculous for a Russian, forget about the whole bunch of verb tenses in French - infinitif, futur simple, passe futur, present de l'indicatif, passe present, present du subjonctif, passe simple, passe compose, passe surcompose, plus-que-parfait, futur immediat, passe immediat etc. etc. etc.! For me, event the English verb tense system was (and still is) a Mystery :)

Re: Off topic

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see. Thank you for this detailed story!

Re: Off topic

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

All cases except one within one academic year? Wow. At Moscow State, we were supposed to know French cases within two weeks...

[michmanm.livejournal.com]

It'll be great, if you visit my LJ :) Because, I'm trying to write in English and in Russian...

[nominals.livejournal.com]

I've bought tons of books, cds, and computer programs to help me with my Russian language learning. The most helpful ones, with out a doubt, are the programs with included audio. The phrases and vocabulary that helped me the most in Moscow were from these programs:

Pimsleur's Speak and Read Essential Russian (very redundant and even dull for some but endlessly helpful for learning basic phrases),

Rosetta Stone's Russian - A very, very helpful vocabulary building computer program. The voice on this program is (intentionally??) annoying but it seems to help because I remember almost all of the vocabulary from the lessons.

Oxford's Take Off in Russian - The least expensive of the group (about USD 50). It comes with a book of exercises and phrases.

Also, 501 Russian Verbs is, in my opinion, absolutely necessary for any learning of Russian.

Good luck with your studies!

[bridgetdarcy.livejournal.com]

i taught myself italian simply by getting through one grammar book with excercises and then reading reading reading with a dictionary, for something over a year. chatting and writing emails to italian friends also helped. when i got to italy for a short language course after that i realized i could speak! (i did my CILS exam proficiency level after 2 weeks in italy). so everything is possible, good luck to you!

Re: Off topic

[belacane.livejournal.com]

I've heard many stories of American people in their 40's and 50's who said they were shown the entire russian grammar system in the course of 6 weeks, and then given some unabridged literature to read.

I think it's all about the system of teaching.

I personally was very happy with how I learned, but I say that because I never limited myself to the class room after the first semester or so. I found people to practice with, lived in russia for some time, read the news, listen to the radio.

In the classroom, I think we learned the grammar system at a decent enough pace, not too fast, but slow and repetitive enough for it to really sink in if you dedicated yourself to it. And given that language learning is largely about repition/practice, it was quite effective.

There are people who have had just as much classroom time as I have, and they can barely put a simple and correct sentence together when speaking.

Re: Off topic

[belacane.livejournal.com]

you're welcome.

Overall, the American education system, especially regarding languages seems to be extremely varried in quality.

.... and we all wonder why many Americans speak only one language =p

Re: Off topic

[maisondetranger.livejournal.com]

Purely out of interest, what are French cases?
I thought cases were only found in languages such as Russian and German.. I'm interested to learn what in Russia is considered as cases in French

Re: Off topic

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

>in languages such as Russian and German

Those two have nothing in common, except that both are Indo-European, so it's not correct to compare those two.
Strong case system existed in Latin and still exists in such different languages as Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian (Ugro-Finnish group), Polish, Czech, Ukrainian, Russian (Slavic languages,) German, Icelandic (Germanic,) and even those Germanic languages where case system is mostly gone (English, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian,) still have the remnants of it - like with English personal pronouns (I, me, my, mine) and the last sign of the previous case system - the general case/ genitive case duality (dog - dog's, king - king's).
In French, the case system mostly shows in personal pronouns as well (les pronoms personnels conjoints): il/le/lui, ils/les/leur. The Latin change of the nouns itself is gone, just like in English the German change of the nouns is gone, but the cases still exist as grammatical relationships, mostly shown through pronouns and articles (like in: Il n'y a pas de manger a la maison.)

Re: Off topic

[maisondetranger.livejournal.com]

Thanks)
Il n'y a pas de manger a la maison? ;) Il n'y a rien a manger? ou bien?