Books to teach yourself Russian?

[ksushis.livejournal.com]

Hi. I'm Russian, my boyfriend is American and I wanted to get him a decent book he can teach himself some Russian with. I know the book is not exactly ideal, but the other methods (classroom, tutors, etc) are not an option right now. Of course I can explain to him things her wouldn't understand from the book, but if should be a good book to start with.

I went to amazon.com and found lots of books and lots of reviews ranging from "this book was the best" to "this was useless" for the same product.  I was wondering if people here could help me choose a book by sharing their experiences.

I've found these books to be popular:

The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners - unfortunately this one doesn't have any CDs or tapes to listen to...

Teach Yourself Russian Complete Course Package (Book + 2CDs)

Oxford Take Off in Russian: 4 CDs

This one people didn't like: Basic Russian: Learn to Speak and Understand Russian with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsleur)

Have anyone had experience with any of these books, or any other books when trying to teach themselves Russian?

Thanks a lot!

(no subject)

[upthera44.livejournal.com]

Can you say that a person is дословный to mean literal, in the sense that people sometimes take things too literally? --> "Ты очень дословный человек".

could i get some help here?

[superbad.livejournal.com]

What do you say when you walk into a store/the bank and there is no one at the otdel where you need service?

I think I heard someone say "Можно кого–то!?" once at the khoztovary store. Is that right? Is there another way?

My impulse is to say "Um... Hello!!" - so can you just say "алло!!" ?

Spaseebs.

Who sings this?

[honey-melt.livejournal.com]

I hope this question is O.K. to post here. If the moderators feel that it is not relevant they should feel free to delete :)

To help myself become more familiar with spoken Russian I like to listen to Russian radio on the internet. Today on Voice of Russia I heard a song that I can't get out of my head
I wonder if someone would like to help me identify the song and the singer.

If you want to be my helper I am so happy! Just follow these steps:
1. First you will need to go to today's voice of russia broadcast in Russian at http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=25
2. click on the Monday or T 0500 UTC - РУССКИЙ broadcast
3. Then choose the RealAudio (USA streaming server)
4. Now go forward to the song that starts at 27:04 minutes. Who is it? What is the name of the song?

If it helps any - here is my best effort at picking out some of the lyrics: Жизн иногда ... жала ... стал ... слов ... не ... ба ба ... Сама счастлывые из нас ... герои нездается ... дома всегда

Thank you so much!

(no subject)

[bellezzarubata.livejournal.com]

Would it be correct to say, "какие это ручка и карандаш" or "какие эти ручка и карандаш", or something else entirely?