Good resources for Russian learners.

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

A common question people have when beginning to study a language is which books they'll find the most helpful. So I think that a discussion on this topic would be useful.

What books on the Russian language to you find the most useful? Which dictionaries or textbooks do you use? Do you have any books that you absolutely hate?

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My recommendation is Using Russian: A Guide to Contemporary Usage by Derek Offord. It's intended to be a supplement to Russian study, rather than a book to begin with. It covers topics that are frequently left out of or glossed over in textbooks. The topics are indexed and easy to locate, but there's too much explanation for it to just be a reference grammar.

501 Russian Verbs is also useful, but you have to be careful not to rely on it or you'll never learn to conjugate the verbs on your own! I use it primarily for double-checking my conjugation if I'm not sure that I've done it right. For those not familiar with this book, it contains hundreds of Russian verbs, fully conjugated. So you can see the danger in learning to turn to it. You don't have to think for yourself. :)

As for dictionaries, I use The Oxford Russian-English dictionary the most often. It's funny how opinions are so divided on this book. My professors and TAs (who are native speakers) love it, but a lot of other native speakers think that it's horrible. What dictionaries would you recommend?

Comments

[studentka-hb.livejournal.com]

My suggestion for a good grammar guide would be A Comprehensive Russian Grammar by Terence Wade... good coverage, well indexed, makes sense!

[margorand.livejournal.com]

I use the Oxford Russian-English dictionary as well. It's served me well with no major problems, though I am aware of its mixed reviews. When deciphering emails and IMs from a few friends in Russia, I rely on the Dictionary of Russian Slang for those words that aren't in any proper dictionaries. ;-) I would of course remind less-advanced students of Russian to be wary of using Russian slang/swears, especially around people you don't know well; these words are a lot stronger and more offensive than their English counterparts!

And I second the recommendation for Wade's Comprehensive Russian Grammar. It's a very thorough text, and the standard reference for 300-level Russian students at my school (Wellesley College, which has a very well-established Russian Department... founded by none other than Vladimir Nabokov! Alright, bragging over, hehe).

[superslayer18.livejournal.com]

I've only got a few books, but I can explain my experiences with them I guess. The first book I got was Learn Russian the Fast and Fun Way. Good for learning some of the basics I suppose, but it's really only good if you plan of going to Russia. Like some of the chapters, for example, instead of being about learning fluency, are about renting cars in Russia. Useful, I suppose, but not so much for me.

The next is the Berlitz Essential Russian. At first it is pretty good, as each chapter begins with some dialogue, so you can learn how some words are used in context. However, it becomes VERY complicated quite quickly. By about chapter 4 or 5 i think, it expects you to memorize all of the noun cases with no prior exposure. Out of all the ones that I have, I think that this one expects you to already know a good amount of Russian grammer. Also, instead of learning vocabulary in small chunks and then using them in dialogue, it gives a list of about 50+ words and expects you to memorize them. Good if that is how you work, but since its not how I prefer to learn, I would not recommend it.

The New Penguin Russian Course is pretty good. It contains a good amount of chance for translation (something that I find helps me learn), and a number of exercises at the end of each chapter. It breaks up every verb case into a chapter, as opposed to about 1/3 of a page each. The way it teaches vocabulary is kinda iffy, but overall, its a pretty good choice.

(I just realized I had more books than I thought lol) The next is the Living Language Russian Complete Course. It is a combination of a course book, a corresponding set of lessons of CD, and a dictionary. I haven't used it too much yet, but so far its good for teaching pronounciation. It requires quite a bit of repetition though, so i'm not sure how I feel about it.

(This next one is not a book, but a link.) Although I was already to read in Cyrillic, this link is pretty good for those that want to learn: http://www.catcode.com/rintro/

Although I do not have this book, I do have it on order: The "Teach Yourself" series is one that I've heard many good things about. They have one on Russian Script, one on Russian language, and one on Russian Grammer. There might be others that I do not know of. This series has been recommended to me, and after looking at it on Amazon, I fell in love. Don't know how I will feel about it when I actually get it though lol.

Well I hope that all of that was helpful!

Re:

[vyacheslav.livejournal.com]

"The New Penguin Russian Course is pretty good. It contains a good amount of chance for translation (something that I find helps me learn), and a number of exercises at the end of each chapter. It breaks up every verb case into a chapter, as opposed to about 1/3 of a page each. The way it teaches vocabulary is kinda iffy, but overall, its a pretty good choice."

I have this book, and I think it's very good. But I agree that the vocab is not very good. I would like a little more exercises, because often times the examples they use in the lesson also show up in the exercise so it's hard to say whether you're learnign or just recalling what you already read.

[paul-s.livejournal.com]

The Wade one is excellent. Another good one I managed to take from my old school is 'Modern Russian Prose Composition' but it was printed in 1963 so you might not get a copy now. As for dictionaries, I have the Oxford Russian one as does my native lecturer.

[mooxyjoo.livejournal.com]

i'm fond of another book by offord, 'modern russian: an advanced grammar course'. sort of the same thing that ladybirdsleeps says of the other one applies, although this one was intended as a textbook proper, not a complement to study.

[shiro-ki.livejournal.com]

What do you think about ZLATOUST books as VLADIMIR?
I had the opportunity to use it while teaching RFL
http://www.zlat.spb.ru/english/news.htm
it seems to be interesting

Teach Yourself

[37greenbeans.livejournal.com]

I am curious how you found the Teach Yourself series... if you've had a look at it...

[evalangui.livejournal.com]

I know this is old but i thought better to ask than to stard a new thread... is there any good Russian-English on-line?