The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Russian

by Christopher Froehlich

Does learning Russian have to be so hard? Nyet Learn the basics of the Russian language without getting discouraged. This friendly, fun, and practical approach offers first-time learners and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0028643224
• ISBN13: 9780028643229
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Alpha Books
• Length: 366 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Good Overview of a Lot

I think the book covers a lot in terms of range. I have a lot of these intro books. Russian is a very deep subject. The classes tend to hang up on a few items forever, and this book moves you along to new areas. The more compressed dense type is Oxford Russian Grammar and Verbs which is maybe too much for the pure beginner. This book also tries to show pronunciation and now has CD of some use. Author has done a service to the beginner. The book is not a large set of tables of endings which might be in a reference book. It is unlikely that one would speak much Russian after reading one book. I think the critics here are too narrow. The book is a good overview of basics. I would buy also an Intermediate next book in Russian in this Idiot Series if it is ever done (such exists in Spanish).

Learn the Cyrillic Alphabet and Proceed!

Once you learn the alphabet (no small feat) you'll have fun with this book. And, you'll UNDERSTAND why Russian-speakers have difficulty learning perfect English (and that will be an epiphany). So, in all circumstances, try this book out. Knowledge of another language that has gender cases for nouns (such as German) is helpful, because you have already jumped that hoop. Get ready to encounter a language with no real prepositional phrases, definite articles ("the"), and no particular concern about word order. However, it can be fun, and will give you some great insights into one of the world's great and most spoken languages. All thanks to St. Cyril, who wanted to invent an alphabet that took the best from the available ones. He missed on a few points, and those are worth discovering too! One of the best free-standing Russian language books I have uncovered.

A Great Starting Resource

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Russian starts where it should: the Cryllic Alphabet, and it gives a good breakdown and a lot of sample words to go along with it. Then it gets into grammar, slowly etching vocabulary into your mind as you read. It's a really good introduction, and the fact that it stays with the Cryllic alphabet throughout lends it a lot of face in my eyes, because in reality you're not really accomplishing anything without using their alpahabet. As always with languages, you'll want to get a good set of CDs or tapes to go along, because without hearing the language there's no point, but I really must strongly recommend this book. It's witty once in a while, fun all the time, and doesn't let you get bogged down in the extreme nuances of grammar. If you want to begin the road to fluency in Russian, buy this book. You won't regret it.

A good "starter" book...

Because this is labeled as an "Idiot's Guide" does not mean that you can sprint through the book. The focus is mainly on spoken Russian - how to communicate. It's a good overview of the language, teaches a broad range of vocabulary, gives a decent but not exhaustive explanation of grammar and pronounciation, and keeps it all interesting and fun. Each section stands on it's own, so you can skip around without getting totally lost.