The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners Paperback – Amazon Upgrade, 28 Mar. 1996

I've tried a few Russian Courses (including the BBC Talk Russian), but they didn't seem quite right. These courses were more aimed at learning to speak some basic Russian (holiday) phrases, rather than a good understanding of the language itself. In learning this way, though, I think you actually make it harder for yourself (even to learn the holiday basics).If you're thinking of choosing between the BBC course and this one, I'd suggest this. The BBC course gives you a very basic understanding of the Russian alphabet (one page!) and then focuses on teaching holiday phrases. This may seem ideal (if you're just going to St Petersburg for a week), but it isn't very easy this way. To learn the alphabet simply from a list of letters and then expecting you to read words through listening to them isn't the best way.In this (Penguin) course, there is a very good opening chapter (see the "Look Inside") that teaches you the alphabet properly. This is critical! (And it doesn't take long to learn). You need to understand how to pronounce the letters, and understand them in context, before you can move on to learning phrases. True, you do get to "hear" the words in BBC Talk Russian, but learning how they sound is no substitute for being able to remember Russian words accurately from their spelling. Whereas there is light emphasis in the BBC book on both learning through spelling and listening, there is strong emphasis here on learning through spelling. The good thing is that Russian (unlike English -- think: "thorough") is a very literal language, and most words sound exactly like they are spelled. You don't really need to learn them by ear (it helps to fine-tune your understanding, but you're far better (given how quickly this book teaches it) learning how to read Russian properly first). It's like learning to read a map and navigate: would you prefer to be presented with a key to the map and road systems and then simply learn the routes you needed, or would you be better being talked through the symbols and roads in logical sections and given a good grounding in the basics to navigate any route?This is a fairly comprehensive course, that aims to take you to "A-Level" standard. It's something you can constantly pick away at, but if you're simply looking to learn some holiday Russian, you would still be better (in my eyes) using this book to get a good basic understanding of the alphabet and grammar -- and then learning a few lists of holiday phrases (or then using BBC Talk Russian) after. The way the book is laid out is perfect, and has clearly been written by somebody who knows how to teach languages. For example: as you are learning the alphabet, you are also given lists of useful words to spell (in Russian), so not only are you learning the alphabet, but you are growing a vocabulary as you go). The book is perfectly structured, and moves from the alphabet to handwriting to learning phrases to grammar in a logical and easy to digest way. Throughout, you are also given useful titbits that help you to see the language in action.If you put in the work, then this book will reward you well. It is ideal for beginners; if you just want to learn holiday Russian, then use this book to understand the basics for a couple of weeks and then move onto holiday phrases. You will learn how to form basic sentences (rather than just learning phrases). You will develop a ground-level understanding of the language, whereas if you put your efforts into the BBC book, you will simply learn a list of automated phrases. The bottom line is that Russian isn't the simplest language to get by in, but if you put the time in this book will make it easy to learn. Use this book daily (and revise constantly), and you will soon be confident in basic Russian. It will also take you far further if you work through the whole book, to the point where you can comfortably type, write and speak Russian to conversational level.One last thing: there is an excellent site for practising the Russian alphabet (and other aspects of Russian), and if you search "practice russian" you should find it. Best of luck, and I hope this review was helpful if you're wondering where to start.

I havent properly started this language book yet as it is a course and therefore i will scan it and learn from it start to finish as it is meant to be- looking at a glance though and speaking a small mixture of Russian and Polish, i can see that this book of perfect size, not overwhelmingly large or to small which is great if you have dyslexia like myself contains all i need to start reading and speaking Russian which i think is a beautiful language, i'd advise you get some accompanying books including the Oxford Russian/English-English/Russian range including Grammer and Verbs and a phrase/sentence book just to aid you along the way.

I agree with most of the comments from other reviewers. This is useful but far from perfect. In particular, I imagine it might be rather daunting to a complete beginner (who it is ostensibly aimed at).I did Russian O-level about 30 years ago [the German class was over-subscribed!], and have never used it since. My daughter is now learning Russian at school, so I decided to re-learn the language to help her (and for my own enjoyment). Coming to the language for a second time, this book is an excellent summary of Russian's rather complex (but fairly regular) grammar. It is aimed at adult self-learners; and if you put in the effort, the explanations are pretty thorough. But it is rather a dense book, so you will need to concentrate. I suspect some people might give up. Those people might prefer a book that leads them through the language more slowly and gently.In answer to another reviewer's query - yes, the stress is marked on (almost all) words throughout the book. This is important because in Russian it is not obvious where the stress falls when learning new words. I like the fact that the stress is NOT just shown the first time you encounter a word; that would be too easy to forget. One thing that is rather silly though is showing the stress on some one-syllable words (those containing the letter O). The author justifies this because some one-syllable words are unstressed in certain phrases. My own opinion is that those phrases are too rare to justify his blanket approach. Not a big problem though.A couple of other complaints I have are -There is a useful glossary of vocabulary at the back of the book. This contains chapter references for each word. But why not provide page references instead??? It is quite frustrating trawling through a chapter to check the usage of a specific word or phrase.The chapter on pronunciation is rather confusing. His explanations of stress etc are generally correct, but unclear. I had to re-read them several times to make sense. He also makes a big deal of the "yuh" sound in soft vowels, when it is actually pretty straightforward. (They are pronounced as one sound, not two - as in the English words Duty, Tuna, Canyon, Onion, and unlike the "ee" in Stereo & Period. Harder for Americans presumably, because they say Duty as Dooty!)Some of his explanations are ambiguous. Forcing you to go back and check what he really means.Word Order is not covered till almost the end of the book.UPDATE - since I wrote this review I have bought other books & CD's - now I hardly ever look at this one! It really is too much hard work to wade through it. If you want a grammar reference book, then the Oxford Russian Grammar is much clearer. If you want to actually LEARN Russian, then look for a course that takes things more slowly. I would downgrade my review to 3 stars - but the website won't let me!