Quote Originally Posted by ocitalis View Post
I have a Russian language question. Pimsleur's Learn Russian audiobooks say that "у меня" means "at my place". But isn't the most literal translation of this phrase "at me"? Why does Pimsleur use the "at ___ place" formulation when it is less precise, longer (more words), and more awkward than the literal "at ___" translation?
"у меня" is not a complete phrase and can not be reliably translated without context. But most often it means just "I have". As for Pimsleur logic, I can neither comment it nor recommend.

Quote Originally Posted by ocitalis View Post
Using Pimsleur's way means word ordering that is already strange sounds even stranger. For example, "At your place, in the car does gasoline exist?" is less intuitive than "At you, in the car does gasoline exist?".
This is the way automatic translation works. It is always awkward and often unintelligible.

I can guess that original phrase was "У тебя в машине есть бензин?" I'd translate it like "Do you have a gas in your car?" or "Is your car fueled?"