Thread: Text for Pimsleur?

Hello!

I've begun my Russian studies with the Pimsleur courses (up to Lesson 10 so far), and I've covered a few chapters of the New Penguin Course.

I'm wondering if anybody has, or knows where I could find, the Pimsleur lessons in text format. It seems there's a difference, sometimes severe, between the sounds I hear and the actual spelling of words.

For example, хотите I had been hearing as хартите. Additionally, I dont really hear the ь so it's helpful to see the text. And I can't even begin to properly repeat the verb for "to have lunch..."

Thanks in advance for any help/advice!

J

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Привет Darobat!

Спасибо! Your assistance is greatly appreciated! Already it's helping me. It's funny -- once I know how a word is spelled, it suddently sounds correct. Go figure.

The rest of the lessons would be great. Thank you so much. You're really saving my life!

J

Originally Posted by TheHopeful

And I can't even begin to properly repeat the verb for "to have lunch..."

What's so hard about it?

Originally Posted by BlackMage

Originally Posted by TheHopeful

And I can't even begin to properly repeat the verb for "to have lunch..."

What's so hard about it?

I don't know.. maybe the recording wasn't clear, or maybe my mouth just can't do that particular combination of sound very well.

Of course, it took me a week to properly pronounce как вы пожаваете (sp?)... lol

J

Пообедать......."to have lunch" is what Pimsleur says. I agree that it is hard to hear that word clearly. But I don't see what all the fuss over anything else in Pimsleur is for, as far as being unclear goes.

Originally Posted by DDT

Пообедать......."to have lunch" is what Pimsleur says. I agree that it is hard to hear that word clearly. But I don't see what all the fuss over anything else in Pimsleur is for, as far as being unclear goes.

Thanks for the response. And, as far as Pimsleur being unclear -- it probably isn't. It's my hearing that's flawed. It seems that I hear certain sounds incorrectly (like the imagined "r" sound in хотите).

In my case, having a textual copy of the phrases helps me to pronounce (and spell) these words more correctly.

That's all. No fuss

J

One thing you should keep in mind though is that Russian is not written phonetically at all, and if you are hearing one sound and see a different one written, you should generally go with the one you hear. Maybe avoid looking at the transcripts until after you have listened to the tape at least once.

Originally Posted by laxxy

One thing you should keep in mind though is that Russian is not written phonetically at all, and if you are hearing one sound and see a different one written, you should generally go with the one you hear. Maybe avoid looking at the transcripts until after you have listened to the tape at least once.

I'll definetely keep this advice in mind. It's funny that you should say it, though, because my New Penguin "Russian Course" book says that "it is generally true to say that Russian words are pronounced as they are written."

I mention that only as explanation of how I arrived at the generalization that Russian is phoenetic, and not as a contradiction of your opinion or advice (which I will follow).

Thanks for the response!

J

Originally Posted by TheHopeful

I'll definetely keep this advice in mind. It's funny that you should say it, though, because my New Penguin "Russian Course" book says that "it is generally true to say that Russian words are pronounced as they are written."

I mention that only as explanation of how I arrived at the generalization that Russian is phoenetic, and not as a contradiction of your opinion or advice (which I will follow).

Thanks for the response!

J

It seems to me, that laxxy is right. Many Russian words are not pronounced as they are written (however, as in English).
For example, "to have lunch" - пообедать, is pronounced as [pa:`bedat] with soft "t".