Thread: Best books for learning Russian

i put together a little list of books that i think are good for learning russian on my blog, if anyone has anything they think i should add, let me know and ill add it right up
http://www.england-moscow.com/2009/11/b ... ssian.html

A few I've found helpful:

Неделя как неделя, by Natalya Baranskaya (Slavica publications). This is a a Russian short story published for Russian learners. All but the simplest words are in the lexicon in the back and there are translations for some of the idiomatic or confusing phases at the bottom of the page.

Russian Stage Two (published by Kendall Hunt/ACTR). I'm using an older edition of this because I found it cheap. I have really enjoyed the approach of this book. The main textbook at this level uses no English (of course there are word lists in each chapter and a dictionary at the end of the book), yet remains comprehensible through keeping the vocabulary within what has already been taught. The main text is designed for classroom use, but you can always use what you can by yourself as you please. The accompanying workbook is full of exercises and has brief discussions of grammar and usage topics for each section.

For beginners, if you can find it, I really like the approach of the old Berlitz Self-Teacher: Russian book. This one is from 1951, so of course be aware that quite a few things have changed in the world since then. The teaching approach of this book, however, is very clear and useful. All of the Russian text is given with phonetic transliteration underneath to help the student practice learning the sounds. Obviously you will need to hear the sounds pronounced by a real person to learn them properly, but that is a limitation of ANY textbook.

Lt Colombo - Some of the tips on your list are great.

I am very interested to hear how long it's taken you to get to the point you're at now.. I mean did you study Russian in school, uni or what?

When did you start, how intensively did you study ?

I'm the slowest learner in the world... Sometimes I feel like I "used up" all my abities for learning foreign languages when I learnt English, and there is nothing left for other langauges....

Lt. Columbo I can't read your entry about russian learning books. I can the see Книги picture but nothing else. I can read your other entries fine.

Anyone else having this problem?

Originally Posted by ski-ops

Lt. Columbo I can't read your entry about russian learning books. I can the see Книги picture but nothing else. I can read your other entries fine.

Anyone else having this problem?

ski-ops! Glad to have you back!!!

I checked real quick and I too can only see the photo. No blog entry for this section (Best books for learning Russian).

strange...
are you using IE to view it?
i know it's fine with my chrome and firefox but had problems with IE. ill look into it and while im at it add the above recomendation.

as for johanna's qusetion, i started learning when i was 16 ish, maybe 16 and a half, now i 24. i used a combination of TY books, radio, reading and so on, then i came to russia when i was 19 on an exchange for 5 months, came back again 7 months later to study for a year, then (after another 7 months working in england) came back and didnt take any more long breaks.

i dont think i would have time for another language

I can't read it either...

Very interesting. I just downloadd Google Chrome and it works fine. It's like invisible ink!

My favorite books of "Брятья Стругацкие":

Обитаемый остров,
Далёкая Радуга,
Трудно быть богом,
Понедельник начинается в субботу,
Хищные вещи века,
Улитка на склоне,
Гадкие лебеди,
Отель «У Погибшего Альпиниста»,
Пикник на обочине,
Парень из преисподней,
За миллиард лет до конца света,
Жук в муравейнике.

They are not only very interesting but, in my opinion, also show perfectly modern Russian culture.

Сейчас читаю рассказы Максима Осипова, очень интересные. Некоторые называют его современным Чеховым.

http://www.libros.am/book/read/id/32...mashnejj-pticy


Стиль у него не очень красивый, но понять "русскую душу" его произведения точно помогут.

I second Vladimir's suggestion of Strugatsky brothers' books... Some are very short & simple, yet profoundly interesting. In a similar vein, a Russian translation of Stanislaw Lem's Звёздные дневники Ийона Тихого can be great reading material for intermediate Russian learners.

Also feel free to check out my list of 100 top resources to learn Russian... I've reviewed a few readers, as well as many other learning resources.

100

Электронная библиотека "100 лучших книг всех жанров"