Thread: A Treasure Trove! :D

The other day my fiancee went shopping and I jokingly aked him to bring me a book on Russian. He comes back with 3! I'd like your opinions on them. Now I have 3 coursebooks but I don't know which one to start with or what!
He got me:
Teach Yourself Beginner's Russian Script by Daphne West
Teach Yourself Russian by Daphne West
The Living Language - Russian set
I already have a dictionary and the New Penguin Russian Course as well as the Oxford University Taking Off in Russian set. Whew! I'm going to work through the Russian script book to get a really firm grasp on the alphabet, but where should I go from there??
Thanks!
Аманда

I have the living Language set, but I can't remember exactly which one it is... Is it the one that you can use on the computer, or just listen in the car? I think it's the computer one. If so, it's pretty good, you get points for everything you get right, and it is kind of fun.
I think I have the other two also, but haven't gotten around to them yet, I am slacking lately, and I bought WAY too many books. I think I have OCD!!!
-Fantom

IMHO
I have "The Living Language". I thought it sucked, but I think all books suck in general.
I think learning a language depends more on your personal dedication rather than books, courses, programs etc.
Books are a good starting point, but I really learned more from this forum than anything else.

I have the Beginner's Script one and the Living Language one (CD version) ... both are very good.. especially the Script one... so i would start with the script one and then go to one of the other two after you finish the script one..

living language is crap, its just a big phrasebook.

Anyways, if you already have new penguin then no need to buy any more books. Pengiun is all u really need.

I agree with Dogboyonehudredandeightytwo.!

Not with his taste in music but with that comment about if you already have New Penguin you dont really need to get another book. But since they were free ......what the hell.

I dont really want to flatter myself because I am not that good and am pretty lazy. But i do consider myself fairly advanced at learning russian. But even I love to thumb through the penguin book and learn a thing or two that i overlooked the first time around.

its PACKED with great stuff and really explains it in a way that, well if you cant understand it there, just give up learning russian cuz it cant be put into any easier terms.

Plus with the amount of vocab they give you, you should easily be able to have simple converstations (Assuming your spoken russian skills are well enough) with Russians.

Anyways, thats enough free publicity for one day.

Seriously the Living Language one isn't that bad.. the most updated one... I don't which version you had... but anyways i recommend it.. as for the New Penguin Course... i love it and think it is the best one with one flaw..... No CD or Tape to hear the right pronunciations... you have to take a guess (even with the syllables spelled out you can't ever be sure if you are pronouncing it right) .... but the Living Language has excellent CD's that go along with it... so you could use the CD's for both....

I have Living Language, and it's good for some phrases and listening to the phrases and such, but other than that, it's not really helping me learn (which is why I stink at Russian).
~Amanda

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

But even I love to thumb through the penguin book and learn a thing or two that i overlooked the first time around.

its PACKED with great stuff and really explains it in a way that, well if you cant understand it there, just give up learning russian cuz it cant be put into any easier terms.

Plus with the amount of vocab they give you, you should easily be able to have simple converstations (Assuming your spoken russian skills are well enough) with Russians.

So the Penguin book is good? Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.
~Amanda

Yes it is good but keep in mind that you will have to learn as much vocabulary as possible from other sources. If it was me I would use everthing available to me but make New Penguin my steady and main course.

Yeah, I am trying to learn as much vocabulary as I can from other sources also, but I think I will check out the Penguin book because you guys are saying it is good.
~Amanda

Is new penguin only a beginner's course, though? Does it go through intermediate and advanced grammar?