# Forum Learning Russian Language Getting Started with Russian  What's the best book to use to learn Russian?

## alla_alla

Any advises?

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## zedeeyen

The best self-study book I've come across is The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners Penguin Handbooks: Amazon.co.uk: Nicholas J. Brown: Books 
It's of vastly better quality than most self-study courses - which tend to be little more than glorified phrase books - but some beginners might find it a little dense as a result. There are no audio or visual gimmicks either, so it can be a bit dry. Basically it'll take you farther and faster in your study, but you'll have to work a bit harder too.

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## alla_alla

thanks! 
If we talk about Amazon, on my opinion here are *best* Foreign Language Study books (readers): *
Вечный муж Foreign Language Study book "Vechnij muzh": Vocabulary in English, Explanatory notes in English, Essay in English (illustrated, annotated) (Foreign Language Study books): Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Sergio Novikoff: Amazon.com: Kindle Store
Vechnij muzh 
Игрок Amazon.com: Foreign Language Study book "Igrok": Vocabulary in English, Explanatory notes in English, Essay in English (illustrated, annotated) eBook: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Sergio Novikoff: Kindle Store
Igrok 
Белые ночи Amazon.com: Foreign Language Study book "Belie nochi": Vocabulary in English, Explanatory notes in English, Essay in English (illustrated, annotated) (Foreign Language Study books) eBook: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Sergio Novikoff: Kindle Store
Belie nochi 
Двойник Amazon.com: Foreign Language Study book "Dvojnik": Vocabulary in English, Explanatory notes in English, Essay in English (illustrated, annotated) (Foreign Language Study books) eBook: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Sergio Novikoff: Kindle Store
Dvojnik 
Неточка Незванова Foreign Language Study book "Netochka Nezvanova": Vocabulary in English, Explanatory notes in English, Essay in English (illustrated, annotated) (Foreign Language Study books) eBook: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Sergio Novikoff: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
Netochka Nezvanova 
Двойник  http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0086686HO
Dvojnik 
Униженные и оскорбленные Foreign Language Study book "Unijennie i oskorblennie": Vocabulary in English, Explanatory notes in English, Essay in English (illustrated, annotated) (Foreign Language Study books) eBook: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Sergio Novikoff: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Sto
Unijennie i oskorblennie*  
To find more Russian Classic books on Amazon, type "ruBook" (without quotes and spaces) in the search box in Amazon the KindleStore. 
Any other advises?

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## zedeeyen

> Any other advises?

 Yeah, "advise" is the verb. The noun is "advice", and it's uncountable so it can't appear in plural. 
"Any other advice?"

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## zedeeyen

I found these really useful as practice books, and as a way of increasing my vocabulary quickly. I wouldn't recommend trying to learn Russian just from these, but alongside other resources they're great.  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schaums-Outl...9071741&sr=8-1  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schaums-Outl...9071741&sr=8-2

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## Marcus

> The best self-study book I've come across is The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners Penguin Handbooks: Amazon.co.uk: Nicholas J. Brown: Books 
> It's of vastly better quality than most self-study courses - which tend to be little more than glorified phrase books - but some beginners might find it a little dense as a result. There are no audio or visual gimmicks either, so it can be a bit dry. Basically it'll take you farther and faster in your study, but you'll have to work a bit harder too.

 But the description of the pronunciation is awful, you should use another source to learn Russian phonology and graphics.

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## zedeeyen

> But the description of the pronunciation is awful, you should use another source to learn Russian phonology and graphics.

 I don't remember the pronunciation section to be honest, but these days with the amount of audio/ visual resource available on the internet you'd be a fool to try to learn pronunciation from a written description in any book.

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## Marcus

> I don't remember the pronunciation section to be honest, but these days with the amount of audio/ visual resource available on the internet you'd be a fool to try to learn pronunciation from a written description in any book.

 Wrong concepts become undestroyable quickly.  It was impossible to explain to you that hard and soft consonants were important for understanding and that one could replace a soft consonant with the hard consonant and "y".

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## zedeeyen

> Wrong concepts become undestroyable quickly.  It was impossible to explain to you that hard and soft consonants were important for understanding and that one could replace a soft consonant with the hard consonant and "y".

 No, it was impossible for me to explain to you the difference between the statements "X is less important than Y" and "X is not important".  
So I gave up, and I'm not about to start again because I care even less now than I did at the time. 
Toodle pip.

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