# Forum Learning Russian Language Resources for Studying Russian Book Reviews  russian textbooks

## tsig

What is a good textbook to start with for learning Russian? I have heard of Golosa and Nachalo. Are either of those any good? Thanks, me.

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## Jasper May

Look on www.amazon.com 
Some tips:
Get the New Pinguin Russian Course by Nicholas Brown (search Russian Brown)
Get the Russian Learners' Dictionary by Nicholas Brown (search Russian Brown 10,000). This lists ten thousand of the most frequent words in Russian, enough to 'be regarded as competent in Russian for all normal purposes' i.e. post-graduate level. 
These should prepare you enough.

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## anymouse

Golosa is a very good book, and it has excellent online resources. If you decide to use it, a search for Golosa in a search engine produces a website from George Washington University which has almost all the video and audio clips for the text. It also has supplementary grammar and other audio/printed texts online. Plus, it's all free.  ::  
Another good book to work with is Schaum's outline for Russian Grammar. It has concise and clear explanations of the grammatical concepts, with plenty of review exercises.

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## DrRick

I really like the text "Troika" -- begins at the beginning, but uses many pictures to anchor essentials of Russian grammar, conversation, and vocabulary in a number of categories. Lots of dialogues for practice. Lots of vocabulary on everyday themes. 
I have an illustrated Russian Grammar -- all in Russian -- "Грамматика русского языка в иллюстрациях" published by "Русский язык" in 2002. I purchased it in Moscow last summer. 352 pages. Wonderful "visualized" grammatical concepts. $9.00 (265 r).

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## piehunt

> Another good book to work with is Schaum's outline for Russian Grammar. It has concise and clear explanations of the grammatical concepts, with plenty of review exercises.

 The only problem with that book, at least the exercise version is, there are no stress marks on any of the texts. Not really good, when you are learning.

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## Jasper May

And if you're a bit further with your studies, maybe you can find a communist-era course book. I've got three at home.
"Всегда мы помним Ленина/ И думаем о нем / Мы день его рождением / Считаем лучшим днем"   ::

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## anymouse

"The only problem with that book, at least the exercise version is, there are no stress marks on any of the texts. Not really good, when you are learning." 
Thank you for reminding me of that! I always forget that "minor" detail.  ::   (No, I'm not trying to be sarcastic or anything.) 
In some ways though, a person can learn to live without it. I just listen to Russian radio/t.v. to learn proper pronunciation, etc. It's a little like all my Hebrew texts; they just ignore the stress marks and have good jokes at one's personal expense. All languages should follow the Hungarians, who for the most part, have the stress on the first syllable. So much easier to remember.

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## joysof

Hungarian may have a consistent stress, but it is also fiendishly difficult by all accounts. All that 'gzygzsz', and the way they put their names the wrong way round  ::   
I was in Prague this week - lovely - and Czech is a splendid language. Just Slavic enough, you know? They have their stress on the first syllable too.

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## karina

RussianThird Edition by Ben T. Clark
20 lessons including dialogs, intonations, exercises, (orthography) diagrams of the mouth to help with correct pronunciation, grammar, dictionary, tables of declensions and conjugations, etc.   
Kарина
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Иисус любит вас

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## Pravit

Am I the only one who learned with 1960's era texts?   ::   
Introductory Russian Grammar by Leon & Galina Stilman
Russian for Beginners by Charles Duff and Dmitry Makarov

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## Jasper May

Hey, I did! Шаг за шагом, Темп-2, Хераскова...

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## Pravit

Jasper, how many Russian textbooks do you have? Where do you find all these? Damn Netherlanders...I can hardly find anything Russian around here   ::

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## Jasper May

The first and last I found in our hopelessly antiquated city :: -library. The second I got from my uncle who learnt Russian in the 70's. I'm better than him now, though. ::

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## chaika

Pravit,
I'm older than you-- I started Russian in 1958 with (probably) the same book, but it was by Stillman and Harkins then. 
But for now, if y'all want a thorough grammar, with the nitty gritty about Russian - this is not for the faint of heart - look at Terrence Wade, A Comprehensive Russian Grammar. At least look at it in the library before you send in the money for it. It's got the stuff in it that you have questions about in your third or fourth year, or even more. When to use на, when в -- ехал в город, ходили на стадион, second locative? о лесе -- в лесу.

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## JB

You've been studing Russian for 45 years? So what were you studing at МГУ last summer?

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## Pravit

> Pravit,
> I'm older than you-- I started Russian in 1958 with (probably) the same book, but it was by Stillman and Harkins then. 
> But for now, if y'all want a thorough grammar, with the nitty gritty about Russian - this is not for the faint of heart - look at Terrence Wade, A Comprehensive Russian Grammar. At least look at it in the library before you send in the money for it. It's got the stuff in it that you have questions about in your third or fourth year, or even more. When to use на, when в -- ехал в город, ходили на стадион, second locative? о лесе -- в лесу.

 My version is by Stillman and Harkins too. The cover is purple with blue text(was everyone colorblind back in the day??!)

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## chaika

JB,
Да, много лет, я также преподавал русский язык в университете /правда, всего один год/. В мае-месяце я съездил в Москву, чтобы учить знакомые темы -- вид, глаголы движения, и произношение. Пятнадцать лет работал по совместительству переводчиком, а это было с русского на английский, тематику техническую. А говорить не с кем. Подружился с москвичами, думал - поеду туда, и поехал!

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## squidward

I had a couple of the editions to -Essentials of Russian Grammar-....very old, but I liked it.

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## carperdiem

My favourite and first text is "Modern Russian I and II". These are 1960's era textbooks developed for the foreign service. They have companion cassette tapes for all 20 lessons. It is the most thorough covering of every aspect of the language I have seen. A lesson (there are 20 in all) can take you weeks or more to master, and the nice thing is you can listen to ALL PARTS of the lesson as spoken by native Russians.  
Of course, this book is waaaayyy outdated, but it is great. Even some humor mixed in. I checked it out from the library, so I am not sure how much it costs to buy. I have found it is carried quite often at public libraries though. 
Ahh.... I still remember the first Russian sentence I ever heard one year ago. "Вот мы и на аэропорта внукова!",,,, and it still makes no sense....sigh... memories.  ::

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## Alware

> Ahh.... I still remember the first Russian sentence I ever heard one year ago. "Вот мы и на аэропорта внукова!",,,, and it still makes no sense....sigh... memories.

 I guess the phrase was - Вот мы и в аэропорту "Внуково" http://www.vnukovo-airport.ru/

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## carperdiem

> I guess the phrase was - Вот мы и в аэропорту "Внуково"

 Правда, I spelled Внуково as an American would (for various reasons   ::  ). And also, I thought it was На and not В. Guess I have a selective (PC way of saying poor) memory.  
Так... => <<Я еще вспоминаю когда я слушал мое первое Русское предложение! "Вот мы и в аэропорту Внуково!" 
Аhhhhh.....(Я вздыхал).... воспоминании

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## olga

i found 'The Penguin Russian Course' quite good, and it doesn't start with здравстуйте so you can get your pronounciation correct. I think it was originally by н.а. потапова, and then translated into english.

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## Романко

> What is a good textbook to start with for learning Russian? I have heard of Golosa and Nachalo. Are either of those any good? Thanks, me.

 I used Начало (Nachalo) when I first began learning Russian.  It's not a bad book if you just want to get a basic handle on the language.  However, if you really understand how languages work and want full explanations of all grammar concepts, it's awful.  By the time I got half-way through the first book I couldn't stand it anymore and I had to get something that explained things better.  I really like Modern Russian.  A good second-year book is Making Progress in Russian. 
Hope that helps.

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## Nicko

I use Голоса as my main book and i think it's really good.  i just finished book 1 so obviously onto book 2.  i was using Face to Face additionally, but to me this book seems a little outdated and kind of cheesy.  i wasn't particularly impressed with it.  let's see, as for additional resources i also have that Penguin Russian Course Book that kicks mucho culo (spanish!), then another one called Essentials of Russian...it's rather old but it is VERY good at explaining aspects of grammar and has pretty good reading practice.  then of course i got that 501 Russian Verbs book and some other mickey mouse stuff.  i've got myself made right now but i am always looking for more.

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## TATY

> Look on www.amazon.com 
> Some tips:
> Get the New Pinguin Russian Course by Nicholas Brown (search Russian Brown)
> Get the Russian Learners' Dictionary by Nicholas Brown (search Russian Brown 10,000). This lists ten thousand of the most frequent words in Russian, enough to 'be regarded as competent in Russian for all normal purposes' i.e. post-graduate level. 
> These should prepare you enough.

 I've met Nicholas J. Brown. He is a lecturer at a university i had a medical interview at (UNiversity College London). His book New Pinguin Russian Course  is very very good.

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## TATY

> I use Голоса as my main book and i think it's really good.  i just finished book 1 so obviously onto book 2.  i was using Face to Face additionally, but to me this book seems a little outdated and kind of cheesy.  i wasn't particularly impressed with it.  let's see, as for additional resources i also have that Penguin Russian Course Book that kicks mucho culo (spanish!), then another one called Essentials of Russian...it's rather old but it is VERY good at explaining aspects of grammar and has pretty good reading practice.  then of course i got that 501 Russian Verbs book and some other mickey mouse stuff.  i've got myself made right now but i am always looking for more.

 I got 501 russian verbs too. I rarely use it tho. I also got "Take Off in Russian" the book is shit, but it comes with 4 hours of audio, I only listen to the CDs. 
My list: 
New Pinguin Russian Course 
Take off in Russian (Oxford)
501 Russian Verbs
Concise Russian Dictionary (Its big, i like 'em big   ::  )
Collins Gem Russian Dictionary
200 Km/h In the Wrong Lane CD

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## ronaldM

Another book I've found useful is "Essential Russian Grammar" by Brian Kemple published by Dover Publications, NY. It's not quite as comprehensive as the Oxford book by Wade but its layout is easier for a learner. 
Ron

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## Exalangumna

> My list: 
> New Pinguin Russian Course 
> Take off in Russian (Oxford)
> 501 Russian Verbs
> Concise Russian Dictionary (Its big, i like 'em big   )
> Collins Gem Russian Dictionary *200 Km/h In the Wrong Lane CD*

 :snicker: Haha. What a great resource. =P

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## joysof

> I've met Nicholas J. Brown.

 So have I. The man oozes Slavonic competence at every orifice, doesn't he? Sigh.

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## begemot

For those at a more advanced level, Derrek Offord's "Using Russian" is great.  Like an everything you always wanted to know about Russian but were afraid to ask. (It covers neologisms, regional differences, and yes, even dirty words!)

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## BlackMage

My teacher constructs our Russian textbooks.  They are good except that they contain a LOT of busy-work. :-p

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