Good if Russian is your first foreign language
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This book starts at the very basics and goes at a good pace, giving plenty of opportunity for practice, topics that one is likely to encounter on a holiday in Russia and clear pronunciation guides. However, as Russian is not my first foreign language, I found the grammar wasn't explained as clearly as I'd like. The verb declinations are given as set phrases (eg. I play guitar) and it doesn't explain how to then take the same verb and decline it differently (eg. he plays guitar) until much later in the book.
I would thoroughly recommend this book to those who haven't learned a foreign language before, but if you are already familiar with cases and verb declination, and want a more grammar-based approach, this probably isn't the book for you.
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If Olga Bean is the best Russian tutor in Birmingham, Rachel Farmer is the best CD Tutor
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Rachel Farmer is the best CD Tutor of Russian......I had bought many CD Russian courses... many are by residents of the USA, with their own sloppy version of Russian. Rachel Farmer speaks very clearly and her voice becomes your friend, which is good for not getting stressed when you are listening and learning.... This contains 2 CDs and 256 page book, starting you from the basics and learning the alphabet. The alphabet is the key to pronouncing the words in Russian, not English spellings of the words. The only other Russian course i could recommend above this CD and book is actually taught at Birmingham University or Brasshouse by Olga Bean!!!
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Great, great book!
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Surely this is one of the easiest, most enjoyable, most enticing introduction courses for any foreign language available. My only quibble is that I'd have liked just a little more detail on the grammar. And yes, the cover photo is bizarre to say the least!!!
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Terrific little guide
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At first I thought this book looked a bit dry and hard-going, compared to just buying a phrase book or vocab builder. But it's concise and well structured. I've really come to enjoy reading it.. Every few days I take on a new lesson, which builds vocabulary, familiarity with the script, and fundamental grammar, with practical exercises. I'm also taking language classes which are conducted entirely in Russian, and I've found I can easily stay ahead of the class if I do a bit of work from this book rather than the home study suggested in class.
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Helpful intro to the subject
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I agree with the reviews already but why is there a picture of a plainly terrified scuba diver on the front cover? Depicted in icy waters he's surrounded by what look like sharks. Some kind of analogy with life in Russia? It makes me smile every time I pick the book up.
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