Russian in 10 Minutes a Day

by Kristine K. Kershul

Release Date: May, 2002

Edition: Paperback

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Big book, pretty pictures, not much to learn.

This book might be okay for kids, but it's not really a serious learning tool. Learning a language in ten minutes a day may be a fun fantasy, but the resources available in this book won't do much to help you learn Russian.

On the surface the book looks great - big pictures, stickers, activities, flash cards and a laminated "pocket pal" with a short list of phrases and such. The problem with these resources is that they all fall short when scrutinized individually. There aren't enough flash cards, and the words that are chosen are sort of odd. Some are obvious for the beginner, but many just leave me scratching my head as to why they picked them. The activities in the book are the best part, but as a workbook, it's only average. The stickers are a good idea in theory, but are you really going to put stickers on objects all around your house? The "pocket pal" phrasebook would be a decent idea, but it's a real pain to get out of the book (I had to cut it out with a razor knife), and it's too big to fit comfortably in your pocket when folded up. Because this book tries to be everything to everyone it falls short on all counts.

If you want to learn Russian and can only buy one text, buy yourself the Penguin Russian Course if you want an inexpensive beginners textbook and then make your own flash cards. If you can afford a little more, get the ready made Russian cards from Vis-ed. For a workbook try the Berlitz Basic Russian Workbook, and then a decent phrasebook like the one from Lonely Planet. These products are all available from Amazon and may cost a little more in total, but will take you much farther.

Don't bother

This book gives absolutely no insight into the complexities of Russian grammar, and the 'phonetic transcription' will help you do nothing other that get laughed at by native Russian speakers if you try to use it on them. Basically, a good waste of money.