Russian I : 3rd Ed.

by Pimsleur

Release Date: 01 November, 2001

Edition: Audio CD

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A Real Help for Learning the Difficult Sounds of Russian

(By Edward Trimnell, author of "Why You Need a Foreign Language & How to Learn One," ISBN:1591133343)

A Slavic language, Russian is much more difficult to pronounce than Spanish, German, or even French. This Pimsleur course is helpful in this regard, because it breaks the sounds down into manageable pieces. Without Pimsleur, it can take you quite a while to develop an "ear" for Russian.

Pimsleur courses are all-audio. They don't contain textbooks or dictionaries. However, the Pimsleur method can be very effective. Pimsleur courses are especially beneficial to those who face long daily commutes, because the audio materials are not dependent on any written materials.

The downside is that there is a relatively small amount of material contained in the course, and it doesn't teach the Cyrillic writing system at all. Therefore, the Pimsleur courses are best used as supplements to more traditional programs.

Ideally, you should use this program in conjunction with a book-and-cassette course from Living Language or Berlitz. By studying the textbook course at home, and listening to the Pimsleur audio materials in your car, you can use both approaches to the maximum advantage.

The best way to start learning a language

I am on lesson 26 of this series, and would have to recommend this to any new student of Russian. Proper Russian pronunciation can only be learned, by listening and repeating. Other audio materials I had worked with go entirely too fast, and are difficult to understand. The Pimsleur language program breaks the words up, making it easier for the student to mimick the native speakers. The new vocabulary is introduced in very manageable amounts (I don't think you ever get more than 8-9 words per unit). The 'instructor' continues to test you on these words at various time intervals until the word becomes so well known to you, it becomes natural to use it in a variety of ways.
Like a previous reviewer, some of my Russian coworkers were so impressed with my accent there were responses of 'whoa, where did you learn that.'

I have to give this 5 stars, but I have a few reasons: I am not very good mimic, so despite my best efforts occasionally I would pronounce words slightly wrong, Despite Pimsleur's suggestion to not use any other training materials, I found it invaluable to learn the Russian alphabet, and learn the pronunciation rules (this is not as hard as one might think). When I was unsure about a particular word, I would look it up, and use that with the CD's to achieve a more accurate pronunciation. Another criticism is a lack of vocabulary introduced. It would be nice to learn some more basic words. My last criticism is sometimes the grammar concepts don't hit home and keeps you guessing. Despite these very minor criticisms I would have to say that for any potential student starting from scratch this is by far the best way to begin learning this very difficult language.