Product Description
In the new world economy, the ability to speak Russian is increasingly valuable. Whether youÕre a beginner or an intermediate speaker, The Everything Russian Practice Book with CD has all you need to take the next step in mastering Russian. Providing the opportunity to practice Russian grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and comprehension in an easy-to-follow format, this engaging guide covers the following:

• Parts of speech
• Identifying gender
• Finding the appropriate words and phrases
• Transliteration of the Cyrillic alphabet

Customer Reviews (6)

Everything But the Alphabet
I hate to hammer the same nail as everybody else but you gotta learn the Cyrillic alphabet if you want to learn Russian. I thought it would be a good way to brush up on my college Russian. I can say, "I'm going to town" when I see it in Cyrillic but if a beginner tried to read it in the English alphabet as it's written in this book he or she would have difficulty. If that person ever did venture to Russia he or she would be unable to read the restroom or metro signs. I can't imagine how someone with no knowledge of Russian could even begin to utilize this book. It's hard to use even if you know some Russian. I guess publishers hope to profit by selling a copy to most libraries in America. Without the Cyrillic alphabet there's nothing to build on.

How to be illiterate in Russian
I have NO idea what would possess a publisher to put out a Russian text without anything in Cyrillic!It's a mind-boggling error that would leave one totally unable to read anything in Russian, and what's the point of learning to be illiterate in a foreign language?Luckily for me, I found this book in a store and had a chance to look at it before buying...as soon as I realized the transliterations weren't simply aids to pronunciation, I put it back on the shelf.It's such a great idea, to have a book of practice exercises, but if all your other materials are in Cyrillic, you need to practice writing it.I hope the publisher re-thinks this, and does it correctly next time--it would be so useful to have.

Tragic Mistake to buy this book
This practice book has a similar title to the excellent: Everything Learning Russian.

I bought it as a companion to the excellent title, but this book apparently takes a different philosophy.Unfortunatley one of pandering.

There are two philosophies to book selling in the Russian language learning sphere, one is to write an excellent quality learning material, and to sell, sometimes slowly, but to steadily sell over many years through reputation.

Then there is the 'pandering' philosophy.Make the book appear easier to the uniniated by dropping Cyrillic and other methods, so someone browsing the book in the store will buy it, calculating that the book looks easier than those with Cyrillic.

You will not learn Russian without Cyrillic.It takes two weeks to get good at Cyrillic, just do it.After you do that, you will have a world of tools available (the entire Russian language interent, not to be ignored) to you, the russian language makes far more sense, and pronunciation of new words becomes easier.

Don't save yourself two weeks of time by not learning Cyrillic, then waste literally YEARS of time, because you are trying to learn in such an awkward unnatural way to learn Russian as to use only transliteration.

I assumed this book was OK, because of the other title with the similar being rather fun and good. I got suckered, I hope you don't.

Get the similar edition: Everything Learning Russian
Agreeing with previous reviews of this book-CD, I found the transliteration of Russian very awkward.I happened to look at a similar edition of this series in a bookstore, and noticed that it was not only in Cyrillic, but the Cyrillic uses bold type to indicate stress.The Everything Learning Russian: Speak, Write, and Understand Russian in No Time (Everything: Language and Literature).This is the text to buy if you really want to learn some Russian.

Why the transliteration?
There are so many different systems of transliteration in use in Russian, that unless the reader is familiar with and comfortable with the system used by the author, this book is going to be awkward to use.And besides, anyone who's going to learn Russian should begin with the Cyrillic alphabet anyway.I don't get the purpose of writing the book in transliterated Russian.I found it annoying, because it adds an extra layer of thought to the study process.You have to sound out the transliterated word, visualize it in Cyrillic, and then remember what it means, and then work out the grammar issues.This book is not for students of Russian. I'd suggest that the publisher go back, put the Cyrillic back in and then republish.You can even leave the transliteration in place, it does have some usefulness, after all.But stay away from this if you are accustomed to working in Cyrillic. ... Read more

Product Description
Learning Russian is an exciting challenge-even saying "hello" (____________) and "goodbye" (__ ________) seems daunting! Whether you're planning a trip to Russia or adding a valuable second language to your resume, this book is just what you need. Julia Stakhnevich, a native Russian speaker, will help you to:

• Recognize and read Cyrillic letters
• Pronounce Russian words like a native
• Ask for directions, order dinner, and conduct business
• Hold your own in a conversation

Julia Stakhnevich, Ph.D., was born and raised in Moscow, Russia. She received her doctorate from the University of Mississippi and teaches English, Linguistics, and Russian at Bridgewater State College. She is a member of the American Association of Applied Linguistics and the International Society for Language Study. She lives in Bridgewater, MA. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

One of the best introductory Russian grammar books I've read
I've been learning Russian for the past 6 months. It's been a difficult language to learn. I've basically been trying every resource I could find. I've found most Russian grammar books too BORING and poorly written to read. Normally I utilize audio courses more on this topic because in most audio courses, they do a better job of keeping it interesting and describing Russian grammar in a way that I can understand. My experience with books about Russian is that they're very wordy and tremendously BORING. Not with this book, however. This book is clear, concise and very interesting. Full of sensible charts and interesting facts about Russia, this book combines learning the Russian language with learning about Russian culture. Each chapter takes you further into the Russian language, while keeping you engaged with relevant scenarios in Russian culture (one chapter teaches you about Russian cuisine and how to order in Russian whilst teaching you how to keep your adjectives in forms that agree with the words they modify).

Unlike some introductory books, this book actually teaches you (simply) how to READ Russian characters. I had already learned how to read Russian before I bought this book, but this book pointed out certain spelling rules I hadn't learned yet that have really been improving my reading. I think this book is great for beginners and will be a great reference book as well. There are quizzes at the end of each chapter (and an answer key) which help you practice the language (even giving you opportunities to practice your grammar). Most basic books on Russian have quizzes at the end, but this is the first book I've actually been inclined to answer the quizzes. The book is written in such a way that I was actually interested enough to retain the knowledge I had read and I was able to answer the quizzes.

I would definitely recommend this book.

russian learning tool
very good book, very happy with book and its condition, i would buy here again

A good place to start
As a Russian specialist, I think that this is a good choice for those who want to try their hand at a difficult language.

no good
I am a linguist. I know languages and I know how to teach. This book is not a good choice if somebody wants to learn Russian.There are no exercises for practice either to speak or write in Russian. In each lesson you will find a lot of talk about Russian language without having an opportunity to learn it. The writer gives you a list of words and that's it. The so called dialogues consist of two phrases. There are no even short texts to read, no exercises to practice your skills. I would not recommend this textbook. I do not give a single star to rate this item.

The Everything Learning Russian Book
I think this is a great book and CD to learn Russian.It takes you step by step to learn the language.I give it five stars. ... Read more

Product Description
Contains 5500 entries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Old lexicon. It is a lot of the mistakes, erratumes and
Old lexicon. It is a lot of the mistakes, erratumes and inaccuracies. Very doubtful quality. ... Read more

Product Description
In a wide-ranging account of a variety of cultural forms and sites of cultural production--literature, cinema, radio, television, the visual arts, journalism, advertising and consumerism, music, theatre, the Church--this groundbreaking book gives greater prominence to the processes of cultural reception than in previous texts. In essays by an international roster of specialists, the volume spotlights the role images of national identity, gender politics , youth culture and the interaction of public and private consciousness have played in the formation of cultural forms in the USSR and post-communist Russia. ... Read more

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Learn and remember Russian words

“A simple new way to increase your foreign-language vocabulary . . .”
-Nada El Sawy, Newsweek

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A huge anthology of Russian writers containing over 100 beloved novels, essays, plays and stories (such as War and Peace, and Crime and Punishment). An active table of contents makes it easy to navigate to each work.

Authors include:
Anton Checkov
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Nikolai Gogol
Ivan Goncharov
Alexander Ostrovsky
Alexander Pushkin
Leo Tolstoy
Ivan Turgenev
... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Printed Media in the Soviet Union, Russian Life, Krokodil, Vokrug Sveta, Kvant Magazine, Ogoniok, Molodaya Gvardiya, Novy Mir, 64, Murzilka, Znamya, Yeralash, Chervony Shliakh, Roman-Gazeta, Sputnik, Ural Pathfinder, Tekhnika Molodezhi, Nauka I Zhizn, Krugozor, Sovetsky Soyuz. Excerpt:The magazine 64 is a Russian chess and draughts publication. It is published in Moscow starting in 1924. Its name refers to the number of squares on a chessboard . When it first appeared 64 was published as a magazine, but in 1935 it changed to a weekly newspaper. Nikolai Krylenko was the editor from 1924 until his death in 1938. The publication was interrupted in 1941 by World War II and resumed after the war. In 1968 it was revamped as a weekly magazine by Alexander Roshal and World chess champion Tigran Petrosian . Vasily Smyslov was an assistant editor. Petrosian was editor until 1977 when he was fired after his loss to Viktor Korchnoi in a quarter-final Candidates match. Roshal was severely punished in 1986, when 64 published excerpts from Other Shores from Vladimir Nabokov , even though at that time Anatoly Karpov was Editor-In-Chief. It was first time Nabokov was published in the USSR . In 1992 the magazine fell upon hard times and ceased publication but Roshal privatized it and publication was resumed. Now it is published bimonthly. The magazine awards the Chess Oscar annually. See also (online edition) References (URLs online) Websites (URLs online) A hyperlinked version of this chapter is at Chervony Shliach (Ukrainian : ) political and literary-scientific monthly that was founded in 1923, Kharkiv . It continued to be published until February of 1936. History The first directors of the magazine were prominent Ukrainian statesmen, Hryhoriy Hrynko , who was replaced, due to his transfer t... ... Read more

Product Description
The cut throat world of the media places ever greateremphasis on headlines in order to attract customers.This study examines the changes that have taken placeover a period of twenty years (1979-1999) in order toreveal the linguistic means and content strategiesthrough which the textual and cognitive functions ofRussian and Czech headlines have been realised. Different strategies have been identified andconsiderable changes have been found in the headlineinfrastructure (changes in topic-naming andsummarising headlines, grammatical structure and wordcount) and in the headline style (use of rhetoricalfigures, intertextuality, language formality etc.).Content strategies have also changed(personalisation, presence of women, human intereststories etc.). The language and content changes are rather extensivebetween 1989 and 1999 compared to the earlier yearsleading to the conclusion that at a time of majorpolitical upheavals language change occurs moreswiftly. A broad review of literature includes worksin Russian, Czech and English. ... Read more

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This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1908 edition by Longmans, Green, and Co., London, New York; Bombay, and Calcutta. ... Read more

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If you do not feel like learning today, use the set of 28 playing cards with illustrated vocabulary (from 8 to Aces of each suit) which enables to easily memorize:*Political lexis*Set phrases*Phrasal verbs*Prepositional phrases The insert provides exercises, which allow using each phrase in deferent context several timesas well as to review grammar! ... Read more

Product Description
If you don't feel like learning today, use the set of 24 playing cards with illustrated vocabulary (from 2 to 7 of each suit) which enable to easily memorize*Political lexis*Set phrases*Phrasal verbs*Prepositional phrasesThe insert provides exercises which allows using each phrase in deferent context several timesas well as to review grammar! ... Read more

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This is the first work to examine the extraordinary history of literary journals in imperial Russia. Given the restrictions on political action and even political discussion in Russia, these journals served as the principal means by which Russia discovered, defined and shaped itself; and virtually every major Russian novel of the nineteenth century was first published there in serial form. Essays by leading scholars analyze the social forces shaping literary journals, and the major journals and journalists of the period. ... Read more

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This outstanding work is a comprehensive study and presentation of a very specific area that until now had very little coverage. Unlike the other publications dealing with broad spectrum of awards and badges by the White Movement, this book is specifically about the awards that had existed prior to the Revolution and continued during the Civil War. Most important of them is undoubtedly the St. George Cross; its privately made variations of 1917-1922 period are covered here in great detail, with excellent close-up photos and, for the first time, comprehensive classification.In addition to the types and variations of awards themselves the book also sheds light on underlying legislation, procedure of awarding the recipient, and shows copies of original documents signed by commanding officers of the White Army. Of great interest is the 23-page long chapter tying the serial number of the Civil War St. George Crosses and Bravery Medals with the date and place of issue.A fascinating book for a connoisseur, highly recommended! ... Read more