Total Russian with the Michel Thomas Method (Michel Thomas Series)

I've never used this before and it is AMAZINGLY easy to follow and I find my retention better. Essentially, you're listening in on a class with two other students. They try to follow along and you hear their mistakes and successes. The teacher repeats the phrase so you get the proper intonation and pronunciation. You get a set of CDs and a booklet to follow. The booklet follows the CDs, the tracks, and the words and phrases used in the lesson so you can see the correct spelling as well. Highly recommend!

I did the Two Michel Thomas Russian courses (Total and Perfect) after completing both Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur. Definitely an outstanding course and well worth it. I would say the primary strength of this course versus the other two is it clearly explains much of the Russian grammar. There were many things I was unclear about from the other courses that this course spelled out clearly which did a great job of reinforcing the ideas.

I've used this method with several languages, and I find it is excellent for helping adult learners build and connect ideas. The instructor is clear about the benefits and limitations of this method. For example, you won't find many word lists, or exhaustive detail on any topic - such as numbers from 1 to 1000 or time of day. But you will learn to express yourself intelligently, and you can then make better use of the vocabulary you study on your own.Speaking of vocabulary, I should make one point clear - this set comes with a vocabulary builder, but it starts on a level that is more advanced than you will be after you finish the main part of the course. It is also considerably more fast paced. The other thing that is frustrating is the students mistakes. Correcting the students mistakes is a part of the method, but it does seem frustrating that the same mistakes are made over and over, particularly by the male actor on the CD.The other concern I have is that the bulk of disk 8 is devoted to the Cyrillic alphabet. This is an aural course, so why waste class time on the alphabet at the expense of additional conversational skill.Still, these are minor faults, and I think this set is a great investment of time.

Personally, I think, though the students aren't stellar students compared to the French ones, the teacher does a great job. I have so far listened to CDs 1 and 2. Now, I'm back to 1. Michel Thomas says not to write, but after finishing CD1 I went back and listened to all the tracks and wrote a lot of the sentences in a notebook, and I'll review. Writing and then reviewing would help with retention. I would definitely recommend going back and reviewing using a notebook after you've listened at least once. It has helped me with spelling, remembering the words. I am sure I'll have a decent foundation. I have Pimsleur, but I won't use it until I finish this and the advanced course thoroughly. I am also doing Duolingo.

I have done the MT method in a few languages now. This is a terrific course, which helped me to resurrect my long forgotten Russian. I enjoyed the lessons, and found Miss Bershadski to be an encouraging teacher, working with a strong logical curriculum.Спасиба

I began this course after completing Pimsleur Russian I & II. I knew that I would probably know much of the material, but I decided it would be a good review and I would probably learn some new things as well. As far as I can determine, other than an upgrade in the packaging design, it is just a bundling of MT's Beginner Russian and Vocab CD products at a slightly higher price. In advertising their new product line, MT says that interactive computer exercises have been added for "some languages." Russian is apparently not one of those languages.The methodology is significantly different from Pimsleur. The instructor, who speaks English with a charming British accent, is teaching Russian to two adult students, a man and a woman. They make mistakes, and she corrects them. They make the same mistakes, and she corrects them again. Sometimes she just lets it slide. She is patient and good-humoured. If I were taking private Russian classes, I would consider myself very fortunate to have an instructor like Ms. Bershadski. However, I am not sure the methodology works for a self-paced CD course. I find myself annoyed by the repeated errors of her students. I appreciate that she identifies and corrects potential errors that a student might make; however, after the same error is corrected four or five times, I feel like my learning time is not being used efficiently.The other major objection I have is that the students' pronunciation and accent is sorely deficient. Because I have listened to 30 hrs of Pimsleur CDs, I am able to ignore their mangling of the Russian language. However, if I were approaching Russian for the very first time, I think I would find it confusing to constantly hear Russian spoken incorrectly. Ms. Bershadski, of course, speaks Russian impeccably, but when the CD constantly alternates between "good Russian" and "bad Russian," I think it is difficult not to be distracted by the "bad Russian."Ms. Bershadski is a big fan of mnemonic devices to aid in memorizing vocabulary, offering imagery for nearly every word. At one point, she explains the importance of mnemonics, saying that a mnemonic device should be big, silly, and involve the learner personally. Yet oddly, she appears to be at a complete loss for a clever mnemonic device when teaching the Russian word for "how." Go figure.Three stars. Nothing terrible, but nothing spectacular. If Pimsleur puts you to sleep, Ms. Bershadski's lively wit and encouraging personality may be just what you need. Personally, I find Pimsleur works better for me. And although some may find Ms. Bershadski's British accent entrancing, I'm more attracted to women with Russian accents. If I went for women with British accents, I probably wouldn't need to learn this miserable language.

In just a few weeks,I have learned so much!I am now able to understand the structure of the Russian language and how to form sentences.I am building my vocabulary and understanding how to use various words and to change word order.TOTAL RUSSIAN..... YOU ROCK

Natasha Bershadski has a pleasant voice and manner. She makes sure to give the full phrase or sentence at the conclusion of each exercise.

J'ai utilisé ce produit dans l'optique d'un voyage en Russie et aux pays de l'Ex-Union Soviétique.La méthode Michel Thomas me convient totalement, j'ai déjà appris l'espagnol par cette méthode et j'entame Foundation Arabic. Bien sûr, il faut avoir un bon niveau d'anglais pour participer aux cours enregistrés.Je recommande vivement, d'autant plus que je suis formateur d'anglais et je sais par expérience que cette méthode fonctionne.

This course is indeed very enjoyable, and one learns a lot. Things are explained and repeated many times, so that one really understands them and, I hope, will remember them forever.What is missing for the five stars? A few things:1. One of the students is a bit annoying sometimes (makes always the same mistakes)2. More important: you do not really learn russian to an intermediate level I would say. It is more that you learn the basics.3. Also important: it is a bit strange that the first 8 CDs are really easy, then the vocabulary CDs are at a kind of different level, where you think you actually missed something in between...Having said this, I will probably buy the advanced course... Let's see if it covers the missing parts.

The method is awesome , within a few hours you can start speaking some of the most basic sentences. The method will work only with self discipline though. You have to give at least 30 mins of full concentration to go through 5 lessons or so. The method is only for spoken Russian language .Amazon and A1WebStore both did a wonderful job of first making the product available at a better price than other online retailers and second , making the delivery in the promised time line.

I enjoy this method of language learning. I have previously tried Michel Thomas Arabic CDs.However occasionally I find this Russian set of CDs goes too fast for me, but being CDs I can go back and revise.My Dad also enjoyed the CDs, my Mum however found the teacher annoying; therefore I'd down load a sample from audible.co.uk before you buy!Unfortunately I have had to give up my Russian for the time being as car thieves broke into my car and having failed to hot wire her headed off with the box set of CDs..

This is a great way to learn another language. You almost feel that you are in the same room as the instructor and her 2 pupils and part of the classs. I loaded the CD's into my multi-changer in the car and listen to them when I am driving. I went to Odessa a month after I started this course and was complimented on my accent (limited to the little Russian I had learnt at that time).Great product - does what it says on the tin.