Superpack Learn Russian for English speakers-book plus 4 CD's plus 1 CD MP3 (Russian Edition) 0th Edition

Let me start off by saying this is my first review, as well as I am now 5 chapters deep.I would definitely recommend this to beginners for multiple reasons. For starters, this book actually teaches you Russian! However, chapters can get a little boring after a while. I actually wish they explained rules and grammar and such. Don't get me mistaken they do explain theese rules, but the majority of the learning comes from reading short conversations. Do I regret my purchase? Not at all. But let me say this, if I didn't get the CDs, I might have. They are what will really solidify your knowledge.The first 50 chapters the book says to just learn what's there, then the last 50 you go back (as well as forward) to start to teach you to make sentences and what not. So I would say this company knows what they are doing. Btw, this book is small! I don't mind it one bit, but I wasn't expecting the size for some reason. A little bigger than an iPhone 6 plus. Great size I will say. I'm just making people aware is all.All in all, I love this book and do not look back. Definitely buy!

It is fun and worth the money...

I've found the Assimil Russian with Ease book and CDs to be very well done and a largely helpful product.On the good side:The book is well constructed with very clear type and unusually excellent binding and paper. (I only mention this because it seems to be far superior to American produced products.) Its handy size makes it easy to carry around and hold.The lessons are short and easy to complete. The humor woven into some of them is motivating and interesting. The layout of the book shows the Russian text on the left and the English translation on the right, along with an additional literal translation. This is extremely helpful.The explanatory notes of grammar and usage are among the best I've ever seen of any introductory Russian book. They are clear and easy to follow, even if they sometimes go into a bit too much detail for a beginner. The review every seventh lesson is a clever way to summarize what's been taught in previous lessons.The lexicon's listing of words and lesson numbers where the word is located is very helpful.The recordings are excellent, using very clear speech. Much has been made in various reviews that the speakers are a bit slow, but I think this is perfect for a beginner. The recordings seem to be very slow in the beginning and then speed up somewhat as the lessons progress.On the "needs work" side:The book and CD package is very expensive in comparison to other products. Like another reviewer, I ordered directly from Assimil's website and this saved about $50 (US) off of the Amazon price. (Amazon should try to offer this product at a lower price, which would surely increase sales of it.)The transliteration is, at times, incomprehensible. Though they have a key introduction in the section on the alphabet, it's not helpful to transliterate the Russian word хорошо as kharashaw and добрый as dawbreey, for example. They would be better off to use a standard system of transliteration (several already exist) or abandon the attempt altogether, simply having learners listen to the recordings.The lexicon is somewhat simplistic and should include a bit more of a broader translation.My biggest complaint (which in the large scheme of the otherwise outstanding book and recordings is somewhat minor) is the broad use of colloquialisms very early in the lessons. While it might seem a good idea to give learners of Russian the most "up to date" usage of various phrases, this is certainly not a wise idea from a pedagogical point of view. Learners of Russian are struggling with what a word or phrase means, but the colloquialism is a much more complex form of speech that requires a deeper understanding of Russian, or any language for that matter. It can cause confusion as to when and how other words can be used in a colloquialism. For example, lesson 25 uses the phrase "ей уже подарили море цветов." Using the word "море" here (meaning "sea") literally means "she's already received a 'sea' of flowers" like we might say in English, "she's already received a ton of flowers." But if I was teaching a beginner English, I would simply say, "She's already received many flowers." The word "ton" would be completely inappropriate, because the learner might misuse it in other sentences. There are other usages of colloquialisms in the book which I think would best be avoided in such a beginner's text. Keep it simple and easy on the learner.Conclusion:This is an outstanding resource, well constructed, very helpful and complete, and if affordable for someone, I would encourage them to purchase it. Congratulations to the authors and to Assimil for producing a first-rate product. Though there are a few misses in the approach, these should not keep anyone from investing in this otherwise excellent product.

The audio quality is very high, and it also helps that the audio is in Russian only, without all of the English introductions like Teach Yourself and other companies have. I have not completed this course yet, but I plan to, and from what I have seen the book will be very helpful, matched with the audio to, to learn the beautiful Russian language.

is this Russian for English speakers?IT doesn't say although the book cover is in English. Very confusing......I am looking for beginning Russian for English speakers.

This is a fantastic product! Here is a quick run-down of what you get:A bi-lingual text featuring 100 dialogues with the Russian translation on one side and the English on the other. The audio is ENTIRELY in Russian, which is a lot better for learning than other courses where half the content is English directions being spoken.The system is simple and has a two-wave approach. In the passive wave, you simply listen to the audio for a given lesson, and compare the translations. The idea is to get comfortable with the sounds and familiarize yourself generally with the Russian vocabulary. Each lesson has a pronunciation guide (though the audio should be enough) along with short notes on grammar and culture. Every 7th lesson is a review day. You get a solid grammar treatment of all of the grammar you have been using the past week. It is sort of nifty because you have already seen a bunch of examples of what it is explaining. So it is very self-reinforcing.After 7 weeks, the passive wave continues, and the active wave begins! At this point, you still do one lesson a day passively as listed above. However, you also flip back and start reviewing one lesson a day. Reviewing involves translating the previous lessons between languages.It will amaze you how much you have learned in the 7 weeks. By that time, what was initially a completely foreign language will seem familiar as all of the important vocabulary will have been repeated quite a bit in the intervening lessons.Russian is a complex language, but this course will help you get a strong foothold in it. Another great thing to do is called shadowing, where you repeat the audio in-time with the native speakers on the CD. It helps fix up your pronunciation and makes you sound much more native-like in your speech. Shadowing also helps stick grammar and vocabulary patterns in your mind.This really is an "easy" way to get into the language. However, if you want a supplement and more practice with grammar, I highly recommend this as well: The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners (Penguin Handbooks) You could easily finish working through the Penguin course before your passive wave with Assimil is even done. These two together would get you well into intermediate-level Russian and the ability to use native materials!PS You can get this course a decent bit cheaper ordering direct from the publisher at Assimil dot com (note, when you go it loads the website in French. You can switch it to English in the upper right hand corner). Regardless, it is definitely worth it even at the high list price here at Amazon. What are you waiting for? Good luck :)

It’s pretty good, the audio is very clear and it has a good size vocabulary for a beginner to intermediate, but it’s too expensive, you can get it for like 75euro with audio CD’s or USB if you buy direct from assimil. Over all better then most programs for Russian despite it being over 70 years old

Assimil is a great product, the lessons are great and you learn a whole lot of new vocabulary every lesson! The only reason i give this product 4* is because it is advertised as a hardback copy and i was sent a paperback copy, although this is the only negative!