Easy Russian for English Speakers Vol. 1 & 2: Learn to Speak and Understand Russian; From everyday essentials to Chekhov, Pushkin, Gagarin and Shakespeare

Easy Russian for English Speakers Vol. 1 & 2: Learn to Speak and Understand Russian; From everyday essentials to Chekhov, Pushkin, Gagarin and Shakespeare

ISBN  9781907832437

The Russian audio course that jumps right into learning the language with expertly designed structure of the lessons and their thematic organization to benefit English Speakers. Engaging, attention grabbing, infused with cultural content to deliver immediate results for those who needs to master Russian fast. This set includes essentials from vol. 1 such as greetings, travelling, numbers, food and drink, shopping, getting around town, business meetings, dating and telling the time.  Followed by vol. 2 with more detailed explanation of Russian phonetics, Russian names, birthdays, taking about planet Earth, flying on a Russian space ship and cultural content with fragments of Chekhov, Gagarin and Shakespeare in Russian.  Read more >

Vol.1 CD 1 

01 GREETINGS, WELCOME
02 ALPHABET, SPELLING
03 SPEAKING AND UNDERSTANDING
04 TRAVELLING BY TAXI 
05 THEATRE TICKETS, NUMBERS 1-10
06 HOTEL, CONCIERGE
07 ORDERING FOOD AND DRINK
08 SHOPPING, POSSESSIONS
09 DIRECTIONS, GETTING AROUND TOWN
10 SUGGESTIONS, NUMBERS 10-100
11 TELLING THE TIME
12 MAKING PHONE CALLS
13 APPOINTMENTS, WEEKS, MONTHS
14 BUSINESS MEETINGS
15 DATING SOMEONE
16 MYSTERIOUS RUSSIAN SOUL
17 SAYING GOODBYE

About Vol. 1

Easy Russian 1 offers audio CD with 17 lessons covering key every day situations. In addition to traditional learning of useful phrases and vocabulary, this audio book offers excellent practical approach with dialogues and conversations all read by natives with full English annotation. Essentials such as greetings, shopping, telling the time, asking for directions are covered as well as basic Russian business etiquette and such cultural concepts as Russian soul, and how to date someone in Russian. It presents insight into Russian literature with fragments of Alexander Pushkin works prepared in easy to learn format for those who wish to master Russian language fast! It is suitable for all levels from beginner to advanced. It can be used as a stand-alone course or in combination with other training materials. Audio Book is divided into 17 tracks which can be transferred to audio players for easy listening, just like music albums.  More about Vol.1>

Vol.2 CD 2

01 Introduction
02 Understanding Russian Names
03 Birthdays, Fun Names, and Zmej Gorynych
04 Learning Russian Like a Native
05 Do, Create, Complete, Finish in Russian
06 To Be Or Not To Be in Russian
07 Live, Stay, Survive, Heal, Worry in Russian
08 Speak Russian Like a Russian
09 Talking About Our Planet Earth in Russian
10 Go, Move, Stop, Set off, Begin, Arrive in Russian
11 More about Russian phonetics
12 Look, See, Watch in Russian
13 Listen, Hear, Overhear, Pay attention in Russian
14 Reading Chekhov in Original
15 Gagarin About Planet Earth
16 Gagarin About Landing
17 Shakespeare in Russian

About Vol.2

Second volume in the popular Easy Russian series offering Russian language learning in easy to absorb audio format, designed specifically for English speakers. Second volume features phonetics, elements of Russian grammar, rich cultural content and native Russian speakers. It can be used as a stand-alone course or in combination with other training materials.

Easy Russian 2 uncovers how Russians learn Russian language in Russia.  It includes basic and advanced coverage of Russian phonetics, how Russian consonants and vowels behave in different situations.  You will learn many useful action verbs such as TO BE, TO DO, TO GO, TO LISTEN, TO HEAR, TO SEE and an array of associated words and combinations. You will discover many similarities and differences between Russian and English which will make your learning much easier. After all, Russian is part of the same language family as English, so you might as well take advantage of this. You will be able to hear and more importantly understand live speech of Yuri Gagarin. You will listen to Chekhov story in the original and discover what Shakespeare sounds like in Russian. Each track represents self contained module with tuition, vocabulary, phraseology and Russian language content read by native speakers. Knowledge of other modules from Easy Russian 1 can be useful but is not a pre-requisite. More about Vol. 2 > Visual Aid Downloads >

Reviews     

Easy Russian for English Speakers Vol. 1 & 2: Learn to Speak and Understand Russian; From everyday essentials to Chekhov, Pushkin, Gagarin and Shakespeare

These two Audio Training CDs are really great. Audio language courses can be formulaic, highly artificial and dull to work through, but these have flair and real interest.  Producer Max Bollinger was born and grew up in Russia and he speaks the Russian on the CDs at a native speaker’s pace – that is fast to a learner’s ears! But he then goes back and explains each phrase and the listener becomes accustomed to the real-life speed of spoken Russian.

There are no chunks of grammar which would merely confuse (although essential concepts are explained as they arise),  but there is a very useful and clear section on voiced and unvoiced consonants which are crucial to spoken Russian. But what gives this course its particular flavour and interest is the inclusion of brief extracts -  from Gagarin praising the beauty of our planet; Hamlet’s ‘to be or not to be speech’ in translation; lines from a Chekhov story and the Russian Flying Dragon. These make the listener enter both the world of real, not text-book,  Russian and the Russian mind. Additionally, much of the material on the CDs is downloadable, clear and attractive,  in Cyrillic and English for closer study.

Topics are real-life and relevant – such as basic dating, business meetings ordering food and drink. The expressions and vocabulary given are all coherent and interlinked so that they make sense and are far more easily remembered than discreet items. For example, by giving a base verb and adding various prefixes, Bollinger illustrates how meanings are extended and changed. The English language doesn’t work in the same way and this really helps in the understanding of the Russian language, a language which is daunting to English speakers. I liked the section of the Russian soul – dysha – which illustrates how the deep-seated importance to Russians of the concept of the soul permeates even their language, so that for example, if you’re unwell or unhappy you can say literally ‘My soul is unwell’.

Rachel Redford (UK)

About the Reviewer

Rachel Redford has been an audiobook reviewer for many years, writing for national UK newspapers and journals. During her career in public examinations, she has written twelve English Language course books for Oxford University Press, including two complete courses for age 11-16. Rachel speaks Russian and has trekked extensively in Russia and Siberia, including the remote regions of Kamchatka, Tuva and the Altai Mountains.