Express Russian: Learn to Speak and Understand Russian with Pimsleur Language Programs
by admin on September 17, 2009
Express Russian includes the first lesson of the Pimsleur Comprehensive Level I Program plus eleven travel scenes.
About the AuthorDr. Pimsleur devoted his life to language teaching and was one of the world’s leading experts in applied linguistics. After obtaining his Ph.D. in French from Columbia University, he taught French Phonetics and Phonemics, and supervised the language laboratory at UCLA. He went on to become Professor of Romance Languages and Language Education, and Director of The Listening Center at Ohio State University; Professor of Education and Romance Languages at the State University of New York at Albany; and a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Heidelberg. Dr. Pimsleur was a member of the American Asso [Read More...]
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I have finished Pimsleur’s three levels of Russian. I need not to mention that this program is very well done and of the highest quality. Instead, I would like to answer those who may be wondering, “how good will I get after finishing all three levels of Pimsleur’s Russian?”
First of all, be prepared to work hard. It will be fun work, but you will have to concentrate. Some people have to repeat each lesson three times before moving on to the next. I personally had to work through them twice.
At the end of level one, you will know the most basic greetings, you will know how to count to one hundred, and most importantly, you will start getting a good “feel” for the language. Don’t expect to be able to converse with anyone at this point.
Level two explores pronouns and gives you more working vocabulary. The future and past tenses are introduced.
Level three explores the complex Russian declensions and gives you a lot more vocabulary.
At the end of the three levels, you will still be at a very basic, survival level. You will have a vocabulary of maybe 300-400 words (this is my estimation so I may be wrong). You will be able to engage in conversations but it won’t take very long before you don’t know how to say something or you don’t understand the other person.
So if this expensive course is so basic, why bother spending so much money on it?
You will pronounce correctly. People will comment on your good, Russian accent. (Ti gavarish bez aktsenta). You will know the most essential words and structures and will will have a good “feel” for the language. You will be in excellent position to learn more.
The next step after that is to take formal lessons with a private teacher, if you can afford it, and study with another textbook. Having worked through all three levels of Pimsleur, you will be able to learn very fast without getting discouraged by the complexity of the Russian language.
I imagine that with other Pimsleur method, more material is presented in the same amount of time. But since Russian is a complex language, a lot of time has to be spent working on single words and how they change according to their role in the sentence.
I feel after having completed all three levels that:
- It was essential to go to the three levels, and not just one or two.
- This is just the beginning, but I have a very solid foundation.
- I wouldn’t continue with Pimsleur now, and I understand why they don’t have more levels available. I have enough of the basics to continue with more formal training.
This is a very good course - without a doubt the best audio course available - and if you are motivated to keep studying, you will aquire a very solid working knowledge of the Russian language.
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I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to learn a language so I can read a newspaper or understand a radio broadcast. I want to communicate with real live people in their own language.
How many people take language courses all through high school and even college only to find when it comes time to actually USE the language, they’ve “learned” it without the ability to SPEAK it?
This doesn’t happen with the Pimsleur method. It forces you to respond, continuously moving forward, teaching you new things while reinforcing concepts learned earlier. This series, along with the Penguin Russian course, will take you very far indeed if you want to learn basic Russian that you can use. The Pimsleur program is far superior to other audio methods in that it’s not just repeating incredibly dull phrases over and over again. You interact with the dialogue. You have to THINK and it reinforces things learned earlier at just the right time intervals. A concept is reinforced more often right after learning, but these reminders become less and less frequent as time goes on and you learn new things. But then what you’ve learned previously becomes part of new concepts and vocabulary that keep getting put before you, reinforcing those concepts even more.
The Key is that you RETAIN the concepts and vocabulary and hence the ability to use the language. You learn correct pronunciation, as the program uses native speakers. You won’t be tongue-tied, since you’re asked questions in the program and you have to THINK about the answer. You THINK because the question might reference something from three or four tapes ago. You use proper grammar despite yourself because you’re not thinking about grammar, you’re learning the language the same way you learned as a baby - you’re USING it.
Is there a down side? Of course. They’re ridiculously expensive (HINT: check out the auctions), but have you priced an evening course at your local university lately? The books and materials cost alone would probably pay for these tapes.
The other down side is that as good as they are, you’ll need to use other resources if you want to go past basic usage. The Pimsleur method will teach you the basics, but using it with other materials is easy and those other materials will be much less expensive. The other bonus is that you’ll get much more out of them if you use them in conjunction with the Pimsleur program.
If you’re serious about learning Russian (or any language, the German Pimsleur improved my German immensely), especially by self study, the Pimsleur program is an incredibly powerful tool.