Mastering Russian (Best Methods and Materials)

[Lucas88]

@WilliamSmith made various threads in this section of the forum inquiring about the best methods and materials for learning Japanese and Spanish and I provided a list of coursebooks and other materials which I consider the most useful for beginners. I would like to do the same for Russian since it is a language that interests me as well as a few other forum members. I know that @Tsar mentioned that he was studying Russian or at least has a desire to study it due to his love for Russian women. I've also seen comments from others who have expressed interest in the language. The following is my own study plan and list of materials which I've put together for my own studies.

1. Linguaphone Russian

As a main comprehensive starter course I recommend the Linguaphone Russian course. I have the 1990 edition. Like many other Linguaphone starter courses, this course includes a coursebook full of natural dialogue and its accompanying audio recordings, a handbook with in-depth grammatical explanations and vocabulary lists, and two more books containing written and oral exercises. Linguaphone starter courses are among the densest and most comprehensive language courses that you can find yet at the same time their lessons are logically laid out and the learner is able to advance through a series of manageable chapters. This course uses the Cyrillic script from the beginning but unfortunately the stress accent isn't marked in the texts. You have to rely on the audio for correct placement of the stress accent.

Linguaphone courses like the Russian one can be found relatively cheap on e-Bay.


2. Ultimate Russian Beginner-Intermediate (Living Language)

This is another comprehensive introductory course for Russian. It is less dense than the Linguaphone course but might be more beneficial for those who prefer to learn new information in smaller chunks. I personally think that it would be a good idea to use both this course and the Linguaphone course simultaneously since they both have their unique advantages. Unlike the Linguaphone course, Ultimate Russian Beginner-Intermediate does mark the stress accent of words in its texts.

Ultimate Russian also has a follow-on course called Ultimate Russian Advanced. You can continue to study towards a higher level once you've completed the first course.


3. How to pronounce Russian correctly (Tania Bobrinskoy & Irina Gsovkaya)

This short and simple book introduces the learner to the correct pronunciation of Russian teaching the Cyrillic script and the language's sound inventory and covering palatalization (i.e., "soft" versions of "hard" consonants), vowel reduction in unstressed syllables, voiced and devoiced consonants, and irregularities of spelling. Definitely essential reading right from the get-go.


4. Russian Grammar (Schaum's Outlines)

This is a concise grammar book which outlines all of the key concepts of Russian grammar in a systematic manner. Good to use in conjunction with our comprehensive courses.


5. The Oxford Russian Grammar and Verbs

A good alternative to Schaum's grammar book. Has a similar layout and serves the same purpose.


6. The Case Book for Russian (Laura A. Janda & Steven J. Clancy)

The noun cases are one of the most difficult areas of Russian for many learners. This book serves as a good reference for correct use of cases.



I believe that the above materials are enough to reach an intermediate level of Russian provided that the learner studies diligently. They are all relatively easy to find on the internet. I hope that my list of recommended materials may help those who want to learn the language.

[Shemp]

You forgot a decent dictionary. I recommend ABBYY app for Android (they might also support ios) with Universal, Ermolovich, Explanatory BTS add-ons. You can try the app for free with the Essentials dictionary, but it is too small for serious use. Explanatory BTS is ru-ru, but is the only dictionary which shows stress for all forms. I also sometimes use Desprez Russian-English (which sources OpenRussian and Wikitionary).

Your resources are very grammar focused: good for passing tests, not so good for actually conversing in the language. Hardest part of any foreign language is understanding full speed native speech. I'd advise dumping all but one of the above resources. Finish a basic course, then focus on podcasts with transcripts (or ebooks with recorded version): listen, read transcript and look up unknown words in dictionary, listen again. Do this for at least 1000 hours of listen, read, listen cycle, so 3 years at hour/day. Tons of possibilities: www.russianpodcast.eu and www.lppbooks.com are good starting points.

Later, listen to to native YouTube and podcasts without transcripts. You can learn to speak easily once you first learn to listen. Speaking without being able to understand the other person is useless.

Anki is also very useful, especially sentence decks with audio:
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/549290451
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/604511069

[Lucas88]

You forgot a decent dictionary. I recommend ABBYY app for Android (they might also support ios) with Universal, Ermolovich, Explanatory BTS add-ons. You can try the app for free with the Essentials dictionary, but it is too small for serious use. Explanatory BTS is ru-ru, but is the only dictionary which shows stress for all forms. I also sometimes use Desprez Russian-English (which sources OpenRussian and Wikitionary).

Good point. I was more concerned with starter courses and textbooks and simply assumed that most people would find a dictionary that suits them online. I often use Wiktionary and WordReference for foreign languages. Wiktionary includes a phonetic pronunciation for most words and even an audio recording spoken by a native speaker for some. The stress accent is also indicated for all verb forms and noun cases. But you seem to know more than I do about fancy dictionaries and such. Thanks for your contribution!

I'd also like to recommend www.forvo.com for pronunciation practice. It works a bit like a dictionary and has audio recordings for thousands of words and expressions. You can either search for particular words or browse through word lists and then imitate the native speaker's pronunciation. Forvo is for many languages, not just Russian, the the way.

Your resources are very grammar focused: good for passing tests, not so good for actually conversing in the language. Hardest part of any foreign language is understanding full speed native speech. I'd advise dumping all but one of the above resources. Finish a basic course, then focus on podcasts with transcripts (or ebooks with recorded version): listen, read transcript and look up unknown words in dictionary, listen again. Do this for at least 1000 hours of listen, read, listen cycle, so 3 years at hour/day. Tons of possibilities: www.russianpodcast.eu and www.lppbooks.com are good starting points.

I've used a similar method and inventory of learning materials to achieve a good level in various other languages. And not just for passing tests either!

While I agree that listening to actual native materials such as videos, podcasts and music is extremely beneficial and should be incorporated into our studies from an early point, learning grammar is greatly necessary in order to speak and write the language correctly, especially when we are studying a language with a complex grammatical structure like Russian.

My proposed list isn't as grammar-focused as it might seem. Linguaphone Russian and Ultimate Russian are two complete courses which include vocabulary, natural dialogues and audio recordings and are both ideal starter courses for beginners. How to pronounce Russian correctly is a short and simple book which concisely explains pronunciation. The two grammar outline books are mostly just for reference and give us an easy-to-understand overview of some of the difficult grammar points that we may encounter. Same for The Case Book for Russian. It's just for looking up the functions of certain cases when we don't understand them.

The truth is that both listening to natural materials and studying grammar are necessary for language proficiency. Then, as soon as one is sufficiently advanced, talking to native speakers and full immersion in the L2 environment are essential too.