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. Will work with iPod, PC, lap-top, MP3, cell phone or any home stereo.

Easy Russian – Product Features 

• Rich content and value fore money.  Vol 1 contains 17 theme based lessons and Vol 2 contains 11 longer lessons, all this for less that the price of one classroom lesson.
• Vocabulary introduced in context (not just random words)
• Phonetics (students learn about both basics and specifics of Russian pronunciation, something that’s rarely available even from seasoned tutors)
• Phrases and Dialogues (theme based phraseology introduced and explained)
• Elements of grammar (grammar delivered in small portions, in easy to absorb format, explained in English with examples from native Russian speakers)
• Unique training designed specifically for English speakers who can re-use certain elements of their own language when learning Russian
• Rich cultural content covering elements of etiquette and traditions
• A combination of practical every day basics such as greetings, shopping or travelling and more formal yet equally important business context
• Effective use of literature and introduction to some of the Russia’s best literature including Alexander Pushkin, Anton Chekhov
• Instant results – students able to listen to live Russian speakers and understand them
• Students are able to listen and understand Yuri Gagarin talking about his landing experience from fist human space mission
• Each module is self contained, has all necessary content, tuition and native Russian speakers
• Tracks are transferrable to any portable device, including, iPods, MP3 players, lap-tops and even mobile phones. Learning need not mean sitting at a desk with heavy dictionary when it comes to Easy Russian.
• Students can learn at their own pace.  Any portion of training can be repeated, paused, revised at any convenient time.
• Students exposed to natural, live speed of the language for results in the “real world” situations, on the streets, with live speakers and anywhere outside classroom. No false sense of progress when students are only able to speak with other beginners.
• Content divided into easy to digest logical portions allowing natural absorption.
• Easy Russian designed as complimentary training.  It does not require students to abandon other methods of learning.
• No complicated set-up required.  No additional software required.  No special equipment required.  Our CD or MP3 track will play on anything that takes CDs or digital audio.
• And its fun too.  Easy Russian includes fun bits such as anecdotes, proverbs, the mysterious Russian soul.  How to make friends.  Why Russians have 2 birthdays. And even such characters as Zmei Gorynich (a very Russian flying dragon)

For Students 

Easy Russian is designed to contain both tuition in English explaining important elements of Russian language and Russian content delivered by native speakers at natural speed.  The first volume is aiming at students of all levels.  Complete beginners will find basics such as numbers, alphabet, days of the week, months as well as more advanced constructs involving greetings, small talk, shopping, travelling and many other every day essentials.  Those already familiar with Russian language may still find volume 1 of interest because of its cultural content, inclusion of such concepts as the Russian soul and how this is used in Russian language as fragments of Pushkin poetry and certain cultural elements and basic business etiquette used in Russia and Russian language.  Volume 2 goes a little further into phonetics and intricacies of Russian pronunciation, students are introduced to certain unique features of Russian language such as hard and soft consonants, voicing and devoicing, stress patterns.  Students also learn about important features of English language such as aspiration and how this relates to production of Russian sounds.  Students are taught to indentify roots of Russian words and are introduced to use of prefixes and suffixes in Russian words. Students are given an opportunity to speed up their absorption of Russian vocabulary through use of clusters of same-rooted words. Many important verbs are introduced and rich cultural content involving speeches and texts of prominent Russian and English writers as other prominent figures such as Yuri Gagarin.

Russian Language Qualifications

There are several qualification in Russian language available from various examination boards outside Russia.  EdExcel in the UK administers GCSE and A-Level exams in Russian Language and expects students to learn not onlythe language itself, but also about the culture and traditions of the native countries.  Easy Russian will be most valuable in achieving such objectives. It includes rich cultural content and insights into Russian literature, humour and etiquette. Volume 1 and Volume 2 primarily aim to develop speaking, listening and understanding skills. In Volume 2 students are also given an opportunity to download free PDF materials for each unit in order to improve their understanding of written Russian.  Future releases of Easy Russian materials will make it a complete and comprehensive resource for students wishing to develop fluency in Russian language.

For Teachers

Easy Russian course is designed to deliver tuition, phonetics, grammar and native Russian audio content.  It will be possible for adults and younger students to achieve good understanding of Russian language outside classroomthrough Easy Russian.  The course is not aiming to replace classroom tuition however and can be used as complimentary additional material.  Volume 2 in particular provides PDF downloads which can be used by tutors in classrooms.  Additional feature of Volume 2 which will be useful for teachers running Russian language classes is inclusion of Chekhov, Gagarin and Shakespeare texts both inside longer modules and separately at the end of the CD, so that each text could be played back easily without English tutorial.  There is further a separate Teachers’ edition of Russian audio materials in development.  This teacher’s edition will contain longer audio recordings of Russian texts as well as all dialogues and fragments from volume 1 and volume 2. 

Reviews

This is a really helpful series starting with the alphabet and 'hello' (vol.1) and graduating to brief extracts from Chekhov and others (vol.2).  The 28 units are excellent not just for learning the subtleties of pronunciation, but for understanding how the Russian language and Russian minds work.  Rachel Redford (UK) read more from Rachel Redford >

These audio lessons jumped right into learning the language and moved briskly. I also enjoyed the structure of the lessons and their thematic organization. Unlike other audio language learning tapes the tracks were engaging - my attention was kept and I felt like I was actually absorbing Russian. Overall, this audio training is excellent for those who need to learn Russian fast, or may only need to learn enough for a specific situation.

Kara Schimmelfing (USA)

Super. Often one is demotivated by legions of grammar to wade through before you get to saying 'hello', in some language guides. On the other hand this audio guide is going straight for useful phrases to get you by; to increase your motivation and to give you a taste of the language itself.

Stephen Dunne (Australia)

Great CD. Easy to pick up on Russian words pronunciation and also a little bit about Russian culture and the background behind certain phrases. Really interesting and informative.

Sara Georgieff (Canada)

Max Bollinger, a native Russian speaker has composed an excellent guide to learning basic Russian for your next trip. Everything from greetings to dating a Russian beauty. Like other language software it works by repeating the words then using them. However unlike other language programs that slow down the words so you can hear each syllable, Easy Russian for English Speakers keeps everything “live”. As an audio book you are able to transfer the tracks to a media player and learn on the go.

Jodie Clements (Canada)