Ultimate Russian: Advanced : Cassette/Book Package

Rating:
Summary: Useful and practical
Review: Dialogs are useful and contain practical vocabulary, although not all words are in the glossary. Explanatory notes for each chapter are useful. Some of the idioms and grammatical explanations are rather confusing and difficult to remember, but the examples are generally helpful in explaining the concepts. Unfortunately, I have caught a number of spelling errors in the Russian text. Some are omitted letters, and some words are simply misspelled. This could be rather confusing for learners who are not familiar with the correct spelling of the word. In one instance, the Russian text said someone was 87 years old, while the English translation said he was 80 years old. More careful editing and attention to detail should take care of these problems. Information about current business life in Russia, employment opportunites, etc., should prove useful for those engaged in doing business in the country.

Rating:
Summary: Confidence boosting
Review: I purchased this course about 20 years after having done a major in Russian and having had limited opportunities to make use of it. The tapes did a great job of reinforcing and improving my knowledge of the grammar while restoring and extending my vocabulary. This was extremely helpful for a trip I made to Russia recently where, for the very first time, I found myself able to converse and interact with reasonable spontenaity. I have one minor criticism - some of the translations in the book, while conveying the basic sense of the Russian text, are sometimes far from exact. But I guess this is supposed to be an advanced course, so readers should not find it too much of a problem.

Rating:
Summary: good audio tape
Review: I used the tapes "on the go" while at home doing chores and taking care of my daughter. I like the program because it stressed learning with tapes that contained dialoges. I think it is impossible to learn a language based on grammar alone, and most texts, including those studied in universities, are very weak when it comes to learning through spoken language. I feel if one does not have a good accent when speaking a foriegn language, it does not matter how correctly they speak the language. This program emphasizes speaking and therefore natuarally your accent will improve.

Rating:
Summary: good audio tape
Review: I used the tapes "on the go" while at home doing chores and taking care of my daughter. I like the program because it stressed learning with tapes that contained dialoges. I think it is impossible to learn a language based on grammar alone, and most texts, including those studied in universities, are very weak when it comes to learning through spoken language. I feel if one does not have a good accent when speaking a foriegn language, it does not matter how correctly they speak the language. This program emphasizes speaking and therefore natuarally your accent will improve.

Rating:
Summary: good audio tape
Review: I used the tapes "on the go" while at home doing chores and taking care of my daughter. I like the program because it stressed learning with tapes that contained dialoges. I think it is impossible to learn a language based on grammar alone, and most texts, including those studied in universities, are very weak when it comes to learning through spoken language. I feel if one does not have a good accent when speaking a foriegn language, it does not matter how correctly they speak the language. This program emphasizes speaking and therefore natuarally your accent will improve.

Rating:
Summary: Real advanced Russian.
Review: There are few truly advanced courses around for languages, but Living Language has done a superb job of this pack! The text book is jam-packed with useful information as well as real, situational Russian that you could conceivably use in Russia, or in dealing with Russians who may be visiting your home country. And, frankly, for what you get, the price is very reasonable. Well done to Living Language for both quality and accessibility! To get the most out of the course, you should really get the full package. You can't learn a language effectively without tapes, and the tapes you have here are clear, and promote using the language in dialogues. As a graduate of Russian I use these tapes to keep my Russian alive and even to expand upon it in certain areas, such as computing, a section for which is included in the course. However, while the taped sections are good for building and drilling speech patterns, I feel that too much freedom has been taken in some of the translations. While it is good to make the English as natural as the Russian, there are some occasions where, although the meaning has been conveyed, the translation is unnecassarily inaccurate which could be confusing to a student conducting a higher level and exacting course of study. Interpreting can allow such things, as "interpreting" implies. It means that you can relay meaning while not necassarily using a word for word translation. written translation is a precise discipline, and, if you using this text at a univerity where there are translation exams, you should bear the above points in mind, as word for word accuracy is, wherever possible, required in university translation exams. I don't need to restate the fact that there are spelling mistakes in the text and discrepancies between the book and the tape. It is a great shame that Living Language books did not do the editing required to eliminate such issues, as it makes the course and tha company look sloppy when I don't think they are. But that said, I still recommend this course.