Rating: 
Summary: A Real Help for Learning the Difficult Sounds of Russian
Review: (By Edward Trimnell, author of "Why You Need a Foreign Language & How to Learn One," ISBN:1591133343)A Slavic language, Russian is much more difficult to pronounce than Spanish, German, or even French. This Pimsleur course is helpful in this regard, because it breaks the sounds down into manageable pieces. Without Pimsleur, it can take you quite a while to develop an "ear" for Russian. Pimsleur courses are all-audio. They don't contain textbooks or dictionaries. However, the Pimsleur method can be very effective. Pimsleur courses are especially beneficial to those who face long daily commutes, because the audio materials are not dependent on any written materials. The downside is that there is a relatively small amount of material contained in the course, and it doesn't teach the Cyrillic writing system at all. Therefore, the Pimsleur courses are best used as supplements to more traditional programs. Ideally, you should use this program in conjunction with a book-and-cassette course from Living Language or Berlitz. By studying the textbook course at home, and listening to the Pimsleur audio materials in your car, you can use both approaches to the maximum advantage.
Rating: 
Summary: Could be better
Review: (By Edward Trimnell, author of "Why You Need a Foreign Language & How to Learn One," ISBN:1591133343) A Slavic language, Russian is much more difficult to pronounce than Spanish, German, or even French. This Pimsleur course is helpful in this regard, because it breaks the sounds down into manageable pieces. Without Pimsleur, it can take you quite a while to develop an "ear" for Russian. Pimsleur courses are all-audio. They don't contain textbooks or dictionaries. However, the Pimsleur method can be very effective. Pimsleur courses are especially beneficial to those who face long daily commutes, because the audio materials are not dependent on any written materials. The downside is that there is a relatively small amount of material contained in the course, and it doesn't teach the Cyrillic writing system at all. Therefore, the Pimsleur courses are best used as supplements to more traditional programs. Ideally, you should use this program in conjunction with a book-and-cassette course from Living Language or Berlitz. By studying the textbook course at home, and listening to the Pimsleur audio materials in your car, you can use both approaches to the maximum advantage.
Rating:
Summary: A Real Help for Learning the Difficult Sounds of Russian
Review: (By Edward Trimnell, author of "Why You Need a Foreign Language & How to Learn One," ISBN:1591133343) A Slavic language, Russian is much more difficult to pronounce than Spanish, German, or even French. This Pimsleur course is helpful in this regard, because it breaks the sounds down into manageable pieces. Without Pimsleur, it can take you quite a while to develop an "ear" for Russian. Pimsleur courses are all-audio. They don't contain textbooks or dictionaries. However, the Pimsleur method can be very effective. Pimsleur courses are especially beneficial to those who face long daily commutes, because the audio materials are not dependent on any written materials. The downside is that there is a relatively small amount of material contained in the course, and it doesn't teach the Cyrillic writing system at all. Therefore, the Pimsleur courses are best used as supplements to more traditional programs. Ideally, you should use this program in conjunction with a book-and-cassette course from Living Language or Berlitz. By studying the textbook course at home, and listening to the Pimsleur audio materials in your car, you can use both approaches to the maximum advantage.
Rating:
Summary: Overall Very Good
Review: As a language teacher, I would rate Pimsleur Russian I as an excellent product. Though expensive, it teaches accurate pronunciation, correct intonation (something generally not taught, or not taught well, in many conventional textbooks). Pimsleur's method of repetition and reintroduction is effective and generally successful at keeping one's attention. I agree, however, with a number of criticisms. One of its "strengths" is not introducing too much vocabulary at once. The downside is that there is probably less vocabulary introduced than many could wish. I have not seen Levels II and III, so there may be significant compensation there, but despite Pimsleur's correct observation that core vocabulary can account for the lion's share of our communication, someone wanting to become really proficient in Russian will need much for vocabulary acquisition than Pimsleur provides. Like others, I found Pimsleur works best in conjunction with a good dictionary and Russian grammar. There is no reason why an adult should not take advantage of language-learning helps ordinarily unavailable to a child. I also find that, for visual learners, being able to "see" the Russian words in your mind can be a big help. Although Pimsleur does not advocate this, having such materials makes it much easier for me. It also clarifies some points which would remain obscure unless you learn to read and write the Russian as well (e.g., the different spelling but identical pronunciation for the nominative and genitive singular forms of nouns like "pivo" beer). Also, while learning to speak Russian may be your goal, it seems hardly ideal to be functionally illiterate, so learning to read and write Russian will normally have to be tackled eventually anyway. If begun more or less at the beginning of the Pimsleur course, or a little way into it, it could actually improve your learning even the spoken language (my experience, anyway). In all, Pimsleur Russian is a very good product but best combined with a reasonably good textbook. I think my only real caveat is that you need to take some of the claims for "achieving proficiency" as relative and not confuse proficiency with fluency. Pimsleur is a good beginning, but real mastery of Russian will require much more work. Ideally, it would be nice to see a Pimsleur "Intensive Russian I, II, and III" which tackled some of these weaknesses. It would pay to have some idea about what degree of competence you would realistically like to attain. For getting around as a tourist, I think the program is excellent, but you won't be reading Tolstoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely awesome system
Review: I am just completing this set and have already purchased set number 2. I feel more confident with russian after 1 month study with this system then I did after a year of spanish in high school (admittedly I didnt try very hard at that point). This system does not focus on nouns a whole lot, so I would recommend picking up a russian-english dictionary to give you a little more breadth. Also it helps if you can find someone who speaks russian to speak with or at least email with... If you want to learn Russian this is absolutely the best way to do it. Also- this set can routinely be had brand new on ebay for between $180 and $220. I got mine for $185.
Rating:
Summary: The best way to start learning a language
Review: I am on lesson 26 of this series, and would have to recommend this to any new student of Russian. Proper Russian pronunciation can only be learned, by listening and repeating. Other audio materials I had worked with go entirely too fast, and are difficult to understand. The Pimsleur language program breaks the words up, making it easier for the student to mimick the native speakers. The new vocabulary is introduced in very manageable amounts (I don't think you ever get more than 8-9 words per unit). The 'instructor' continues to test you on these words at various time intervals until the word becomes so well known to you, it becomes natural to use it in a variety of ways.
Like a previous reviewer, some of my Russian coworkers were so impressed with my accent there were responses of 'whoa, where did you learn that.' I have to give this 5 stars, but I have a few reasons: I am not very good mimic, so despite my best efforts occasionally I would pronounce words slightly wrong, Despite Pimsleur's suggestion to not use any other training materials, I found it invaluable to learn the Russian alphabet, and learn the pronunciation rules (this is not as hard as one might think). When I was unsure about a particular word, I would look it up, and use that with the CD's to achieve a more accurate pronunciation. Another criticism is a lack of vocabulary introduced. It would be nice to learn some more basic words. My last criticism is sometimes the grammar concepts don't hit home and keeps you guessing. Despite these very minor criticisms I would have to say that for any potential student starting from scratch this is by far the best way to begin learning this very difficult language.
Rating:
Summary: If you actually want to SPEAK Russian, this is the one!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Good for grammar, not so good for vocabulary
Review: I found the drills helped my grammar very well. When I took a Russian course at my university, a lot of the major problems for an English-speaker were intuitive for me. Among other stumbling blocks, Russian has six noun cases and doesn't use the verb "to be" in the present tense. These things can be very difficult to learn from a book and are better learned through experience, which Pimsleur gives you.
The big problem is your range of vocabulary. This is easy enough to remedy if you have good vocabulary lists to study from. But because of this barrier, I don't think it deserves five stars.
$150 per level isn't much to pay if you have a hard time learning languages and/or have not had success with other programs; my class at the U was over $1,300. I suggest that after you finish, you try a Teach Yourself or Living Language Ultimate course to fill out your knowledge.
Rating:
Summary: The Best of Applied Linguistic Research at your Service
Review: I have extensive experience in language learning, including graduate level courses in Applied Linguistics. I shied away from Pimsleur for years because I scoff at the (usually unfounded) claims that this or that method will have you speaking a language in no time. Finally, with limited time and a desire to learn Russian via a full-audio method, I tried Pimsleur. I am now starting comprehensive Russian II and give Pimsleur courses to committed language learners as gifts. Its secret -- a good method underpinned with the best of 50+ years of applied linguistic research, classroom experience and common sense. For many languages, the best materials were developed during World War II and never significantly improved afterward. I wish Pimsleur existed in levels I thru III in ALL languages! Be diligent, listen to each tape 3 or 4 times, give yourself 4 months per level, and you shall speak!
Rating:
Summary: How good will you get?
Review: 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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