Russian II 2nd Ed. (Compr.) [CD]

Rating:
Summary: Not helpful without dialogue text of CDs!
Review: Although I agree that Pimsleur's Russian I,II and III CD sets are a great way to quickly learn to speak and understand spoken Russian, I am constantly frustrated by the lack of the written text of these dialogues! Surely, for the price we have to pay for these CD sets, we are entitled to a text copy of what the Russian speakers are saying on all of the CDs!! Why doesn't Pimsleur provide the text?? They already have it in-house (for the Russian speakers to read from) and should make it available to those of us who need to learn to read the Russian text as we are learning the Russian phonetic sounds.

Rating:
Summary: A godsend for the busy language enthusiast
Review: I am a high school student who decided last year to learn Russian, and no program has come even remotely close to Pimsleur, when it comes to helping me in real life situations, and practical vocabulary. I had completed a few beginner's written courses, and dabbled in the living language complete course, but when school started up again, I found myself without adequate time to effectively live up to a time commitment on the all-consuming and grammar intensive written courses. After this study, I found myself able to read simple passages, and string together sentences, but I lacked the seamless spoken ability that I wanted. It was around this time that I tried pimsleur for an introduction to Japanese, and fell in love with it. I immediately got the Russian level 2 course, and now I don't have to sit at my desk after my homework is done, and can just sit in my armchair, and pop in a tape. This course works completely different than any drill, and is so pervasive and effective that I am finding myself having trouble with oral practice in spanish class, becuase of the instinct to speak Russian that this course provides so well. Since then it has been a godsend, helping me actually put to use the vocabulary I had learned, and taking a whole new approach to grammar. I am now able to have real, meaningful conversations with Russian speaking teachers and kids at my school, and I would recommend Pimsleur whole-heartedly to anyone who is serious about attaining real and useful spoken language skills, but is very busy.