Rating: 
Summary: Worthy of attention from serious students
Review: It's easy to see from the reviews for this book that there are more than one type of language learner. If you want Russian spoon-fed to you, forget it and learn Italian, French, etc. Russian only becomes usable when you have all of the inflected endings organized and stored in your head. And the only way to accomplish that is by studying with some degree of passion. I used this book along with the 3 pimsleur sets on russian and now have a very strong foundation to proceed into advanced studies. This book has a good mix of grammar and texts to translate. I never felt overwhelmed. That said, I progressed on a two-steps-forward and one-step-back basis. You will too if you want to learn Russian, so don't sweat it. It's normal. I was relieved when I got to chapter 10 or so and the book said something about "you have now met X number of words and have probably forgot most of them. That's ok. Just learn them again and it will get easier." My one regret with the book: I wish there was a workbook for more exercises. The exercises in the book are good, but I had to make up my own to really become accomplished at slinging those endings the way I wanted. Stay away from this book if you are looking for nice phrases for travelers. This book will teach you only if you put the right kind of effort into your studies. I have dozens of books on Russian and this is the one that taught me what I needed to know.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Book
Review: My fiancee is a Russian girl who can speak limited English. I have been using this book for a while now, and it has taught me such a great deal. It not only has a large vocabulary, but it also teaches grammer rules. I reccomend anyone that wants to really learn Russian, not just a few words here and there.
Rating: 
Summary: Solid Introduction
Review: The main strength of this book is its completeness. By using this book alone it is possible to obtain a good understanding of basic Russian. No other reference is necessary, thus for a single volume course this has no equal. By any standards this is a good book. There are weaknesses. Dependent on your point of view, the focus on an academic type course of instruction with rigorous grammar might not appeal to some (and attract others), as stated in the introduction, one of the books objectives is to bring the reader up to UK 'A' Level standard (Roughly equivalent to the first two years of an American College course). This isn't one of those 'jaunty' conversational type courses, as reflected perhaps in the lack of an audio medium such as a CD or Cassette being available. I'd recommend this book to Russian Students and those wanting a sound academic grounding in Russian. For those whom wish to just converse in basic Russian (lets say for a tourist or business trip) it may be better to look at other courses that are combined with an Audio package. However if you have additional access to a Russian speaker or are based in Russia I'd not hesitate to recommend this book as your first choice of instruction. Again, as a single volume, and if I could have only one Russian book this would be it. No question about it. For those reasons I'd give it 5 starts for a self-contained course, 4 stars for an academic instructional course, and 2 stars if you just want a quick intro to conversational Russian.
Rating:
Summary: A Godsend Clarifier
Review: The Russian language presents a lot of difficulties at the outset for beginners, even if you have already studied languages before. I first wanted to study Russian three years ago, and was constantly trying and giving up because of the endings and the verbal aspect, among other things. I had already gained a fair vocabulary, a fair mastery of noun endings, and an understanding of aspect. But when I bought this book, everything became very non-threatening. I easily learned a lot of small grammatical details, as well as ones that baffled me for years. All verbs are given in both aspect forms, and noun irregularities are shown. This did not discourage me, but rather made me want to lern the irregular stuff to enhance my correctness. To all those fascinated with Russia and it's language, but cannot seem to get it right and are discouraged, fear not. This book will lift your spirits and show you that Russian is not that hard of a language afterall! I have also found studying Russian helpful in decoding the seemingly totally-irregular grammars of Polish and other Slavic languages. Knowing Russian will help you learn about ten more of these languages. Buy this book, grab a hold, and you'll soon be on friendly terms with Russian!
Rating:
Summary: New Penguin Russian Course
Review: There's not much I can add to the positive reviews already noted, but just for the record, this book is extremely useful for dedicated and/or full-time (like myself) students of the Russian language.
Rating: 
Summary: Do not buy this book!!!
Review: This book has to be the worst grammar/language book I have ever read! This is coming from someone who has learned two other foreign languages. This book is horrible. You don't even learn plural noun forms until a few chapters into the book. Then they make you wait until the chapter on the genitive case to find out the adjective forms for these plural nouns! A lot of good this will do someone who wants to communicate with Russians right away. Granted Russian is a tough language: there are 6 different cases to learn and lots of exceptions to rules. However, the way this book is laid out and organized only makes it harder! I know because I have found a few web pages that teach Russian more effectively than this.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book for Beginers
Review: This book is good for those who want to learn Russian on their own. It starts out with the basic material, such as the alphabet and numbers, that some books/software assume you already know. The book works best when you combine it with a software program so that you can hear the words too.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect for learning Russian,
Review: This book is great. First it shows you the alphabet, then you go into grammer, and so on. I'm only 14, so all this is coming at me like a rock and I'm still confused about a lot of it. But it's so organized that if you forget something, you can either look back for it, or go to the key. If you really want to learn Russian, this is the book to start with. I enjoy reading it every night. It's not as easy as I'd expected (Or hoped) But it's fun, so that makes up for it.
Rating:
Summary: good book, a little different than most
Review: This is a good textbook which thoroughly covers basic Russian grammar. My only complaints are that noun declensions are listed in a different order than I've seen in every other Russian textbook: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental, and prepositional, and that the verbs of motion are listed with the multidirectional form first. This is not that big a deal, except that it's cumbersome if you previously memorized declensions and conjugations in a diffferent order.
Rating:
Summary: Sent from up above!
Review: This is how I learn Russian. I am not done yet, but thanks to this book it worked for me to study this language myself. The more I learnt, the more I went to love Russian.
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