Russian in 10 Minutes a Day

Rating:
Summary: Good supplemental study tool.
Review: For anyone who wants to begin learning Russian, I wouldn't recommend relying on this book exclusively - you've got to have some language tapes or other means of aural study - but it makes for a nice compliment to more traditional texts. Of course, the "10 minutes a day" concept is silly. However, when study time comes around,I find myself turning to this book more than any other, especially when I only have a little time to study or when I've had a particularly draining day and don't feel up to more serious endeavors. The stickers are great, and I've found the pronunciations to be pretty accurate. It is a definite flaw that they don't show you the stressed vowels, but the individual pronunciations do account for the differences between stressed and unstressed vowels. On its own, this book isn't going to teach you Russian, but it is a fun and accessible supplemental study tool.

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT FOR VISUAL LEARNERS!
Review: I AM A VERY VISUAL LEARNER AND THIS BOOK WAS PERFECT FOR ME. IT INCLUDES NOTECARDS, PICTURES, FLASHCARDS, AND STICKERS. HOWEVER, IT IS NOT ENTIRELY JUEVENILE. I ONLY WISH THAT IT INCLUDED MORE CONVERSATIONAL RUSSIAN AND LESS "TOURIST RUSSIAN" OVERALL IT WAS GREAT!

Rating:
Summary: Don't
Review: If there were a way to put zero stars and still post a review, this book wouldn't have even gotten one.
Over time I have aquired 6 languages. This book is the worst language book I have ever seen.
1. It does not provide accent marks, so....so why bother even having it? You will have to get another book to learn how to pronounce the words...so...again, why bother with this?
2. It as a cool idea to learn Russian in 10 minutes a day (with this book, 10 minutes a day for the next 15 years still wouldn't teach you to do anything but to go around hoping to find magic vocabulary stickers.)
It does not provide, cogent explanations, or examples for syntax and grammar points. There is some vocabulary, but without real explanations of how to use the language, the book is pointless.
3. I recommend a travel phrasebook if that is all you want. Get a real text, Penguin's course isn't bad, or the "Ultimate Russian: Basic-Intermediate (Living Language Ultimate. Basic-Intermediate Series (Manual & Cassettes)) Nancy Novak / Crown Audio Cassettes / April 1998" if you really want learn, aquire, and use Russian.
4. "10-minutes.." is too big to carry around, too vapid for any real learning, and too disorganised to make any progress on any single topic.
5. The book is snake oil. I doubt the author had any intention of really trying to be usefull. It was easy to write, cheap to print, a quick money maker for a lazy author.
Get something else.
San Antonio physician.

Rating:
Summary: Lack of stress marks - an impediment
Review: The lack of stress marks is a definite impediment. Otherwise, this book adequately covers the needs of those for which it is intended.

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother
Review: This book gives absolutely no insight into the complexities of Russian grammar, and the 'phonetic transcription' will help you do nothing other that get laughed at by native Russian speakers if you try to use it on them. Basically, a good waste of money.

Rating:
Summary: Big book, pretty pictures, not much to learn.
Review: This book might be okay for kids, but it's not really a serious learning tool. Learning a language in ten minutes a day may be a fun fantasy, but the resources available in this book won't do much to help you learn Russian.

On the surface the book looks great - big pictures, stickers, activities, flash cards and a laminated "pocket pal" with a short list of phrases and such. The problem with these resources is that they all fall short when scrutinized individually. There aren't enough flash cards, and the words that are chosen are sort of odd. Some are obvious for the beginner, but many just leave me scratching my head as to why they picked them. The activities in the book are the best part, but as a workbook, it's only average. The stickers are a good idea in theory, but are you really going to put stickers on objects all around your house? The "pocket pal" phrasebook would be a decent idea, but it's a real pain to get out of the book (I had to cut it out with a razor knife), and it's too big to fit comfortably in your pocket when folded up. Because this book tries to be everything to everyone it falls short on all counts.

If you want to learn Russian and can only buy one text, buy yourself the Penguin Russian Course if you want an inexpensive beginners textbook and then make your own flash cards. If you can afford a little more, get the ready made Russian cards from Vis-ed. For a workbook try the Berlitz Basic Russian Workbook, and then a decent phrasebook like the one from Lonely Planet. These products are all available from Amazon and may cost a little more in total, but will take you much farther.

Rating:
Summary: Big book, pretty pictures, not much to learn.
Review: This book might be okay for kids, but it's not really a serious learning tool. Learning a language in ten minutes a day may be a fun fantasy, but the resources available in this book won't do much to help you learn Russian.

On the surface the book looks great - big pictures, stickers, activities, flash cards and a laminated "pocket pal" with a short list of phrases and such. The problem with these resources is that they all fall short when scrutinized individually. There aren't enough flash cards, and the words that are chosen are sort of odd. Some are obvious for the beginner, but many just leave me scratching my head as to why they picked them. The activities in the book are the best part, but as a workbook, it's only average. The stickers are a good idea in theory, but are you really going to put stickers on objects all around your house? The "pocket pal" phrasebook would be a decent idea, but it's a real pain to get out of the book (I had to cut it out with a razor knife), and it's too big to fit comfortably in your pocket when folded up. Because this book tries to be everything to everyone it falls short on all counts.

If you want to learn Russian and can only buy one text, buy yourself the Penguin Russian Course if you want an inexpensive beginners textbook and then make your own flash cards. If you can afford a little more, get the ready made Russian cards from Vis-ed. For a workbook try the Berlitz Basic Russian Workbook, and then a decent phrasebook like the one from Lonely Planet. These products are all available from Amazon and may cost a little more in total, but will take you much farther.

Rating:
Summary: great stickers, but no stress marks
Review: Unfortunatley, although this book is good for visual learners who only intend to read Russian, it is actually a very bad book for anyone who wants to speak the language at any point. The reason is (and I found this out the hard way) that there are absolutely NO indications of word stress or accent marks in the book. In russian, each word has only one, very strong stress point. If you leave out the stress or misstress a word, most Russians will not understand you. Believe me, it's true. Don't bother with this book. If they reprint it with stress marks, it will be worth the money.