Best products from r/russian

One thing that I did when I first started learning Russian was typing on the keyboard, which helped me learn the words faster as I'm always on the keyboard. If you're like me and not fast with a Russian keyboard, I suggest you use Google Input Transliteration Tools. What this does is allows you to spell Russian words with an English keyboard by transliterating the English characters into Cyrillic characters.

For example: If I were to type "ya ot tebya bez uma."(I'm crazy about you.) then the computer would automatically change it into "Я от тебя без ума." You can try this out by going to Google Translate and typing in English characters. All you have to do is install that program, it will download the dictionaries from Google, and after that it is a keyboard that you switch to just like the Russian keyboard in Windows. This made it very easy for me to type Russian, and even though I like typing with an actual Russian layout, I will admit that this way is faster especially if you're already fast on an English keyboard. There is also a way to do this as an add-on for Chrome by pressing Ctrl + G, but I don't think using it is as easy and I think it only works in Chrome.
If you have any more questions, I can try to answer them.

And yes, I agree with Fuloran 100% that the hardest thing by far, especially as an English speaker where it's not a big thing, is verb conjugation.

Also, if you want good Russian stickers, I can recommend these and these. The first set of stickers have a transparent background so that the original letters from the keyboard show through. I use the transparent stickers on my mechanical gaming keyboard so that the backlighting can show through, and they don't slow me down at all. I use the second set of stickers, which have a black background, on my laptops/Chromebooks.

Think about how long it took you to be proficient in English and how you had to go to school to learn some of the grammer. One of the best things about Russian is there is quite a few English cognates and this makes it really easy to pick up some words.
One of the hardest things for me when I was first learning the alphabet was distinguishing a Cyrillic R from an English P because they look the same. Another one was a Cyrillic N from an English H. If you can get past these, the alphabet is easy. I would say that the unique letters(Д, Л, Ж ,Э, Ц, Ю, Ч, Ф) are definitely the easiest because you are learning them, not relearning or reassigning a sound. Some good ways that I learned was talking with other Russian speakers through a messaging client. If you play games with Russian communities(maybe join a Russian TF2 server) maybe try and add/talk to some people on there. I don't know if you play it, but there is a Russian League of Legends server, I play there and talk to people sometimes. You just have to use your resources. I think the best resource is a native Russian speaker because they can give you good, common pronunciation that will help you the most.

Удачи, приятель! :)

typische Verbindungen = Kollokationen?

I'm going to assume you've already gone through Lingua Latina 1 and 2. (BTW there are other ones with the same style of Latin glosses like: https://www.amazon.com/Caesaris-Commentarii-Gallico-Lingua-Latina/dp/1585102326/ref=pd_sim_14_13?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1585102326&pd_rd_r=JCPQ1JW98FZ0FFP1PYK2&pd_rd_w=nWCk3&pd_rd_wg=GI00g&psc=1&refRID=JCPQ1JW98FZ0FFP1PYK2

but they're kind of hard to find apparently, considering they just throw "Lingua LAtina" after to show the edition...

Here's one with some bible stuff: https://www.amazon.com/Epitome-Historiae-Sacrae-Christi-Narratione/dp/1585104256/ref=pd_sim_14_20?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1585104256&pd_rd_r=RYEWCXZ23VQX695ER2NS&pd_rd_w=dv3qm&pd_rd_wg=FpPNK&psc=1&refRID=RYEWCXZ23VQX695ER2NS

.

https://www.amazon.com/Ars-Amatoria-Lingua-Latina-Ovid/dp/1585106348/ref=pd_sim_14_13?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1585106348&pd_rd_r=AGTD6A26M03XJPTCYDW0&pd_rd_w=dE96G&pd_rd_wg=87lDQ&psc=1&refRID=AGTD6A26M03XJPTCYDW0

.

https://www.amazon.com/Sallustius-Cicero-Catilina-Lingua-Latina/dp/1585103675/ref=pd_sim_14_4?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1585103675&pd_rd_r=AGTD6A26M03XJPTCYDW0&pd_rd_w=dE96G&pd_rd_wg=87lDQ&psc=1&refRID=AGTD6A26M03XJPTCYDW0

.
https://www.amazon.com/Amphitryo-Comoedia-Lingua-Latina-Plautus/dp/158510194X/ref=pd_sim_14_9?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=158510194X&pd_rd_r=AGTD6A26M03XJPTCYDW0&pd_rd_w=dE96G&pd_rd_wg=87lDQ&psc=1&refRID=AGTD6A26M03XJPTCYDW0
.

https://www.amazon.com/Vergil-Aeneis-Libros-Lingua-Latina/dp/158510633X/ref=pd_sim_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=158510633X&pd_rd_r=AGTD6A26M03XJPTCYDW0&pd_rd_w=dE96G&pd_rd_wg=87lDQ&psc=1&refRID=AGTD6A26M03XJPTCYDW0

I'm kind of concerned about the... contents, they seem rather short (only 2 books + parts of the Aeneid?) But if it keeps the method up like I've been told once or twice and you've not passed the level where you can breeze through it, it could be useful and worth it? Even for what shouldn't be more than a few days of reading at most. :P

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There's a book called Colloquial and Literary Latin by Eleannor Dickey which shows a lot of "incorrections" found in various writers, i.e. how they violate the rules taught by grammar obsessed professors etc. It's kind of cool/fun.

You know Vox Latina, right?

-----------------------

My personal path through Latin was like... LinguaLatinaLinguaLatinaLinguaLatinaLinguaLatinaLinguaLatinaLinguaLatinaLinguaLatinaLinguaLatinaLinguaLatinaLinguaLatina OOH LIVING LATIN, WAIT THEY'RE FREAKS, Oh cool I'll do some stuff at uni... Oh God, I'm already in advanced classes because these Germans doing it highschool know nothing, oh, that TA is hawt! I'll go to those things and listen to her talk about Homer even though I don't know Greek! Oh cool, this Czech guy online speaks it well! Oooh lala.

Then I read funny medieval texts (digitized since I can't make my way through pictures/the different scripts they use, but one day I'll even learn the shorthand!)

So... This... http://guindo.pntic.mec.es/jmag0042/LATIN_PALEOGRAPHY.pdf

http://learningtechnologies.truman.edu/r_harrison/charpcl.htm (make sure to scroll down, it has multiple scroll bars (badly cody) so it's annoying, but there's a bit of stuff there)

A. G. Rigg's A History of Anglo Latin Literature: 1066-1422 is cool.

One of my favorite books ever is: Intellectual Culture in Elizabethan and Jacobean England

But good luck finding it, I only found it once in a library I visited, goes over all the writers from like 1500-1600 in England, all the plays, poems, swimming manuals and so on they wrote, stylistics, errors common to certain printers, vocab about the different printers, and all this stuff!

(It also gave me my favorite language learning technique, of translating something from the language, then back in it and comparing, so as to notice and learn someone's style etc.)

---------------------------

But that's... not quite what you're looking for I guess.

THIS IS

http://linguax.com/lexica/wagner.php?searchedLG=latinitas (I hope)

There are quite a few synonyms etc. listed for more... core words like: http://linguax.com/lexica/wagner.php?searchedLG=filius

Da findste auch diese typischen Verbindungen, soweit ich durchblick, worauf der Duden damit hin will :D

(There're more on the site like: http://www.linguax.com/lexica/ but Wagner's the best I think)

You coul also try: https://books.google.com/books?id=1IwAAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Maybe those help?

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k61498463/f91.item.zoom

Non-native speaker here, but serious student of the language.

> What is a good introductory textbook/guidebook for me to use?

I really like Russian for Beginners by Duff. I believe it may be out of print, but there are plenty of copies around. Apart from that, the New Penguin Russian Course is very good, albeit very dense. For example with the Penguin course, the vocabulary lists with each lesson are about 3x as long as the Duff book. Personally, if I were starting out and wanted to have a conversational basis, I'd looking into the UCLA Russian course. The online exercises and audio are linked to the companion book Beginner's Russian which you will need. If you want to move along faster, do both the UCLA course and the Duff or Penguin books.

> What is a good introductory textbook/guidebook for me to use?

I have trouble reading the small print in dictionaries; so I only use online resources:

• openrussian.org - this is a great site that pulls in pronunciations, inflexions, example sentences, etc. I use it daily.
  
• Reverso - not quite as easy to use as openrussian.org, but has derivative words and phrases that can come in handy.
  
• Cornell Russian dictionary tree - barebones, but fast and to the point, legible.
  
  > Is there an online resource to talk to/chat with natives or tutors? I live in Alabama, so I interact with almost zero Russian-speakers.
  
  Not near Birmingham or Huntsville? I've worked with face-to-face tutors off and on but some people have recommended iTalki which sounds like a language tutor/learner brokerage site.
  
  > Do you have any advice on stuff I should learn first, or stuff that's difficult and needs careful attention?
  
  
• Alphabet - as you've done
  
• Pronunciation - (1) particularly the letters that don't have correspondents in English, (2) attention to palatization of soft consonants, e.g. the difference between мат and мать. (3) how syllabic stress effects the pronunciations of vowels.
  
• Tackle the inflections slowly. Russian is a heavily inflected language, meaning that the word endings change a lot depending on the role they play in the sentence. The heuristics for some cases in the noun declensions can be overwhelming - genitive plural, for example. I'd tackle a case at a time. Verb conjugations are easier. Start with a handful of group 1 verbs, работать, читать, думать, etc. and practice conjugating. Understand the principles/heuristics where possible before memorizing.
  
• Begin memorizing vocabulary - there are a lot of words. A lot. Memorize the words that show up in the lessons of whatever course you choose to follow. Memorize words that relate to a particular useful context (kitchen words, food words, car words, etc.). Use spaced-repetition software to help you. I use Anki which is a widely used spaced-repetition flashcard application. Take the time to make your own cards rather than some random pre-built deck. Make sure that you include sentences on the cards to illustrate how the words are used. Context is important.
  
• Practice - even if you don't have a tutor, read aloud. Think sentences to yourself.
  
  > Any information or advice you guys have would be most appreciated!
  
  You might consider Duolingo (free) or Babbel (not free). They have pros and cons. If you like interactive web-based training it might be a useful adjunct starting out.

The New Penguin Russian Course is quite good. The textbook I've used is Russian for Everybody (there's also an accompanying workbook that I highly recommend). Once you start getting a hang of things, Shaum's Outline of Russian Grammar is a good, clear reference for grammar.

As for free websites? I'm not very familiar with them... MasterRussian.com is a popular one. From my experience with free internet lessons, they tend to be lacking in explanations of grammar, and more about giving you "useful" phrases. Everybody learns differently, of course, but I personally find that the more grammar lessons you can integrate, the better off you'll be in the long run.

Other than all that, I definitely recommend finding an easy to read book/article/text/something to work towards understanding -- children's books are good for this. Provides more motivation that way, and it's a way to apply what you're learning. Always keep a goal in mind. :)

The Cyrillic alphabet crash course videos by Mark Thomson (there's also iOS and Android apps if you prefer)

Russian Made Easy podcast / video series also by Mark Thomson

The New Penguin Russian Course by Nicholas Brown

These three materials will give you a super solid start and come out to a grand total of like $20. I suggest starting with the Cyrillic alphabet videos then going through Ch2 of the Penguin book, which teaches Cyrillic cursive. It will be best to do all writing in cursive as you practice. I'd then go through Russian Made Easy then the rest of the Penguin book. This method has been working out very well for me so far. I tried starting with the Penguin book and it's just a little dense to be a good beginner material imo. I also push the Mark Thomson materials pretty hard because he harps on contextual learning which is very important for efficiently learning a new language, yet many resources don't focus on it.

Many people like Duolingo. I wasn't super fond of it because the audio is compressed to hell and it doesn't give a good intro to the alphabet. This led to me having trouble knowing whether I pronounced something right because the example speech sounded like garbage and also taking guesses at what sounds letters made (a few of which turned out to be wrong when I changed my methods and actually learned the alphabet). I talked to a polyglot I know and he advised me that Rosetta Stone was most useful when you have a decent foundation in a language, not quite as great if you're totally new to it (and very expensive). All of this is just my two cents of course. There's many ways to go about it. Either way, welcome to the super fun hellscape that is the Russian language, and good luck getting started :)

Sounds very similar to my story.
Came into college intending to just take a little Russian on the side while getting a chemistry degree. Ended up disliking the chemistry program and falling completely in love with the Russian program. Fast forward 2 and half years, I have studied abroad in Russia and have put in time towards studying Russian nearly every day since first beginning my studies back as a freshman.
Although I am still VERY FAR from being "fluent" (in the sense of feeling totally comfortable speaking and understanding Russian, as i feel with English), I am nonetheless able to read Russian news articles easily, and can read literature at a slow but reasonable pace (not understanding every word, but understanding most of what is going on), or at a slower pace I can understand it very thoroughly and even produce translations that I am proud of. It is still hard for me to watch Russian films without subtitles and demands 100% of my attention and mental energy, but I can do it and pick up a surprising amount of the language.

Before I began studying Russian, I thought that becoming "fluent" in a language was something very clear cut (I thought you were either "fluent" or "not fluent" with no in between), and I thought that with a couple years of dedicated study, fluency could be achieved. Now, I realize that both of these assumptions were entirely false. I hope to keep studying Russian for the rest of my life, and hopefully work in translation or interpretation if possible; and yet I know that no matter how much work I put in, I will always have more to learn and I will never be able to speak quite like a native speaker. However, despite this, studying Russian has been one of the most consistently exciting and rewarding experiences I have ever had. It has opened up new horizons for me both personally and professionally, and has simultaneously re-instilled a kind of naive wonder in the way we humans perceive the world, which I hadn't experienced since childhood when I was still learning to speak my native English properly. Working towards Russian "fluency" is an enthralling, never-ending puzzle that also has direct, real-world applications. It's so much fun; I wouldn't give it up for anything.

Edit: As far as learning techniques go, I would suggest that you do everything you can to get a ridiculously strong grammatical foundation before trying to do any serious reading or emersion-learning. Going over tables of noun endings and verb types and writing out your own examples 1000 times is extremely tedious, but every second of work you put into it pays off many times over. If you are able to reach a point where you can decline nouns and conjugate verbs quickly, in your head, with almost perfect consistency, it will eliminate a lot of bad habits and trouble down the road.
Also, in my opinion it is absolutely essential to start thinking about words - especially verbs - in terms of morphological components (that is to say: roots, prefixes, suffixes, etc.). I suggest this book as a reference for that https://www.amazon.com/Russian-Root-List-Sketch-Word-Formation/dp/0893570524

Hey there :)

For text-books, I recommend the Penguin Russian Course. It teaches you vocab and grammar with exercises and dialogues, plus it has handy charts and a small dictionary at the back for reference. It's not for everyone, though, it's a bit wordy and not very exciting. Still, I found it very useful for setting a good foundation in the language.

For access to native speakers, iTalki is good if you want to book lessons with a teacher over Skype, or you can set up language exchanges for free with native speakers, likewise on Skype. I also use the app "HelloTalk" which also allows you to text and chat with native speakers. You can also use sites like Lang8 where you can get your writing corrected by native speakers, or you could just post it here and someone will answer.

There's a helpful list of dictionaries and other resources in the side-bar of this reddit :)

Hope that helps!!

Learn the pronunciation of the letters. Learn the difference between soft and hard consonants. Use youtube videos and various descriptions for it. This video is a good start, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsL8ZBDBNts Russian is very often pronounced just like it is spelled. You just need to know a few simple rules, and on which vowel the stress is.

The New Penguin Russian Course that covers a lot of stuff: grammar, words, idioms, phrases, culture, pronunciation, etc. and is intended for beginners. I'd say start with that and pronunciation, as I said above.

But maybe skip some words from the book that you don't think you will need, and learn words that are more useful to you instead.

The channel #russkij on FreeNode is helpful. If you don't know how to access it, this is probably the easiest way.

You may want to check out this tool I made for reading.

You probably want to use Anki for flashcards. Flashcards are very useful.

You might like this youtube channel. https://www.youtube.com/user/vanilla167333/videos?view=0&shelf_id=0&sort=dd

Finally, try to focus on content that is relevant to you, i.e. reading about things that you like, talking about things that interest you, etc.

Duolingo is a nice supplement. I've been going through the Russian course for over 3 months now, and I find that it's helpful in getting a feel for the language. It also teaches you vocabulary without the tedium of flashcards, which is a major plus. Don't rely on it for grammar, though.

Recently, I also received Sputnik as a gift, plus the accompanying workbook. So far, I find it to be concise and accessible, and the workbook exercises are great at solidifying the concepts you learn in each lesson. Aesthetically-speaking, the illustrations are extremely cute. The author of the textbook, Julia Rochtchina, also runs the site Russian for Everyone, which has tons of useful materials.

Finally, I'll also suggest the YouTube channel Real Russian Club, which is operated by a Russian language teacher. The teacher takes things very slowly and is quite thorough, so if that's your thing, maybe this can also be of use.

Удачи!

http://www.russianforeveryone.com/

Not the most visually attractive site, but pretty good in regard of its contents and explanations.

They say this book is also pretty good: https://www.amazon.es/New-Penguin-Russian-Course-Beginners/dp/0140120416

It becomes easier once you get used to the concept of cases & case endings in general. Basically, this concept forces you to think grammatically -- which is actually a good thing. In English, we don't really think this way except when using certain pronouns (me, him, her, etc.). In English, we could say "Who are you talking to?" and sound perfectly normal, while the more proper "To whom are you talking?" sounds stilted and weird.

I studied Latin for many years (two decades, in fact) before picking up Russian; so the concept was already familiar. That was a huge help.

Anyway, stick with it, man. Repetition and drills will get you there; just be patient with yourself. At some point, this concept will "click", and you'll find yourself looking back over earlier exercises and breezing right through them. It looks like you're using the New Penguin Russian Course (like I am); so whatever answers don't appear in the key at the back of the book can be posed here in this helpful forum. ))

If you use the website version of Duolingo and click on the Lightbulb icon for each section, it breaks down grammar rules used in that course. The online forums also has a lot of helpful explanations for each answer.

Unfortunately the App version completely disregards this feature and isn't included for some reason. Duolingo and Memrise combined should get you pretty good understanding, maybe up to a B1 level. You can also pick up some grammar books such as the New Penguin Russian Course that goes over almost all grammar rules and is pretty easy to read compared to other grammar books.

A lot of learning is through practice and using additional resources to reinforce how to think in another language. Check out some YouTube channels or movies that are in Russian and try to follow along. Tarkovsky films are really good for this as they're really slow pacing, Stalker and Solaris being some of my favorite movies of all time.

There are a number of dual english-russian books out there:

Amazon link

I have specifically used this one. It might be a good way to review the same text from two different perspectives and then talk about it together. As a bonus you could hash out the differences in how a sentence gets translated one way or the other.

Alternatively I would suggest modern fairy tales and childrens books. Simple stories, simple grammar. Easy to glom onto. There are three or four Dr Seuss books that have been translated into Russian. Likewise, she could send you russian books for children. I found kids books really helpful. They are, after all, designed to help build grammar.

I used this book - it comes link to a free website with speaking exercises.

https://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Russian-Interactive-Online-Workbook/dp/0781812518/ref=sr_1_27?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502127954&sr=1-27&keywords=learn+russian

But most importantly if I have a question and need help from a native speaker I use this app called "HelloTalk". It connects you with a Russian speaker and they'll gladly help you (most of the time you help them with English and they'll help you with Russian). The only problem with the app is the time difference, which can't be helped. Like you, I work a full time job and I get most of my answers back in the late PM or early AM unless it's the weekends.

https://www.fluentin3months.com/hellotalk-review/

Honestly I don't think Duolingo is super great for Russian (except for maybe vocab), because Russian is pretty grammar heavy (the case system, etc) so I would recommend more of a formal study. Could you get/download a textbook and work through it? A lot of them have online websites for the pronunciation/listening aspects. I haven't used this textbook (I used Golosa for my 1st year) but I've used their 2nd and 3rd textbooks and they're pretty solid ( https://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Russian-Interactive-Online-Workbook/dp/0781812518/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=beginner+russian&qid=1556240078&s=gateway&sr=8-2 ) They also have a website with answer keys and audio (free w/o code): http://www.russian.ucla.edu/beginnersrussian/

I think a lot of the best resources can be found online for free but if you really want to buy her something physical as a gift the new penguin Russian course seems to get a lot of good reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Penguin-Russian-Course/dp/0140120416

i purchased this book and find it a very accessible and rewarding process of reading and learning :-)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1473683491/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile
it comes with recommendations on how to best approach the texts etc :)

Dual text or dual language, most likely. Here is an example, a good collection of short stories I read for a class last year. Wonderful stuff. Good luck!

It would help to know which country you live in to find a site for you. I found several offers on amazon.com though, as well as amazon.de:

http://www.amazon.com/Metro-2033-Dmitry-Glukhovsky/dp/5170785070/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1409645218&sr=8-6&keywords=metro+2033+russian

http://www.amazon.com/Metro-2033-Glukhovskii-Dmitrii/dp/5903396038/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1409645218&sr=8-9&keywords=metro+2033+russian

http://www.amazon.com/Metro-2033-in-Russian/dp/5170596782/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1409645218&sr=8-5&keywords=metro+2033+russian

Some imports are quite pricey at $68, but some others sell it starting from $19.

Harry Potter:
http://www.amazon.com/Potter-filosofskii-Philosophers-Russian-Edition/dp/535300308X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409645388&sr=8-1&keywords=harry+potter+russian

Hint and fun fact: In Russian there's no H like we know it, so when translating names it's often/sometimes replaced with G. So the book it russian is actually called Garri Potter. Maybe that helps with your search.

EDIT: Formatting

The absolute essentials for learning conversational Russian fast, in my opinion are:

1. Get an audiocourse to help you get used to pronunciation and grammar (I prefer Michel Thomas but others prefer Pimsleur
   
   
2. Get a Russian frequency dictionary. This one has stress marks, romanization and Russian to English example sentences. Since the most common 2000 words make up like 90% of all vocabulary you'll use on a daily basis, I think these are really crucial.
   
   Good luck!

I have been using the Kudyma/Miller Beginner’s Russian (https://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Russian-Interactive-Online-Workbook/dp/0781812518) book in my college Russian courses and honestly , it works great for me. Explains grammar well and provides tons of useful exercises in the book, and in conjunction with the online resource. Plus, it’s not too pricey.

I'd say start with the alphabet. Familiarize yourself with the letters and the sounds they make. If you need a textbook, Sputnik is really awesome. I have part one and two, as well as the workbooks! It's the best.

It's definitely better than Rosetta Stone.

I think paired with something to really cement the grammar will be pretty effective.

Use it with the New Penguin book. (only $15 on Amazon)
https://www.amazon.com/New-Penguin-Russian-Course-Beginners/dp/0140120416

I would strongly recommend this, which is the Russian course developed at UCLA. I've used this as a solo learner and it's been great.

Pros:

-All the listening and video material is available online on their website, easy to access for solo learners.

-All of the answers are also available on the website, not in some teacher's course guide.

-It's modern

-It's thorough

Cons: can't find a PDF anywhere, paper version only.

Two things helped me : first, a cross-referenced grid, like a multiplication table, with genders on the x-axis and endings for soft/hard adjectives on the y-axis

the second thing was to go back and study my native grammar, in this case english, in a book called 'english grammar students of russian'

https://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Students-Russian-Learning/dp/0934034214

good luck - it is a human language after all, and you are human - you are capable of doing this

This is one of the greatest books for a beginner to start learning Russian with. It's easy to understand and well organized. Starts from ground zero, so you don't need to worry about not knowing where to start.

https://www.amazon.com/New-Penguin-Russian-Course-Beginners/dp/0140120416

My local library's website has the Mango Language program for free, and it has very easy to use and what I can only assume is accurate Russian phrases that would be used, so maybe that option is available for you to check out. http://www.russianlessons.net/ this is another website that proved mighty useful. While the book I have been using for my Russian studies, is the Penguin Russian Course: http://www.amazon.com/New-Penguin-Russian-Course-Beginners/dp/0140120416/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372041401&sr=1-1&keywords=penguin+russian

It gets easier to memorise them, yes—but you still have to get through them all. They don't need to be active, but its pretty important for understanding to know as many words as possible. Try going through this book— https://www.amazon.com/Frequency-Dictionary-Russian-vocabulary-Dictionaries/dp/0415521424

It's modern and the sample size is large.

I learned about 10,000 in a year and a half. But I wouldn't advise that. Just work through that book for a year or two and also follow some grammar books, etc.

This link is just МЕТРО 2033, and this one is the Trilogy. I think any source of Russian reading will improve language learning, but having at least a beginner understanding will help more so you can at least get an idea of what is going on. And then you can learn new words to expand the details.

https://www.amazon.com/New-Penguin-Russian-Course-Beginners/dp/0140120416/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537562572&sr=8-1&keywords=russian+penguin

This was my personal favorite as a beginner book, but I used this book along with other beginner texts. It's definitely worth checking out though.

The one we used which is like a review of golosa but also with intermediate was В Пути (V Puti: Russian Grammar in Context, 2nd Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0130282804/ref=cm_sw_r_api_8rJrybJQDHW9Y). And the for advanced a common one that they use at a lot of advanced programs is this one:
Russian: From Intermediate to Advanced https://www.amazon.com/dp/0415712270/ref=cm_sw_r_api_stJrybCDW7JE

You could try something like this

http://www.memrise.com/course/86069/intermediate-russian-bookbox-stories/

Also Amazon have a book with stories where the left page is in Russian and the right in English. I prefer Duolingo at the beginner stage, but you sound more disciplined than me so maybe it works better for you

Edit: Amazon link for the book http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0486262448/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1463390139

I cannot recommend this book enough:
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Penguin-Russian-Course/dp/0140120416/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409690632&sr=8-1&keywords=penguin+russian+course

It has a very good vocab base, explains things clearly, has an entire chapter on pronunciation, includes cultural tidbits and there are stories that you progressively work up to (they are folk tales that are commonly known, similar to the 3 little pigs in the US, etc.)

And it's $11. You can find PDFs as well online.

I'm in the same boat as you. I've been working through The New Penguin Russian Course and have found it very helpful and easy to follow.

The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners (Penguin Handbooks) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140120416/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_MvtaCbFKB31BV

I got this book for Christmas (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1473683491/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile) which I’ve been working my way through. I’ve found it really useful !
It’s meant for CEFR A2/B1, but even for complete beginners it should give a good reference for how grammar is used

Especially if you're working on your own, Nicholas Brown's New Penguin Russian Course – clear, well thought-out, inexpensive. I usually recommend using that as a primary resource for structure, with Duolingo as a supplement.

No single letter in Russian alphabet has single sound correspondence and most sounds correspond to more than one letter.

Typical sounds corresponding to letters are described here. Phonemes are way more tricky since there are no dictionaries with adequate descriptions of Russian morphemics and real pronunciations.

Here is a tool which gives you rough transcriptions in IPA, but it is far from ideal. The most adequate book in English which describes Russian pronunciation is Jones and Ward.

well... according to my textbook, that would be called "partitive genitive".
Here's what the Russian Penguin Course has to say about this:

A minor use of the genitive case is to express the meaning 'some' with food and drink nouns:

дайте мне воды/вина/хлеба

дайте хлеб corresponds to "Give me bread" or "Give me the bread"

A small number of nouns have a special у/ю ending for the partitive. You may hear the question:

вы хотите чаю?
чаю with a special genitive ending ю (an alternative to -я is the pratitive genitve of чай. Other nouns which may have this -у ending are сахар, мёд, сыр

As an alternative gift idea, how about get her a movie? One of my favorites is Стиляги (Hipsters). Link: http://www.amazon.com/Hipsters-Anton-Shagin/dp/B00AIANILK

You might try English Grammar for Students of Russian. It's a good resource to help with the basics of the language, if that's what you need.

I had just finished Grad school, and I didn't have a job and was living at home—that helps :)

But basically I would wake up, repeat words I learned the previous day, then learn another 30 or so (I have a decent memory). Then I would go over a grammar topic for a few hours then try to watch something. The only thing I didn't do was talk much (I wrote lots) because I had no money for a teacher and don't like talking to random people.

But to be honest I just become obsessed with Russian and it became my job (for the first year, anyway. After that I had different strategies as I started working etc). Sometimes I spent 12 or more hours on it a day.

I used this book for the vocal—https://www.amazon.com/Russian-Learners-Dictionary-Words-Frequency/dp/0415137926

This book helped me the most to understand grammar.



And this is the best Russian-English dictionary I've found.

You'll want to carry this around with you to learn the case endings.

Short Stories in Russian for... https://www.amazon.com/dp/1473683491?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I have been enjoying that book, as well as the penguin course.

I also got ABBYY Lingvo (Android, paid), it's a great dictionary that has verb conjugations, noun declensions, and includes word stress.

But the most important thing is to practice. I'm a beginner, but I'd be up for practising (I'm on the US West coast if it matters).

I bought this book, which you might find interesting:

Russian Learners Dictionary

The words are listed by their commonness, so you will learn the most common words first.

It's a little annoying because a lot of really obvious words are in there in the beginning (Я, Ты, и, или, etc) but then it starts to get interesting.

If you can get through that whole book, you will have a vocabulary of 10,000 of the most common Russian words.

I own this book and it has gotten good reviews on Amazon. I think this is what you are looking for.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0486262448/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1459022403&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=russian+stories&dpPl=1&dpID=5199t8ch4ZL&ref=plSrch

The New Penguin Russian Course

Super Easy Russian

This series of book I've heard is good for English speakers understanding foreign grammar for the first time:

https://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Students-Russian-Learning/dp/0934034214

These 2 books are good:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0781812518/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1YPLQS5TKC7HZ&coliid=I2ZM2MU49FFEQ0

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0415712270/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1YPLQS5TKC7HZ&coliid=IZTY43RILT957

And then it's utilizing your online resources, finding people to practice with, etc. But grammar is you go-go. Without it, it'll be very hard.

This is the one that gets recommended every time this question is asked: https://www.amazon.com/New-Penguin-Russian-Course-Beginners/dp/0140120416

I don't think it's in the Books link yet.

I used this book when learning:
http://www.amazon.com/Russian-Stories-Dual-Language-English-Edition/dp/0486262448/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1374777073&sr=8-2&keywords=dual+russian+reader

It's got good stories and has stress marks.

This book is incredible for learning Russian grammar and some vocab.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0140120416/ref=ya_aw_od_pi?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here is the desktop version of your link

Here is the mobile version of your link

> Beginners Russian

This one?

Hey, this is the book

https://www.amazon.com/Russian-Learners-Dictionary-Words-Frequency/dp/0415137926

Find books written for children or foreigners. One is here: https://www.amazon.com/Russian-Stories-Dual-Language-Book-English/dp/0486262448.

Чехов считается одним из лучших писателей рассказов в русской литературе. И, что плюс, его можно взять в двуязычном издании. Еще двуязычный сборник. И еще

Try this , it has Russian stories printed on English on one page and in Russian on the other

https://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Russian-Interactive-Online-Workbook/dp/0781812518/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=russian+books+for+beginners&qid=1573183106&sprefix=russian+books+&sr=8-2

Thanks. Damn it. I read somewhere that the Russian language has not changed that much in the last few hundred years, so I figured Dostoevsky would be fine...does that mean that Chekhov, Tolstoy, Bunin, Gogol are all no-gos too? i.e. the authors in this highly rated book

Thing is, I really prefer to learn from online parallel texts, and so far at least, I can only find a few instances which don't use what you guys are telling me is archaic Russian. Mostly short stories. I'll switch to them now, but once I run out of those I'll be going back to Crime & Punishment. I'm only learning as a hobbie anyway, as an offshoot from my interest in opera singing (I like Russian romance/sang poetry & operas, which I believe are mostly archaic language anyway) so fuck it!

[Would you say learning from a parallel text version of the bible is bad too?]
(https://www.wordproject.org/bibles/parallel/e/russian.htm)

It seems mad to me though that knowing the vocabulary of, and being exposed to the grammar of a few chapters of Crime & Punishment will do NOTHING for my Russian language skills...oh well...