The Russian audio course that jumps right into learning the language with expertly designed structure of the lessons and their thematic organization to benefit English Speakers. Engaging, attention grabbing, infused with cultural content to deliver immediate results for those who needs to master Russian fast. The first CD in the set includes essentials such as greetings, travelling, numbers, food and drink, shopping, getting around town, business meetings, dating and telling the time. Followed by more detailed explanation of Russian phonetics, Russian names, birthdays, taking about planet Earth, flying on a Russian space ship, and cultural content with fragments from Chekhov stories, Gagarin's speech, and Shakespeare in Russian, included in second CD . No special equipment or software required. Audio CD can be used with PC, lap-top, home stereo or transferred to ipod, cell phone or MP3 player. Qualifications available from various examination boards outside Russia include EdExcel in the UK offering GCSE and A-Level exams in Russian Language and expects students to learn not only the language itself, but also about the culture and traditions of the native countries. Easy Russian will be most valuable in achieving such objectives. It includes rich cultural content and insights into Russian literature, humour and etiquette. Volumes 1 and 2 aim primarily to develop speaking, listening and understanding skills. In Volume 2 students are also given the opportunity to download free PDF materials for each unit in order to improve their understanding of written Russian. These free text materials can be downloaded from www.easyrussian.co.uk. Future releases of Easy Russian materials will make it a complete and comprehensive resource for students wishing to develop fluency in Russian language. Easy Russian audio materials offer some tuition, phonetics, grammar and native Russian audio content. It will be possible for adults and younger students to achieve good understanding of Russian language outside classroom through Easy Russian. Volume 2 in particular provides PDF downloads which can be used by tutors in classrooms. Additional feature of Volume 2 which will be useful for teachers running Russian language classes is inclusion of Chekhov, Gagarin and Shakespeare texts both inside longer modules and separately at the end of the CD, so that each text could be played back easily without English tutorial.
| ISBN | 1907832432 | | DEWEY edition | DC22 | | ISBN13 | 9781907832437
(What's this?) | | Volumes | 2 Audio CDs | | Publisher | Max Bollinger | | Weight (grammes) | 130 | | Imprint | Max Bollinger | | Language | English & Russian | | Format | Audio CD | | Published in | London | | Publication date | 27 Sep 2010 | | Height (mm) | 190 | | Playing time (mins) | 120 | | Width (mm) | 135 | | Other artists | Max Bollinger | | Spine width (mm) | 15 | | DEWEY | 491.783421 | | Academic level | Professional / Scholarly |
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Vol.1 CD 1 01 GREETINGS, WELCOME; 02 ALPHABET, SPELLING; 03 SPEAKING AND UNDERSTANDING; 04 TRAVELLING BY TAXI; 05 THEATRE TICKETS, NUMBERS 1-10; 06 HOTEL, CONCIERGE; 07 ORDERING FOOD AND DRINK; 08 SHOPPING, POSSESSIONS; 09 DIRECTIONS, GETTING AROUND TOWN; 10 SUGGESTIONS, NUMBERS 10-100; 11 TELLING THE TIME; 12 MAKING PHONE CALLS; 13 APPOINTMENTS, WEEKS, MONTHS; 14 BUSINESS MEETINGS; 15 DATING SOMEONE; 16 MYSTERIOUS RUSSIAN SOUL; 17 SAYING GOODBYE; Vol.2 CD 2 01 INTRODUCTION; 02 UNDERSTANDING RUSSIAN NAMES; 03 LEARNING RUSSIAN LIKE A NATIVE; 04 TO BE OR NOT TO BE IN RUSSIAN; 05 SPEAK RUSSIAN LIKE A RUSSIAN; 06 TALKING ABOUT OUR PLANET; 07 READING CHEKHOV IN ORIGINAL; 08 GAGARIN ABOUT PLANET EARTH; 09 GAGARIN ABOUT LANDING; 10 SHAKESPEARE IN RUSSIAN; 11 CHEKHOV IN RUSSIAN;
These two volumes of audio training are really great. Audio language courses can be formulaic, highly artificial and dull to work through, but these have flair and real interest. Producer Max Bollinger was born and grew up in Russia and he speaks the Russian at a native speaker's pace - that is fast to a learner's ears! But he then goes back and explains each phrase and the listener becomes accustomed to the real-life speed of spoken Russian. There are no chunks of grammar which would merely confuse (although essential concepts are explained as they arise), but there is a very useful and clear section on voiced and unvoiced consonants which are crucial to spoken Russian. But what gives this course its particular flavour and interest is the inclusion of brief extracts - from Gagarin praising the beauty of our planet; Hamlet's 'to be or not to be speech' in translation; lines from a Chekhov story and the Russian Flying Dragon. These make the listener enter both the world of real, not text-book, Russian and the Russian mind. Additionally, much of printed material from audio course are downloadable, clear and attractive, in Cyrillic and English for closer study. Topics are real-life and relevant - such as basic dating, business meetings ordering food and drink. The expressions and vocabulary given are all coherent and interlinked so that they make sense and are far more easily remembered than discreet items. For example, by giving a base verb and adding various prefixes, Bollinger illustrates how meanings are extended and changed. The English language doesn't work in the same way and this really helps in the understanding of the Russian language, a language which is daunting to English speakers. I liked the section of the Russian soul - dysha - which illustrates how the deep-seated importance to Russians of the concept of the soul permeates even their language, so that for example, if you're unwell or unhappy you can say literally 'My soul is unwell'. Rachel Redford (UK)
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