Basic Russian Book 1, Student Edition

I have enjoyed the systematic and thorough approach of this author. Although written during the Soviet era, I enjoy it and I am progressing in my grasp of the language.

Misha Fayer was ahead of the times when he authored BASIC RUSSIAN BOOK ONE. This text is the gold standard for all new students of the russian language. The cyrillic alphabet is presented in an easy to understand and master format. The grammar is introduced slowly but with perfect accuracy. I am a graduate student working towards my Ph.D. in Russian and slavic languages and literature.BASIC RUSSIAN was my first textbook of Russian and I know that it gave me the solid foundation to continue my study of the Russian language at the advanced level. If you want to learn Russian this is the book for you! This text has been used in thousands of Russian language classrooms in the USA both at the college and high school level.The text is well suited for independent study of Russian as no prior knowledge of Russian is expected or required. You can call the National Textbook Company(address and telephone number is in book) to purchase audio tapes of all the readings and vocabulary in the entire text. This is a must for the self study student of Russian. This fine text covers all declensions of the noun, pronoun, adjectives and adverbs, all verb tenses and unlike other basic Russian texts it teaches the two aspects of the Russian verb. To study Russian and not study the two aspects of the verb is comparable to studying english without learning any words ending in "ing". This text is the best for mastering basic Russian grammar and vocabulary. I use this text in my tutorial classes for parents planning to adopt Russian children, as this text presents Russian in a clear and none technical manner. Each and every point of grammar is very well explained in plain language.After finishing this text, one is able to begin to converse, read, write and understand spoken Russian. It is however a text of BASIC Russian so don't expect fluency after completing this text. DO EXPECT to read, write, speak, and understand basic everyday conversation in Russian. This is not a "tourist" type book of phrases. It is a textbook of Russian and it takes a great deal of time and effort but the results are more than worth it!!I highly recommend this book to anyone with a serious desire to learn Russian and correct grammar.

This book has reasonable approximations of Russian pronunciation, and lots of grammar, but some of the words are slightly dated. Most of the names of cities are the USSR versions, not the Russian (i.e. Leningrad, not St. Petersburg). Otherwise, though, the examples are good and the exercises can be interesting. I'd recommend it for basic vocabulary and grammar, and a good Russian-English dictionary for more modern words.