The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners (Penguin Handbooks)

My copy of the New Penguin Russian Course is rather battered after 18 months of near constant use. It's been to Russia with me where it sat by my side in Russian classes. I still use it for reference purposes. The reason for this is that Nicholas J. Brown explains Russian grammar better than any other author I have come across.

The course is designed for the complete beginner. It starts with the Russian alphabet and covers all the major points of grammar. Quickly I realised that learning the alphabet is one of the easier tasks, certainly compared with learning the cases and the verbs. Brown leads the reader gradually through the complexities and provides lots of exercises with answers. Doing these exercises is the key to progress. With reasonably hard work it took me about three months to finish the book. At which point I could, with some difficulty, read a short story by Chekhov.

It's important to realise what this book does not do. It does not teach you to speak or listen. Although Brown tries to give the reader an idea of how Russian sounds, there is no substitute for actually hearing these sounds and trying to reproduce them. To gain any sort of fluency it is necessary to practice speaking and listening. Fortunately, although it can at times be quite difficult to pronounce Russian, the pronunciation, unlike English, is fairly regular and predictable. What Brown's book does really well is to provide the learner with a solid foundation, for without a good grasp of Russian grammar you will not be able to hold even a simple conversation no matter how good your pronunciation. I really enjoyed working through this course. Brown's book makes learning difficult points of grammar interesting and satisfying. It made me want to continue my studies rather than give up baffled. I still have a long way to go before I can claim to speak Russian well, but I will always be grateful to this book for providing me with such a good start.

This is a great book and I believe that with this anyone with a serious interest in the language can learn it, at least learn to read and write it (speaking/listening would require presence of Russian speakers, either being in Russia or attending a language course). Also, the great thing about this book is that it covers the material (which contains phrases, vocabulary and grammar) in chunks that you can cover in a limited space of time. Therefore it makes it very practical in daily life if you have to fit it into a busy schedule (work/school/whatever). A good value buy!

I am a beginning Russian student who has been studying Russian independently, and I have found this book to be an excellent resource. I have not relied exclusively on written coursebooks, but also made use of Pimsleur's audio program and Declan's Flashcards on the computer to help with pronunciation and spelling. This book is invaluable for learning basic principles, and as an aid in understanding the fundamentals of the language....I am not by any means finished with it...I do highly recommend the book to anyone who is studying Russian. I feel confident that I will continue to progress with the study aids available...and this one is definitely one of the best!

I am trying to teach myself Russian and this book leads the way easily. The practices make the learning easier to learn as well. Well worth it!

This book is essential for learning Russian in a Russian-speaking country. I've had several (4-5) private Russian tutors and they all teach in the same rigid Soviet-style method using some ancient Soviet-era textbook. This generally includes learning 1-2 simple grammar items per lesson and then doing written and oral grammar drills over and over. You'll never be functional like this, plus it takes forever. You have to speed up the process by showing them you are a quick learner. You can accomplish that with this book, supplementing with words and phrases you pick up in everyday life.

I find that the best thing to do is learn the grammar yourself using the book and then find a tutor (this is the hard part!) who is flexible enough to sit and try to have conversations with you using the grammar you have learned from this book and who can teach you extra non-book things that you need in order to function in your day-to-day life.