If I wanted to learn Russian, what would the best program be to use?
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 at
6:04 am
After much research, I'm still stuck between Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, and any other third option I've yet to discover. Please! Give me an honest review of any way you have learned Russian.
Home | Contact | About | Privacy Policy | Sitemap
Tagged with: rosetta stone
Filed under: Russian Language
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
Let me preface my answer by saying this: there is not one method out there that will make you fluent on its own. Hopefully no one is naive enough to believe those kind of marketing statements. Regarding Rosetta, most people have no idea what they are actually buying. Yes, Rosetta has an amazing marketing machine yet most people know little about the product. Rosetta doesn’t teach you the language, it teaches vocabulary. There’s a big distinction. Rosetta is certainly not the method I would recommend to a beginner that hopes to SPEAK the language (I assume that’s your goal?). Rosetta Stone uses a flashcard method and like all other flashcard methods, it helps expand your vocabulary base but it will not teach you the core of the language or conversational skills. Knowing many words doesn’t mean you can speak the language. I usually recommend Pimsleur to beginner students. If you want a method that focuses on conversational skills, Pimsleur is the reference imo. It’s a real confidence builder, which is essential for new students. You will learn to train your ear to understand natives (an essential part of early learning often overlooked by other methods), develop very good pronunciation and acquire the core structures and grammar of your new language (exactly what RS fails to do.) It’s also almost half the price of RS (check Amazon or even iTunes Store.) Once you are finished with Pimsleur, that’s when a vocabulary builder method such as Rosetta (there are cheaper alternatives though like BYKI, Babble, etc.) has its place. Daily conversation in the language after completing Pimsleur is really ideal. Good luck.
Rosetta Stone
Go with Rosetta Stone…
Supposedly rosseta stone is the BEST out there. (What the hell is pimsleur??)
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100402230837AAkJZ0a
Hands down- Rosetta Stone. I’ve found it to be the most natural way to learn, and the best way to actually ‘get’ the accent short of immersion.
Rosetta Stone
I know the first guy already said it, but I figured I would say it too, and give the first answer props
OK…just a quick question before i give you advice….Do you live in the states???…if yes…Punch yourself in the wiener CUX you live in the states why would you want to learn Russian???…Besides no one even likes Russia….The girls over ther don’t shave…or even better i can teach you Russian Roulette with five bullets instead of one….
Well, I have used the Russian version for Rosetta Stone and I thought it sucked. Russian is too grammatically complicated to be taught through "Immersion" by Rosetta Stone. It does not explain cases, gender, noun declension, etc. You will not be able to form sentences outside of the ones it gives you. It will leave you far from fluent by the time you finish with it. Others may praise it but for the Russian version I did not get much benefit from the program at all. Rosetta stone may work better for other languages but I am just giving my opinion based on the one I used.
If you "only" used Rosetta Stone and I asked you what is the word pencil is in the instrumental singular case you would have no idea what the answer would be. Карандаш is the word for pencil and for the instrumental singular it would be Карандашом. Rosetta stone does not teach the case system (there are 6 cases) or the declension. Also the prepsitions govern certain cases and the noun following it must be put into the correct case and Rosetta Stone also does not teach you that.
I would not recommend using the Russian version of Rosetta stone but this is only my opinion. If it is used other books that will explain the grammar will definently be needed.
I am currently using Rosetta Stone. I also watch Чебурашка on youtube, which is a Russian cartoon for children from the sixties. I listen to Glukoza, Umaturman, Vitas, Bratya Grim, Dima Bilan, Ruslana, Leonid Agutin,Timati, and Julia Savicheva.
Also, There is a Twitter-er called MyRussianWords. That’s where you can learn a Russian phrase or word every day. It’s very good so far.