Pimsleur Russian

The Russian Language

Russian (russkiy yazyk) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of three (or, according to some authorities, four) living members of the East Slavic languages, the others being Belarusian and Ukrainian (and possibly Rusyn, often considered a dialect of Ukrainian). It is also spoken by the countries of the Russophone.

Written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century onwards. Today Russian is widely used outside Russia. Over a quarter of the world's scientific literature is published in Russian. It is also applied as a means of coding and storage of universal knowledge — 60–70% of all world information is published in English and Russian languages. Russian also is a necessary accessory of world communications systems (broadcasts, air- and space communication, etc). Due to the status of the Soviet Union as a superpower, Russian had great political importance in the 20th century. The Russian language is one of the official languages of the United Nations.

Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language. Another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels, which is somewhat similar to that of English. Stress in Russian is neither indicated orthographically, nor governed by phonological rules.

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What customers say about the Pimsleur RUSSIAN audios:

Pimsleur's audiotapes are for those people whose preferred cognitive style is auditory. This is how we learn language as a child--by listening and speaking.

I have learned other languages in school--French, Spanish, Hebrew--and the teachers bog the students down with the "rules" of the language. Instead, in these audiotapes, the rules emerge naturally through the repetition of different phrases with shared grammatical patterns.

I have learned so much so quickly. Now, if I want to learn more grammar or the alphabet, I already have a basic grasp of the spoken language to refer rather than learning about the rules abstractly. So, if you want to learn how to speak conversational Russian quickly, these tapes are a great place to start!! -- Malia, Boston, MA, USA

I am a high school student who decided last year to learn Russian, and no program has come even remotely close to Pimsleur, when it comes to helping me in real life situations, and practical vocabulary. I had completed a few beginner's written courses, and dabbled in the living language complete course, but when school started up again, I found myself without adequate time to effectively live up to a time commitment on the all-consuming and grammar intensive written courses. After this study, I found myself able to read simple passages, and string together sentences, but I lacked the seamless spoken ability that I wanted.

It was around this time that I tried Pimsleur for an introduction to Japanese, and fell in love with it. I immediately got the Russian level 2 course, and now I don't have to sit at my desk after my homework is done, and can just sit in my armchair, and pop in a tape. This course works completely different than any drill, and is so pervasive and effective that I am finding myself having trouble with oral practice in spanish class, becuase of the instinct to speak Russian that this course provides so well.

Since then it has been a godsend, helping me actually put to use the vocabulary I had learned, and taking a whole new approach to grammar. I am now able to have real, meaningful conversations with Russian speaking teachers and kids at my school, and I would recommend Pimsleur whole-heartedly to anyone who is serious about attaining real and useful spoken language skills, but is very busy. -- James P. Evans, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

Pimsleur Russian

Russian Audio Books

The Russian Language