Russian For Dummies (For Dummies
(Language & Literature)) by Nina
Wieda
Strong Point Of This Book? It Doesn't Use The Cyrillic Alphabet !
Russian is spoken by nearly 450 million people, and demand for Russian-
speakers is growing. This introductory course includes an audio CD with
practice dialogues-just the ticket for readers who need basic Russian for
business, school, or travel. Serafima Gettys, PhD (Newark, CA), is
Coordinator of the Foreign Language Program at Lewis University.
Andrew Kaufman, PhD (Charlottesville, VA), is a Visiting Assistant
Professor at the University of Virginia. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other
supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.
Personal Review: Russian For Dummies (For Dummies
(Language & Literature)) by Nina Wieda
Anybody who knows anything about language learning - particularly a
language that doesn't use the Latin script - knows that the LEAST
important aspect of a language *at the beginner's level* is learning the
script. I can point to myself as an example.
I first learned Egyptian colloquial Arabic until I was quite good at it. I could
(and can) even swear in it. But I couldn't read a word. So what? I
learned my native English the same way. Everybody does. A script in any
language is sort of the LAST thing that a language learner needs to know.
Once you are fluent in a language, the learning of the script and the
reading of it comes almost automatically, and is usually learned in school.
Therefore, it astonishes me that so many comments here berate this book
because it doesn't use the Cyrillic alphabet. In fact, THIS is the reason I
bought the book - precisely because it avoids having to learn this facet of
the language. I want to learn how to speak Russian first....I'll worry about
reading it later.
There are dozens and dozens of books teaching Russian that use the
script. - and that is why I haven't bought them.
Language learning involves 2 general categories with 4 aspects, to wit:
SPEAKING and LISTENING which are complementary to each other and
READING and WRITING which also complement each other. They are
very distinct language skills and many - no - MOST learners, especially
those over the age of 18 or so are seldom good at all 4 skills.
My intent in learning a language on my own through CDs, tapes and so on,
is to be able to COMMUNICATE in that language. For example, if I'm on a
plane (this has really happened to me) and I want to tell the fat obnoxious
Russian lady sitting next to me to close her mouth when she chews, I want
to be able to tell her that in no uncertain terms in Russian.....I don't have to
know how to "read" to be able to do that.
On the other hand, if I want to read "Notes From the Underground" in the
original Russian, or converse about the Palestinian issue with a Russian
intellectual, well, at that point, I'm going to want to know how to READ
Russian and have spend several years in the Soviet Union (ooops, I mean
Russia).
But at this level, at OUR level (that's you and me), all we can basically do
is get a good basic pronunciation, be able to have elementary, beginning
conversations about daily subjects and that's all.
Anything above that would require years and years of studying in a formal
setting (such as a university) or actually living in a Russian speaking
country. This is true in ANY language, not just Russian. (I can't remember
the times I've heard "Professors" of, say, Spanish actually speak
Spanish....when they did, it was so mangled it was truly unintelligible.)
My bottom line: read my title again: The strong point of this book is that it
doesn't use the Russian alphabet. In fact, if I were the editor, I would rip
out the one page it does list it in for future editions.
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