Russian Made Simple

All about language programs, courses, websites and other learning resources
peterbeischmidt
Yellow Belt
Posts: 62
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 8:25 am
x 105

Russian Made Simple

Postby peterbeischmidt » Tue Nov 17, 2015 2:44 pm

I recently watched some of Alexander Arguelles video reviews, in particular the one on the "Made Simple" series of textbooks, which I had previously never heard of. I was especially intrigued by his discussion of their Russian textbook, and immediately ordered a cheap copy online. In the video review Arguelles bemoans the absence of audio recordings, but in my copy I find the following remarks:

Two excellent cassette recordings have been produced, based on all the conversation and dialogue passages which appear at the beginning of each chapter in this book. They are highly recommended for all who want to hear everyday spoken Russian at its best.

These Made Simple recordings, by experienced Russian linguists, bring all the conversation passages to life, providing not only an enjoyable listening experience but an invaluable expert guide to help you speak Russian with self-confidence and conviction.

Whilst you listen you learn, naturally and in your own time, at your own pace--and remember you can replay the sections you want over and over again until you feel confident to progress to the next passage.


Near the bottom of the page, the address of a company called Students Recordings Limited is given, along with the instruction to send one's "order and remittance" to them. Unfortunately, it seems that Students Recordings Limited is defunct and no longer accepts orders, which is sorely disappointing given that the first edition was published only half a century ago. Would anybody be able to help out?
3 x

User avatar
n_j_f
Orange Belt
Posts: 120
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2015 11:41 am
Location: Sydney, Australia
Languages: English (N)

Studying:
French (B1), German (A2)

Up Next:
Persian, Russian

Flirting With:
Sanskrit

On the back-burner:
Turkish, Irish

Bucket List:
Spanish, Norwegian, Swedish, Hindi/Urdu, Ancient Greek, Latin, Old Church Slavonic, Modern Greek, Tamil, Sinhalese, Malayalam, Welsh, Arabic
x 170

Re: Russian Made Simple

Postby n_j_f » Fri Nov 20, 2015 12:27 pm

peterbeischmidt wrote:I recently watched some of Alexander Arguelles video reviews, in particular the one on the "Made Simple" series of textbooks, which I had previously never heard of. I was especially intrigued by his discussion of their Russian textbook, and immediately ordered a cheap copy online. In the video review Arguelles bemoans the absence of audio recordings, but in my copy I find the following remarks:

Two excellent cassette recordings have been produced, based on all the conversation and dialogue passages which appear at the beginning of each chapter in this book. They are highly recommended for all who want to hear everyday spoken Russian at its best.

These Made Simple recordings, by experienced Russian linguists, bring all the conversation passages to life, providing not only an enjoyable listening experience but an invaluable expert guide to help you speak Russian with self-confidence and conviction.

Whilst you listen you learn, naturally and in your own time, at your own pace--and remember you can replay the sections you want over and over again until you feel confident to progress to the next passage.


Near the bottom of the page, the address of a company called Students Recordings Limited is given, along with the instruction to send one's "order and remittance" to them. Unfortunately, it seems that Students Recordings Limited is defunct and no longer accepts orders, which is sorely disappointing given that the first edition was published only half a century ago. Would anybody be able to help out?


I can't help with the audio unfortunately, but noted on Amazon that as recently as 2007 someone had obtained cassette recordings. Having copies of German Made Simple and French Made Simple, I would be interested to know if Russian Made Simple follows the same pattern as these two books. From what I understand, one feature of the Made Simple series is that the content is almost identical between the French, German, Italian and Spanish courses (possible the Latin course as well). I would also be curious as to why recordings were made for the Russian course and not the others courses but would also be interested in obtaining the Russian audio.
0 x

peterbeischmidt
Yellow Belt
Posts: 62
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 8:25 am
x 105

Re: Russian Made Simple

Postby peterbeischmidt » Fri Nov 20, 2015 2:38 pm

It seems that they produced recordings for each volume, apart from Latin Made Simple. If you follow this link, you can view their entries on Worldcat: http://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=hotse ... rdings.%22

I was surprised to find that Amazon has a listing for the cassette tapes, here it is: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003TOBWC4

On abebooks.com it's possible to set up something they call a 'watchdog' for a certain item or certain keywords, then you receive a notification as soon as a matching item pops up. Amazon doesn't have such a feature, or do they?
0 x


Return to “Language Programs and Resources”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests