Road to Russia. Textbook for Beginners (A1) & Audio. North American Edition

All about language programs, courses, websites and other learning resources
aravinda
Green Belt
Posts: 287
Joined: Tue May 16, 2017 12:27 pm
Languages: .
x 616

Road to Russia. Textbook for Beginners (A1) & Audio. North American Edition

Postby aravinda » Thu Jun 01, 2017 2:01 am

If there is anyone who has used/using the Russian textbook, Road to Russia. Textbook for Beginners (A1) & Audio. North American Edition, I would like to know their impression of the book. For anyone who is interested here's the link to the book on the publisher's site:

http://ilearnrussian.com/en/we-publish- ... 82239.html

The audio files are available from here (for anyone):

http://ilearnrussian.com/en/content/6-r ... a-textbook

I am just curious as a language learner. No conflict of interests.
0 x

Speakeasy
x 7658

Re: Road to Russia. Textbook for Beginners (A1) & Audio. North American Edition

Postby Speakeasy » Thu Jun 01, 2017 4:36 pm

Thank you for bringing “Road to Russia” to our attention. Although the this course book was designed for use in a classroom setting, having scanned the “Look Inside” view on Amazon.com, I am left with the impression that this book, coupled with the freely-available audio recordings and answer key, could be used fairly successfully in a self-study programme. The accompanying audio recordings are a scant 1-3/4 hours in duration; however, one could easily supplement them by turning to Assimil/Glossika/FSI/DLI/GLOSS, et cetera. The three “Customer Reviews” on Amazon.com are favourable, but short on details. Nevertheless, my overall impression is positive. While there are numerous alternatives to “Road to Russia”, this package is a viable option.

Amazon.com (Road to Russia)
https://www.amazon.com/Russia-Textbook-Beginners-Audio-American/dp/0981882234
1 x

Arnaud
Blue Belt
Posts: 984
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 11:57 am
Location: Paris, France
Languages: Native: French
Intermediate: English, Russian, Italian
Tourist : Breton, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, German, Spanish, Latin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=1524
x 2172

Re: Road to Russia. Textbook for Beginners (A1) & Audio. North American Edition

Postby Arnaud » Thu Jun 01, 2017 5:20 pm

It seems extremely expensive, imho. The russian version of the book cost 900 roubles, 16$
It's an average textbook, nothing special. You can find the same kind of things in other textbooks for cheaper or for free on internet.
1 x

aravinda
Green Belt
Posts: 287
Joined: Tue May 16, 2017 12:27 pm
Languages: .
x 616

Re: Road to Russia. Textbook for Beginners (A1) & Audio. North American Edition

Postby aravinda » Fri Jun 02, 2017 7:36 am

Thank you for your responses, Speakeasy and Arnaud. Yes, it looks like a decent course but too expensive (especially when you consider the price of the Russian original). And of course, there is a good variety of other courses to choose from. I actually have a quite lot of them but like many other members of this forum, I am inflicted with this eternal urge to collect language courses. :oops:
0 x

User avatar
Zegpoddle
Yellow Belt
Posts: 54
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:29 am
Location: Shanghai
Languages: English (N), rusty French and German (formerly B2 in each), Russian (beginner), Mandarin Chinese (A2/HSK3)
x 221

Re: Road to Russia. Textbook for Beginners (A1) & Audio. North American Edition

Postby Zegpoddle » Mon Jul 10, 2017 4:36 am

For independent learners, the usefulness of commercial language-learning materials rests on three legs, like a stool. The first leg is text. The second leg is audio. The third leg is an answer key. If any one of the three is unobtainable, I won't bother with the other two because the stool will collapse.

Since the publisher's site referenced above is offering two of the three legs for free, why not snatch them up while you can and wait patiently for used copies of the book to surface online at one-tenth the cover price, which is what happens in most cases?

Forget sex and drugs. The phrases "free audio" and "complete answer key" are all it takes to get me drooling and downloading like mad, even for languages that I know I won't have time to study for the next ten years.

In the meantime, at least these resources won't take up any physical space on my overcrowded bookshelves or stare dolefully back at me as if to say "We thought you actually intended to USE us someday..." :(
3 x
Graciously begging our alien overlords to remember to refresh the batteries regularly in their toddler’s cosmic Game Boy on which the simulation that is my life is running ;)


Return to “Language Programs and Resources”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests