Advanced Russian (English and Russian Edition)

This textbook was written in the 1980s, while the Soviet Union still existed. Hence, some of the cultural notes of the book are not so relevant if you are looking for pragmatic tips for a trip to Russia, but if you are looking for an advanced textbook you are well past that stage anyway and will not mind it. On the contrary, I found it quite interesting to read about some aspects of Soviet society. When I bought this book I had been learning Russian on my own for 4 years (although not very consistently, I must admit), I had already made my way through some other textbooks and I had reached a level where I could understand most of what I read and heard, but I still had gaps in my understanding of grammar, so I was looking for a way to keep improving. This is the best book I have found to do that. It is very thorough and it covers topics that other manuals do not even mention, but somehow the authors manage to present the information in a way that does not feel overwhelming, they even include a little touch of humor here and there. You need to already have a good command of Russian to tackle this textbook, as the explanations are often given in Russian and not in English. However, if you have already reached an upper-intermediate level and would like to bring your Russian to the next level, this is the resource you are looking for.

So you think you speak Russian? Really well, understanding just about all contexts and sitiuations? Well so did I, until I opened this book for the first time today. I've found there's an enormous amount of colloquial vocabulary, as well as complex grammatical situtaions that I did not know, but this book explains and introduces in a very clear, yet challenging way. This isn't my first or last foreign language, but I am glad I bought this book to further improve (and hopefully someday in the far away future, perfect) my Russian. I've also found that I may need to find an equivalent book in the other languages I thought I was "fluent" in. So if you're in that same situation with Russian, I highly recommend you purchase this book. If you wouldn't consider yourself advanced in Russian yet (there are very few English explanations besides the odd English translation of new vocabulary), I would suggest starting with a book geared to lower levels.

I bought this book because I wanted some books to study, after I finished Beginning Russian, by Richard Leed and Alexander Nakhimovsky. I have not yet finished, so I haven't started reading and studying from this book yet. But the book looks comprehensive, and a good complement and continuation of my basic Russian studies.

I once was an advanced Russian speaker. After umpteen years I needed to brush up on my Russian. I loved this grammar book for all the subtleties it taught me that I had never learned and for the amazing walk through memory lane of Soviet Russia. It is the best grammar book I've read and I enjoyed the humor.

One of the dangers of learning a language is that it is easy to become complacent after reaching a certain level. As you find yourself understanding others relatively easily, and being able to make yourself understood, the inclination is often to relax--particularly when you've just spent God-knows-how-many hours learning how at last to use verbs of motion, cases, and the worst of all, the verb forms. You may not ever even notice your errors because, well, everyone understands you more or less, so who wants to correct you and interrupt your conversation? This is a book for those who want to catch those errors. That way of yours for expressing a command or a past tense may get the the message across, but it's not the way Russians would say it and a bit of a waste after all that time you've already put in. This book highlights those areas and gives solid explanations and examples to elucidate the points. A series of running conversations are linked to grammar points in the rest of each chapter. Nakhimovsky and Leed have chosen some very interesting points of grammar that I would imagine elude most students when they are studying the language at first. My book is strewn with notes and highlighting, and I flip back to it every now and again to refresh my memory. I've yet to find a book for English speakers that gives comparable insight into grammar at this level. I actually started this book while still at university but finished it in Russia much later, and I have to say, it really is a fine resource for those who are actually in Russia or have the chance to use their Russian in real life. Even though the book was written in Soviet times, it still is very useful and the conversations actually offer some very interesting little vignettes about life in the USSR. This would be a very valuable investment for anyone serious about Russian and about getting over that "plateau" to a more nuanced understanding of Russian. I would also strongly suggest Inostranka for a very fun and useful dual reader.