The free section of Listen2Russian.com will always remain free. The free section is for people who just want a taste of the Russian language – in contrast, Learn Russian: Step-by-step is for people who actually want to learn Russian, rather than memorize phrases.

We recognize that many people cannot afford a large fee, so we attempted to make it as low as possible. At $10.80, think of it as buying us a pizza in return for one of the best language courses on the internet! :)

The best way to teach complex concepts is to break them down into simple parts, drill each part over and over until it is mastered, and then move onto the next part. No other language course (except Rosetta Stone) fully understands this key concept.

In Learn Russian: Step-by-step we explain key grammar concepts in plain English, and provide interesting examples to reinforce the grammatical principles.

In the free section of Listen2Russian.com we explain the basic usage of masculine, neuter and plural nouns in the nominative case. Please review the free section if necessary.

Throughout our example phrases you will also find some masculine, neuter and plural nouns, however they will only ever be written in the nominative form, while feminine nouns are fully explored across the six cases.

In later volumes of Learn Russian: Step-by-step indeed you will learn the full-declension patterns of masculine, neuter and plural nouns, and the associated adjective and pronoun patterns.

i]. Size: Volume 1, on its own, is over 500 (letter-sized) pages. The four Volumes together are estimated to be over 2000 pages.

ii]. Content control: One of the reason textbooks fail is because students don't master the basic grammatical concepts before tackling more advanced grammar topics. Dividing the content between Volumes forces students to build a foundation before attempting new material they aren't ready for yet. When home-study students move through content too quickly they will inevitably fail out of frustration, and we want our students to feel confident and pleased with their progress.

iii]. Price: Some people can't afford $45 for a language course. However, most people can afford $10.80 to see if the language course suits them or not.

iv]. Cost of Production: Volumes 2, 3, and 4 are not yet ready for publishing. If we find there is little interest in Volume 1 then we may choose not to publish the remaining volumes, as each volume takes an exceedingly long time and significant financial cost to produce. If you like Volume 1, please help us by telling your friends and associates – if we can recover the costs of producing Volume 1 then we will publish Volume 2.

Originally the Learn Russian: Step-by-step course had been planned as a hardcopy, standard book, together with membership access to the sound recordings online. However, as we explored the publishing options we came to the conclusion that the price of the book would be too expensive for most people to afford, especially since it would be sent from Australia. The final sale price would be approximately US$20 + US$12.50 postage and handling (to the USA) = $32.50 per volume.

However, if you are interested in this option then please let us know and perhaps in the future we will convert the course to hardcopy format.

No, the course is intellectual property (information), and as such, once the content is viewed it is considered consumed / used.

The only time a refund is offered is the unlikely situation where the Listen2Russian.com server crashes for more than a period of two weeks during your first month of access. (During the first month, server downtime periods of less than 2 weeks but more than 72 hours are credited to your account as a time extension – see the Terms of Service on the sign-up page for more information).

Please take time to review the free section of Listen2Russian.com as the style of writing and presentation of audio is very similar to the Step-by-step language course. If you like the free section then there is a good chance you will love the Step-by-step course!

Also please ensure you have thoroughly viewed the excerpts (that are linked here) as refunds will not be granted due to your computer system, internet connection, and / or software not being able to display the course content correctly.

No, the audio recordings will not be made available in any other format than what is presented online.

Certainly! Two types of books work well with this course:

 

1]. A Russian-English Dictionary

A good Russian-English dictionary, such as the big Oxford Russian Dictionary (4th Edition)

 

2]. A Reference Grammar resource

Schaum's Outline of Russian Grammar
If you're serious about learning Russian you'll need a reference grammar book, and Schaum's is pretty good. For those that are new to languages, a 'reference grammar' is like a compendium or dictionary of grammar for a particular language. You use a 'reference grammar' by looking up explanations of certain grammatical principles when you need clarification. They aren't designed to be read from cover to cover (but if you feel so inclined it's a great cure for insomnia! ;)

Teach Yourself Russian Grammar
A more concise reference grammar but still very useful. If you have the money then get both Schaum's and Teach Yourself. However, if you plan on progressing to an upper-intermediate / advanced level then get Schaum's, while the Teach Yourself book is handy for beginners.

 

3]. Optional resources include:

Russian course:

The New Penguin Russian Course by Nicholas J. Brown
This is quite a good book and most students consider it the 'gold standard' of introductory Russian textbooks. We concur with these impressions, but at the same time we still feel it rushes through important areas of grammar that really need to be accompanied by more detailed explanations and more examples. Also, the book doesn't have any audio options.

Software:

Rosetta Stone: Russian Level 1
(if you can afford it – but it's not essential), but only after you complete the Listen2Russian.com course. Rosetta Stone is great for drilling home certain grammatical patterns.

Other

At this point in time we can't fully recommend any other resources as they all seem to be flawed in some important way.

'Immersion' means 'being immersed' in Russian culture, possibly living over there for several months. But is it the best way to learn? The answer is a resounding 'No!'

Certainly, immersion is the best way to practice what you have already learned, and is almost essential if you want to progress beyond an intermediate level. However, immersion without a foundation is useless, you might as well be listening to Chinese (assuming you don't already know Chinese! :)

For example, if a Russian customs officer at Domodedovo airport in Moscow says to you "Снимите куртку!", waits for your response (which will probably be a confused look), and then shouts at you "СНИМИТЕ КУРТКУ!", then this process isn't going to help you understand what "Снимите куртку" actually means. Is he asking for your documents? Is he telling you not to smile?

If you had learnt some basic Russian vocabulary before you immersed yourself you would probably recognize that "снимите" (sni-mee-tyeh) sounds a bit like the word "снимать" (sni-mat'), which is the verb "to take off / remove".

And if you had studied a basic Russian course, such as the Listen2Russian.com course, you would probably recognize that a word with "те" (tyeh) at the end is probably a command.

The word куртку (koort-koo) sounds a bit like the noun куртка (koort-kah; meaning 'jacket'), but why is the customs officer saying it with a 'у' (oo) at the end instead of the usual 'а' (ah)?

It's because nouns transform their endings from 'а' to 'у' when they are preceded by a command. You see, immersion isn't teaching you these grammar rules – that's something you need to learn from a Russian course.

So basically the customs officer is telling you to "Take off your jacket". But you wouldn't have learnt that just by hearing the words.

As you can see, immersion is terrible for learning new material, but great for practicing and building on a foundation.