Russian For Dummies

Andrew Kaufman, Serafima Gettys, Nina Wieda

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780471780014
• eBook ISBN: 9781118052884
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

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.

Part I

Getting Started

In this part . . .

**IN a DROPCAP**

Part I is the beginning of your exciting journey. Here you get the essential information you need to take you through the rest of the book. Chapter 1 puts you at ease as you breeze through the Russian alphabet and discover that you actually already know quite a few Russian words. Chapter 2 gives you the basics of Russian grammar, which you may want to refer to throughout the rest of the book. And in Chapter 3, you start putting your new-found knowledge to work right away with popular greetings and introductions in Russian. So, get ready to start speaking po-russki (pah roos-kee; Russian)!

Chapter 1

You Already Know a Little Russian

In This Chapter

Getting a grip on Russian words you know

Understanding the Russian alphabet

Pronouncing words properly

Discovering popular expressions

Reading Russian with confidence

Welcome to Russian! Whether you want to read a Russian menu, enjoy Russian music, or just chat it up with your Russian friends, this is the beginning of your journey. In this chapter, trust your eyes, ears, and intuition, and you quickly discover that Russian isn’t that hard after all. When you’re done with this chapter, you’ll be able to recognize all the letters of the Russian alphabet, discover the basic rules of Russian pronunciation, and be able to say some popular Russian expressions and idioms.

Scoping Out Similarities between English and Russian

You may be surprised to find out that English and Russian are very distant relatives. They both come from the same ancestor — Sanskrit — and both belong to the same family of Indo-European languages. The similarities don’t stop there. If you know English, you already know many Russian words.

In this section, you discover Russian words that are already part of English, and you find out about Russian words that have the same meaning and pronunciation as their English counterparts. We also warn you about a few words that sound similar in both languages but have very different meanings.

Identifying Russian words in English

As the world becomes more and more international, languages and cultures are constantly borrowing from and lending to one another, and Russian is no exception. Many Russian words that now appear in English either describe food and drinks or came into use during important historical periods.

Eating and drinking up

If you drink vodka, then you can already speak some Russian, because the word, like the drink, came from Russia. Maybe you can even rattle off the differences between Smirnoff (smeer-nohf) and Stoly. If so, you’re already on your way to sounding like a real Russian, because Smirnoff is a Russian person’s last name, and Stoly is an abbreviation for the word Stolichnaya (stah-leech-nuh-ye), which means “metropolis” in Russian.

When you go out to eat, do you like to order a great big bowl of borsh’ (bohrsh’; beet soup) with sour cream? Well, then you’re eating one of the most famous Russian dishes, and when you order it, you’re using a completely Russian word.

Hearing historical terms

If you’re interested in world history, then you probably know that the head of the Russian state in previous centuries was not the president or the king, but the tsa...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I : Getting Started
• Chapter 1: You Already Know a Little Russian
• Chapter 2: The Nitty Gritty: Basic Russian Grammar and Numbers
• Chapter 3: Zdravstvujtye! Privyet! Greetings and Introductions
• Part II : Russian in Action
• Chapter 4: Getting to Know You: Making Small Talk
• Chapter 5: Making a Fuss about Food
• Chapter 6: Shopping Made Easy
• Chapter 7: Going Out on the Town, Russian-Style
• Chapter 8: Enjoying Yourself: Recreation and Sports
• Chapter 9: Talking on the Phone and Sending Mail
• Chapter 10: Around the House and at the Office
• Part III : Russian on the Go
• Chapter 11: Planning a Trip
• Chapter 12: Getting Around: Planes, Trains, and More
• Chapter 13: Staying at a Hotel
• Chapter 14: Money, Money, Money
• Chapter 15: Where Is Red Square? Asking Directions
• Chapter 16: Handling Emergencies
• Part IV : The Part of Tens
• Chapter 17: Ten Ways to Pick Up Russian Quickly
• Chapter 18: Ten Favorite Russian Expressions
• Chapter 19: Ten Russian Holidays to Remember
• Chapter 20: Ten Phrases That Make You Sound Russian
• Chapter 21: Ten Things Never to Say or Do in Russia
• Part V : Appendixes
• Appendix A: Verb Tables
• Russian-English Mini-DictionaryEnglish-Russian Mini-Dictionary
• Appendix C: Answer Key
• Appendix D: On the CD