Product Description

Coming this fall! The all new, updated, enhanced edition of the best-selling Learn In Your Car Foreign Language Series is ready to be released this fall. This exciting new edition also includes a Travelogue DVD of the relevant destination countries for each language. This added feature will enrich the learning experience and add that extra stimulus to motivate users with their studies. Added material in this second edition includes a variety of internet and digital media/technology terms. All New ISBNs for this popular series!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #508260 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09
• Number of items: 3
• Binding: Audio CD

Amazon.com Audiobook Review
Look ma, no textbooks! The Learn in Your Car series treats you like a child--in the best possible way--starting with one-word phrases ("please," "good-by"), counting exercises, and simple nouns ("bus," "train") designed to imitate a child's learning process. First you hear the words in English, then they are repeated slowly in clear, unaccented pronunciations. The method is extremely effective for those who don't know a thing, or for those who want to brush up by testing themselves when the English words are spoken. The tapes emphasize the building blocks of communicating in a foreign country rather than rote phrases that only apply on the tape and not in real-life exchanges. Level 1 painlessly covers basic verb forms, essential prepositions, near future and past tenses, as well as shopping, hotel reservations, and other travel-related situations. The series includes French, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese, and Spanish in three levels that can be purchased individually or in boxed sets. Each level contains two 90-minute cassettes (or CDs) and an accompanying booklet (not for use behind the wheel) with helpful explanations and scripts for the lessons.

Customer Reviews

Combine with fluency training
I've had these discs for about 8 months, using them in the car about 1 to 4 times a week. They've been a handy way to study in otherwise wasted time. I have noticed that the pronounciation tends to vary a slightly from the Russian speakers I know, especially "d" sounds tending to sound like "z" or "dj" sounds. Lastly, long-term retention seems to be greatly aided by fluency training -- overlearning to the point of being fast and accurate. First, I always rehearse the words aloud, trying to get them out before the Russian speaker on the cd.Then I go over the lesson until I can quickly say all the Russian words in response to the English stimulus word before the Russian speaker on the cd. Lastly, once I reach 90 to 100% accuracy on the cd, I quickly review the lesson playing the English stimuli only, and then the Russian (saying the English myself). Though this takes a little more time each lesson, I've found I retain lessons learned this way at about 80% accuracy months after learning the lesson. (Note: "Fluency Training" is a technique developed in educational and training areas of applied behavior analysis.)

A few pronounciation differences, but good overall
I listen to this almost everyday on my way to work and do find it to be helpful...for the most part. The Russian speaker on the CD pronounces a few words differently than my Russian teacher and Russian-speaking friends. For example, the number "1" is pronounced "azin" on the CD but everyone else I know says "adin". Similarly, the word "where" is pronounced "ga-ze" on the CD, but everyone else says "ga-de". So, the appears the russian "D" is sometimes pronounced with more of a "Z" sound by this particular speaker. Perhaps it's a dialect issue, but my Russian teacher isn't sure.

xopowo ypok
This is a good, straightforward approach to phonetically learning russian. Others have mentioned the booklet that came with these CDs, personally, I think it is great. First off, it is not a text book to teach you the fundamentals of Russian grammar, it is just a transcript of every word covered on the CDs. I find it quite helpful, as personally I learn much quicker if I can also read the words I am learning.

I went into this course with a minimal amount of prior knowledge. One thing I did know was the Cyrillic alphabet, and how to pronounce each letter. I would highly recommend someone to read through and study some of the Russian basics through some online course like masterrussian.com or other similar types of sites.

The great thing about these discs is they can help you learn the nuances of the language, such as when to pronounce the letter "o" as a hard "o" sound or as a softer "ah" sound. Also, when just reading Russian, it is not always obvious as to the syllabic structure of the words, this course will help immensely with that.

I reviewed many options before purchasing this set. What I have found is that this is the only course that the words are spoken slowly and clear enough for someone who does not have an "ear" for the language to understand. Many other courses seem to be more of refresher courses for maybe business people who just need to brush up before a trip to Russia or something.

Overall, I highly recommend this product to foreign language enthusiasts. Really, you can't go wrong, especially for the price. Four CDs with over 3 hours of instruction is a good deal. I definitely plan on buying Level 2 when I'm done with this one.