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They’re books specifically created for beginners: Learn German With Stories: Café in Berlin - 10 Short Stories For Beginners (Dino lernt Deutsch) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1492399493/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_M692X338DGSJCGW3VQPS
Start with this book: https://www.amazon.com/New-Penguin-Russian-Course-Beginners/dp/0140120416
Language learning is 80% about comprehensible input. Here is a list I made with all the YouTube channels you can watch once you've reached level A1:
https://www.notion.so/YouTube-channels-and-tools-to-learn-Russian-aedc894f52af42038ae8676aac5c0d7f
Every Russian learner needs a copy of this textbook. I don't study the language any more, but it is a fantastic resource that somehow makes sense of the ridiculously complicated Russian grammar.
Have you tried looking for easy readers designed for language students instead of children's books? A lot of people think that because books are written for children, they will be simpler, but children's books actually use a lot of complex language. If you search for "German easy reader" on Amazon, you will come up with a lot of stuff designed for people learning the language. I would start there rather than with children's books. My colleague who teaches German uses a German easy reader in her classes, and I think it is this one or something very similar: https://www.amazon.com/Learn-German-Stories-Berlin-Beginners/dp/1492399493/ She said it was really funny.
I have some friends there yes. Most of them are europeans and not Germans so learning the language by speaking with them is gonna be a bit hard.
The fact that in german you pronounce the letters in a consistent way makes it easy to learn like Spanish.
I also got a book to read along with the German course I am doing and it helps a lot.
I've been using this book and I'm only on lesson 5, but I've enjoyed the way they explain things. Like they explained the prepositional endings really well.
Anything Barron's is usually pretty popular and has a lot of information. Check this one out.
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It's definitely better than Rosetta Stone.
I think paired with something to really cement the grammar will be pretty effective.
Use it with the New Penguin book. (only $15 on Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/New-Penguin-Russian-Course-Beginners/dp/0140120416
There is a series called Cafe in Berlin, they are really funny books, they use slang and are quite cheap on amazon. I found them really helpful.
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https://www.amazon.co.uk/Learn-German-Stories-Berlin-Beginners/dp/1492399493
Verbs are not considered grammar
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Learn the most common verbs: etre and avoir first and also the modal verbs pouvoir, vouloir, devoir.
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Learn the patterns for regular verbs:
I, you, and he/she follow the same pattern for ir and re verbs: je sais, tu sais, il sait. Je dis, tu dis, il dit.
For er verbs I and he/she are the same. For you add an s: je mange, tu manges, il mange
We (ons), plural you (ez), and they (ent) are pretty much the same for all verbs.
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Exposure is key. The more you see it, the more you will recognize what is correct. Eventually you won't have to think "is it tu parle or tu parles", you'll just know.
If you're really just starting out, books from the Dino lernt Deutsch series such as Café in Berlin are a good idea. My husband read those quite early on in his German-learning-journey. They're quite simple and short so you'll have quick successes and that'll motivate you to continue. My husband also quite enjoyed the little stories. And there's little quizzes at the end of each story (plus English explanations for certain words, I think) so you can test how well you actually understood the story.
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If you're a bit more advanced than this, there's the Easy Readers (DaF) series that takes popular German books/ classics such as Die Wolke and puts them into a simplified form so you can read the story but they'll use less and easier words. The books are fairly thin too so you'll again have a quick feeling of success and motivation. They also come in different levels depending on how good your German is.
"I also recommend using a textbook. I've found this one ok:
https://library.teachyourself.com/id004325135/Complete-Russian
Also heard good things about this one:
https://www.amazon.com/New-Penguin-Russian-Course-Beginners/dp/0140120416"
Pasted from a recent thread I commented on
I also recommend using a textbook. I've found this one ok:
https://library.teachyourself.com/id004325135/Complete-Russian
Also heard good things about this one:
https://www.amazon.com/New-Penguin-Russian-Course-Beginners/dp/0140120416
I can recommend this book, there are 500 verbs with their conjugations and exercises. I am using it myself as well.
This. Don't guess your way to success in Russian, get a grammar book. If you do not have a Russian-grammar book, then I highly recommend this one -- it explains absolutely everything you will ever need to know as far as grammar goes.
I would highly suggest the New Penguin Russian Course for learning grammar. Easily one of the most comprehensive and understandable grammar guides I've seen for the Russian language. Also comes with conjugation/case tables in the back for adjectives/nouns/pronouns/etc..
Je recommande commencer avec ce livre: https://www.amazon.fr/New-Penguin-Russian-Course/dp/0140120416. Le livre est en anglais, mais, je trouve que c'est le meilleur livre sur la grammaire russe. En plus de ça, j'aime bien écouter des podcasts qui sont faites pour le niveau intermédiaire. Le podcast que je préfère s'appelle Comprehensible Russian Podcast (https://www.russianwithmax.com/) -- après du temps, vous pouvez commencer comprendre et les sujets sont intéressants.
Duolingo has a great option to learn the alphabet now.
Once you get past learning the alphabet, I would recommend Mango Languages to learn new vocabulary. Not a free service, but I was able to get it for free through my local library so you might be able to do something similar.
For grammar, the most useful book for me was this book. A little dated, but it has some of the best and most thorough grammar explanations I've found in any textbook.
But the most important part of learning a new language is exposure, so I would recommend finding Russian YouTube channels you like, movies, TV shows, podcasts, music, etc. If you like 90's rock music, a couple of my favorite Russian bands are Гражданская Оборона (I think they call themselves psychedelic rock) and Король и Шут. You may not understand anything at first, but the more you hear the language and expose yourself to it, the easier you will pick it up (just like you learned your native language as a kid).
Good luck!
I think this particular book would be too difficult for N5-N4, but there is this collection of parallel short stories for beginners:
"Japanese Short Stories for Beginners: 20 Captivating Short Stories to Learn Japanese & Grow Your Vocabulary the Fun Way!" https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1951949226/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apan_i_DS97YJCN51HM12NX5FS3
It presents you the full story in Japanese first, then breaks it down paragraph by paragraph with the English translation. It looks pretty awesome and it's made for beginners.
It's well rated and looks awesome. Enjoy!!
Hi! Yes there is this book which is well rated for beginners:
"Japanese Short Stories for Beginners: 20 Captivating Short Stories to Learn Japanese & Grow Your Vocabulary the Fun Way!" https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1951949226/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apan_i_DS97YJCN51HM12NX5FS3
It presents you the full story in Japanese first, then breaks it down paragraph by paragraph with the English translation. It looks pretty awesome and it's made for beginners.
Alongside parallel texts, there are also graded readers, which are books made for a specific level (like N5-N4). They're in Japanese only, but they are written specifically for beginners to be able to understand. And the level goes up appropriately with each story.
https://omgjapan.com/products/japanese-graded-readers-level-1-vol-1
Whether you prefer Japanese-English parallel text or a graded reader, there's something for you! Enjoy!!
> at least have basic skills to greet someone at the door, process payments, explain your Spanish is limited, and schedule appointments/say they have court on a specific date.
That's is how a popular polyglot on YouTube does it--writes everything down he wants to learn, and then I think he leans more on italki than GT.
I wouldn't get a dictionary before you start taking a class, or your grammar could be seriously messed up. (Laughing as I type that, because that was me before high school Spanish.) I would also recommend getting (this book)[https://www.amazon.com/501-Spanish-Verbs-Barrons/dp/1506260608/] (you can buy mine if you don't go digital...I don't use it anymore) if you take a class. I wish I'd known about it in high school, and it's so good, it even helped my college profesora (a Columbiana) with a conjugation she wasn't sure of.
<em>501 French Verbs</em> is a great resource for this kind of study. I had a book like this when I was learning French and I just memorised it. It was one of those books I'd just study a page or two and then bounce around.
I'm a beginner, but I've been enjoying learning through The New Penguin Russian Course. I saw it on a site that teaches Russian concepts, and it was labeled as "probably the best course in a book"
Yes. There are lots of such lists available. You can find them in almost any good dictionary. You can find them also in books like Barron's "501 Verbs" or (as u/PunctiliousPenguin noted) the Bescherelle ("conujugaison pour tous"). And of course they can be found one at a time in various conjugator websites like Reverso.
You don't really need 501 verbs; 104 will do, since it makes for a complete set of models for "do X verb just like Y verb." (The back pages of Grevisse, a native grammar, needs even fewer pages.) And frankly, you won't even need most of the irregulars, only the more frequent ones, in terms of production. (Recognition is almost never a problem.) But that's where to find your lists.
Take a look at this series. I think they are aimed for A1- A2. I picked up the first 3 to refresh my German a couple of years ago and I loved them. Easy read and some vocabulary explanations included.
The best way I've personally found is interacting with native francophones. I use a French Discord server for that which is nice because it's free. But the immediate feedback while chatting will help too. Plus a lot of it will be in context for you because you'll be engaged in the conversation. For this I tell people to use the french you know, fill in the gaps with English and build from there.
Subject-verb agreement will come naturally from learning the verb conjugations.
Your 4 year plan if you include another language might be ambitious if your time stays split between learning french, the 2nd language, and school study. Someone who's only learning french can get to a C level in 2 years depending how much they study and how much immersion they do. But I think for the average person it'd take 4 to 5 years to be fluent. You seem like you have a good head on your shoulders so I think attaining B level in your time frame is possible.
The book of verbs I have is Barron's which I got from off Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1506260640/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140120416 isn't half bad, guy shares some personal experience and there are some good exercises to learn from.
There are lots of full programs at LiveLingua, too - https://www.livelingua.com/courses/russian
> The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners (Penguin Handbooks) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140120416/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_HnQ8FbGXYWP60
that book was published in 1996, is there anything more recent? You'd be surprised how much a language can change in 10+ years. I bought a french textbook from 1993 and I was told by multiple teachers that it was a good book but very outdated and had some grammical errors ect.
Penguin has a good Russian book on Amazon
The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners (Penguin Handbooks) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140120416/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_HnQ8FbGXYWP60
I reccomend a teacher at first but if you can this book may be fine. I am a beginner and only took two semesters of Russian but it really helps to get a teacher.
You can get far with this book and others but like all things the beginning is hard and your expectations will be hard to gauge at first which are just a few out of the many reasons you should get a teacher first.
Learn Russian! Good luck! You got this!
Well, more than dictionaries, which don't teach grammatical concepts, I would recommend grammar textbooks. While I learned the language natively and with Russian textbooks, I've seen a lot of learners recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/New-Penguin-Russian-Course-Beginners/dp/0140120416
It certainly covers participles, and reflexive verbs, and subjunctives, and does so in a systematic way.