Living Language Russian, Essential Edition: Beginner course, including coursebook, 3 audio CDs, and free online learning

This material seems to have been designed by someone with absolutely no knowledge of how people learn, especially adults.First, words are essentially a symbol for an idea or thing and there are no graphics, pictures or other supporting material supporting the vocabulary lists and expressions in the material.Second, language/words/expressions are best retained when presented within a context. The recitation of words and word groups without a supporting context makes them meaningless sounds.Third, the book presents some new words within an explanatory paragraph ahead of a word list being presented in the accompanying audio. Really? This means you have to comb through each introductory paragraph for at least the first new word in a list, then see if you can determine meaning. The vocabulary in most lists is not accompanied by an English translation that could help the learner understand what's being taught.Fourth, there are better courses on-line for free.Fifth, don't waste your money on this book/course/whatever. It is poorly designed, poorly executed and just plain useless.

There is not enough discussion on Russian pronunciation. The pace of the dialogue is to fast for the complete beginner to repeat. The pronunciation is not really clear. I wish the course would say the sentence slowly then repeat it faster. Maybe it's done in the beginning chapters but my used copy was missing disk #1. "Russian in the Car" or some such title is supposed to be slower

Pretty good at grammar; not so good at conversation

Thanks!

And the book and audio cds are extremely helpful. Also included is a notebook to make your own helpful notes.