Short Stories in Russian for Beginners

By: Olly Richards, Alex Rawlings

Narrated by: Alexander Mercury

Length: 3 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Short Stories in Russian for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and most importantly - enjoyment! Mapped to A2-B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference, these eight captivating stories are designed to give you a sense of achievement and a feeling of progress when listening.

What does this book give you?

• Eight stories in a variety of exciting genres, from science fiction and crime to history and thriller - making the process fun while you learn a wide range of new vocabulary.
• Controlled language at your level, including the 1000 most frequent words, to help you progress confidently.
• Authentic spoken dialogues, to help you learn conversational expressions and improve your speaking ability.
• Pleasure! It's much easier to learn a new language when you're having fun, and research shows that if you're enjoying listening in a foreign language, you won't experience the usual feelings of frustration. 'It's too hard!' 'I don't understand!'
• Accessible grammar so you learn new structures naturally, in a stress-free way.

Carefully curated to make learning a new language easy, these stories include key features that will support and consolidate your progress, including:

• A bilingual word list.
• Comprehension questions to aid your understanding.
• Full plot summary.

As a result, you will be able to focus on enjoying the stories, delighting in your improved range of vocabulary and grasp of the language, without ever feeling overwhelmed or frustrated. From science fiction to fantasy, to crime and thrillers, Short Stories in Russian for Beginners will make learning Russian easy and enjoyable.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2018 Olly Richards (P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critic reviews

"I love Olly's work - and you will too!" - Barbara Oakley, PhD, Author of New York Times bestseller A Mind for Numbers

God send

I watched Olly’s YouTube videos first. He’s a wonderful human being. I tried Pimsleur first, and it was painfully slow. I happened upon this audiobook because I was looking for a replacement, and I love stories, so I searched out Russian short stories. When I made the connection that Olly was the creator (I usually tune out advertising), I was thrilled. When I found out there was an accompanying Kindle book that you could follow along with as you listened, I was beyond thrilled. I’ve only been learning Russian a few weeks, and taking this approach is like drinking from a firehose, but from a firehose of refreshing knowledge on a hot summer day of ignorance. This is exactly what I’m looking for. Thank you, Olly! Спасибо!

Great Method

I love Olly Richards’ books, the best way to learn a language! It’s so much fun and engaging and effective!

Great stories for this level

I read it alongside the Kindle book to get the most out of it. I read a chapter then listened to it. The stories are short and fun - like the kind I used to read as a youngster. It gives a real sense of accomplishment to read the stories (which I’m better at) and then get most of it when you hear it too (which I need to work at).

Great collection, I hope Olly (and other authors like Ignaty Dyakov) come out with more dual book+audio works. They really do a great job.

The PDF doesn't have the stories in it

It is so close to being great, but without the full story in the PDF it is rather hopeless to actually learn something. Still, the stories are pretty fun if you actually understand them. But that PDF... argh! I am so disappointed in that. I thought it would be like Olly is preaching on YouTube: Listen, read, and listen again, but no. Only a summery and a wordlist

not bad, not good

Well the audio is fine, but good luck understanding anything without a decent accompanying pdf