First Russian Words by David Melling - Revision history

Sue at 07:47, 25 April 2025

2025-04-25T07:47:51Z

Jill at 22:33, 21 March 2018

2018-03-21T22:33:32Z

Sue at 16:52, 10 November 2014

2014-11-10T16:52:20Z

Sue at 13:59, 25 October 2012

2012-10-25T13:59:39Z

Keith: 1 revision

2009-10-24T16:55:55Z

1 revision

Keith at 15:37, 1 May 2009

2009-05-01T15:37:23Z

New review

{{infobox
|title=First Russian Words
|author=David Melling
|reviewer=Keith Dudhnath
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=An introduction to Russian vocabulary. It suffers greatly from not having phonetic translations as well as the real translations. If it weren't for that, it would have the much wider target audience it deserves.
|rating=1
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Maybe
|format=Paperback
|pages=48
|publisher=OUP
|date=April 2009
|isbn=978-0199111510
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0199111510</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>0199111510</amazonus>
}}

As you might expect, ''First Russian Words'' is an introduction to Russian vocabulary. David Melling has provided lovely illustrations for all the words - around the house and school, looking at various professions, at the seaside, on the farm, and things like colours and shapes.

At Bookbag, there's a clear policy of reviewing books in the appropriate context. We wouldn't, for example, criticise ''First Russian Words'' for not being detailed enough for degree students. It's common sense. There is a context in which ''First Russian Words'' is a perfect book, but for the overwhelming majority of people who might be interested in it, there's a major stumbling block.

There's a brief guide to pronunciation before the table of contents, but nothing else beyond that. (Its sister book ''First Chinese Words'' doesn't even have that guide). Particularly as the words are in a different alphabet, you need a phonetic translation by each word. If it's meant to be a bilingual book, rather than for English people to learn Russian, then you could have it phonetically in both English and Russian. Without it, most people are left stumbling in the dark.

To get any use out of ''First Russian Words'', you need to have a working understanding of Russian. A family raising its children to learn both English and Russian would make use of it, but even then, it's not ideal. I'm far from an expert, but I do have family members with bilingual children, and from what I understand, the effective method is for the Russian-speaking mother to only speak Russian to the child, whilst the English-speaking father only speaks English. Rather than the child trying to learn to translate, it learns each language separately.

If ''First Russian Words'' is perfect for you, it's perfect for you. For most people looking to learn a few basic Russian words, it won't help them. It's also available in Chinese, Arabic, Italian, Polish, French, German and Spanish. David Melling's wonderful illustrations are the same in each.

My thanks to the publishers for sending it to Bookbag.

Although there aren't direct comparisons with this textbook, you'll find plenty of interesting books in Bookbag's [[Top Ten Books About Language]].

{{amazontext|amazon=0199111510}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=6349310}}

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 Although there aren't direct comparisons with this textbook, you'll find plenty of interesting books in Bookbag's [[Top Ten Books About Language]].
-{{amazontext|amazon=0199111510}}  {{waterstonestext|waterstones=6349310}}
+{{amazontext|amazon=0199111510}}
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