rus' a comprehensive course in russian

RUS': a Comprehensive Course in Russian This comprehensive foundation textbook is expressly designed for students embarking on a Russian language programme. Accompanied by cassettes, it develops the four key language skills ± reading, writing, speaking and listening ± and provides all the material required to reach intermediate level either at high school or during the ®rst year of university. Highly interactive and activity-based, the course puts students ®rmly at the centre of the learning process, developing their autonomy as learners. . Thorough grounding in the grammar and structures of contemporary Russian . Wide-ranging tasks and exercises for both classroom use and self study . Informative texts selected to foster cultural awareness . Topics including family life, education, history, geography, work and leisure . Clear, attractive layout with lively illustrations to reinforce learning . Extensive reference features including section on basic concepts of grammar . Teachers' guidelines to enhance practical application in the classroom . On-line answerkey at http://uk.cambridge.org/resources/0521645557 sarah smyth is a lecturer in Russian at Trinity College, Dublin. She is co-author of two Russian language textbooks, Basic Russian, A Grammar and Workbook (1999) and Intermediate Russian, A Grammar and Workbook (2001). elena crosbie is lecturer in Russian at Heriot-Watt University. She is an experienced interpreter and is on the editorial board of the Russian journal Rusistica. Her publications include papers on language teaching. RUS' a Comprehensive Course in Russian SARAH SMYTH Trinity College, Dublin ELENA V. CROSBIE Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU,UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011±4211,USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarco  n 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org # Sarah Smyth and Elena Crosbie, 2002 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2002 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeface Times 10/13pt System 3b2 [ce] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data Smyth, Sarah. RUS': a comprehensive course in Russian / Sarah Smyth, Elena V. Crosbie. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0 521 64206 X (hardback) ISBN 0 521 64555 7 (paperback) ISBN 0 521 01074 8 (cassette set) 1. Russian language ± Textbooks for foreign speakers ± English. I. Crosbie, Elena V. II. Title. PG2129.E5 S65 2001 491.782'421 ± dc21 ISBN 0 521 64206 X hardback ISBN 0 521 64555 7 paperback ISBN 0 521 01074 8 cassette set ISBN 0 521 52955 7 audio CD set Illustrations: Vitaly Palkus Contents Preface: to the students vii Acknowledgements x Outline of the course xii Key to symbols used in the course xvii Part I Course materials Introductory unit 1 Unit 1 28 Unit 2 48 Unit 3 72 Unit 4 103 Unit 5 127 Unit 6 153 Unit 7 176 Unit 8 205 Unit 9 227 Unit 10 251 Unit 11 275 Unit 12 301 Unit 13 332 Unit 14 360 Unit 15 389 Unit 16 413 Unit 17 437 Unit 18 458 v Unit 19 487 Unit 20 510 Part II Teachers' guidelines General introduction 534 1.0 The course-type 535 2.0 The syllabus-type 537 3.0 The intended learners 539 4.0 The teacher 539 5.0 The structure of the course 540 6.0 The units 540 7.0 Reference tools 543 8.0 Study aids 544 Methodological pointers 545 9.0 What to do with the classroom materials 545 10.0 Developing knowledge 546 11.0 How to develop speaking skills 552 12.0 How to develop reading skills 553 13.0 How to develop productive skills on the basis of texts 556 14.0 Use of the key 558 15.0 Concluding remarks 558 Glossary of linguistic terms 559 Bibliography 560 Part III Reference tools and study aids Language awareness 563 Grammar summary 613 Summary of functions 674 Vocabulary checklist 684 Index of texts 689 Index of grammatical concepts 694 vi Contents Preface: to the students The course The authors hope that you will enjoy studying Russian and using this textbook. It is the result of many years' work and has been piloted in three educational centres over the last ten years. It has thus passed through many students' hands, many of whom have gone on to become professional Russianists. The course is primarily intended for use in a classroom situation. Indeed, one of its main aspirations is to provide learners with the motive and opportunity to explore and use Russian as a tool for communication. This is not to suggest that classroom work alone will make you pro®cient; experience has shown that the students who make the best progress normally spend an hour in private study for every contact hour with a teacher. Classroom tasks and activities provide you with the opportunity to interact with other learners and your teacher in and about the language; private study, be it reading, organising your notes, organising your vocabulary, doing exercises to reinforce grammatical concepts or working with the tapes, allows you to consolidate what you have learnt in class, to take stock of your progress and to monitor your learning. Remember that learning a language is not easy. Textbooks that suggest you can do so in three months are only misleading the gullible public. A language re¯ects a culture, its history and its way of viewing the world. Avail of any opportunity that arises to practise your Russian and to acquaint yourself with Russian life, past and present. You will ®nd the experience broadens your horizons, develops your curiosity and makes you look at the world and how we talk about it with a more open mind. Language awareness The `Language awareness' section is intended to help you situate your growing knowledge and understanding of Russian in the context of knowledge you already have about the functioning of other languages (and English in particular). The language awareness component of the course is intended as an optional extra for those who feel they need it and ®nd it helpful. If you are used to learning languages in a formal classroom context, you may not need it at all. If, on the other hand, you ®nd increasingly that the jargon used to refer to language is a useful short-hand and that you would like to become more familiar with it, then you will probably ®nd it useful. The main thing is not to be daunted byit. The sequencing of concepts in this section closely parallels the sequencing of language exponents in the units. In this way discussion of the key concepts may be integrated into classroom interaction if you so wish. In this section reference is made to other languages (Latin, French, German and vii Spanish) with which you may be familiar. The aim of including these languages is to enable you to draw on knowledge you already have, not to teach you about other languages and how they function. The exercises focus principally on English (and in later units, Russian). Where exercises address other languages, you should restrict yourselves to those you know. Grammar summary The `Grammar summary' is intended as a reference tool. Beware of becoming dependent on it. It provides tables and texts outlining the grammatical patterns of Russian. It is not intended as a descriptive grammar and is not a substitute for classroom discussion and hypothesising about how Russian functions. If you have questions or come across problem areas, the best person to ask is your teacher. The main use of the grammar section is to check something. Its purpose is not to teach, but to remind. Summary of functions This is a table which lists the language functions introduced in the course. A function, in the linguistic sense of the word, refers to the use to which we put language in social interaction. The functions are listed in the order in which they are introduced in the course. We recommend that you keep a record of what you can do in Russian by ticking the relevant box as and when you feel you are comfortable with a given function. Vocabulary checklist The book also includes pages which list the main topics covered in the course. It is an important part of learning to keep monitoring what you do and do not know. These pages are intended as a tool to help you monitor your learning of vocabulary. Though everyone has his or her own system for recording and learning vocabulary, one suggestion is to keep a vocabulary ®le with a page dedicated to each of the topics and sub-topics listed. The chart will help you assess how many words you have recorded and feel you have learnt. In your vocabulary notes it is advisable to differentiate between key and peripheral words on a given topic. Possibly key words could be stored on one side of the page and peripheral words on the other. How you decide which words are key, and which peripheral, will in part depend on your interests, in part on your reasons for learning Russian and in part on common sense. It is also important to take note of common constructions used with particular words. One way of doing this is to illustrate each entry with examples of a word's use: a phrase or sentence from a dictionary or from the text where you came across a word. With regard to verbs, make sure you note what case they govern. Furthermore, Russian tends to use adjectives more than we do in English, so make note of common adjective and noun combinations. Since Russian is a word-building language, it is also helpful to group together words which are derived from the same root. Many of these words will refer to the same topic: for instance the word set exbnm, exbnmcz, extybr, exbntkm, extdysq, which are all viii Preface: to the students derived from the root ex-, all relate to studying/teaching. Using a highlighter, common roots can easily be identi®ed. Recognising word-building patterns considerably reduces the load on your memory. This might seem like an awful lot of work. It is. But it pays off in the long run. If you are systematic about recording and learning vocabulary right from the start, you will ®nd it becomes part of your routine. Determine to work on a small number of words every day. You will be pleasantly surprised at how much easier it gets with time. This section also lists tasks relating to each of the vocabulary topics which you should be able to do. Indeed, it is not simply enough to know a word: it is important to be able to use it in speech and writing. Again there are boxes for you to tick off as a way of monitoring your progress. Most importantly enjoy your work and do not get downhearted. Work steadily and regularly, do not be afraid to play with the language. When you crack your ®rst joke in Russian, it will all have been worthwhile. Preface: to the students ix Acknowledgements We would like to express our gratitude to all the people who have encouraged us, advised us and supported us in the production of this course. First and foremost we would like to thank our families: a special debt of recognition is due to David and Stanford without whose forbearance and practical help this course could never have seen the light of day. Thanks in particular to David for his technical advice and assistance. We acknowledge our gratitude to the University departments which fostered the production of the course and allowed us to pilot it extensively during the last ten years: Edinburgh University, where the course was originally conceived, Trinity College and Heriot-Watt Universities to where the authors subsequently moved. We would like to thank all the students and colleagues whose feedback has been essential in the shaping and reshaping of the course. In particular we would like to thank members of staff in all the Russian departments which have been directly involved in the production of the course: Mary Kate Halpin, John Murray, Una  Nã  Dhubhghaill and Connie Dowling in TCD, Jim Halliday in Heriot-Watt and Elena Cook, formerly of Edinburgh University, who contributed many ideas for activities and exercises at various stages of the development of the course. We are grateful to all the specialists in teaching Russian as a foreign language who have given us the bene®t of their experience, especially Elena Mikhailovna Maksimenko, Liudmila Borisovna Seregina, Irina Abdalyan, Dmitri Tsiskarashvili, Nikolai and Anna Kochurov. We would like to thank Olga Manakova for contributing to the key to the exercises. Thanks are due to colleagues from the German, French and Spanish departments for providing invaluable assistance with the `Language awareness' section, in particular Sheila Watts, Claire Laudet and Susana Bayo  . We owe a debt of gratitude to Sean Devitt, Eimear Farren and Dee McGarry for their comments on the `Teachers' guidelines'. Many thanks are also due to all those who supplied the photographs for this textbook: Vladimir Kallistov, Connie Dowling, John Murray, Vladimir Shugurov, Emily Finer, Anatoliy Tchikine, Aleksandr Olegovich Sholokhovskiy and Aleksandr Asta®ev. A particular thanks to Vitaly Palkus for his lively and imaginative line-drawings. Thanks to Elena Baburina, Manushak Hovsepyan, Dmitri Tsiskarashvili and Vladimir Shugurov for their reading of the recorded material and to John Murray for producing the recording sessions. Thanks also to John Grimes, the sound engineer in the CEL Studios, Radio Centre, RTE for his contribution to the production of the tapes. Thank you to Natalya Uvarova for her careful copyediting. Thanks are also due to all the Russian publishers whose texts are included in this course: every possible attempt was made to contact them and seek permission to reproduce extracts. Many have ceased to exist, others failed to respond. We have assumed that silence is consent. And last but not least many thanks to Rate Brett, Pauline Graham, Camilla Erskine, Jacqueline French, Jenny Landor and Caroline Murray of Cambridge University Press, for their support, perseverance and commitment to the project. x [...]... the map on p 11 Match the English names listed below to the Russian ones and put the appropriate number on the map Try reading the names of the countries aloud in Russian 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 10 Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Estonia Georgia Kazakhstan Kirgizstan Latvia Lithuania Moldova Russian Federation Tadjikistan Turkmenistan Ukraine Uzbekistan Introductory unit 11 Course materials 3.2... 10 April August July February January October Notes: 1 Unlike English, the names of the months begin with a small letter in Russian 2 You can use printed letters in a crossword 17 Course materials G Reading letters In acronyms and abbreviations each letter is named separately, as it is called in the alphabet (Cf BBC, ITV, CIA, FBI, etc in English) Read aloud the following abbreviations, past and present... will learn about: the Russian alphabet Russian pronunciation the importance of word stress in Russian the cursive Cyrillic script You will also learn how to: pronounce Russian sounds and words recognise and read Russian letters and printed words write Russian letters and words hear and recognise the stress patterns in a word recognise and understand international loan-words 1 Course materials... gucvomeva bucvu aycấva ặ rqeuma dupar abmoyc ovoqag peanuou aacva pacuca aauua cẻpnpuc qyua uumepec ạyap cqobapậ Read the following names of newspapers Which ones do you recognise? 19 Course materials Which one(s) might be read by each of the following? a resident of St Petersburg? a business person? a young person? a literature specialist? a resident of Moscow? a general reader? What other words can you recognise... include an element of u or U with a small loop or tail added at the end of i a and j ặ The capital letters T, t h all contain the element of T Many Russians use a simpler form of small n as an alternative to m A bar is often added above small m and below to distinguish them from each other in connected writing However, the bar is never used with ặ An easier way of writing d is to think of it as... quite easy to write if you think of the ậ a short version of the English b as the basis for all three letters Now practise writing all 33 Russian letters in alphabetical order Write a whole line for each letter Now try writing a few words from each group of letters Note that the stress is normally not marked in cursive writing vav vmo mav aaaa meaa mevcm vaccema opvecmp meamp xop cmygeum rymoq bogva 16... Russian alphabet Fkaf^bn The Russian alphabet is read by a Russian native speaker Listen several times and then try saying it together with the Russian speaker Refer back to the alphabet supplied at the beginning of the unit Listening to words: exercises 110 There are two exercises (two tasks) for each of the đve groups of letters You will hear instructions in English at the start of each exercise Nask... Course materials The Russian alphabet printed form cursive form name of the letter similar English sounds Ff Aa n Bb Tạ Dg Ee Eẩ / fd gc Uu ặ ặ Uu Kv Aq Ma Hu Oo ah a in bar beh b in ball veh v in van geh g in guy deh d in doll yeh ye in yellow yo a clipped yo in yoghurt zheh s in pleasure zeh z in zoom ee ee in feet ee kratkoe y in toy ka k in kit el l in lollypop em m in mug en n in nut o clipped shortened... text cassette orchestra theatre choir student soccer vodka vuuo ạacema aauua eump dypuaq bvcaaeu uge pacấ voanậẻmep ymấqva ạqacuocmậ uumepbậẻ nepecmpouva ặ cinema newspaper car centre magazine exam idea clock, watch computer bottle glasnost' interview perestroika Introductory unit Rhjcc^jhl 1 Across: ùợ óợốỗợớũởố 1 3 5 7 9 11 March December June September November May Down: ùợ õồũốờởố 2 4 5 6 8 10 April... repeat' exercises Russian books and periodicals never mark the stress, as Russian readers know where the stress falls For purely technical reasons, in this course the stress symbol is not placed above capital letters, e.g at the beginning of names like Fyyf In the body of the course the stress is not marked for the written tasks in each unit Do not use the stress in writing tasks unless speciđcally asked . is co-author of two Russian language textbooks, Basic Russian, A Grammar and Workbook (1999) and Intermediate Russian, A Grammar and Workbook (2 001) . elena crosbie is lecturer in Russian at Heriot-Watt. particular thanks to Vitaly Palkus for his lively and imaginative line-drawings. Thanks to Elena Baburina, Manushak Hovsepyan, Dmitri Tsiskarashvili and Vladimir Shugurov for their reading of. especially Elena Mikhailovna Maksimenko, Liudmila Borisovna Seregina, Irina Abdalyan, Dmitri Tsiskarashvili, Nikolai and Anna Kochurov. We would like to thank Olga Manakova for contributing to the key