Learner Reviews & Feedback for Russian for beginners 2. Русский язык A1 by Saint Petersburg State University

At the beginning of 2 courses , coz I already have some foundations before, it wasn't too hard I am only revising. However it really become difficult here! I can speak 3 languages now so I definitely know language requires practice and repetition. in this course only there are very short videos about the knowledge ,almost without any explanation and practice to show!

Week 1 in this course I already found in order to understand a knowledge in test I must google or search myself. which is really painful , I feel I don't enjoy learning or actually learning anything at all .

I do not recommend anyone who wants to start learning Russian used this specialisation unless you have very strong initiative. and I know this specialisation is pretty new, so I really wish the faculty can make effort to change this. this comment made on 22nd March

They teach something they ask something else!! Extremely insufficient teaching! Not at all happy with this course!

It is a good course that complements the first two modules of the A1 specialization. It contains more quizes, exercises and vocabulary, I recommend it without hesitation to improve or review A1 concepts

I found the imperfective and perfective verbs in Russian very difficult, other than that it was till really well done.

This is a good course for beginners who already have some experience with the Russian language.

Excellent courseware, only downside is some parts requires further explanations.

Explanations severely lacking. Usually just rules and a few examples, sometimes ambiguous. Not enough time (and exercises, repetition devoted to each topic. Sometimes topics are tested before they are taught.

At least the teacher's English is much better than in the first part. Maybe rerecord that one?

big thanks coursera really iam learned good things in Russian language.

Great lecture :) my Russian is getting improved , Simple and effective

Я люблю русский язык, и этот курс дал мне очень хорошие знания.

Very good

As a beginner/intermediate learner, I got more out of this course than I thought I would have. I don't know how I'd have felt taking it as a complete beginner though — I might have found it quite tough, actually! Once more, there are a few typos in the material, and the videos and listening exercises could have been better paced so as to give us enough time to repeat and take notes. Speaking of the videos, the 15-second long introductions became very annoying. It's otherwise a good course, and I would recommend it to a beginner/intermediate learner of Russian interested in a more nuanced pass over the fundamentals :-) I also like it that you give lots and lots of exercises! This was the first time I tried using the forum, and it seems dead — I think there are no instructors there.

There are some mistakes in the answer key - typos in the course. Sometimes they assumed prior knowledge of things not covered in the lesson. Other than that, it was super helpful.

This course started out good, but then turned to all about the grammar and in a couple of instances, incomplete explanations. An example is the rule of numbers, the video just described this is what you do if the number is 1,, 2 or 3, and then 4, 5... etc. If you follow the instructions on the video exactly, you will get the answers incorrect. Noun endings are formed from the nominative form, but sometimes only given prepositional form of noun. Masculine nouns in the Dative Case end can end in "emy" or "omy" - question is which nouns end in which - these are things that have to be memorized. These are just some examples.

By the last couple of tests, it was almost like the person teaching and the person writing the tests were two different individuals with a lot of new vocabulary not even introduced yet. Right before the last test, we were given two pages of "aspectual pairs of verbs" with no translation or how to pronounce them. On the final test, it was like pick out the words you know or can formulate a sense of meaning from the word root, and use deductive reasoning to answer the questions. The actual vocabulary words are not difficult to learn, just that way too much grammar without enough significant language leads to a lot of frustration and even more confusion. Before I begin the next course, I am taking the time to go back and organize and review all my notes again. The scope of the program is good, but just need to get out of the "zoom focus mode" on grammar and into actual usable language and introduce the grammar as language is acquired.

Good course but goes a bit too fast at times. I would have liked a bit more explanation in English. Perhaps more examples would help as well. The assessment quizzes are useful for testing your knowledge.

I think the course is perfect but it needs more explanations when it comes to the examples before moving on to the exams part, the content needs sometime for English translation.

more a little more clarification in the conjugation of verbs and nouns I was a little confused

You need to have more examples, and stop jamming all the contents into a week's work! For example, the dative case - when do we use it? why do we use it? There wasn't enough example and I'm still very confused about when I should use this particular tense. That last two quizzes were like hell because I was so confused by different verbs and tenses and the formation of the aspectual pairs, which I'm still not certain how to use it.

There is little to no explanation for any of the concepts. It does not teach you the vocabulary you need to do the course. You must use a lot of outside resources, not provided in this course in order to finish this course. I do not recommend this course.

there is no didatics