Reddit reviews Beginner's Russian with Interactive Online Workbook

Non-native speaker here, but serious student of the language.

> What is a good introductory textbook/guidebook for me to use?

I really like Russian for Beginners by Duff. I believe it may be out of print, but there are plenty of copies around. Apart from that, the New Penguin Russian Course is very good, albeit very dense. For example with the Penguin course, the vocabulary lists with each lesson are about 3x as long as the Duff book. Personally, if I were starting out and wanted to have a conversational basis, I'd looking into the UCLA Russian course. The online exercises and audio are linked to the companion book Beginner's Russian which you will need. If you want to move along faster, do both the UCLA course and the Duff or Penguin books.

> What is a good introductory textbook/guidebook for me to use?

I have trouble reading the small print in dictionaries; so I only use online resources:

• openrussian.org - this is a great site that pulls in pronunciations, inflexions, example sentences, etc. I use it daily.
  
• Reverso - not quite as easy to use as openrussian.org, but has derivative words and phrases that can come in handy.
  
• Cornell Russian dictionary tree - barebones, but fast and to the point, legible.
  
  > Is there an online resource to talk to/chat with natives or tutors? I live in Alabama, so I interact with almost zero Russian-speakers.
  
  Not near Birmingham or Huntsville? I've worked with face-to-face tutors off and on but some people have recommended iTalki which sounds like a language tutor/learner brokerage site.
  
  > Do you have any advice on stuff I should learn first, or stuff that's difficult and needs careful attention?
  
  
• Alphabet - as you've done
  
• Pronunciation - (1) particularly the letters that don't have correspondents in English, (2) attention to palatization of soft consonants, e.g. the difference between мат and мать. (3) how syllabic stress effects the pronunciations of vowels.
  
• Tackle the inflections slowly. Russian is a heavily inflected language, meaning that the word endings change a lot depending on the role they play in the sentence. The heuristics for some cases in the noun declensions can be overwhelming - genitive plural, for example. I'd tackle a case at a time. Verb conjugations are easier. Start with a handful of group 1 verbs, работать, читать, думать, etc. and practice conjugating. Understand the principles/heuristics where possible before memorizing.
  
• Begin memorizing vocabulary - there are a lot of words. A lot. Memorize the words that show up in the lessons of whatever course you choose to follow. Memorize words that relate to a particular useful context (kitchen words, food words, car words, etc.). Use spaced-repetition software to help you. I use Anki which is a widely used spaced-repetition flashcard application. Take the time to make your own cards rather than some random pre-built deck. Make sure that you include sentences on the cards to illustrate how the words are used. Context is important.
  
• Practice - even if you don't have a tutor, read aloud. Think sentences to yourself.
  
  > Any information or advice you guys have would be most appreciated!
  
  You might consider Duolingo (free) or Babbel (not free). They have pros and cons. If you like interactive web-based training it might be a useful adjunct starting out.

Honestly I don't think Duolingo is super great for Russian (except for maybe vocab), because Russian is pretty grammar heavy (the case system, etc) so I would recommend more of a formal study. Could you get/download a textbook and work through it? A lot of them have online websites for the pronunciation/listening aspects. I haven't used this textbook (I used Golosa for my 1st year) but I've used their 2nd and 3rd textbooks and they're pretty solid ( https://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Russian-Interactive-Online-Workbook/dp/0781812518/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=beginner+russian&qid=1556240078&s=gateway&sr=8-2 ) They also have a website with answer keys and audio (free w/o code): http://www.russian.ucla.edu/beginnersrussian/

https://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Russian-Interactive-Online-Workbook/dp/0781812518/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=russian+books+for+beginners&qid=1573183106&sprefix=russian+books+&sr=8-2

I used this book - it comes link to a free website with speaking exercises.

https://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Russian-Interactive-Online-Workbook/dp/0781812518/ref=sr_1_27?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502127954&sr=1-27&keywords=learn+russian

But most importantly if I have a question and need help from a native speaker I use this app called "HelloTalk". It connects you with a Russian speaker and they'll gladly help you (most of the time you help them with English and they'll help you with Russian). The only problem with the app is the time difference, which can't be helped. Like you, I work a full time job and I get most of my answers back in the late PM or early AM unless it's the weekends.

https://www.fluentin3months.com/hellotalk-review/

Here is the mobile version of your link

I would strongly recommend this, which is the Russian course developed at UCLA. I've used this as a solo learner and it's been great.

Pros:

-All the listening and video material is available online on their website, easy to access for solo learners.

-All of the answers are also available on the website, not in some teacher's course guide.

-It's modern

-It's thorough

Cons: can't find a PDF anywhere, paper version only.

I have been using the Kudyma/Miller Beginner’s Russian (https://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Russian-Interactive-Online-Workbook/dp/0781812518) book in my college Russian courses and honestly , it works great for me. Explains grammar well and provides tons of useful exercises in the book, and in conjunction with the online resource. Plus, it’s not too pricey.

> Beginners Russian

This one?

These 2 books are good:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0781812518/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1YPLQS5TKC7HZ&coliid=I2ZM2MU49FFEQ0

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0415712270/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1YPLQS5TKC7HZ&coliid=IZTY43RILT957

And then it's utilizing your online resources, finding people to practice with, etc. But grammar is you go-go. Without it, it'll be very hard.