These phrase lists are absolutely as useful as useful gets. I am able to use them all the time and it allows me to cover many situations with my Russian-speaking spouse. The great thing is they are broken up into groups of common functions such as Greetings, Gratitude, hope, surprise, etc. These recordings allow multiple ways of responding to common situations. And they are short. One other benefit is that these phrases come up all the time in movies and in books. Very useful.