Archive for the year 2010
Joy of Russian Appetizers Posted by yelena on Oct 15, 2010
Last week I went to a «русский пикник» [Russian picnic] here, in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was done “pot-luck” style, so I had to think of something to bring for this «трапеза на лоне природы» [meal in the open air]. As I was thinking up something «вкусненькое» [delicious], yet «быстрое в приготовлении» [quick to make]…
Russian Seasons – Autumn Posted by yelena on Oct 11, 2010
«Унылая пора, очей очарованье» [a melancholy season, bewitchment for the eyes] – that’s how Alexander Pushkin described «осень» [autumn]. The classic wasn’t alone in «воспевание» [celebration, lit.: singing of praises] of this «закатный сезон» [sunset season]. Russian poets love autumn (ok, it’s called Fall here, in the USA, but autumn seems a bit more romantic…
«Прощайте, дорогие друзья!» [Farewell, dear friends!] Posted by josefina on Oct 10, 2010
I would advice you all to continue doing what I always do – and sort of have instructed you to also take pleasure in – look for signs of Russian literature EVERYWHERE! I found this bumper sticker on a car in downtown San Francisco today: “What would Taras Bulba do?” [«Что бы делал Тарас Бульба?»]…
How to Procrastinate in Russian Posted by yelena on Oct 8, 2010
We all procrastinate from time to time. Some (and I’m pointing a finger at myself right now) do it more than others. If you love Russian and happen to procrastinate even ocassionally, then why not do it in Russian? That’s what total immersion is all about, isn’t it? But let me not delay this post…
Reading “Мастер и Маргарита”: Chapter 15 Posted by yelena on Oct 1, 2010
Remember Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoi (literal translation of his last name is “Shoeless”) who briefly appears in Chapter 9? In the beginning of that chapter he strikes a not-very-clear-cut deal with «коварный» [treacherous] Koroviev and at the end is led away by two nameless, but sinister «товарищи» [comrades]. And that was, seemingly, the end of…
Are There Too Many Letters in Russian Alphabet? Posted by yelena on Sep 27, 2010
What’s this, you ask? Well, this is Russian alphabet. Or rather, this was the old Russian alphabet used in times of Peter the Great. Letters in blue have been discarded by 1800. Letters in red were killed off or exiled in 1918. The remaining 33 letters form the present-day Russian alphabet. When I was little…
Russian Fairy Tales from A to Z – Part 2 Posted by yelena on Sep 24, 2010
«У Лукоморья дуб зелёный…» – do you know the rest by heart yet? One of the most famous lines from Alexandr Pushkin’s opening to “Ruslan and Lyudmila” does not translate very well into English. “There grows a green oak in Lookomorie…” somehow doesn’t sound nearly as magical, don’t you think? Yes, I’m back with…