Archive for July, 2012
Vacation Season Posted by yelena on Jul 12, 2012
Ah, summer, prime vacation season not just in Russia, but in many other countries as well. Я жду не дождусь (I can’t wait) for my vacation that’s just a few days away. I can’t even remember the last time я была в отпуске (I was on vacation). How about you? If you are an американец…
Look It Up in Ozhegov! (or, “Using a Russian dictionary”) Posted by Rob on Jul 11, 2012
From the earliest days of learning Russian as a foreign language, we all make frequent use of a переводный словарь (“translation dictionary”), whether it’s English/Russian, French/Russian, Chinese/Russian, or whatever our native language may be. But as you gradually progress in your studies, it helps to become familiar with a different kind of reference tool, namely…
Назовите Эту Птицу! (Name That Bird!) Posted by Rob on Jul 9, 2012
Today, we’re going to get some sentence-reading practice as we play a round of that thrilling new шоу-викторина (“trivia-game show”), Назовите Эту Птицу! (“Name That Bird!”). And without further ado, here’s the ведущая (“TV-show hostess, moderator”) of our show, direct from her sold-out concert appearances in Vegas! Дамы и господа (“ladies and gentlemen”), please put…
Verb of the Week: открывать/открыть Posted by Natalie on Jul 6, 2012
I was actually planning on doing a post about a Russian pop song I like, but I think we ought to end this week with some грамматика [grammar]. I have prepared another post with a verb of the week. This week’s verb is relatively easy to understand: открывать/открыть, which means “to open.” The imperfective…
Decorate Like a Russian Posted by yelena on Jul 5, 2012
From my philosophy course I remember that бытие определяет сознание (being determines consciousness). Understanding Russian/Soviet/post-Soviet/New Russian consciousness just from reading about the environment or even travelling to Russia for a few weeks is just like trying to understand what маракуйя (passion fruit) tastes like from reading about it or looking at pictures. That’s what in-country…
Body Language Posted by yelena on Jul 3, 2012
Thanks to Rob’s most excellent anatomy posts from last week (Part 1 and Part 2), you are now familiar with the Russian names for body parts and internal organs. So let’s review the vocabulary and place it in a different context. Today we are going to travel through some popular sayings and idioms with body…
A Geek, His Wife, A Thief, and a Super (or, my favorite Soviet film) Posted by Rob on Jul 2, 2012
The first full-length Soviet movie I watched in the original language was the 1973 comedy «Иван Васильевич меняет профессию» — Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Careers — which my 2nd-year college Russian instructor screened for the class on a grainy VHS tape with English subtitles. Later, it would be the first Russian-language movie I bought on DVD…