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Archive for February, 2014

What You Didn’t Know About Ethnic Heritage in Russia Posted by on Feb 27, 2014

young woman at a lecture

Talking about identity and ethnicity is probably a can of worms for every country. Russia is no different in that respect, and национальный вопрос (ethnic question) is a very щекотливый вопрос (touchy subject). However, the dynamics of ethnic relations in Russia may differ from how they work in your country, and I’d like to point…

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Understanding Foreign Humor: Russian Humor Posted by on Feb 25, 2014

When I first came to America in the distant 2003, many things seemed pretty amazing to me. Sadly, the same could not be said about American humor. Despite the fact that I understood English really well even then, I did not find most of the humor funny. I really tried: I watched multiple episodes of…

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Four Resources for Natural-Sounding Russian Posted by on Feb 20, 2014

We struggle with sounding idiomatic in our second language(s). We may master vocabulary and grammar and be able to express ideas in a way that is technically not wrong, but… так не говорят (you don’t say that). Naturally, learners are encouraged to watch TV, listen to music and podcasts, and travel to the country of…

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Popular Nutritious Russian Dishes and Food Items Posted by on Feb 18, 2014

If you haven’t spent a significant amount of time in Russia, it would be pretty hard for you to give an accurate account of what Russian cuisine is like. Russian cuisine (русская кухня) is a massive aggregate of traditional Russian dishes (русские блюда), Russian adaptations of dishes that came from neighboring cultures, and dishes…

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Introducing and Repealing Rules Posted by on Feb 17, 2014

Many times when I would start to have Russian conversations with learners of Russian, the conversation would quickly slip into discussions about Russian politics. This is only to be cherished, of course; however, the problem is that learners often lack the vocabulary to talk about current events and, therefore, switch back to English. Let’s go…

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On the snowy slopes – на заснеженном склоне Posted by on Feb 13, 2014

With the Winter Olympics in Sochi in full swing, I thought the topics of winter sports may be worth revisiting. Что вы делали на выходных, дорогой читатель? (What did you do over the weekend, dear reader?) Let me tell you what I did, and we can note down some winter sports vocabulary. Я каталась на…

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Top 10 Russian phrases for expressing love & affection Posted by on Feb 12, 2014

Valentine’s Day is around the corner! If your Valentine happens to be Russian, you might want to update your vocabulary on the subject of love and affection. While there is hardly a person in the world who doesn’t know the meaning of “I love you”, conquering a Russian heart with some authentic Russian vocab might…

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