Archive by Author
Who Was Sverdlov? and what’s with his statue still standing? Posted by josefina on Oct 23, 2008
Seemingly a day like any other, today I was present during a literary seminary at my university dealing with the heroic and historic short novel «Тарас Бульба» [“Taras Bulba”] by everyone’s favorite Николай Гоголь [Nikolay Gogol’]. After about thirty minutes of pure literary theoretic discussion, all of the sudden the professor – the sweetest пушкиновед…
“Happiness in a time of Crisis” or «Крисиз как источник счастья» Posted by josefina on Oct 21, 2008
It is my favorite word in any language, but especially I love the sound of it in Russian – «счастье» [1. happiness, 2. (good) luck, (good) fortune]. I love how the two first letters «сч» together are pronounced like a «щ» making it «щастье»; an all together soft and pleasing, lovable little part of speech…
Word of the Week: «Учиться» Posted by josefina on Oct 15, 2008
The word of this week is a verb (do note the «ь» [‘soft sign’] right after the «т», as that is a sure sign of the verb being in infinitiv, oh and don’t forget to pay attention to the «ся», because if you fail to do so, then you will not be aware of the…
A Ural Must-See: «Ганина Яма» Posted by josefina on Oct 12, 2008
There are two ways in which I could begin this post. 1) Isn’t it sometimes ironic to find out what kind of historic events of the past took place on the same day as your birthday? Ironic as it is, I was born on the 16th of July, which just happens to be the very…
Нечто о ВИЧ в России [Something about HIV in Russia] Posted by josefina on Oct 8, 2008
«Для меня использовать презерватив также естественно, как есть» [For me to use a condom is as natural as eating]. The poster on the picture above I found hanging on a wall in one of the corridors of my university about a week ago. Since then I’ve seen two more posters like it with information about…
Word of the Week: «бабье лето» Posted by josefina on Oct 5, 2008
It happens every year. Some years it lasts but for a couple of days («если нам повезёт – на выходных» [if we’re lucky – on a weekend]), while other years it can remain with us for a week or perhaps even two, this beautiful creation of Mother Nature – «бабье лето» [Indian summer]. After a…
Word of the week: «Прикалываться» Posted by josefina on Sep 27, 2008
In my post from last week, “On Free Magazines & Expats in Russia”, I used the verb «прикалываться» without thinking twice about it. I did so even after I searched for a proper translation of the word into English without finding one. My trusted Kenneth Katzner dictionary only translates «прикалывать» [impf, pf – «приколоть»] as…