Archive by Author
How To Blog In Russian: вести Живой Журнал или блоговать? Posted by josefina on Jun 2, 2008
The Russian blog community is a fascinating world of general discussions, private reflections and random efforts to earn an extra ruble or two – in short, just like in all other blog communities around the world. In Russia there’s still some ambivalence about what to exactly call this ‘action’ (once again we’re back at the…
Who Owns The Rights To Lenin’s Face? Posted by josefina on May 31, 2008
After his death in 1924, the face of Владимир Ильич Ленин was used for mainly religious purposes, as he became known as a sort of ‘icon’ for the Soviet Union. After the death of the Soviet Union, the face of Lenin, and even more so his profile, has been used for a wide array of…
Brief Thoughts On The Russian Verb Posted by josefina on May 28, 2008
The most confusing part of Russian language – putting aside, of course, those six cases for the moment – is the verb. The Russian verb is both confusing and difficult to master for foreigners, especially for foreigners with a non-Slavic native language. The reason why this is so is because of a little thing called…
Second Time’s A Charm: Дима Билан Wins Eurovision! Posted by josefina on May 25, 2008
Today the famous Nokia-beeping of an sms woke me up in the middle of the night with the following words from my mother in Sweden: “Congratulations Russia won! How does it feel? Hugs, mom”. Relieved as I am from owning a TV, it was only on an intuitive level that I understood that I…
Phraseology In The News: Колено [The Knee] Posted by josefina on May 23, 2008
«Им мир по колено – выросло первое поколение стабильности» [They couldn’t care less (about the world) – the first generation of stability has grown up]. One of the first things I noticed when I arrived in Russia back in 2004 was how much the young teenage generation differed from their parents and even from…
Forward To The Past Posted by josefina on May 20, 2008
Walking through my Russian hometown of the moment, I came across this ‘graffiti’ on a truck. Yeah, it’s kind of funny and that’s the reason why I decided to take a picture of it. It reminded me of those Soviet propaganda posters from WWII with the happy soldier tying his boots with the words…
In The News: Medvedev Tries To Solve A Russian Enigma Posted by josefina on May 17, 2008
I suppose everyone already knows which country is the biggest in the world – Россия. But that’s the kind of second-hand knowledge one acquires from studying a map of the world. If you’re actually in Russia, and not on a train or on a plane traveling through it, but walking around in a big Russian…