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Word of the Week: «Жара!» [Heat!] Posted by josefina on Jul 18, 2010
In Russia you’ll only find «такая пустая улица» [such an empty street] in the city «летом» [(instrumental case: when?) in the summer] when «жара» [the heat] has driven all citizens either «на дачу» [(accusative case: direction) to the dacha] or – as one can read about in this article – «в подвал» [into the basement]…
Reading «Мастер и Маргарита»: Chapter 6 Posted by josefina on Jul 12, 2010
It doesn’t really feel like «лето» [summer] until you’ve spent an entire afternoon doing nothing but the following simultaneously: «лежать в траве» [to lie in the grass], «пить холодное молоко» [to drink cold milk] and «читать Булгакова» [to read Bulgakov]. «Россия» [Russia] is a wonderful country in many, many ways – but during my six…
A summer in Russia Posted by josefina on Jul 8, 2010
We spent two years in Russia, when I was Naval Attaché in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, 1981 to 1983. Here are some of my memories of summer there: «Белый пух» [white down; fluff; fuzz]: Summers in Russia are short, but intense, and sweet. In Moscow, our first memory of summer is «белый пух» [white…
«Моё первое русское лето» [My first Russian Summer] Posted by josefina on Jul 6, 2010
Russia is white not only in winter: during summer she’s («Россия» is after all a feminine noun!) covered in what I like to call «летний снег» [summer snow]. Other people call it simply «белый пух» [white down; fluff; fuzz]. The real name for it is «тополиный пух» [poplar fuzz] – and no Russian summer is…
Russian Language: The Lazy Man’s Version Posted by josefina on Jul 2, 2010
Some things in Russian language are not so difficult to learn and remember. Like this thing pictured above (the photo cold have been taken «в Челябинской области» [in Chelyabinsk Region], but it was not) – at first I wanted to call it «трактор» [a tractor], but that’s what happens when you bring a person from…
Reading “The Master & Margarita”: Chapter 4 Posted by josefina on Jun 30, 2010
In chapter 3 of «Мастер и Маргарита» [”The Master & Margarita”] we read about how «Берлиоз» [Berlioz] lost his head and died as a result. Chapter 4 is called «Погоня» [1. pursuit, chase; 2. pursuers] (think of the verb «гонять» which is the imperfective and indeterminate ‘friend’ of the verb «гнать» meaning ‘to drive; to…
Meet the Verb: «собираться»! Posted by josefina on Jun 25, 2010
Maybe somewhere in between all the recent posts by Yelena on our blog – as well as Vickie’s excellent guest post two days ago – you might have asked yourselves: «А где же Джозефина?!» [“But where is Josefina?!”] I know there’s been a significant gap without me posting here about the wondrous world of Russian…