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Color Me Russian! Posted by josefina on Mar 19, 2010
To learn a new language is to enter into a new world. And in this new world you’re bound to come across things you didn’t know anything about before (hence why I’m stressing the importance of the concept ‘new world’ here), things that never even crossed your mind before. To speak a foreign language is…
Top Ten Things to Do in Russia Posted by josefina on Mar 10, 2010
We’ve studied the language for years, we’ve almost mastered the grammar, we’ve stopped pronouncing half of the words in any given sentence all wrong, we’ve read every single great novel by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, we’ve recited Pushkin’s poetry by heart out loud – what next? What else should one do when in Russia? Because…
Top Ten Russian Phrases Posted by josefina on Mar 8, 2010
So you’ve made it to Russia – now what?! Don’t feel discouraged by not having mastered Russian language fully yet. Life is long and there’s still plenty of time ahead for you to get a grip on all of those cases and to understand why so often the letter «о» sounds like the letter…
«Это вы всё-таки ждали…»: Answers to the Russian Poetry Quiz! Posted by josefina on Mar 7, 2010
Remember the post here on March 2nd – «Вот неожиданно»: Russian Poetry Quiz! – which disappeared for a while (but now it is back up on the blog, which the working link is living proof of). If you missed it the first time, feel free to have a look at it before reading the correct…
«Вот неожиданно»: Russian Poetry Quiz! Posted by josefina on Mar 2, 2010
Once upon a time I shared a room for a year «с японкой» [with a Japanese girl] and every day she would comment on something in our Russian life by using the adverb «неожиданно» [unexpectedly, unawares; at unawares, by surprise; suddenly, all at once; overnight]. Her reaction to almost everything in Russia was «это было…
And in Russia it’s “Man Day”! Posted by josefina on Feb 23, 2010
Question of the day: «А где твоя фуражка?» [And where’s you cap (peaked cap)?] Of course you haven’t really been to Russia if you haven’t had a Russian officer place his old «советская ушанка» [Soviet (i.e. Red Army) fur hat] on your head! But I can already hear your objections, «дорогие читатели» [dear readers], that…
«Класс!» – On the Importance of Calling Things by their Proper Names Posted by josefina on Feb 17, 2010
There are days when «словарь» [the dictionary] is not you best friend. It might still be «друг» [a friend] of yours, «но не самый лучший друг» [but not the very best friend]. Why is that? Because on these particular days the dictionary fails to explain certain words to you. Or explains them in such a…