Archive by Author
Passing the Baton on the Russian Blog and Maria’s Top Posts Posted by Maria on Mar 31, 2020
Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while will know that I have written for it for the past 6 years, posting 356 articles. I’ve been honored to be a part of this blog and interact with our readers. As I step down to concentrate on other endeavors, I’d like to…
An Unexpected Item Russians Stockpile Because of Coronavirus Posted by Maria on Mar 26, 2020
We already covered the incipient COVID-19 outbreak on this blog last month, before anyone knew how badly the world would be affected. Now panic buying has reached Russia, too. While there is significant overlap with other countries in terms of sold-out items, there are some Russia-specific purchases. Hygiene and Protection Like in many places around…
What You Need To Know To Navigate Russian Airports Posted by Maria on Mar 11, 2020
In case you need to fly into, out of, or through a Russian airport, there are some common phrases that will make navigating it much more comfortable. Of course, international airports (аэропо́рты) have announcements (объявле́ния) and signs (указа́тели) in English and in the flight origin/destination language, but you if you fly within Russia, these words…
Don’t Worry About Gender or Number with These Russian Phrases Posted by Maria on Mar 5, 2020
Russian is notorious for its complex system of inflection. Oftentimes, it’s not enough to remember the dictionary form of the word—you need to take into account its gender, number, case, person, or tense, as the case may be. However, some very basic Russian words are not like that at all! We will look at some…
Top 5 Russian Personal Documents Posted by Maria on Feb 27, 2020
As I wrote before, life in Russia is a bit more bureaucratic than people in other countries may be used to. There are several documents that people need in order to receive certain legal or social services or even to enter buildings! 1. Па́спорт (National ID) The word па́спорт literally means “passport,” but it is…
5 Slang Words in Contemporary Russian Posted by Maria on Feb 21, 2020
Do you ever find yourself reading an article in Russian on a hip website and seeing a word that doesn’t seem to make sense even after you look it up? This post will look at some expressions that have cropped up or taken on new meanings recently. I will include examples from various Telegram channels…
Coronavirus Coverage in Russian Posted by Maria on Feb 13, 2020
The new respiratory illness that emerged in China last December and has now been named COVID-19 has also been detected in Russia. COVID-19, caused by a novel coronavirus (коронави́рус), has, understandably, received a lot of coverage in Russian-language media. This post will share some useful vocabulary for talking about this and other seasonal diseases. Seasonal…