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Learning Russian After Spanish Posted by Maria on Apr 27, 2015
I’ve often heard that after learning one foreign language every additional language becomes progressively easier. I suppose there may be truth to it in that you internalize certain principles common to many languages and develop good study and research habits. However, your first foreign language can also mislead you in your efforts to learn…
Why Won’t Russians Answer Me In Russian? (Part II) Posted by Maria on Apr 20, 2015
We are continuing from last week’s post on why some Russians will seemingly give you the cold shoulder and won’t answer you in Russian. We looked at how certain pronunciation gaffes can obscure understanding. There are also social and interpersonal reasons for the person’s reluctance to respond to you in Russian. Hungry for Practice As…
Why Won’t Russians Answer Me In Russian? (Part I) Posted by Maria on Apr 16, 2015
So we’ve all probably been there. You spend a lot of time learning a language and finally get to a point where you can understand some spoken phrases and form coherent responses. You run into a native speaker and happily start talking Russian (or whatever language you’re learning) to them — only to get a blank…
Married With Children: Family in Russia Posted by Maria on Apr 13, 2015
Family is one of these things that we often assume to be universal all around the world. Especially thinking about industrialis/zed countries like Russia, people from other such nations expect a typical family to be similar to what they are used to. This, of course, may not be true in all cases. It is hard to…
What Brings Foreigners to Russia Posted by Maria on Apr 6, 2015
Many of the readers of this blog may have visited Russia or other Russian-speaking countries at some point. A visit to Russia is a short-time experience for most people. What compels the chosen few to stay in Russia past the initial three months? 1. Intercompany transfer What: One category of foreigners, usually bestowed the moniker…
Ways to Be Frustrated in Russian Posted by Maria on Mar 30, 2015
You might have thought from the title that this post is a continuation of our pet peeves discussion. However, I would actually like to talk about the ways annoying behavio(u)r is described in colloquial Russian. Most of these words have a different primary meaning but are used colloquially in unexpected ways. 1. Па́рить Па́рить comes…
Songs from Russian Cartoons: Grammar Clinic Posted by Maria on Mar 23, 2015
Many a student of Russian learned from the songs in Soviet cartoons. These cartoons are widely-known classics, some of which, like Cheburashka, have developed a cult following abroad. However, all too often learners will recogniz/se the cartoon and hum the tune but won’t know the lyrics or what they mean. Why don’t we take this opportunity to…