Archive by Author
Writing about Russia for Dummies – Part I Posted by Maria on Nov 13, 2014
Disclaimer: This post is English-heavy. It is directed at people who do not have a strong background in the Russian language or culture. If you like seeing more Russian in posts, you probably already know most of what I am going to say. Read Part II here. Say you are fascinated with Russia and would like to make…
Why You Shouldn’t Rely On Other Slavic Languages to Understand Russian Posted by Maria on Nov 10, 2014
Russian is a Slavic language, so it shares some of its grammar and vocabulary with other languages from that family. Much as we like to rely on similarities among languages to expand our knowledge, I would like to warn you against using your knowledge of Russian to communicate with speakers of other Slavic languages —…
What It Was Like to Be a 90s Kid In Russia – Part II Posted by Maria on Nov 6, 2014
Earlier this week we talked about growing up in Russia in the nineties. Many of you brought up things you remembered from your childhood in Russia or in other countries. It is always fascinating to see what things transcended borders and what things were more regional. Let us continue this week. Chewing Gum with Stickers/Inserts One…
What It Was Like to Be a 90s Kid In Russia — Part I Posted by Maria on Nov 3, 2014
Read Part II here. As the so-called millenials are coming of age around the world, there are always posts popping up about what it was like growing up in the 90s. I like to compare what things I recognize from my childhood in Russia and what things must be specific to the country the post describes…
“Common Sense” Ideas You Need to Abandon in Russia Posted by Maria on Oct 30, 2014
I don’t like appeals to the proverbial “common sense” in explanations. What is viewed as common varies vastly among individuals, not to mention groups of people. In this post I would like to concentrate on assumptions that we may take for granted outside Russia, especially in the Anglo-American world, that may not reflect Russian reality —…
Colloquial Praises Posted by Maria on Oct 23, 2014
If you took Russian — or any language, for that matter — you probably eventually arrived at a point when your teacher encouraged you to use words other than хороший (good) to praise things. Hopefully, you started using замечательный, чудесный (both mean wonderful), восхитительный (delightful), великолепный (magnificent), прекрасный (great, beautiful), отменный (select, top-notch), отличный (excellent) and…
Time Paradoxes in Russian Posted by Maria on Oct 16, 2014
Human perception of time is culture-specific, so it’s no wonder that simply learning the words to talk about time is not enough. You need to understand how Russian speakers see time so their words and actions can start making sense to you. Time of the day is organic… You probably learned time of the day…