Archive by Author
Visitors’ Impressions of Russia Posted by Maria on Aug 28, 2014
If you have visited Russia, you have probably been asked by your Russian friends or by your family back home how you liked Russia. Some of the questions might have been Как тебе/вам Россия? Тебе нравится в России? Тебе понравилось в России? I’ve come across interviews with expats living in Moscow, published by the Moscow supplement to…
Comma Abuse in Russian Posted by Maria on Aug 25, 2014
We are often so concentrated on the various skills involved in the mastery of a language that punctuation tends to fall by the wayside. In the absence of any other guidance, we rely on our own language in our writing, but that may sometimes prove wrong. I would like to point out several aspects of…
Intro to Russian comedy scene Posted by Maria on Aug 18, 2014
We have touched upon Russian humor in general, so I’m sure you may be curious to get acquainted with the Russian comedy scene. As any aspect of culture, it is too vast to be covered in one post. I will try to present overview of a few household names known to many people in Russia…
Finances in Russian Posted by Maria on Aug 7, 2014
This post goes out to all the expats and businesspeople working and doing business in Russia. While finances are generally a good topic to be conversant in, it becomes especially important for those who have to manage their finances abroad. Personal Finances First, let’s look at the ways to manage your деньги (money; always plural)…
Sneak Russian into Your Online Experience Posted by Maria on Aug 4, 2014
There was recently an excellent post of creating language immersion outside the country where that language is spoken. I realize it may be hard to stay motivated to keep up on your language studies in your everyday life. Of course, ideally you should actively pursue your language studies, subscribe to podcasts, listen to music, read…
Skills Russians Rock Posted by Maria on Jul 31, 2014
Russian people may sometimes surprise you by certain things they seem to do effortlessly. A Russian person probably takes these skills for granted because they are emphasized in the Russian education system, but they may still stand out to people outside Russia. Unaided math One thing people educated in Russia and, I would suppose, the…
Take Your Pronunciation to the Next Level – Part II Posted by Maria on Jul 28, 2014
This post is continued from last week. We were talking about the top areas you should concentrate on to drastically improve your Russian pronunciation. 4. ы Ы is a funny sound. It is not considered very pretty-sounding in Russian, and few native words have it. At the same time, it is widely used to form…