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Breaking News – One Fewer Letter Posted by yelena on Apr 1, 2012
I don’t post on this blog on weekends, unless something happens that is из ряда вон выходящее (out of the ordinary). Today is just such a day. As you know, the Russian alphabet has 33 letters. Or rather, it had 33 letters until today when the number was reduced by 1 letter. Can you guess…
Answers to Sex in PGT Research Questions Posted by yelena on Mar 30, 2012
In my recent Sex in ПГТ post I suggested some questions for independent research. If you haven’t done it yet, but plan on doing it this weekend, then you should probably not read this post right now. As they say in movie reviews, Spoiler Alert. So let’s start with the last question first: Practice…
Let’s Practice Translating a Dialogue Posted by yelena on Mar 29, 2012
One of the blog readers, David, left a comment on the previous post that included a short translation. Now, this translation was done by David and other members of кружок «Журавли» (the Zhuravli group), first using Google Translation (Welsh into Russian). The members of the group then worked on improving the results produced by Google…
Sex in ПГТ Posted by yelena on Mar 27, 2012
While it’s too early in the week to have a proper Russian movie night, let’s watch this very short video called Секс в п.г.т. Note: Whenever you see this sign * it means there’s a related question at the bottom of the post. Ok, so the first word секс is pretty easy to understand (sex)…
The Slynx Posted by yelena on Mar 23, 2012
Book reviews can be very misleading. Actually, if I was to read the reviews for Кысь (The Slynx) by Татьяна Толстая (Tatiana Tolstaya) first, I would have not picked up the book at all. Luckily, I wasn’t looking for anything particular the day I spotted it on the bookshelf of книжный магазин (bookstore) on Brighton…
Woman’s Work – Part 2 Posted by yelena on Mar 19, 2012
I am pretty sure that most Russians over 30 are familiar with the opening lines of Gianni Rodari’s poem Чем пахнут ремёсла (What jobs smell like): У каждого дела Запах особый (Each trade Has its special smell) This short poem mentions quite a few jobs, all using masculine nouns – маляр (painter), стекольщик (windows installer)…
Spring Has Sprung Posted by yelena on Mar 16, 2012
This has been a harsh winter in Russia and it’s not quite over yet. The snow and cold are lingering well into March in many regions of the country. It’s a balmy 26 degrees F there today and snow is expected tomorrow. And weather reports include до боли знакомые строки (painfully familiar verses) by Feodor…