Archive for 'Culture'
Saying “Goodbye” Posted by bota on Jul 27, 2022
![](https://blogs.transparent.com/russian/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/pexels-genine-alyssa-pedrenoandrada-6466385-350x234.jpg)
My dear readers, Goodbyes are tricky, aren’t they? Maybe that’s why the majority of Russian speakers hang up the phone by saying «Давай, пока» or sometimes just the “Давай”. I wish I could do the same, but unfortunately, this will be my final blog here. I do not want our goodbye to be a sad…
Шестеро на диване, or What would you do to win a brand new couch? Posted by ryan on Jun 30, 2022
![](https://blogs.transparent.com/russian/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/living-room-gb9a7f4000_1280-350x210.jpg)
I recently stumbled across an article on Афиша.ру, a popular Russian website, with the following headline: В Бе́лгороде провели́ соревнова́ние по са́мому до́лгому сиде́нию на дива́не The headline was intriguing because, well, it makes you ask, заче́м? The tough конкурс contest began on June 24 and lasted 4 days, finishing on June 28. From this…
Russian hocus-pocus Posted by bota on Jun 24, 2022
![tic-tac-toe](https://blogs.transparent.com/russian/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/06/pexels-elina-araja-3400795-350x350.jpg)
This title is just one of the combinations I used trying to search for the name of the super-duper fascinating language thing we are about to discuss. Would you like to guess what it is? An itsy-bitsy guess? I cannot give you another clue, but I will say this: googling ‘Russian hanky-panky’ will NOT take…
Monasteries, eyeliner, and poverty Posted by bota on May 18, 2022
![monastery](https://blogs.transparent.com/russian/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/pexels-vincent-rivaud-2363832-263x350.jpg)
Today is a deep dive into one Russian verb. Recently one of my students and I were casually talking about ways to express in English that you “подвёл кого–то” (as in ‘to let someone down’) when it dawned on me that I don’t know why we use “подводить” in that sense in Russian. What I…
Stars of the stage: Russian opera through several interpretations Posted by ryan on May 11, 2022
Russian opera is and has been legendary for well over a century. In invite you to get acquainted with some legendary известные ру́сские о́перные исполни́тели through some of the roles they are most known for: А́нна Нетре́бко – «Русла́н и Людми́ла» Михаи́ла Гли́нки Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857) was the first Russian composer to gain notoriety at…
A very polite hedgehog Posted by bota on Apr 19, 2022
![hedgehog](https://blogs.transparent.com/russian/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/pexels-egor-kamelev-2923830-234x350.jpg)
If you are новичок, this blog is for you. If you are an advanced student or a native Russian speaker, this blog is also for you. How? Simple. The answer is ёжик. Или точнее, очень вежливый ёжик. As Russians like to say “Повторение — мать учения“.. For those of you new to Russian language, use…
A bridge between cultures in a time of war? Posted by ryan on Mar 25, 2022
![](https://blogs.transparent.com/russian/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/03/pexels-eberhard-grossgasteiger-8051674-233x350.jpg)
The life of Серге́й Параджа́нов Sergei Parajanov, an infamous director who lived and worked in the Soviet Union, would have made a plot worthy of a movie in itself: ethnically Armenian, he was born in Tbilisi, now Georgia, in 1924, quit engineering school to study voice in the conservatory, then later, enchanted by the world…