Archive for 'Culture'
Famous Quotes in Russian Translation Posted by Maria on Feb 23, 2015
There are certain quotes (цита́ты) from films, literature, folk sayings, and so on that have entered our everyday lexicon. This is the case with Russian, as well. Listed below are phrases originally said or written in languages other than Russian that are known to the vast majority of Russians. Can you finish these quotes? Hover…
Inherently Russian Behaviors Posted by Jenya on Feb 17, 2015
If there are Russian people among your friends or family, some of the things they do may seem puzzling to you. Chances are they are thinking the same thing about you. You see, a lot of things we do on a day-to-day basis are inherently cultural. We, Russians, are certainly no exception. With that…
Three Iconic Russian Love Stories Posted by Maria on Feb 12, 2015
As Valentine’s Day is approaching, I was thinking about the archetypal love stories — you know, the Romeo and Juliet (Роме́о и Джулье́тта) tales that are immediately recognizable and referenced whenever people want to evoke love. What follows is not complete or representative by any means, and I encourage you to share more examples in comments. However…
Famous Athletes from the Former Soviet Union Posted by Jenya on Feb 4, 2015
So many athletes from around the world are famous. Believe it or not, some of the world’s top athletes hail from Russia. In researching this topic, I had a very large number of people to choose from; many of them were tennis and hockey players. Selecting only a few from a list of hundreds was…
They Were Russian? Posted by Jenya on Feb 3, 2015
If you were to stop people on the streets of New York, London, Paris, or any other major metropolitan area and ask them to list some famous Russian people, I bet you’d never hear these names. Some of these names may even surprise a Russian citizen – they did me :-). Abraham Zapruder Whether or…
Russian Outback? Posted by Jenya on Jan 28, 2015
What do you call the area of Russia that stretches between the Ural Mountains and the Pacific Ocean from east to west? It reaches as far south as northern Kazakhstan and as far north as the Arctic Ocean. It also borders with Mongolia and China and makes up about 77 percent of Russia’s total landmass…
How Dare You Speak a Foreign Language! Posted by Jenya on Jan 27, 2015
Lets imagine that you get invited to dinner at the home of a Russian couple and you don’t speak Russian. Would you find it rude if they occasionally spoke Russian in front of you? How about if they translated it so you could understand it? We all know what it feels like to be around…