Archive for 'Culture'
Russian outside Russia Posted by Maria on Apr 14, 2014
Despite being from Russia, I find it bothersome when people equate the Russian language with the country of Russia. In my opinion, it not only leaves other Russian-speaking communities out of the discussion of the language, but also misrepresents them by implying that if you speak Russian, you must be culturally/politically/ethnically aligned with Russia. I…
Famous People Who Learned Russian as a Second Language Posted by Maria on Apr 10, 2014
I’m sure you sometimes get discouraged when learning Russian. There are so many challenges, and it sometimes feels like you’ll never get it. While your outcomes depend on many factors, such as your effort, the time spent studying, practice, and instructional materials and methods, please don’t think that only native or bilingual speakers of Russian…
Where are These Famous Russians Today? Posted by Jenya on Apr 9, 2014
Anna Chapman, Garry Kasparov, t.A.T.u, and Gorky Park – whether you are into sports, politics or music, you are most likely familiar with these Russian names. Over time, careers and audiences of these Russian celebrities have gone through major transformations but all of them remain in the public eye to this day. Ex-spy Anna Chapman…
A Remote Russian Village Isn’t the Place to Be, or Is It? Posted by Jenya on Apr 8, 2014
After going through the pictures from my last trip to Russia, I decided to put together a post about rural Russia. What is life like on the outskirts of Russia? What does a typical Russian village look like and what do people do there? If you want to find out, read on! As an…
Fashion Dos and Don’ts in Russia Posted by Maria on Apr 7, 2014
Having lived in the US for some time now, I can’t help thinking about certain fashion and grooming conventions that are matter-of-fact in the US but would stand out as bizarre in Russia and vice versa. Some of these will inevitably be subjective, but they are true for most cases I’ve observed. Despite the “do”/”don’t”…
Discovering Russia by Rail Posted by Jenya on Apr 2, 2014
The distance between Mogilev, the city where I grew up, and Orenburg, the city where most of my family live, is roughly 1250 miles. Every summer my parents and I would take a train there so I can spend the summer with my grandparents. The train ride was about 32 hours long but I always…
5 Most Common Russian Gestures Posted by Jenya on Mar 25, 2014
When you are lost for words, especially if we are talking about foreign words, it is pretty common to resort to gestures. With this in mind, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to shed some light on the most common Russian gestures. The information on their origin seems to be pretty conflicting. However…