Archive for 'Culture'
Talking on the Phone – In Russian! Posted by Natalie on Aug 3, 2012
If you are learning Russian, it is a great idea to cultivate friendships with русскоговорящие [Russian speakers]. Your Russian friends will be thrilled that you are learning Russian and can help you learn new words and phrases. When I was за границей [abroad], I made friends with a few Russians who were also studying…
Greka and the Crayfish: The Sequel Posted by Rob on Jul 30, 2012
Last week, I offered some general tips on improving your pronunciation in Russian. One suggestion I overlooked: Reciting скороговорки (“tongue twisters”) can give you practice at distinguishing similar-but-different sounds, such as the hard and soft variants of consonants. For instance, the shortest Russian tongue-twister I know of is Пароль — «орёл» (“The password is eagle“)…
Reading the Russian News: Opposition Protests Posted by Natalie on Jul 13, 2012
Доброе утро, дорогие читатели! [Good morning, dear readers!] Каждый день, я читаю новости на русском [Every morning, I read the news in Russian]. It is a habit I got into last year, when we had to bring a news story to Russian class every day. I am sure I have said this before, but…
Decorate Like a Russian Posted by yelena on Jul 5, 2012
From my philosophy course I remember that бытие определяет сознание (being determines consciousness). Understanding Russian/Soviet/post-Soviet/New Russian consciousness just from reading about the environment or even travelling to Russia for a few weeks is just like trying to understand what маракуйя (passion fruit) tastes like from reading about it or looking at pictures. That’s what in-country…
Body Language Posted by yelena on Jul 3, 2012
Thanks to Rob’s most excellent anatomy posts from last week (Part 1 and Part 2), you are now familiar with the Russian names for body parts and internal organs. So let’s review the vocabulary and place it in a different context. Today we are going to travel through some popular sayings and idioms with body…
A Geek, His Wife, A Thief, and a Super (or, my favorite Soviet film) Posted by Rob on Jul 2, 2012
The first full-length Soviet movie I watched in the original language was the 1973 comedy «Иван Васильевич меняет профессию» — Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Careers — which my 2nd-year college Russian instructor screened for the class on a grainy VHS tape with English subtitles. Later, it would be the first Russian-language movie I bought on DVD…
Knitting (and other crafts) in Russian Posted by Natalie on Jun 29, 2012
Всем здравствуйте! [Hello all!] Today I am going to talk about crafts in Russian. Я люблю вязать и мама любит шить [I love to knit and my mom loves to sew]. While at my university one day, I was walking with my Russian professor and he said Какой красивый шарф, Наташа [What a beautiful scarf…