Archive for 'language'
Russian Phrase of the Day – Bells and Whistles Posted by yelena on Aug 16, 2013
Let’s try to switch gears a bit. Some of you have recently asked for advice on moving to the next level of fluency in Russian as well as for tips on building словарный запас (vocabulary). So I decided to experiment a bit here, on the blog. Yes, we do have the Word of the Day…
Quick Start Guide to Speaking Russian Posted by yelena on Jul 24, 2013
What’s the best way to learn to speak Russian? The answer is pretty simple – you need to start using it as soon as possible. Which really means on Day 1. Yes, that first day you decided to learn this idiosyncratic yet beautiful language. But how can you have a meaningful conversation in a…
When Somebody Tries to Get Your Goat Posted by yelena on Jul 17, 2013
As a good old Russian saying goes, все болезни – от нервов (all illnesses are from stress). Actually, that’s only the first, the most-often quoted, half of the saying. Some say that yoga and meditation help deal with the daily stress. But a healthy dose of Russian can do the same as long as you…
A little more about feelings… Posted by Rob on Jun 25, 2013
A couple weeks ago, we looked at some basic “emotion” terms in Russian — how to express that you’re “Feeling Glad, Sad, or Mad.” This time, we’ll round out that list with a few more feelings. To continue the rhyming theme, let’s talk about how to say, um… “Feelin’ Bad, Or Like a Cad, Or…
“Never have I felt such [fill in emotion here]…” Posted by Rob on May 30, 2013
When Russians ask you «Как ты чувствуешь себя?» (“How are you feeling?”), the expected answer would be something like “My cough seems to be getting worse” or “The traveler’s diarrhea is finally clearing up?” — in other words, they’re asking about your physiological well-being. On the other hand, if they want to know about your…
Shave and a haircut, two bits! Posted by Rob on May 23, 2013
Even if you don’t know the words, anyone who’s ever seen an old Bugs Bunny cartoon will recognize the seven-note melody of “Shave and a haircut…” — it’s classically used as a musical accompaniment to punctuate the end of a joke. And I instinctively hummed the tune after I found this great little анекдот…
Sing-a-long with Khan and Igor! Posted by Rob on May 8, 2013
I’m not much of an opera fan — because most of them, in my opinion, have maybe 5 or 10 minutes of musically entertaining sections heavily padded with hours and hours of shouting and warbling. The typical opera is like one of those pop-music albums that contains exactly ONE hit anyone wants to hear again…