Archive for 'language'
How to Tell Time in Russian Posted by yelena on Nov 29, 2012
Image source: wstryder via Flickr I always thought one of the most useless sections in my old English-Russian разговорник (phrase book) was the one that taught how to tell time. After all, years ago most of us wore часы (watches). But now that we rely on cell phones to tell the time, the topic once again becomes…
Shopping, Lines and Discounts Posted by yelena on Nov 23, 2012
Image Source: crd! via Flickr! Today is the Black Friday in the US or Чёрная пятница. If you prefer to save, not spend, then ignore распродажи (sales) and instead learn how to talk about шоппинг (shopping) in Russian. SHOPPING By the way, the word шоппинг is a new one in Russian language. How did we manage to describe the process of…
“I am the very model of a conjugation paradigm…” Posted by Rob on Nov 20, 2012
As every student of Russian knows, learning verb conjugations can be a bit daunting. Grammarians claim that Russian has only a горсточка неправильных глаголов (“a handful of irregular verbs”) — but for a foreigner, there are countless verbs that might as well be irregular because of their conjugational oddities, even if a linguist would insist…
How to Count to a Billion in Russian Posted by yelena on Nov 15, 2012
Image source: Wikimedia Commons Do you know how to count to a million in Russian? Recently, we posted about counting до двадцати (to twenty) in Russian. And a while ago we talked about counting to 100. But суровая действительность (the harsh reality) dictates that we learn numbers well beyond the first сотня (hundred). Here’s why. Budgeting for…
The care and feeding of pets (but especially rats!) Posted by Rob on Nov 13, 2012
Может быть, вы думаете завести какого-нибудь питомца? (“Maybe you’re thinking about getting some kind of pet?”) But perhaps a cat or a dog wouldn’t fit into your образ жизни (“lifestyle”) — or your apartment. In that case, allow me to recommend the lovable серая крыса (lit., “gray rat”), commonly known in English as the “Norway…
Russian Phrases for a Road Trip Posted by yelena on Nov 9, 2012
Image Source: Flickr Summer, the official road trip season, is over. But the big holiday season не за горами (is just around the corner) meaning more поездки (road trips). Which is a great reason to learn words and phrases for the road. Of course, if you happen to go on a road trip in…
Russian Numbers 1 – 20 with video Posted by Transparent Language on Nov 8, 2012
Below is a simple table of numbers in Russian through 20, designed for beginning Russian language learners. Also included is a counting video where you can hear pronunciation of the numbers. Watch the video a few times through, and practice speaking the numbers aloud if you can; not only will this help you practice pronunciation…