Archive for 'language'
7 Minutes of Terror Posted by yelena on Aug 7, 2012
As I’m writing this, I’m basically засыпаю на ходу (falling asleep; lit: falling asleep while walking) so, прошу прощения за возможные опечатки (pardon me for possible typos). I stayed up very late last night (ok, now that you’re reading it, it was 2 night ago) watching… не Олимпийские игры (not the Olympic Games), but the…
Лгун (“The Liar”) — a VERY short fairy tale! Posted by Rob on Aug 6, 2012
I’ve mentioned before that I’m captivated by сказки (fairytales). So, let’s start out this week with a “short and sweet” example of Armenian origin. I chose this one not only because it’s so short, but also because it features an unexpected twist. The plot involves a poor person outwitting a rich and powerful person, which…
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…
Speak Russian без акцента in just one month!!(?) Posted by Rob on Jul 25, 2012
Okay, maybe it’s not actually possible for a student of Russian to speak «без акцента» (“without a foreign accent”) in just a month — heck, I started studying the language in 1989 and I still haven’t completely gotten rid of my US-English акцент! But with the caveat that my Russian pronunciation is far from native…
Let’s Fake It Until We Make It Posted by yelena on Jul 23, 2012
(If you don’t feel like reading the entire post, skip to the end for a fun challenge) Writing for the Russian blog is, without any doubt, one of the most interesting and rewarding things I’ve done up until now. Not only do I get to better my English (how else would I learn the difference between…
A couple more words from the birds Posted by Rob on Jul 18, 2012
When I was working on last Monday’s “Name That Bird” post, in which a panel of six avian “mystery guests” offered подсказки (“hints, clues”) to their identity, I considered a longer list of birds but ended up cutting some of the feathered panelists just to avoid making the post too long. For instance, фламинго and…
If You Don’t Have Ozhegov Posted by yelena on Jul 17, 2012
A few days ago I was at a weekly чаепитие (tea party) with my Russian friends when the conversation turned to Russian books. After discussing how difficult and expensive it is to buy интересные и качественно изданные книги (interesting high quality of print books), we talked about books we all brought with us years ago…