Archive for 'language'
Seeing Things “Russianly”, or «Языковая картина мира» Posted by josefina on Nov 26, 2008
It doesn’t happen too often, but sometimes it does, and when it does, the joy I feel knows no boundaries – I’m talking about the rare occasions when what I’m studying at the Master’s Program in Russian Literature coincides with a current event in the real world. Or, as was the case this time; with…
While In Russia Beware of… Windows? Posted by josefina on Nov 21, 2008
In the world of silly/strange/solicitous statistics, apparently, Russia is – rather unexpectedly, I must admit – the leader when it comes to the number of people that fall out of windows on a daily basis. In Russia 17 people fall out of windows daily. I had almost forgot how to smile, let alone laugh, at…
Word of the Week: «Герой» [hero] Posted by josefina on Nov 18, 2008
«Жить в России – быть героем» [‘To live in Russia is to be a hero’]. Once upon a time, back in the time of the turbulent 90’s, there was a political party called «Народная партия» [‘The People’s Party’] in Russia. I do not know anything about this party, all I know is that it no…
Word of the Week: Барак Обама [Barack Obama] Posted by josefina on Nov 7, 2008
While the world is still dizzy with joy and full of metaphysical expectations after Barack Obama won the elections in USA this Tuesday, my mind is, though not far from a cry of happiness, also filled with other reflections. One of these is how to deal with the new president’s name in Russian. With George…
Learning ‘Conversational Russian’ Posted by josefina on Sep 2, 2008
A good textbook often reads just like a novel. One excellent example of this is Helen Yakobson’s “Conversational Russian: An Intermediate Course” from 1985 [при The George Washington University]. Earlier this summer I found it in a box up in my mother’s attic marked “Russian books”, this pale orange and tattered little book of no…
Let’s Go Grammar Crazy & Do Comparative! [или кое-что о сравнительной степени прилагательных] Posted by josefina on Aug 27, 2008
It has happened again, and this time it happened rather suddenly – I found something in Russian language that I haven’t given much thought to as of late but which amused me to such an extreme that I could not refrain from sharing it with you all. The other day I was browsing through a…
Dictionary Must-Have: Толковый Словарь Русского Языка Posted by josefina on Aug 20, 2008
Wisdom is meant to be shared with others. No piece of advice given to me proved to be so wise in regards to learning Russian as the one I am about to share with you today. Back in the days when I was biding my time in Sweden after studying one semester in Saint Petersburg…