Archive for 'Russian for beginners'
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…
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…
Vacation Season Posted by yelena on Jul 12, 2012
Ah, summer, prime vacation season not just in Russia, but in many other countries as well. Я жду не дождусь (I can’t wait) for my vacation that’s just a few days away. I can’t even remember the last time я была в отпуске (I was on vacation). How about you? If you are an американец…
Look It Up in Ozhegov! (or, “Using a Russian dictionary”) Posted by Rob on Jul 11, 2012
From the earliest days of learning Russian as a foreign language, we all make frequent use of a переводный словарь (“translation dictionary”), whether it’s English/Russian, French/Russian, Chinese/Russian, or whatever our native language may be. But as you gradually progress in your studies, it helps to become familiar with a different kind of reference tool, namely…
Назовите Эту Птицу! (Name That Bird!) Posted by Rob on Jul 9, 2012
Today, we’re going to get some sentence-reading practice as we play a round of that thrilling new шоу-викторина (“trivia-game show”), Назовите Эту Птицу! (“Name That Bird!”). And without further ado, here’s the ведущая (“TV-show hostess, moderator”) of our show, direct from her sold-out concert appearances in Vegas! Дамы и господа (“ladies and gentlemen”), please put…
Verb of the Week: открывать/открыть Posted by Natalie on Jul 6, 2012
I was actually planning on doing a post about a Russian pop song I like, but I think we ought to end this week with some грамматика [grammar]. I have prepared another post with a verb of the week. This week’s verb is relatively easy to understand: открывать/открыть, which means “to open.” The imperfective…