Archive for 'Russian life'
Russian Inventions You Know Posted by Nadya on Jul 30, 2021
Today I want to talk about one of the extremely important and debatable topics about Russia – the achievements of its citizens in innovations that have changed the modern world. Brain Drain – Утечка мозгов On the one hand, Russia has long been known for its scientists (учёные), researchers (исследователи), and inventors (изобретатели). On the…
Patience à la russe Posted by bota on Jul 27, 2021
Patience is a virtue and also a fascinating word in Russian: терпе́ние. Let’s look at how to use that word and its derivatives in a sentence. Towards the end we will talk about translating the imperative “потерпи́” and a few idiomatic expressions with “терпе́ние”. Терпе́ние — patience It means «выноси́ть страда́ние» (endure suffering) but used…
Russian euphemisms about death Posted by bota on Jun 22, 2021
A lot of фразеологизмы (idioms) about ‘death’ in Russian rely on verbs of motion that depict a person leaving this life and world. The 5 euphemisms below all mean ‘to die’ but I will write the literal translation in parenthesis to make them easier to remember. My goal, though, is to not just help you…
Death in Russian, continued Posted by bota on Jun 14, 2021
Remember this blog where I mentioned the Russian tradition of bringing an even number of flowers to the funeral? We will talk about that and other traditions surrounding Russian funerals as well as vocabulary that relates to death in general. Flowers So, the even number of flowers comes from old-time beliefs that even numbers symbolize…
June 12 – Russia Day Posted by Nadya on Jun 10, 2021
June 12 is Russia Day. What exactly are we celebrating on that day? Not Independence Day Russia Day (День Росси́и) is one of the newest national public holidays in Russia. It has been celebrated since 1992. This day marks the formation of the Russian Federation (Росси́йская Федера́ция) as a sovereign (сувере́нный/незави́симый) country after the collapse…
DIY ideas for Paskha Posted by bota on May 4, 2021
Правосла́вная Па́сха вы́пала на второе ма́я в э́том го́ду. (Orthodox Easter fell on May 2nd this year) and I wanted to share как мы с брати́шкой и сестрёнкой первый раз кра́сили яйца (how I and my siblings dyed eggs for the first time) и как мы пригото́вили па́сху (and how we made a paskha). My…
Labor Day In Russia Posted by Nadya on Apr 30, 2021
On May 1st, Russia celebrates Spring and Labor Day (День Весны и Труда), which is a public holiday (праздник). The holiday may also be known as May Day (Первое мая) or International Worker’s Day (День международной солидарности трудящихся) in other countries. Over 80 countries celebrate it as well. Despite the fact the holiday has a…