Archive for 'Russian life'
Love Me Russian! or a little something about the diminutive [Part I: Introduction] Posted by josefina on Apr 22, 2010
In English language the grammatical term ‘diminutive’ translates as a diminutive word or suffix word indicating small size (such as “booklet”, etc.), a shortened form of a name or a name indicating fondness and that it can also be used to describe a very small person or a very small thing. In Russian language this…
A Russian Post-modern Classic: Венедикт Ерофеев’s «Москва-Петушки» Posted by josefina on Apr 16, 2010
The post-modern pseudo-autobiographical classic «”Москва–Петушки” Венедикта Ерофеева» [“Moscow-Petushki” by Venedikt Yerofeev] has been translated into English as “Moscow to the End of the Line”, “Moscow Stations” and “Moscow Circles” (all of the above are very correct titles). But it should of course be read «в подлиннике» [in the original] – as should all other «произведения…
«Христос воскресе!» [Christ is Risen!] Posted by josefina on Apr 4, 2010
Outside of the church closest to where I live in Yekaterinburg they put up the following poster a few days ago: «4 (четвёртого) апреля – светлое Христово Воскресение» [The 4th of April – the Bright Resurrection of Christ]. «Христос воскресе!» [Christ is risen!]. The following quote turned out too small for you to read on…
Russian Poetry for Real Russians – Part 1 Posted by yelena on Mar 29, 2010
We, Russians, are very proud of our literary heritage and justifiably so. After all, Russia «подарила миру» [gave the world a gift of] “War and Peace”, “Crime and Punishment”, “Master and Margarita”… And then there are the poets. Back during the «Золотой век русской поэзии» [Golden Age of Russian poetry] there were Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev…
Top Ten Things to Do in Russia Posted by josefina on Mar 10, 2010
We’ve studied the language for years, we’ve almost mastered the grammar, we’ve stopped pronouncing half of the words in any given sentence all wrong, we’ve read every single great novel by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, we’ve recited Pushkin’s poetry by heart out loud – what next? What else should one do when in Russia? Because…
Top Ten Russian Phrases Posted by josefina on Mar 8, 2010
So you’ve made it to Russia – now what?! Don’t feel discouraged by not having mastered Russian language fully yet. Life is long and there’s still plenty of time ahead for you to get a grip on all of those cases and to understand why so often the letter «о» sounds like the letter…