Archive for 'when in Russia'
What’s Physical Comfort for Russians? Posted by Maria on Oct 18, 2016
Many visitors are surprised to find life in Russia, especially in large urban centers, closer to a developed country than they expected. At the same time, some fixtures they are used to may be missing. Conversely, there are some things that Russian are used to having and will likely feel uncomfortable without, no matter how…
Top Business Concepts in Russian Posted by Maria on May 19, 2016
We have covered some business phrases on this blog before. This time, let’s concentrate on key business concepts and learn to talk about them in Russian. Property First of all, we need to talk about property (собственность). Private property (частная собственность) is thought to be an important condition for entrepreneurship (предпринимательство). Property may include недвижимое имущество (or…
Four Alcohol-Related Concepts You May Struggle To Express In Russian Posted by Maria on Mar 2, 2016
What? Struggling to talk about alcohol in Russian? Surely, with the fourth-highest per capita alcohol consumption in Europe, Russia must have developed an extensive booze vocabulary, much like the proverbial, if debunked, words for “snow” in Eskimo languages? Well, yes and no. 1. Shots You know those small glasses of straight liquor college kids do…
In The News: Limited Parking Space in Moscow Posted by Maria on Dec 14, 2015
A thought-provoking opinion piece was making the rounds on the Russian Internet (“Runet”) last week. Moscow politician and activist Maxim Katz has published a controversial blog post suggesting all parking spaces in the city be paid. Let us look at his vision of the problem and proposed solution — in his own words. Issues Katz…
Regional Expressions In Russia Posted by Maria on Nov 19, 2015
Even though Russian is fairly uniform and cannot boast the same dialectal variety as some other languages, regional differences do exist. They tend to be more subtle so that most people in the region may not realize the word is a regionalism. Of course, there are the cases everyone talks about, like Moscow vs St…
More Interesting “Facts” About Russia Posted by Jenya on Nov 11, 2015
As I was researching facts about Russia that I could write a blog about, I came across some more interesting and funny ones. These strange Russian “facts” were more entertaining and write about; hope they are entertaining to read as well. It’s bad luck to return to your house after you’ve already left Should you…
Fear of Speaking a Second Language Posted by Jenya on Nov 4, 2015
I can remember back to when I began learning English in school about 10 years before actually coming to America. It was fun, exciting, and quite difficult. My parents had always told me that I needed to learn English in order to have a brighter future. Before I’d graduated our version of high school, I’d…