Most Popular Posts in 2011 and Plans for 2012 Posted by yelena on Dec 28, 2011 in language, Russian for beginners
With just a few more days до конца года (left in the year), this is a good time for обзор проделанной работы (review of the work done). So how do you feel about your progress with learning Russian?
This might sound strange, but I certainly feel that my Russian has improved since I started writing for this blog. Even though Russian is мой родной язык (my native language), I do have a hard time with some of the more obscure or complicated rules of it. And so do most Russian speakers, I assure you.
But enough о себе (about me). Let’s talk о вас (about you) and what you want to read and learn about. There are a couple of ways you can let me know what you want to see on this blog:
Оставьте комментарий с пожеланием в конце любого поста (Leave a comment with your request at the bottom of any post) or
Оставьте сообщение на нашей страничке в Фейсбуке (leave a message on our Facebook page)
Without any of this, all I have to go by are the numbers. And according to the number of views and the number of comments on posts on this blog, it looks like I should be writing more about
- Russian social networks, such as Vkontakte.ru, as well as about Russian communities on international networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter;
- Must-know Russian phrases and strange Russian expressions for anyone who plans on traveling to Russia some day;
- Everyday Russian expressions, such as спасибо (thank you) and я застрял в пробке (I got stuck in traffic);
- Russian grammar and its peculiarities, starting with the basics. The post about noun genders generated 98 comments, the record on this blog, and that’s including posts with give-aways.
- Russian last names, possibly, since the two posts about Russian first names and Russian names for pets have been popular.
- Anything Russian as long as the word секс (sex) is in the title or at least implied;
- Besides, I still owe you a post about curse words, don’t I?
Now, someone who is just starting to learn Russian, asked me today, what would be a good resource to learn some basic household Russian phrases so that he can talk to his wife and child. So he wants to learn to say things like “we are out of milk” and “please pick up your toys”. I am wondering, how many of you are interested in something like this? Please, let me know in the comments.
At the same time, we have lots of readers here who are either native speakers or very fluent. And I’d love to do something together with you guys and gals, like maybe have a book club or a movie club once a month. Again, let me know in the comments.
Finally, here’s something that occurred to me as I was writing about declensions a few weeks ago – I have a native speaker’s perspective on a lot of the grammar issues. This can be both helpful and not so helpful as I try to explain things. If you are an advanced learner of Russian and would like to share your experience, let me know (in the comments), so we can either collaborate on a post or you can write a guest post on the subject of your choice.
And with that, I am wishing you весело встретить Новый год (merrily greet the New Year) since как год встретишь, так его и проведёшь (how you greet the year is how you will spend it). С Новым годом, с новым счастьем! (Happy New Year!)
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Comments:
David:
I have two things I would like to see. First, the household phrases which you mentioned – we need more milk, etc. And second, I would like to see literal translations as well as general translations. For example, you mentioned the phrase я застрял в пробке (I got stuck in traffic). As I understand it, the second word means something like cork. Not knowing this, I might have come away thinking that it meant traffic.
Thanks!
Lois:
Most of the time I really like your posts. I appreciate that you have good explanations and background and many examples. Even though I’m fairly fluent, it’s nice to learn more about what I can already say. And I am glad that you post for beginners because then I can recommend it to others.
Names are confusing, especially since they decline, so that kind of information is always useful.
I think the noun post was so good because you gave such good examples and explanations (despite being fairly fluent, I still read through those posts to see if I might learn anything new).
Something like a movie once a month would be great! But it would be necessary for you to post where to watch it online.
Delia:
I’m back from my travels and feel bad for not participating in some very interesting discussions. I have a question: is there a way to see all the previous posts, a type of an archive or something where we can see previous posts from 2008 in a chronological or alphabetical order? I like Lois’ movie idea, but I guess it might work for advanced learners/speakers only.
Richard:
I like the idea of everyday expressions, with some grammar mixed in. I find it easier to pick up on the finer points of grammar when I can see it in actual use. Also, some vocabulary relating to the Internet (i.e. how do you say “web designer” in Russian???).
When I was in Russia, I noticed the great love, affection and respect that Russian drivers had for the ГАИ (Государственная Автомобильная Инспекция). Perhaps some common everyday expressions used in connection with the ГАИ would be a good way to introduce Russian swearing 😮
Finally, going completely off topic yet again, here’s a wonderfully done video that I’ve been using to practice my comprehension of spoken Russian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J2tMuQgNjo&feature=BFa&list=PL12508EECA1C27443&lf=plpp_video
С Новым годом!!!
Xrizi:
I think that all your blog posts are excellent 🙂 A smorgasboard of language material is what anyone studying it needs … its all about exposure. So each blog should continue to have a bit of something at practically all levels 🙂 Good job indeed 🙂
Minority:
Richard, we don’t have particular word for “web designer”. We say “веб-дизайнер” or “веб-разработчик” or “разработчик сайтов” or “дизайнер сайтов”. Though there might be a difference between разработчик and дизайнер.
Kent:
Basic household phrases would be awesome. In general, I would love more posts teaching basic conversational Russian.
Also, more about Russian literature would be very interesting from your point of view, whether it’s about certain authors or just excerpts with translations.
Thanks. You’re great!
Lynn:
I’m a very beginner student of Russian, wanting to learn so I can help trafficked victims. I enjoy most of the posts (not the ones that are way over my head!), and most of the time I set them aside to read when I have time to try to pronounce the words and figure them out before I read the translation. I’m hungry to learn all I can about Russian culture and history to better help the victims find healing.
Alex:
Hi, Yelena. How can I contact you? I need your help with writing Russian articles if you don’t mind. Please email me to gramotaz (at) yandex.ru
Richard:
Thanks Minority!
I think the difference between веб-дизайнер and веб-разработчик would be that a web designer is more concerned with the look of a website and a web developer is more concerned with programming for databases, etc.
Just my $0.02 worth 😉