A Geek, His Wife, A Thief, and a Super (or, my favorite Soviet film) Posted by Rob on Jul 2, 2012

The first full-length Soviet movie I watched in the original language was the 1973 comedy «Иван Васильевич меняет профессию» — Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Careers — which my 2nd-year college Russian instructor screened for the class on a grainy VHS tape with English subtitles. Later, it would be the first Russian-language movie I bought on DVD…
Knitting (and other crafts) in Russian Posted by Natalie on Jun 29, 2012

Всем здравствуйте! [Hello all!] Today I am going to talk about crafts in Russian. Я люблю вязать и мама любит шить [I love to knit and my mom loves to sew]. While at my university one day, I was walking with my Russian professor and he said Какой красивый шарф, Наташа [What a beautiful scarf…
Travel Plans and Verbs of Motion Posted by yelena on Jun 28, 2012
Remember this post about useful Russian driving and road rage words? Can you believe it, уже конец июня (it’s the end of June already)! Как быстро время летит! (How time flies!) For many of our US readers, next week will be spent travelling and celebrating and then travelling some more. Which means getting delayed or…
Blood and Brains: One more look at anatomy Posted by Rob on Jun 27, 2012

If you read the previous posts about Russian terms for human anatomy, you now know some words related to the biological process of eating, as well as moving around and reproducing. But we haven’t yet covered the most crucial “life-support” functions that keep the body alive — so let’s look at… Органы кровообращения и дыхания…
Around the World in 8 Phrases Posted by yelena on Jun 26, 2012
Have you seen the movie this short clip of these two Russian (ok, Soviet) tourists walking through the streets of some unnamed foreign city? Summer is, traditionally, the season for travelling. Куда вы едете этим летом? (Where are you going this summer?) It’s always been my dream to go around the world even if in just…
Internal Anatomy for “Clueless N00bs” Posted by Rob on Jun 25, 2012

Анатомия внутренних органов для «чайников» Last week, I took you on a whirlwind tour through the digestive tract. Today, we’ll continue our виртуальное вскрытие (“virtual dissection”) of the human body. Actually, almost everything one can say about our own internal anatomy is also true of other млекопитающие (“mammals”), and much of it applies to позвоночные…
Russian Verb of the Week: портить/испортить Posted by Natalie on Jun 22, 2012

«Доброе утро, дорогие читатели!» [Good morning, dear readers!] «Это я, Наташа» [It’s me, Natasha (my name is Natalie, but you can call me Natalie or Natalia or Natasha – I’ll answer to just about any form of my name).] «Я вернулась» [I have returned] and I am starting a new series of posts in which…