What to Do on Christmas Eve Posted by yelena on Jan 6, 2012
‘Twas the night before Christmas… when the devil stole the moon, two drunken Cossacks lost their way in a snowstorm, a village blacksmith spoke with a Russian tsarina and a young peasant girl got her wish. Since this is the night before Christmas in Russia (remember, Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 7) as…
Top New Year Resolutions in Russian Posted by yelena on Jan 3, 2012
Do you know that there are THREE Russian-language versions of the “Jingle Bells” song? In addition to the more grown-up version from the video above, here are the texts of two more. Three days into новый год (the new year), how are you doing with your новогодние решения (New Year resolutions) also known as новогодние…
Most Popular Posts in 2011 and Plans for 2012 Posted by yelena on Dec 28, 2011
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…
Let’s Make Фонарик (a Lantern) For the Holidays Posted by yelena on Dec 23, 2011
If you celebrate Christmas and New Year, then you have already украсили ёлку (decorated the Christmas tree). Still, there’s always room for just one more ornament, isn’t there? That’s why today я научу вас (I will teach you) how to make a very simple украшение (an ornament) that even children can make за несколько минут…
How to Decorate the New Year’s Tree Posted by yelena on Dec 21, 2011
I don’t know about you, but конец декабря (the end of December) is always the busiest time for me. It’s all about getting ready for Новый Год (the New Year), мой любимый праздник (my favorite holiday). At first I wasn’t going to write about празднование Нового Года (celebrating the New Year) since we already covered…
Time to Learn Russian Declensions Posted by yelena on Dec 19, 2011
Do you remember the Gender of Russian Nouns post that appeared a few weeks ago? It generated the record number of comments and all of them contributed to the subject. So if, after reading the post itself, you have more questions than answers, then do check out the comments. Here’s the thing though… I originally…
Most Useful Russian Phrases Posted by yelena on Dec 15, 2011
I once met a person who коллекционировал (was collecting) words. Actually, he only collected one word, “hello”, but in many different languages. He knew how to здороваться (greet) in over 30 languages and was working hard on expanding his collection for a future кругосветное путешествие (around-the-world trip). I think learning just one word or phrase…