Why Do Russians Call Their Astronauts Cosmonauts? Posted by yelena on Feb 10, 2011
Today, February 10th 2011 marks «столетие со дня рождения Мстислава Всеволодовича Келдыша» [one hundredth birthday of Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldish]. Keldish was a Soviet scientist without whose contributions many of «успехи советской космонавтики» [achievements of the Soviet cosmonautics], including Sputnik and the first manned flight would not had happened. Although his name rarely appeared in…
Russian Poetry: Летний сад, Part 2 Posted by Natalie on Feb 9, 2011
«Дорогие друзья» [Dear friends], I did something very bad this Tuesday: «я пропустила занятие по русскому языку» [I skipped Russian class]. I really did not want to, I assure you. «Но мне было надо написать письменную работу» [But I had to finish my essay (literally “written work”)]. But luckily, this does not mean I…
How to Make the Best Pelmeni Posted by yelena on Feb 8, 2011
Do you know that 95% of Russian households have at least one pack of «пельмени» [pel’meni – dumplings] in their freezers? Ok, I just totally made it up. But I can’t be too far off since, according to «статья в Российской газете» [an article in the Rossiyskaya newspaper] an average «россиянин» [citizen of the Russian…
Million Scarlet Roses Posted by yelena on Feb 3, 2011
«Миллионалых1роз» [Million Scarlet Roses], a song first sung by «Алла Пугачёва» [Alla Pugacheva] in 1983, is still very popular and well known in Russia. Our guest, David Roberts, will help us learn, among other things, a few new 4-letter words, where the modern past tense comes from, why we can sometimes use the past tense…
How to Learn Russian at IKEA Store Posted by yelena on Feb 1, 2011
Have you heard of a mnemonics technique called «ассоциативное запоминание» or “vivid associations”? The idea is to link a new piece of information that you’re trying to remember to something you already know in a vivid and positive way. The rules are simple: It has to be a positive link (who wants to be reminded…
Russian Poetry: Летний сад, Part 1 Posted by Natalie on Jan 31, 2011
We are taking a break from posts about «история Киева» [the history of Kiev] to do something a bit more literary today. In my Russian class, we have been working on a poem for the past two weeks. It’s called «Летний сад» [Summer Garden], written by the wonderful «Анна Ахматова» [Anna Akhmatova]. «Когда я…
Senseless Tragedy in Domodedovo Posted by yelena on Jan 25, 2011
This blog rarely covers news. After all, this is a Russian language learning blog, not a current events and politics one. Today, however, is different. As you know, at 4:32pm Moscow time on January 24th, «в аэропорту Домодедово прогремел взрыв» [an explosion thundered through the Domodedovo airport]. At the time of my writing this post…