Are You Ready For the New Year? Posted by yelena on Dec 16, 2010
The Russian New Year season is well under way. Yes, that’s right, New Year is more than a day, it’s a season. «Приготовления» [preparations] start early. Not as early as the Christmas frenzy in the US, but definitely by early December. There’s so much to figure out! «Где будем праздновать» [Where are (we) going…
Declension of Russian Last Names Posted by Natalie on Dec 15, 2010
Whoever said «Русский язык–великий и могучий» [the Russian language is great and mighty] wasn’t kidding. Nothing illustrates this more than склонение фамилий [declension of last names]. There are complicated rules and just when you think you’ve got it, you find out there are a couple of exceptions. Russian last names typically end in «ов» [ov]…
Cows, Pigs, Wolves and Dogs – More Russian Sayings Posted by yelena on Dec 14, 2010
So in the last few days the news seems to be all about WikiLeaks and about the arrest of its founder Julian Assange. While Russian Internet gets flooded with Wikileaks-related «новости» [news] and «домыслы» [speculations], including far-out «теории заговоров» [conspiracy theories], Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is back in the news cycle as well (like…
Who Will Be The Next Russian President? Posted by Natalie on Dec 13, 2010
The current president of Russia is «Дмитрий Медведев» [Dmitry Medvedev], but many question whether he or «Владимир Путин» [Vladimir Putin] holds true power. One of the favorite activities of a «кремленолог» [Kremlinologist] is speculating about who will be the next president of Russia. Russia has had «три президента» [three presidents]: «Борис Николаевич Ельцин» [Boris Nikolayevich…
“Журавли”: Cranes Posted by yelena on Dec 11, 2010
Do you remember David, our guest blogger who wrote about letters of the Russian alphabet and also about why we say “двести“? Not surprisingly given his interest in Russian language he is also a member of a Russian “кружок” [club, lit: small circle]. At one of their recent meetings the club members discussed one of the most beautiful…
Make Every Single Word Count Posted by yelena on Dec 9, 2010
My aunt is visiting from Russia «через пару недель» [in just a couple of weeks] and I’m seriously contemplating asking her to bring me a pair of «валенки», the traditional Russian felt boots. «Зима!» [It’s winter!] «Подмораживает» [It’s getting frosty]. One of the beautiful things about Russian language is that you can build a…
Kiev, Beautiful Kiev Posted by Natalie on Dec 8, 2010
In case you haven’t noticed, «дорогие друзья» [dear friends], «я люблю путешествовать» [I love to travel]. «К сожалению» [Unfortunately], traveling can be quite expensive (which is why I’m not eager to buy my plane ticket back to England in January). But never mind that: let’s talk «о Киеве» [about Kiev], one of my favorite…