Russian Reading Tip: “The Icon And The Axe” Posted by josefina on Jun 14, 2008
One of you readers commented a couple of posts ago that one of the most helpful works when it comes to trying to understand Russia is Orlando Figes’ “Natasha’s Dance: A Cultural History of Russia” (1998). Clearly, I cannot argue with this, as I have not yet had the pleasure to read it, but I…
Две «Исходные» Беды России [Russia’s Two Initial Troubles] Posted by josefina on Jun 12, 2008
When I in my last post stated that, according to the vice-premier of Russia, this country has five problems getting in the way of its development, one reader (thank you, Stas!) brought it to my attention that, initially, Russia only had two problems. And initially they were called «беды» [trouble, singular form «беда»] instead of…
What Gets In The Way of Russia’s Development? Posted by josefina on Jun 9, 2008
According to the following article, «Развитию России мешают пять проблем» [The development of Russia is hindered by five problems], the Russian economy will become the sixth largest in the world by the end of this year. This optimistic opinion was shared with the public on the international economics forum during past week by Russia’s first…
Book & Movie Tip: «Собачье сердце» [Heart of a Dog] Posted by josefina on Jun 7, 2008
Everyone who’s read «Мастер и Маргарита» [“The Master and Margarita”], or perhaps only seen one of the many movies or TV-shows based on this wonderful fantastic novel (published first only in 1967, in an English translation, despite it’s author finishing writing it before his early death in 1940), knows that Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков [Mikhail Afanasevich…
How To Blog In Russian: вести Живой Журнал или блоговать? Posted by josefina on Jun 2, 2008
The Russian blog community is a fascinating world of general discussions, private reflections and random efforts to earn an extra ruble or two – in short, just like in all other blog communities around the world. In Russia there’s still some ambivalence about what to exactly call this ‘action’ (once again we’re back at the…
Who Owns The Rights To Lenin’s Face? Posted by josefina on May 31, 2008
After his death in 1924, the face of Владимир Ильич Ленин was used for mainly religious purposes, as he became known as a sort of ‘icon’ for the Soviet Union. After the death of the Soviet Union, the face of Lenin, and even more so his profile, has been used for a wide array of…
Brief Thoughts On The Russian Verb Posted by josefina on May 28, 2008
The most confusing part of Russian language – putting aside, of course, those six cases for the moment – is the verb. The Russian verb is both confusing and difficult to master for foreigners, especially for foreigners with a non-Slavic native language. The reason why this is so is because of a little thing called…