Reading Russian News: Demolition of Retail Kiosks Posted by Maria on Feb 18, 2016
An event that has generated considerable buzz and controversy is the demolition of small retail kiosks in Moscow. The authorities — and many people — felt they were an eyesore, cluttering crowded areas and offering sub-par goods. The local government also insists these points of sale were meant to be temporary. Critics of the demolition say…
On The Radio: Preferences of Russian Gadget Shoppers Posted by Maria on Feb 15, 2016
One of the best way of bringing up your listening skills is listening to authentic radio programs on a variety of topics. This may sound like a daunting task, but lucky for us, many news outlets publish transcripts of their shows. Echo Moskvy is one of these stations. It is considered an opposition news…
On Time and Space: Key Physics Concepts in Russian Posted by Maria on Feb 8, 2016
Last time, we looked at some top chemistry concepts in Russian. We are continuing our science streak — this time, with physics. Just like in the case of chemistry, physics vocabulary is vast and could not possibly fit into one blog post. Feel free to add other important concepts in the comments! To start, it’s…
Mixed Reactions: Chemical Russian Posted by Maria on Feb 1, 2016
Although English firmly holds the first place as the language of research and scientific publications, a lot of research used to be — and some still is — carried out in Russian. For any readers who may be learning Russian for scientific reasons, I would like to share some key concepts from the field…
Act A Fool: Proverbs With Дурак In Russian Posted by Maria on Jan 25, 2016
As the famous saying goes, «В Росси́и две пробле́мы: дураки́ и доро́ги» (“Russia has two problems – fools and bad roads”). There is a wealth of proverbs for a variety of occasions talking about fools. Дурака́м зако́н не пи́сан This literally means “There’s no law written for fools.” What’s implied is that the person…
10 Ways To Say You Don’t Care In Russian – Part II Posted by Maria on Jan 18, 2016
Last week, we looked at some colloquial ways of saying you don’t care about something. We listed five, but that’s not all! Let us continue the list. 6. до ла́мпочки Лампа is the diminutive of ла́мпа (lamp) and usually means “light bulb.” [Noun/pronoun in dative] + до ла́мпочки is yet another synonym of “I…
10 Ways To Say You Don’t Care In Russian – Part I Posted by Maria on Jan 14, 2016
Read Part II here. Russian has many ways to say you don’t care about something. They range from neutral to decidedly low-register to downright vulgar. In this post, I would like to cover some colloquial ways of expressing indifference. Let’s start with the basics. Normally, we say “[adjective/noun in the dative case] + всё равно́”…