Overview of Public Holidays In Russia Posted by Maria on Oct 29, 2015
Russian holidays have been covered several times on this blog. Let us recap all the times Russians get time off for the holidays. This is different from vacation, which can happen at various times during the year. Since Russia adopted several tenets of the European Social Charter in 2002, employees are entitled to 28…
Putin and Medvedev: Different Roles Posted by Jenya on Oct 28, 2015
Many of us will remember that Vladimir Putin was once the Russian President. After his terms were up he became the Russian Prime Minister. And now, once again, he is the Russian President. What is the difference between the Russian President and the Russian Prime Minister? We will explore that difference today because change is…
Verbs with Prefixes: Вернуть Posted by Maria on Oct 22, 2015
It appears that our “verbs with prefixes” series has turned out to be a surprise hit, so let us do another installment! This time, we are looking at the verb верну́ть (to return). As always, these are just some of the meanings. The imperfective counterpart to вернуть is возвраща́ть. Нали́чных в кошельке́ бы́ло мно́го, но их…
Divorce In Russia Posted by Jenya on Oct 21, 2015
Most of the adult population in any country have at least two things in common: marriage and divorce. Though this is not a popular topic, it is nevertheless a significant part of Russian culture. Today we will compare the divorce rates between Russia and the United States. Please keep in mind that this is not…
Russian Braille and Sign Language Posted by Maria on Oct 15, 2015
Today I would like to talk about a different kind of Russian. We have mostly been talking about the spoken Russian and its graphic representation in the Cyrillic alphabet. Let us look at the communication for the deaf and blind communities in Russia. First, I must say that unfortunately the blind (слепы́е) /vision-impaired and…
Famous Russian Books Posted by Jenya on Oct 14, 2015
Today’s blog is all about books you’ve likely heard of but may not have known were penned by Russian authors. These books are counted among the most celebrated works of all time and worthy of your consideration if you’re trying to learn about Russia and it’s culture. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov was written during the…
Speak of the Devil — Idioms With Чёрт in Russian Posted by Maria on Oct 12, 2015
In the month of October, much of the United States (and other Anglophone countries, I imagine) is getting ready to celebrate Halloween. Some of you may know that this holiday is not universally celebrated in Russia and has even caused some controversy. There used to be a different occasion for dressing up and role-playing…