«Добрый вечер, дорогие читатели!» [Good evening, dear readers!] Today I want to share with you a technique I have used for learning Russian that has helped me immensely: reading the news. «Я люблю читать новости и по-английски, и по-русски» [I love reading the news in both English and Russian]. It is always interesting to read what is going on «в мире» [in the world], and what better way to learn about this than in Russian. «Давайте читать!» [Let’s read!]

The article I am referencing can be read here (but don’t worry, I will be quoting from it right on this blog, so you do not need to worry about click the link to read it). It is called «Путин предложил организовать в интернете дискуссию о будущей госструктуре по нацполитике» [Putin has proposed organizing an online discussion about the future state agency for national policy].

«Премьер-министр РФ Владимир Путин предложил развернуть дискуссию в интернете о том, какую организационно-правовую форму придать будущей госструктуре по вопросам национального развития и межнационального благополучия, о создании которой он написал в своей программной статье.» That sentence is long and looks intimidating, but we can easily break it down and translate it: The prime minister of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has proposed developing a discussion on the internet about which organizational and legal form the future state agency on national growth and interethnic welfare will take. He wrote about creating this in his {election} program article. Yes, I know the original Russian is one long sentence, but the grammar stickler in me will not let me translate that into a run-on sentence in English!

To continue: «Путин, баллотирующийся в президенты РФ, в статье, размещённой в понедельник в “Независимой газете”, в частности, предложил создать в РФ госструктуру по вопросам нацполитики, ужесточить правила регистрации мигрантов и санкции за их нарушение, а также обязать мигрантов сдавать экзамены по русскому языку и основам права.» [Putin, who is running for president of RF (Russian Federation), in the article published on Monday in Nezavisimaya Gazeta, in part proposed to create in Russia a state agency for {working on} the question of national policy, toughening the laws of migrant registration and sanctions for transgression, and also requiring migrants to take exams on Russian language and fundamentals of law.]

«Выступая на Форуме народов юга России в Кисловодске в понедельник, Путин отметил, что, “к сожалению, мало внимания уделяется работе по межнациональным и межконфессиональным отношениям, она у нас на втором плане”. “Но это не должно быть простым бюрократическим образованием”, – сказал Путин о новой госструктуре.» [Speaking at a forum in southern Russia in Kislovodsk on Monday, Putin noted that “unfortunately, little attention has been given to work on inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations. It is for us in second place (i.e. not the first priority). But this should not be a simply bureaucratic entity,” Putin said about the new state agency.]

This was how I used to learn Russian vocabulary, my friends: I would slog through news articles, looking up every word I did not know (and there were quite a lot!). Also, my translation is not so polished – I tried to stick to a fairly literal one, because I feel that helps the most while learning.