Tag Archives: russia
2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi: When in Russia… Posted by Jenya on Feb 11, 2014
Some of you might wonder where Sochi is and why the winter Olympics take place in a city with palm trees? The city of Sochi is about 800 miles south of Moscow and is “located on the Black Sea coast near the border between Georgia/Abkhazia and Russia.” Due to its subtropical climate, the winters in…
Reading the Russian News: Opposition Protests Posted by Natalie on Jul 13, 2012
Доброе утро, дорогие читатели! [Good morning, dear readers!] Каждый день, я читаю новости на русском [Every morning, I read the news in Russian]. It is a habit I got into last year, when we had to bring a news story to Russian class every day. I am sure I have said this before, but…
Defender of the Fatherland Day Posted by yelena on Feb 23, 2012
February 23rd is yet another holiday in Russia – День защитника Отечества (Defender of the Fatherland Day). The majority of young Russian males end up serving in the Armed Forces as призывники (draftees). Comparatively few Russian women serve in the military. Besides, women have their own holiday on March 8th. For all these reasons, February…
Reading the News – In Russian Posted by Natalie on Jan 23, 2012
«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…
Russian Holidays: День народного единства Posted by Natalie on Nov 9, 2011
A funny experience happened in my Russian class today, «дорогие друзья» [dear friends]. We are reading «Дама с собачкой» [The Lady with the Lapdog]. My professor said of the main character, «Гуров» [Gurov], «Он верен своей жене?» [Is he faithful to his wife?] I smiled and gave a resounding «Да, конечно» [yes, of course]…
Scary Stories to Read This Halloween Posted by yelena on Oct 26, 2011
Well, it’s that time of the year again. Halloween is just a few days away. If you remember, last year we had a post about «празднуют ли Хэллоуин в России и если да, то как» [whether Halloween is celebrated in Russia and if yes, then how]. Sure, Halloween does not have deep roots in Russia…
20 лет спустя – Twenty Years After, Part 1 Posted by Natalie on Aug 22, 2011
Well, «друзья» [friends], it has happened again: I sat down to write «про грамматику» [about grammar] and instead I wrote about something completely different. I found this «фоторепортаж» [photo essay] on the website of «магазин Внешняя политика» [the magazine “Foreign Policy”] called, in English, “Russia’s Big Backyard.” I have opted to translate the title…