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Tag Archives: Russian culture

Vital vocabulary for (not) talking about religion Posted by on Dec 26, 2012

Накануне Рождества (“on Christmas Eve”), I did my once-a-year attendance of a богослужение (“worship service”), more specifically a месса (“[Catholic] Mass“) — not out of personal religious sentiment but because my parents were visiting from Arizona. Also, being a неверующий (“non-believer”) who was not expected to kneel or креститься (“to cross oneself”) when everybody else…

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More About Georgia Posted by on Oct 9, 2012

While the recent парламентские выборы (Parliamentary elections) in Georgia are still fresh in our minds thanks to Natalie’s recent post, let’s talk some more about this country. But wait, Georgia is not Russia! Russian is not its official language. It seems that unless you are interested in geopolitics, Georgia is outside of the scope of…

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Talking on the Phone – In Russian! Posted by on Aug 3, 2012

If you are learning Russian, it is a great idea to cultivate friendships with русскоговорящие [Russian speakers]. Your Russian friends will be thrilled that you are learning Russian and can help you learn new words and phrases. When I was за границей [abroad], I made friends with a few Russians who were also studying…

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Woman’s Work – Part 2 Posted by on Mar 19, 2012

I am pretty sure that most Russians over 30 are familiar with the opening lines of Gianni Rodari’s poem Чем пахнут ремёсла (What jobs smell like): У каждого дела Запах особый (Each trade Has its special smell) This short poem mentions quite a few jobs, all using masculine nouns – маляр (painter), стекольщик (windows installer)…

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Women’s Day or Femininity Day Posted by on Mar 8, 2012

March 8 is a holiday in Russia, Международный женский день (International Women’s Day) or праздник Восьмого марта (the Eighth of March) or simply Женский день (Women’s Day). There will be plenty of поздравления (congratulations), цветы (flowers), поздравительные открытки (greeting cards), шоколад (chocolate) and подарки (gifts). Men will also try, if just for one day, to…

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Another Meaning of Sputnik Posted by on Feb 28, 2012

I loved Rob’s comment on my Valentine’s day post.  If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might remember Rob’s previous guest posts, including Chemistry for Muggles as well as his exhaustively researched comments, both on the blog and on the Facebook page. This particular comment was so amazing that I figured, it needed…

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Time to Visit Your Тёща Posted by on Feb 21, 2012

Don’t take this song (or this post for that matter) very seriously. Not all husbands experience intense dislike of their mothers-in-law and not all mothers-in-law can’t stand their sons-in-law.  This week Russians celebrate the festival of Масленица (Maslenitsa). We wrote a bit about it on this blog before in this post, this one and this…

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