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Tag Archives: Russian culture

A History of Kiev, Part 1 Posted by on Dec 22, 2010

«Киев—очень старый город» [Kiev is a very old city], so there’s a lot to learn about its history. I’ll be splitting up these posts on «история Киева» [the history of Kiev] into multiple parts to make them more manageable. There exists «легенда» [a legend] concerning «основание Киева» [the founding of Kiev]. According to this legend…

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Feodor Chaliapin Posted by on Nov 29, 2010

Who is singing in this video, and what is he singing? Read on to find out. «Дорогие читатели!» [Dear readers!] «Как прошли выходные?» [How was your weekend?] Mine was quite lovely–I went to a bookstore, read a book «о Сталине» [about Stalin], and drank «какао» [cocoa, hot chocolate]. And yes, I know Stalin is not…

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Uglich Posted by on Nov 26, 2010

For those of you who don’t know, I have three main passions in life: «история, классическая музыка и литература» [history, classical music, and literature]. And, I suppose, there is a fourth one as well: writing about those three main topics, especially in relation to Russia. So today, we are going to learn «об Угличе» [about…

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Reading “Мастер и Маргарита”: Chapter 19 Posted by on Nov 25, 2010

For those of the blog readers who’ve taken up our challenge to read «Мастер и Маргарита» [Master and Margarita] «по-русски» [in Russian], congratulations! We are now officially done with «часть первая» [part one] of the novel and are moving on into a very exciting «часть вторая» [part two]. It is only here, in Chapter 19…

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How to Procrastinate in Russian Posted by on Oct 8, 2010

We all procrastinate from time to time. Some (and I’m pointing a finger at myself right now) do it more than others. If you love Russian and happen to procrastinate even ocassionally, then why not do it in Russian? That’s what total immersion is all about, isn’t it? But let me not delay this post…

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Are You a Cultured Person? Posted by on May 16, 2010

The other day I was teaching my son not to throw the trash on the ground. «Мусорить плохо» [It’s bad to litter], I said and then added «и некультурно» [lit.: and it is uncultured]. That’s when he asked me what «культурный» means. Good question! Growing up in Russia, I’ve heard the phrase «культурный человек» [a…

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Top Ten Things to Do in Russia Posted by on Mar 10, 2010

We’ve studied the language for years, we’ve almost mastered the grammar, we’ve stopped pronouncing half of the words in any given sentence all wrong, we’ve read every single great novel by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, we’ve recited Pushkin’s poetry by heart out loud – what next? What else should one do when in Russia? Because…

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