Tag Archives: Russian language
Open Invitation to the Russian Blog Posted by yelena on Jun 22, 2010
«Заходите к нам на огонек!» [Drop in for some company!] Wait, if you’re reading this, then you’re already here, wherever this “here” is for you. So assuming that you’ve made yourself comfortable and poured yourself «стакан кваса» [a glass of kvass] or «кружка холодного пива» [a mug of cold beer] or, for our friends in…
Reading: Master and Margarita – Chapter 3 Posted by yelena on Jun 19, 2010
Weekend is a great time for catching up on our big summer reading project – Mikhail Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita. Guess what, we are on Chapter 3 already! But before we dive into the review, let’s do the Readers’ Mail (look at me, I sound like a real National Public Radio show host!). So…
Reading «Мастер и Маргарита»: Chapter 2 Posted by josefina on Jun 14, 2010
Where has your copy of «Мастер и Маргарита» [“The Master & Margarita”] been this week? I brought mine with me to the «университетская столовая» [university canteen] where I read it together with «кофе» [coffee] and «корзиночка со сливками» [lit. ‘little basket with cream’] a very tasty Russian pastry. Chapter 2 «Понтий Пилат» [“Pontius Pilate”] of…
More Russian Onomatopoeia or Is It? Posted by yelena on May 31, 2010
It occurred to me that the best way to get a grip on lots of Russian «звукоподражания» [onomatopoeia] is by reading children’s books. After all, onomatopoeia is used by Russian parents and grandparents to teach their little ones the first words. It’s much easier to say «би-би» [honk-honk] than «машина» [car]; «чу-чу» [chuga-chuga] is…
Russian Onomatopoeia is Fun Posted by yelena on May 25, 2010
Indeed, «русский язык – велик и могуч!» [Russian language is great and powerful.] It has such wonderfully lengthy and unpronounceable words as «Интернационализироваться» – to undergo a process of internationalization «Одиннадцатиклассница» – female 11th grader «Восьмидесятичетырёхлетний»- someone or something who’s 84 years old, presumably the grandfather of the said 11th grader And «водогрязеторфопарафинолечение» –…
«Осторожно, русский язык!» [Careful, Russian language!] Posted by josefina on Apr 28, 2010
If only this wasn’t a joke «объявление» [advertisement, announcement; declaration, proclamation; notification] made by some «хитрые филологи» [here: clever philologists], but «правда» [truth, verity, fact] instead! «Перевожу с руского на русский» [(I) translate from Rusian to Russian]. Because sometimes that’s just exactly what we all need, right? Today one foreign student here in Yekaterinburg…
DIY Russian Language Immersion Posted by yelena on Apr 26, 2010
Some time ago we asked just this question – What is the most difficult part about learning Russian? – on our Learn Russian Facebook page. Evidently, the question touched the nerve since we’ve got over 150 responses in just a couple of days. One of our participants, Alice, brought up an excellent point in her…