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Tag Archives: statistics

Autocomplete Question: “Why Is Russian Life Expectancy So Low?” Posted by on Oct 17, 2019

elderly couple on a bench

We are continuing our Autocomplete Questions series — these are questions that pop up in your search bar when you start typing. This time, I put in “Why is Russian…” and one of the questions read “Why is Russian life expectancy so low?” Let’s tackle this question in this post. Some Statistics First, how low…

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Why Are (Most) Russians Bad At Speaking Other Languages Posted by on Jan 9, 2019

liquor store

Several people who visited Russia told me they were surprised to discover that relatively few people spoke or understood English, even in the service industry in large cities. Generally speaking, the educational system and the environment in Russia contribute to this state of affairs. Largely Monolingual In a 2014 survey by the Levada Center pollster…

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Readers, Mothers, and Chauvinists: 3 Facts About Russia Posted by on Dec 13, 2018

News from Russia tends to focus on internal troubles and geopolitical ambitions. That may leave learners wondering, beyond the obsession with Putin and vodka clichés, what do I really know about contemporary Russia? This post will explore some surprising, inspiring, and, yes, disturbing facts about Russia. High Literacy Rates According the the CIA World Factbook…

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Four Resources for Natural-Sounding Russian Posted by on Feb 20, 2014

We struggle with sounding idiomatic in our second language(s). We may master vocabulary and grammar and be able to express ideas in a way that is technically not wrong, but… так не говорят (you don’t say that). Naturally, learners are encouraged to watch TV, listen to music and podcasts, and travel to the country of…

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