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Tag Archives: thematic vocabulary

V biblioteke (at the library) Posted by on Sep 13, 2021

a book by Pasternak

Смо́тришь в кни́гу ви́дишь фи́гу? (Looking into a book but seeing nothing – see note below) That certainly won’t be the case with Transparent’s Library Sign-up month. See here if your local library offers Transparent Language Online so that you can access Russian courses.  Remember to read the official rules here and поторопи́тесь — вас…

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Russian euphemisms about death Posted by on Jun 22, 2021

a woman in the woods

A lot of фразеологизмы (idioms) about ‘death’ in Russian rely on verbs of motion that depict a person leaving this life and world. The 5 euphemisms below all mean ‘to die’ but I will write the literal translation in parenthesis to make them easier to remember. My goal, though, is to not just help you…

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Russian phrases with numerals Posted by on Nov 24, 2020

alone

Since we’ve covered the difference between один and раз, it’s only apt to enrich our vocabulary with a few numeral-heavy Russian expressions and idioms. I will give both the literal translation (sometimes for the sake of curious imagery and other times for even more curious etymological reasons), as well as the actual idiomatic meaning and…

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Examining a Russian spice rack. Part II Posted by on Aug 28, 2020

coconut_cake

In the second part of examining a Russian spice rack, we will explore the most common спе́ции (spices) used in baking recipes across Russian households. At the end of the post is a playlist of Russian words to help you practice pronouncing them. For starters, let’s cover the most basic baking ingredients: Са́хар (Sugar) is…

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Examining a Russian spice rack. Part I Posted by on Aug 18, 2020

reading

There are a number of припра́в, пря́ностей, и спе́ций (spices) that are considered standard in any Russian household, whether you are многоде́тная семья́ (a family with lots of kids) or зако́нченный холостя́к (a long-time bachelor). This blog will focus on spices commonly used for savory dishes, while Part II will cover spices used for baking…

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Passports, Visas, and Other Diplomatic Vocabulary in Russian Posted by on Sep 16, 2019

French passport on top of a map

One area where you might need Russian is dealing with the embassies and diplomatic missions of Russian-speaking countries abroad. (Remember that the Russian Federation, Росси́йская Федера́ция, is not the only country where Russian is an official language.) This post will feature some vocabulary you can use when contacting diplomatic missions that use Russian, loosely grouped…

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What Do You Call Young People in Russian? Posted by on Jun 3, 2019

three young women

There are several ways of referring to young people in Russian, some more informal than others. This post will help you learn some common ones and when each is normally used. Де́вушка This popular word refers to a young woman. Note that де́вушка should not be confused with де́вочка, girl. Unlike in English, where calling…

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