Study Russian

You lived in Russia for too long, if...

2010-07-06T03:37:00.000-07:00

This list was spread across mailboxes a while ago - and it's all TRUE. My comments are inline.1. When crossing the street, you sprint.Historically so. Recently penalties for drivers improved the situation and at least in Moscow drivers might wait when you cross. What's interesting: my husband, who is a driver, once payed a penalty, now he always wait for people to cross. Most of people does not

GMAT, russian version

2010-06-14T03:37:00.000-07:00

Every year millions of russian kids pass final exams (for school). Results of this exams could be counted in universities as prelimanary examination. This thing varies from school to school and I still don't understand 100% why this practice was implemented (in my time we used to have 2 different exams - one when you finish school, second when you apply to univercity).ЕГЭ (integrated state exam)

Never ever do like this =)

2010-06-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry guys - it's only a link on a livejournal post, but I don't want to break copyrighs (russian often say "copylefts" don't know how global this is).Here are funny screenshots with "russian" language in Hollywood movies.ROFL

Silly phrases from russian teens

2010-06-06T09:51:00.000-07:00

When you begin with foreign language speaking isn't easy 'cause you keep in mind you might be very incorrect. So, here are some silly and illiterate lines of russian teens.Have some laugh and get rid of complexes ))Мне очень нравится ваше творчество: музыка, но особенно песни, ведь они наполнены смыслом. Только для того, чтобы слушать ваши песни, я хожу на дискотеки. Моя мама работает

a dialog

2010-06-04T09:41:00.000-07:00

itassassin: ладно, я спатьitassassin: спокойной ночиNITKA: давай. пусть тебе приснится яitassassin: неееNITKA: что так?itassassin: ты вреднаяNITKA: а я и не желала хороших снов=)

Special symbols: language-specific

2010-06-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

In Russian and Armenian symbol @ is pronounced as собака (means dog). It's official meaning (you can hear it in commercial and news)When you want to number things, you use # for it (#1, #2) in english. In russian you should use № (№1, №2, №3)Using digits - don't use comma to separate thousands etc.100,250 would be translated as 100250"Dot" you use to separate decimals is translated as comma1.25

recognising Russian abroad

2010-06-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

You could easily recognise russian outside of Russia.It's the guy who asks in McDonalds "Potato free".it's not because he's greedy or smth."French fries" in russian is картошка фри. фри here is a loanword but not from english - and many people just don't have an idea they should translate it as "fries".=)

Basics of russian punctuation

2010-05-31T08:22:00.000-07:00

welcome back after the long break =)When I think about russian punktuation, 1st line that comes to my mind is "казнить нельзя помиловать". It's from fairytale "12 months" where little queen is signing a petition. In this case one comma, being put in different spot changes resolution from "put to death" to "show mercy".Linguists state that russian punctuation is very close to german. But the real

SMS russian: transliterated russian alphabet

2009-04-05T11:34:00.000-07:00

I remember my first impression: american guy was totally shocked by very first sms he recieved from russian friend. It was with latin letters but just some abrakadabra. So, what is pecular about sms language?Text message in english could contain 180 signs, but in russian it has a limit of 70 signs per sms. This was a primary reason why russian use latin letters in sms quite often.Words are

Gaming Russian

2009-03-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

Recently I found in this blog a question (sorry for a delay, anyway) about gaming russian.1) Of cause - and you know it - the main idea of gaming russian is - it is as short as possible.Examplesнзчт (не за что) - don't mention itща (сейчас) - now or in a secondспс (спасибо) - thank you2) The second thing you need to consider - gaming russian was created on the base of gaming english, because in

March, 8 - international women's day

2009-02-23T11:22:00.001-08:00

There are 2 russian holidays widely celebrated in Russia (sometimes we call it gender holidays what reflects their nature). It's February 23rd (men's day) and March 8th (women's day). As long as men's day is passed I will tell you about Women's day.The history of Women's day has begun at 1857 in New-York at the women's demonstration. They wanted 10-hour working day, good working conditions and

Slang word of the day

2009-02-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

In famous male-female dictionary there is an interesting translation of a wordМатьgirls mostly mean: motherboys mostly mean: mainboard - computer hardware

Online russian test

2009-02-08T12:54:00.000-08:00

I have already recommended you materials for russian language test preparation. Now I want to share with you a link on online russian language test.This test was created to check literacy of native speakers - so if you are beginner you better do not try to pass it. But this it could be very helpful if you preparing to any official russian tests or checking your knowledge before the trip to

3 random facts about russian language

2009-02-01T13:07:00.000-08:00

Fact#1There is no continues tense in Russian. Only Future, Past and Present. Continuous tense can be figured out by meaning and sometimes in the form of word. There are 2 words with one source, meaning almost the same: ехать and ездить. They produce many equal words but ехать basically means that they are moving now, and ездить – do it regularly.Fact#2When you address to somebody in Russian you

Moscow Toilets

2009-01-20T11:40:00.000-08:00

Browsing in internet I have found tips that made me smile.Public toilets in the centre of the city are few and far between. Innovative, although somewhat squashy toilet buses (10Rbl) are sometimes parked at public events or outside the Hermitage.Generally speaking, McDonald’s and random hotels and cafes are your best option. Just utter the words ‘gdye tualet?’ (where is the toilet?), while

10 common russian loanwords

2009-01-17T11:32:00.000-08:00

Recently I've shown how slang loanwords are composed in russian and here is a list of 12 common russian loanwords. For your convenience I've marked roots.Залогиниться - to log inПушить - to push, especially project or peopleЗапостить - to send a postМенеджить - to manage (by the way, the word manager has 2 spellings in russian - манагер and менеджер(formal))Гамать - to play a computer game. Sound

Russian slang: composing loanwords

2009-01-10T13:24:00.000-08:00

In Russian is quite common to use foreign (especially English) words. These loanwords are usually modified by language in a certain way and in a while become new slang words. Russian could understand these words easily, but for foreigners these words become a headache. Every Russian knows how it works.In Russian almost every word has preposition, root, and ending. Preposition gives a direction,

Russian slang: отсвечивать

2009-01-06T12:22:00.000-08:00

отсвечиватьfrom: Благовещенск Blagoveschensk citymeans: ксерокопировать to make a photocopyexample:Подписаться на газету или просто отсветить здесь же, в библиотеке, газетный лист с колонками ОРТ, РТ и местных телеканалов они не в состоянии — нет денег (Амурская правда, Благовещенск; 02.12.1997); Сегодня я ездил в пед отсвечивать учебник по китайскому из библиотеки (блог, Благовещенск).

Russian Joke

2009-01-06T12:17:00.000-08:00

Время завтрака. Жена мужу:- Уверена, что ты забыл какой день сегодня?- Глупости, я прекрасно помню какой сегодня день, - ответил муж и свалил на работу.В 10:30 раздался входной звонок. Когда жена открыла дверь, то увидела возле порога большой букет красных роз.В 13:00 снова раздался звонок. На этот раз это была коробка ее любимого бельгийского шоколада.В 15:00 это было шикарное, дизайновское

Russian New Year songs: Actual

2008-12-28T10:14:00.000-08:00

There are several russian New Year songs. Everybody knows them and knowing them is obligatory for thise who pretends that knows russian culture.The 2nd song you need to know is by "Diskoteka Avariya". The song is not older than 10 years, it is fun - and not for kids. But everybody knows it.Below there is the lyrics in russianНовый год к нам мчится,Скоро всё случится.Сбудется, что снится,Что опять

Russian New Year songs: Classic

2008-12-28T09:58:00.000-08:00

There are several russian New Year songs. Everybody knows them and knowing them is obligatory for thise who pretends that knows russian culture.Below there is a russian text of the most famous and the song with longest history.Маленькой ёлочкеХолодно зимой,Из лесу ёлочкуВзяли мы домой.Беленький заинькаЁлочку просил:"Мятного пряничкаЗайке принеси!"Белочка прыгалаВ шубке голубой:"Ёлочка, ёлочка,Я

Merry Christmas or...

2008-12-21T12:19:00.000-08:00

Russians are orthodox. In terms of Christmas celebration it basically means that they don’t have it on 24th. Russian Christmas is on January 7th and celebrated less than a New Year.If you wonder why… It’s all because of the soviet times when government tried to erase all traces of religion and religious celebrations. What to say: Happy New Year! (Schastlivogo Novogo Goda! S Novym Godom!)When:

Do you study Russian Slang?

2008-12-18T12:36:00.000-08:00

If you do, I have a good news.This dictionary yet exist only in Russia - but can be bought in russian online store. If you know some Russian - you can manage it. Beleive me, this dictionary worth it.coABBYY Lingvo X3 ME (Medved Edition) – is a first russian-russian dictionary software that contains russian slang, abbreviations, local dialects.I knew a girl, she learned russian during 7 years, but

Russian greetings

2008-10-03T06:29:00.000-07:00

You probably have heard that Russians are not friendly. Imagine you see your neighbor – you don’t know the name but you live close and you wanna be nice to him. Would you say “Hello” Or if you enter the elevator with some other person – would you greet him?For Russians the correct answer for both is “no”, and in elevator you would better pretend the other person just don’t exist.So why does it go

Russian intonation

2008-07-23T13:07:00.000-07:00

My english collegues often don't understand why russians are so obsessed with language fluency of translation. Their point is if the line is grammaticly correct why don't you like it.The problem is very language-specific. Russian language is full of sinonims, antonims, omonims and many things can only be defined by context and intonation. While we read text we also consider "intonation" of