Study Russian

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 believe he let'll them cross and looked at car like he stopped to ran over. 2. In winter, you choose your route first by determining which icicles are least likely to impale you on the head. Not fun. This winter my friend has seen a man killed by icicle in the city centre in my hometown. No such danger in Moscow though. 3. You give a 10% tip only if the waiter has been really exceptional...meaning he/she smiled or said hello, got up from their chair to take your order, got your order right, and the restaurant actually had what was on the menu. Yep. If restaurant doesn't cost y...

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 домохозяйкой. Когда я купила вашу кассету и прочла на подкассетнике адрес, тогда я просто летала до неба. Я счастлива как-будто получила своей заветной мечты подарок. Когда я вижу ваши фотки в газетах, я их сразу же вырезаю, не говоря уж о надписях о вас. Мне нравится музыка вся: от Бетховина до Продиджи. Пишу вам не как фанат, а как слушатель. Я самая-самая сумашедшая фанатка, я знаю, что вам пишут очень много фанаток, но поверьте сумашедшей меня нету! А ты не пробовал немного похудеть? Ты только не подумай ты совсем не толстый, с фигурой у тебя все нормально, только пресс надо подкачать. Все г...

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 comma 1.25 is 1,25 In URLs "dot" is translated as "точка". So domain .RU would be точка-ру

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". =)

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 flashing a friendly smile, and most establishments will let you use their facilities. Otherwise, look for the Russian letters ‘Ж’ (women’s) and ‘M’ (men’s). Never leave home without your own stash of toilet paper! There is a national toilet-paper shortage - hence the bits of cut-up newspaper and old romance novels next to some toilets. Found in Hotels in Moscow

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 платье. Жена еле дождалась мужа: - О! Дорогой! Сначала цветы, потом шоколад, потом платье! Это самый счастливый День Воздушно-Десантных Войск в моей жизни!...

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 like this. Don’t forget that Russia went through many wars and revolutions during last 100 years. There were times when good friendly manners could tell you belong to different social class – and provoke people into something… And there are situations in Russia – for example, in elevator, when saying “Hi” you will sound impertinent. Being very friendly in Europe and US and being ignorant for strangers in Russia we are passing the same message: “I’m no danger for you, see I’m nice” “I’m no danger for you, I don’t even see you” Here is a list of most frequent Russian greetings. First list is f...

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 narrator. If we meet the line Книги читают in text we suppose it means that (People) read books . But grammaticly exactly the same line means Books read. Put exactly the same line in different context and it's meaning changes to opposite. Now let's turn to intonation : From grammatical point of view it is correct to say: Вы можете сделать это. Вы можете это сделать. Это можете сделать вы. Сделать это вы можете. Вы сделать это можете. We only change the order of word, all lines are correct but the meaning is different. Вы можете сделать это. You can Do it (accent on actio...

The funny thing about russians is that you can almost undoubdfully recognise them by the way they name boss. It is because russian will try to call your patron "chief" or even "chef" due to linguistic coinscidence. This is simply because the word шеф (pronounced just as "chef") means "patron" in russian. Simple explanation but how funny it sounds!

Valentine day is a holiday, invented in catholic countries and for Catholics. Despite this, it is celebrated all over the world. It stimulates many funny traditions. So if you are going to celebrate Valentine’s Day in Russia , remember: It is okay to say “Happy Valentine’s Day” or just “Congratulations” You can say that to everybody, even more, it is common to say it to everybody you know. If you are girl you are expected to say it to girls too, if you are guy, you are not congratulating guys. It is common to send so-called Valentine Cards. But (!) usually all cards are signed and only few weird people say in them “I love you”. These cards are usually filled with wishes to meet our love or so on. It is not very usual to give congratulations to parents. If you do this you need to refer “as they do in Europe ” Usual gift for your girlfriend at this day is a chocolate box in a form of heart. Girls don’t HAVE TO give presents back,...

Russian language is the most commonly spoken language in Europe. It belongs to Slavic groop and related to Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin. Though not as internationally prominent as its days as the official language of the former Soviet Union, it is still the official language of such countries as Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Students of the Russian language, have several alternatives by which they can learn it. If you choose to learn Russian at the college level, and receive your degree in it, you will acquire an expertise in the language that can provide you with several career opportunities. With a degree in Russian, one career option for you is as a foreign language translator. Translation firms usually hire people who are fluent in several different languages, including Russian. Coupled with knowledge in another field (for example economy, marketing), you would have the opportunity to work to bridge the gap between English-speaking and Russian-speaking business ...

Eddie Izzard: There are so many languages I'd like to learn to perform in – Russian, Italian. And I'd love to be able to perform in the country where I was born – Yemen. Paul McCartney: I like languages. In school I learnt Latin, Spanish and German. On tour I have good translators that I work with. They translate what I want to say to the audience, I write it down and learn it. In 2003, Putin invited me and Heather to the Kremlin. I was telling him how I like to speak to the crowd, and I said I was going to say 'Privyet Maskvichi'. He said 'Don't say that, say "Priv-ee-et ribiata". It means "Hi guys".' He said it's much cooler. Talk about how things have changed. For years the Kremlin wouldn't let you sing in Russia, and now they're coming to your gig and they're giving you language lessons on the side. I love it. Kate Beckinsale: You may know her from : Movies like Click, Serendipity, Underworld, Van Helsing and Pearl ...