This month my husband and I watched an episode of Лучше, чем люди, a popular TV show about motherhood, robots, and bitter divorce. The verdict? Eh, that first episode was enough. Also, we finally saw the Disney film Последний богатырь. It was a lot like Холоп → a spoiled young guy from Moscow travels into another world. You can read a great review of the film here. And to round things off, we watched Приключения Мюнхгаузена, an old Soviet cartoon about a genie and a man who really really really wants to see a peacock.
To practice Russian, I’m still doing a weekly RU/ENG language exchange with Yulia. In addition to our usual zoom call, we’ve started sending each other daily audio updates on Viber. My weekly study session with a local friend has gone online too… and transformed into an actual Russian lesson. My friend is A1 so we’re reviewing basic stuff that she needs: ordinal numbers for when taxi drivers ask, “какой подъезд?” and dog vocab for talking to other dog owners. Next week we’re going to talk about Slavic mythological creatures, based on Proper Russian’s helpful notes.
To the roundup!
Что нового
Travel tips for Ukraine – A guide for independent travelers (and backpackers on a budget).
A fun read: staycation in Moscow!
J.T.’s roundup of the latest lit in Russian and Eurasian studies.
Дюжина сайтов для самостоятельного изучения русского как иностранного.
Want to try yoga in Russian? Here’s the channel I’ve been using lately.
From Instagram:
- how to say “Are we still on for lunch?”
- how to say “All my plans were ruined.”
- someone recommended sarcastic this word-of-the-day account… it’s very entertaining!
- learnrussianwithmovies is a great way to improve your Russian vocab and listening skills. For example, do you know what Всё коту под хвост means?
From reddit:
- Good TV shows for beginning-level Russian learners?
- What are some good idioms, sayings or proverbs in Russian?
- Useful words/sentences to know for gaming with Russians?
Last week Chelyabinsk had the first метель of the season. Before the wind tore all the leaves off the trees, everything was lovely and lightly dusted with snow. Like this:
Now the days are getting short and the sidewalks are already icy. Reading season is here. This winter I have more books than ever: all the books I had in the first place + all the new ones I got this summer.😂 So far this year, I think I’ve read just a single book in Russian. Do you have any tips for staying consistent about reading in a foreign language?
What is one thing you did this month to improve your Russian? What are your language goals for November?
5 Responses
David Emerling
How do I keep up with my Russian? When I lie down at night, usually when I’m too tired to actually do any reading, I listen to Радио Фантастики over the internet. It’s a streaming Russian radio station where a book is read to the listeners. Basically, it’s an audio book. Unlike listening to Russian radio stations, where they often speak much too quickly, the pace is often more comprehensible. I have found that, even though I often do not understand most of what is being read, it increases my listening comprehension because I get used to the structure and pace of the Russian language. Oftentimes, a certain word will keep coming up that drives me crazy because I recognize the word but have forgotten what it means. That forces me to look it up and I usually say to myself, “I KNEW that word! Why didn’t I recognize it?”
Have you ever noticed the bewildering number of Russian nouns that end in “ение?”
управление, осложнение, увеличение, спасение, учение … (administration, complication, enlargement, rescue, studies…)
It’s analogous to the bewildering (to non-English speakers) number of English nouns that end in “tion.”
contraction, inception, exception, reception, petition …
Whenever I hear one of those -ение words, my brain sometimes flat lines because they all start sounding the same. 🙂
Katherine
That sounds like a great strategy, David 🙂 And very relaxing. I listened to some of what’s playing on that station right now… the reader has an incredible voice. Thank you for sharing the link! I’ll keep it and share it in November’s Russian Roundup.
Thinking of -ение words, удобрение (fertilizer) comes to mind. 😄 A couple years ago I was playing a farming/zombie game in Russian and that word came up all the time. You’re right, there are so many nouns with that ending!
David Emerling
By the way, here’s the link to Радио Фантастики.
http://top-radio.ru/web/fantastiki
Dmitriy
Hi!
I can recommend a site with free audiobooks in Russian.
https://audio-books.club/
Katherine
This looks like an awesome resource! Thank you, Dmitriy 🙂