Let’s learn Russian with Russian rock songs

http://rbth.co.uk/blogs/2013/10/10/lets_learn_russian_with_russian_rock_songs_30701.html?goback=%2Egde_2184808_member_5794517544844931076#%21
 

How much do you know about Russia?

If you think you know a lot about Russia, solve this test and see how much do you really know about many aspects of Russia. Test contains 20 questions and it will take you less then 5 minutes to test your knowledge.    http://www.practicerussian.com/Tests/RussiaQuizz.aspx

Humorous Classification of Russian Tutors

Did you meet any of them or maybe you can tell what type is your Russian tutuor? :)  Humorous Classification is here

Today is Memorial Day in Russia - День Памяти и Скорби

 

Memorial Day in Russia, Ukraine and Belorus - remember 27 million Soviet people who died in the Second World War

 



Today is Russian Language Day and Pushkin's birthday

World celebrates Russian Language Day and Pushkin's birthday. Сегодня День рождения великого русского поэта А. С. Пушкина
Слух обо мне пройдет по всей Руси великой,10 И назовет меня всяк сущий в ней язык,
И гордый внук славян, и финн, и ныне дикой
Тунгуз, и друг степей калмык.

И долго буду тем любезен я народу,
Что чувства добрые я лирой пробуждал...
                               (Я памятник себе воздвиг нерукотворный...)

Today is День славянской письменности и культуры - Day of Slavonic Written Language and Culture

Today is ДЕНЬ СЛАВЯНСКОЙ ПИСЬМЕННОСТИ И КУЛЬТУРЫ- Day of Slavonic Written Language and Culture or Day of Saints Cyril and Methodius - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Cyril_and_Methodius#Saints_Cyril_and_Methodius_Day
 

С ДНЁМ ПОБЕДЫ!

 

ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕСЕ! HAPPY EASTER!

Today is Orthodox Easter. Watch here about Holy Fire ceremony in Jerusalem
 

Today is International Labour Day

1 мая - Праздник Весны и Труда в России

Some history of this day in Russia. Read about it in English Spring and Labour day in Russia  or in Russian История праздника
 

The Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher

В Великобритании скончалась "железная леди" Маргарет Тэтчер

 

Humour for learning. Amaizing Russian

Тонкости русского языка: борщ пересолила = с солью переборщила.

Какой язык богаче: русский или английский? Сравните:
Зелёная зелень зеленит зелёную зелень.
Green green green green green.

Как много в русском языке решает всего одна буква! Сравните: "она предложила остаться друзьями" и " она предложила остаться с друзьями".

Основное правило русского языка.
Если вы не знаете, как написать "сдесь" или "здесь" - пишете "тут".

Во фразах ”мы же на ты” и ”мы женаты” одинаковый набор и порядок букв. А какой разный смысл!

Первый турист-космонавт Денис Тито, вернувшись с космоса, дает интервью.
У него спрашивают:
- Какие русские фразы вы выучили во время полета?
- ”спасибо”, ”пожалуйста” и ”куда ты гад руки суешь”!!!

 

Govorite po-russki? or How popular is the Russian language in the world today?

Russian is the Internet's second most used language after English. So how much interest is there towards Russian in the off-line world and who wants to study it? Interest in Russian in the world

Fool's Day. День смеха

Сегодня День смеха (День дурака). 1 апреля - никому не верю...  Немного истории Дня смеха

40th Humour Carnaval in Odessa Юморина Одесский карнавал. Юморина-2013.

New driverless trams in Moscow 

 

Humour for learning

В ресторане. Клиент зовёт официанта:
- Попробуйте этот суп.
- Что вдруг? Это тот же суп, который Вы всегда заказываете.
- Попробуйте.
- Слушайте, когда я Вам подавал плохой суп?
- Попробуйте!
- Ну хорошо, я попробую - где ложка?
- О!

*******
Маленький мальчик пришёл домой и говорит маме:
- Мам, наша учительница никогда не видела лошадей!
- Почему ты так думаешь?
- Когда я сегодня на уроке нарисовал лошадь, она подошла и спросила:"Что это"?

*******
У одного мужчины жена родила тройню(triplet). Медсестра принесла детей. Мужчина посмотрел внимательно на всех и сказал:"Вот этого, справа, я пожалуй и возьму (perhaps I will take)"!                                         
                                    

The Orthodox Lent

Unlike in many Western faith traditions, fasting in the Russian Orthodox Church is serious business. Believers are supposed to refrain from some foods on regular fast days, which are observed on most Wednesdays and Fridays, and there are four major fasts in the Russian Orthodox calendar during which serious dietary restrictions are imposed.
Read here about the Orthodox Lent in English. Lent: Trial or long-awaited cleansing?  or in Russian Великий пост


 

Russian Humour for Learning

АНЕКДОТЫ:

О весне:
1. Замечательная зима этой весной!..
2. Вот и зиму перезимовали, осталось перезимовать весну...

*****

Приехал иностранец в русскую деревню. Видит через дорогу бегут гуси, за ними бежит старая женщина (бабка) и кричит:
- Ах, вы, собаки!

Иностранец подходит к бабке и спрашивает:
- Извините, но это же гуси. Почему вы говорите на них "собаки"?

- Потому что они - свиньи - у меня в огороде всю капусту съели!

*****
- Это что?
- Красная смородина *!
- А почему она белая?
- Потому что зеленая**!
*currant
**not ripe( in this context)

Charity egg goes missing from Glasgow city centre

В Глазго похитили гигантское пасхальное яйцо

Read about it in Russian http://lenta.ru/news/2013/03/18/egg or in English http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21816105

С 8 МАРТА!

Here is comedy sketch about family celebration of Women's day in Russia (changing male and female roles on 8th of March and changing back again on 9th) :) COMEDY SKETCH

 








 

С 8 марта!

Let’s celebrate the 8th of March!
Some useful information and vocabulary about Women's day

Today is the Day of Defender's of the Homeland in Russia and also in general it's Man's Day for Russians (Women's Day is 8th of March).

 

Spring has arrived?

With the lovely sunshine lately I was inspired to post a link to a lovely animated series called Masha and the Bear - маша и медведь. This one is called Spring Came.

Собака - лучший друг человека. A dog is a man's best friend

Some interesting news about British events periodically appear in Russian сhannel. Here is one of them about doggies.

The sky is falling!

Maybe you heard that meteorites hit Russia today! You can watch the Russian news, or the BBC in English below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21468116

Metro / Underground / Tube

A couple of nice videos about undergrounds! This theme may not seem so exciting, but Moscow’s underground is famous for its beautiful stations, while Glasgow’s is the third oldest in the world. My husband found this one about Glasgow from the BBC, which he says is particularly funny at 1:04 if you like stereotypes! :-/

Today is the Day of Russian Science

The best young Russian scientists received awards in the Kremlin.

 

Sochi 2014: One year countdown to Winter Olympics start

Taking place in the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi, organisers say that not only are preparations on track but that the event will introduce some important "firsts" to the country.

You can read about it on BBC here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21040625

or watch in Russian

 

Russian language No. 2 in Czech Republic

In Scotland Russian doesn't seem to be on the curriculum in secondary schools but in Czech Republic it has become the second most popular foreign language (after English of course).

Watch the report below:

First post on Russian music

Russia and other ex Soviet nations may not have world famous music like Britain and the USA but we do still have a reasonably vibrant music scene, and pop music scene too. One of the well established post Soviet period rock groups is Би-2, originally from Belarus. So, as an introduction to Russian rock, I'm posting a link to their website, and specifically to a comprehensive list of their music videos:


http://bdva.ru/filmographia.phtml


...and here's one of my favourites.

On this day in 1945 ...

A very significant day for the future of Europe. Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt met to discuss the divisions in Europe after the imminent defeat of Nazi Germany.  Ялтинская конференция.

You can read about it at Russia Today in English http://russiapedia.rt.com/on-this-day/february-4/ on their often interesting page 'on this day ...'

Or video on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAtEaL5I2pI

70th Anniversary of the battle of Stalingrad

2nd February 1943 saw the victory of the Soviet defenders of Stalingrad after over 5 months of fighting and the death of between 1.7 and 2 million people. Today there are commemorations and Putin will visit Volgograd (previously Stalingrad) for a military parade and laying of wreaths at the eternal flame. There are such 'eternal flames' in many cities of the ex soviet union.

You can watch the news here in Russian.

or from the BBC here

You can watch a film about the battle of Stalingrad Горячий снег (Hot snow).

Scotland days in Saint Petersburg

For the 42nd time a Scottish delegation came to Saint Petersburg for educational and cultural exchange, visiting St Petersburg's education centre, the local parliament, and other important places of Russian culture http://spb.itar-tass.com/c344/636367.html

Dog Barbos and Supercross (1961, Soviet Union)

One of the most popular Soviet comedy directors Леонид Гайдай would have been 90yo today. Apart from the fact that his movies are incredibly enjoyable, they can be used as a great Russian language learning tool.

This particular short movie (10min) is in the international language of humour and a speaker of any language can understand it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYX5D3VjMzQ

Rabbie Burns in Russian

A bit late for Burns. Actually we had a Russian Burns' night with lots of his poems in Russian. Burns was always popular in Soviet times and we learned about him at school.

There are a couple of famous songs with Burns lyrics in our popular culture, one of which is in this film. This is a classic Russian comedy called Служебный роман

The song "Моей душе покоя нет" is here at the very beginning of part 2 Part 2 Youtube

You can also see and hear the original Burns' lyrics here For the sake o' Somebody

Epiphany in Russia. 19th January

http://www.1tv.ru/news/social/224336

Do you know what Epiphany is? The Julian calendar (as was used in Russia till 1918) being 13 days ahead of Gregorian (as used by the West), the 19th January is celebrated as Epiphany in the Orthodox Church.

Watch the coverage in the link below.


First Russian Channel news report on epiphany