8th of March - Women's Day . It's Women's Day in Russia today, a holiday of spring and attention to women. It's one of most important holidays in Russia. The celebration is similar to a combination of Valentine's Day and Mother's Day in the West, but better. This is a national holiday and a day off. Several nations celebrate this, but only a few acknowledge it as an official, non-working holiday . If you forgot to send a rose on Valentine's Day, it's only half the trouble. But if you forgot to s...
Mar 08, 2007
Russian Cursive (Letters "Й,К,Л,М,Н") Letter 'Й' is represented by word 'Йогурт' (Yogurt) Letter 'К' is represented by word 'Кошка' (Cat) Letter 'Л' is represented by word 'Лодка' (Boat) Letter 'М' is represented by word 'Машина' (Car) Letter 'Н' is represented by word 'Носки' (Socks)
Feb 20, 2007
Video Vocabulary #1 - Common Greetings and Phrases. You can find a PDF file of the vocabulary in the DOWNLOADS section of the site. p.s. Isn't the sound of that BALALAIKA great in the video?
Feb 20, 2007
Добрый день, мои дорогие слушатели ( Hello, my dear listeners)! Welcome to 'A Spoonful of Russian' , where we learn Russian one bite at a time. Добро пожаловать ( Welcome)! (Samir's audio message) I thank all the listeners who stuck with the show since the beginning and welcome the newcomers. I appreciate all the mail that you send my way. Questions, comments, suggestion and even criticism....I read them all and try to reply as time allows. We've covered a lot of ground already, and there's more...
Feb 15, 2007
(Please follow the video for this lesson. Just click on the title of the blog entry.) Добрый день, дорогие друзья! You are listening to and viewing 'A Spoonful of Russian' podcast, where we learn Russian 'one bite at a time'! I am your host, Natalia. Давайте начнём (Let us begin)! First, I want to take just a few seconds to thank all those who contributed to this show either by donating through PayPal, purchasing products with 'Spoonful of Russian' logo at my cafepress.com store of going to russ...
Feb 07, 2007
Today I'll show you how to write Б,В,Г in cursive. (Please follow the video for this lesson. Just click on the title of the blog entry.)
Jan 27, 2007
Today you will learn to write Russian cursive "А". I will include more than one letter in my future lessons. Thanks to one of my listeners I was able to upload a "Russian Cursive Workbook" in the DOWNLOADS section on the right. The Cyrillic alphabet was adopted by the Slavs in about the 9th century. Although it is named after St. Cyril (Constantine), it was not invented by St. Cyril. It is based on the system of Greek capital letters. If you know the Greek alphabet, many of the letters will be f...
Jan 26, 2007
Emily made a little сюрприз for you:
Dec 31, 2006
• ❑ Opening Word Ну, здравствуйте, мои дорогие слушатели = Well, hello, my dear listeners! Как вы поживаете? = 'How are you?' 'Как вы поживаете' is basically the same as 'Как дела'. The difference is in the use. I'd never say 'Как дела' to a person I just met, or to someone who's a lot older than I am. 'Как дела' is reserved for close friends, family and children. The use of 'Как поживаете' in turn is more appropriate when addressing people much older than you, groups of people, someone you don'...
Dec 23, 2006
Добрый день, друзья! Как дела? Хорошо? Отлично. (Hello, friends! How are you? Doing well? Great!) It's December now, and I am a bit late with my coming back to the 'Spoonful of Russian'. I was hoping to get it started again in November, but....like they say in Russia: "Люди предполагают, а Бог располагает!" Which literally means "People make plans, but everything is in God's hands'. To quickly bring you up to date we are in our new house in Charlotte, NC and lovin' it! Still lots of things to do...
Dec 04, 2006
Topic - Birthday Greetings • ❑1 intro Добрый день, друзья! (Hello, friends!) Как дела? (How are you?) Надеюсь, что у вас все хорошо. (Hope you are doing well.) Thank you for keeping up with this podcast even though I do not produce them as often as I'd like to. I am excited to get e-mails and comments on the spoonfulofrussian.com site. Your enthusiasm is contageous! For those who asked about the condition of our house, we just sold our restored home and are planning on moving to Charlotte, North...
Apr 21, 2006
(Due to lack of interest in the enhanced version of the podcast I am going to stick with the audio only version. Below is the Valentine's Day enhanced show converted into .mp3 file) Привет! Hey there, all you Russian language addicts and all those who have just subscribed. Welcome! (Добро пожаловать!) It’s Lesson#11 - Love is in the Air. It's been a while since I cranked up my Microphone and my Mac to produce a podcast. My house renovations are still going on, and we are still living with my in-...
Apr 01, 2006
Hi, everyone. Добрый день. This is just a short note to let you know I haven't forgotten about my listeners and "A Spoonful of Russian' podcast will be coming back! I also wanted to share with you an interview I recently gave to a BBC reporter and producer April Peavey. It aired today, January 4th, 2006. It was a pleasure and honor to work with April. The interview is a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston.
Jan 05, 2006
Bought a new mic, new headphones, iMac G5 - all set up to produce 'killer shows', yet this show will be the last one before I can get settled in our house. This is show#10 and the last one as far as my introductory lessons go. After almost 7,000 visitors to my site and close to 3,000 subscribers (at one point) I decided to take a sabbatical to re-evaluate the show and make some changes. Renovating of the house damaged by hurricane Katrina is another reason for the break. I would like to thank al...
Nov 19, 2005
How do you feel about food? Я люблю поесть! (I love to eat!) most people will say. Whether you love it or hate it, we deal with food and talk about food every single day. That reminds me, I have to throw together PLOV (rice-based national dish of Uzbekistan) for tonight ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plov ) ....be right back. (Natalia making noise in her kitchen) First, let me give you a list of some popular food items in Russian: Хлеб - bread Соль - salt Сахар - sugar Яйца - eggs Икра - caviar ...
Nov 05, 2005
Привет, дорогие слушатели. (Hi, dear listeners). Сегодня суббота, 22 октября. (Today's Saturday, Oct. 22nd.) Let's check your homework from the previous lesson#7: Exercise 7.1 1. Туристы летают в Мексико-Сити из Нью-Йорка ___на самолете___ . Tourists travel from New York to Mexico City (by plane). 2. Люди ездят на работу ___на автобусе___ в Атланте. People go to work in Atlanta (by bus). 3. Поездка в Европу ___на теплоходе___ 3 месяца. The journey to Europe (by boat) is 3 months long. 4. Мы ходи...
Oct 22, 2005
Let's say you want to fly out of JFK to Scheremetyevo airport in Moscow, then take the train to Vladivostok, stopping to drive through the countryside both by car and by horseback. Or maybe you enjoy boat cruises and would love to go down the Volga river! In trying to put all of this into words, you realize that you need to use some new expressions. Here are some examples: Exercise 7.1 1. Туристы летают в Мексико-Сити из Нью-Йорка _________________________ . Tourists travel from New York to Mexi...
Oct 15, 2005
Добрый день, дорогие друзья! (Hello, dear friends). Сегодня суббота, 8-ое октября. The show is still recorded at my temp 'studio' away from my home in New Orleans. In this podcast you will learn how to say the days of the week in Russian, as well as count from 1-10. You will also find out why you shouldn't get stressed over stress in Russian words. We will take a look at some simple sentence structures and word order within sentences as well....This might be the largest 'Spoonful of Russian' eve...
Oct 08, 2005
Sounds like cognates are the single greatest friend to folks learning Russian. However, as with most good things there are pitfalls. And these pitfalls are called 'false cognates'. A 'false cognate' is a word that shares a similar pronunciation between two languages, but means one thing in one language and something else in the other. You'd sound pretty silly if a Russian asked you what you were doing ('Что вы делаете?') and you'd answer 'Я читаю магазин' (which means 'I am reading a store').......
Oct 01, 2005
You'll be surprised how many words you would be able to recognize without studying any Russian. The words I am talking about are cognates - words borrowed from a foreign language that share a common pronunciation and meaning.The Russian version of an English word may look intimidating to you at first, but as you become familiar with the Russian characters you'll learn to recognize a cognate when you see it. 1. теннис 2. доллар 3. баскетбол 4. доктор 5. Нью-Йорк 6. Калифорния 7. бейсбол 8. универ...
Sep 23, 2005
Click on the title "Vacation Note" to hear my message. I have a few photos to go with my audio note. All of them were taken in Texas outside Tyler. I can't waith to get back to work on the next "A Spoonful of Russian" lesson!...
Sep 17, 2005
If you ask a Russian 'How are you?' (КАК ДЕЛА) you might hear more that just a simple "OK". But for starters we'll learn some simple replies. Here are the transcripts of the dialogs from our lesson. #1 (- Как дела, Эмили? - Хорошо, спасибо. ) #2 (- Как дела, Эмили? - Хорошо, спасибо. А у вас?) ("I am fine as well" - "Тоже хорошо" ) #3 (- Как дела, мам? - Так себе...) #4 (- Как дела, мам? - Ничего хорошего, Эмили...) Word/Expressions list: Provided below are the lyrics to the song you heard on th...
Sep 10, 2005
How do you say 'Goodbye' in Russian? This show teaches you a couple of ways to do that. As you listen, the images below will help you visually. - Пока, Эмили. - Пока, мам. - До свидания, Эмили. - До свидания, папа. Sorry for the quality of the show's audio. Was out of town, and recording was made on my notebook. I am hoping that I'll have all my usual gear unharmed (by hurricane Katrina) when I go back to New Orleans, La. on Monday....
Sep 03, 2005
Friends and family members greet each other with a simple "Привет". for those who want to 'Copy'+'Paste' : - Привет, Эмили. - Привет, мам. Use "Здравствуйте" with people you barely know, with much older folks (unless they are your relatives) or with government officials. - Здравствуйте, мисс Наталия. - Здравствуй, Эмили. Remember, "Practice makes perfect". Your e-mails with questions and comments are welcome. If you are brave enough, you can e-mail me an audio file with your greeting in Russian....
Aug 26, 2005
