School starts... and ends forever for some.

I was  not going to do a post on "День знаний" ("the Knolegde Day"), as September First is frequently called in Russia.  But something I saw today made me changed my mind.

I will be omitting any ethnic references in what follows.  I will be omitting references to any specific religions.  I will even try to stay away from politics.

Photo by:   Schekinov Alexey Victorovich
Source: Wikimedia Commons

You know, September 1st is a big day in Russia - for school kids especially.  It is the official first day of school - each year, always on the same day... has been that way for decades...

There aren't really any classes on that day... but there are a lot of flowers that kids bring for their teachers, lots of very dressy kids and lots of emotion.

So one bright morning - specifically, the morning of September 1st 2004, in a town of Beslan, 1100 school kids and teachers had their plans a little messed up...

 WARNIGN:  DISTURBING CONTENT

 

... three days later, Beslan had 334 school kids and teachers fewer...  All because a bunch of psychos had decided that attacking a school on the 1st of September and holding kids hostage was a really great way to validate their ambitions of religious, political, or any other sort... So three days later, it looked like this:




More about Beslan school hostage crisis.

So folks, please please please remember not to let your religion, your political views, your stereotypes (yes, we all have them) become fuel for hatred and murder.  Those people in masks believed they were heading for paradise, you know.

Russian Alphabet:"В" as in... Vladimir. Lenin, or Putin.

Russian Letter: 

The third letter of the  Russian alphabet is letter Вв - but watch it, despite looking almost identical to a certain letter of the English alphabet (or German, French, Spanish and many  other alphabets), this letter's sound is actually "V" - as in Vladimir (Putin, or Lenin

Russian Names:

Russian name Владимир, pronounced as "Vlah-DEE-meer" has a long history. Way before Putin or Lenin came along, back in the 9th century, a guy named Vladimir was the one to officially convert the pagan Eastern slavs to Christianity.

Rumor has it that he actually was leaning toward Islam... but as much as he like it's other provisions, he could not possibly expect his army - or the rest of the country - to quit drinking.  So he had to settle for the religion of the Greeks.

The diminutive for Владимир is Володя or Вова. If you are addressing a very young boy (toddler age), you can also call him Вовочка.  

Young Volodya Ulyanov,
years before he became Vladimir Lenin.
Source: Wikimedia Commons

However, I would advise you against using this variant when addressing anyone old enough to tell jokes: a boy named Вовочка is a character from a vastly popular (and for most part vulgar) joke series.

I doubt you want to address Mr. Putin as either Володя or Вова... Lenin, on the other hand, or rather his younger version, was known to all Soviet kids as Володя Ульянов (Volodya Ulyanov). 

The most common woman's name starting with the Russian letter В is probably Вика ("VEE-kah"), short for  Виктория ("Vik-TOH-ree-yah") and the best known Виктория is most likely the Nanny character form the Russian version of The Nanny sitcom. Here is an episode:

Russian Fires and other Russian News

This week I saw pictures of people in Moscow wearing masks - trying to breathe. That told me it's got to be pretty bad.  You know, during the Avian Flu pandemic (and the Swine Flu, and the annual regular flu season) with all the scary stories and such, I never saw one local in a mask.  I mean you would get into a Tokyo-style-crowded subway car, with people sneezing not covering their mouthes - yet no one wore masks... it just wasn't cool... or things were not bad enough. So seeing Muscovites in masks told me all I needed to know. Folks, it's bad. If you were planning to travel there - wait until the rains start in a month or so.

Meanwhile, here are a couple of English-language news sources for Russia:

The Voice of Russia - the link is to the English version, but you will also find it has a version in German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi and other languages, thirty-three in total (including Russian).

Russia TV - in English, Russian, Spanish and Arabic.

The Moscow Times - an English-language expat-aimed Moscow newspaper. You may find it (and its Saint Petersburg counterpart - see below) featuring opinions different from those expressed by the first two media on the list.

The Saint Petersburg Times - an English-language expat-aimed Saint Petersburg newspaper.

Russian Alphabet: Some More Letter Б Words

If you missed the first letter Б post, you can read it here.

In this second part, we will focus on the yummy words Russian letter Б stands for.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Борщ (BORSHCH),

the Ukrainian beet soup, loved and frequently served in both Russian households and restaurants.

If you are one of those people who think that nothing palatable can possibly come of beets - just order борщ next time you are in a good (the reputation and quality are of critical importance!) Russian or Ukrainian restaurant.

Image by Igor Kravtchenko; source: Wikimedia Commons

Блины (blee-NYH),

also frequently called

Блинчики (BLEEN-chih-kih),

the Russian version of crepes, if you would.

Other food words starting with the Russian letter Б are

Image by Darkone;
source: Wikimedia Commons

Банан (bah-NAHN)

which used to be hard to come by in my Soviet childhood years

Image by Horst Frank;
source: Wikimedia Commons

 Баклажан

(bahk-lah-ZHAHN),
"zh" standing for the sound of "s" in "measure"

and

Брусника (broo-SNEE-kah)

translated by various sources as cow-berries, fox-berries, lingonberries, red bilberries, red whortleberries or mountain cranberries (wow... are all of those the same?) - the botanical name being Vaccinum vitis idaea.

Whatever the name, Блинчики with Брусника are quite a refreshing combination.

Photo by Andreas Gronski;
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Oh, and don't let me forget this thing with a nasty  (in my personal opinion) sound:

Балалайка

(bah-lah-LIE-kah), the stressed syllable is the same as the English word "lie".



Well, that should be enough for now. Next week in the Russian  Alphabet series: letter B ,  not as in "boy" -  rather as in Vladimir (Lenin, or Putin).

Meanwhile, here is some more about Russian food and Russian alphabet:

Russian Spies: The James Bond of the Soviet Cinema

Oh, the Seventeen Moments of Spring....

I don't know who made it more - Vyacheslav Tichonov's Colonel Isayev, better known as Max Otto von Stierlitz, or the music of Mikael Tariverdiyev...

Far removed from the 007 movies in so many ways, this Soviet TV series is in so many other ways the same to those raised in the USSR as James Bond movies to the western world.

When asked to describe the plot or the action, I usually say that nothing really happens. For one full TV season nothing really happens - other than the main character's internal monologue.

This is not completely accurate: there are lots of events happening, in fact, there is History taking place right before our eyes.  What's more, history is being made right before our eyes - and it sometimes seems it is being made by this one person - this one that is not really doing anything other than thinking.  There is not much talking, no stunts that I remember of... there even are dozens of historical inaccuracies in the film - side by side with documentary footage. There are lots of plain blunders. And yet millions and millions of people have watched it hundreds of times.  And you know what, it's more than worth it.

James Bond and "Russian" Spy Girls

Russian Spies are still all over the internet, with comments ranging from "sexy Russian spy" for the one known as Anna Chapman ( I wonder what they would call her... "Анечка", "Анюта" or "Аннушка" who spilled the oil in Mikhail Bulgakov's novel  the Master and Margarita) to Vladimir Putin allegedly stating that they all were betrayed (chuckle) and that severe punishment is awaiting the traitor.



Incidentally, an acquaintance of mine, who used to work for a US intelligence agency, burst into laughter when I mentioned this... saying that the now-famous Russian Spies were, indeed, betrayed - by their own stupidity.  Apparently, this was one of the most poorly-trained and least professional groups of post-Soviet "intelligence".

Anna Chapman may be the Russian Spy star for the moment... and some may even associate the "sexy Russian redhead spy" with a Bond Girl... but did you know that NONE of the James Bond Girls were actually Russian? I mean, did you realize the Russian Bond Girl characters were never played by Russian girls?

See for yourself:

From Russia With Love (1963)
Tatiana Romanova, a Soviet Army Intelligence corporal assigned to the Soviet Embassy in Istanbul
Played by Daniela Bianchi, born in Italy

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Major Anya Amasova, Agent XXX, (KGB)
Played by Barbara Bach, born in the US

A View To A Kill (1985)
Pola Ivanova - a KGB agent working for General Gogol
Played by Fiona Fullerton, born in Nigeria

Goldeneye (1995)
Natalya Fyodorovna Simonova, a programmer for the Severnaya Space Control Center
Played by Izabella Scorupco, born in Poland

The only sort-of exception is the recent  Quantum of Solace (2008), where Olga Kurylenko, born in USSR (now Ukraine) plays a Russian-Bolivian agent Camille Montes.  But here is the kick: apparently, she trained with a dialect coach to perform with a Spanish accent.




Coming next: the James Bond of the USSR and Soviet spy movies.

Russian Words: Current Events

It appears that two major themes dominate our news stream of late: the oil spill (or, rather, a series of them) and the illegal immigration related debates.  Both are topics not completely unknown in Russia, so here are the Russian words for you:

OIL (the fossil fuel kind) is нефть ("neft").  Which is why you have company names like Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Gazprom, Rosneft, Transneft, Yugansknefegaz, etc., all oil companies.   

Cooking or salad oil, on the other had, is масло ("MAHS-lah"), or, to be exact, растительное масло ("rahs-TEE-tehl-noh-yeh MAHS-lah"), as opposed to сливочное масло ("SLEE-vahch-nah-yeh MAHS-lah"), or butter.


As far as the illegal immigration issue (you may be surprised, but apparently there are plenty of people interested in  moving TO Russia), the phrase is almost identical to the English one: in Russian we say

 нелегальная иммиграция ("neh-lih-GAHL-nah-yah ihm-mih-GRAH-tsee-yah")

For the most part, нелегальные мигранты ("neh-lih-GAHL-nih-yeh mih-GRAHN-tih"),"illegal migrants", or simply нелегалы ("neh-lih-GAH-lih"), the illegals, as they are more frequently called, come from the former Soviet republics, especially those in South-East Asia.

Russian Alphabet: "Б" as in Big Brother

Russian Letter:

Б is the second letter of the Russian alphabet. Its sound is always the same as "b" in, for example, Big Brother (the one that's watching you, remember?)





Russian Names

There are surprisingly few Russian names that start with letter Б. In fact, there are no women's names that would be more or less frequently used or recognizable as Russian.  As for guys, there are basically only two: Богдан ("Bahg-DAHN") and Борис ("Bah-REES"), the latter being by far better recognizable.

Most of you probably still remember the first Russian President Boris Yeltsin.  He was not the only famous Борис.

Boris Pasternak and Korney Chukovsky, Wikimedia Commons

The the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958 and the author of Doctor Zhivago was also named Борис - Boris Pasternak.

You can read the full Russian text of Doctor Zhivago online here.


Two other rather well-known (in Russia) individuals come to mind: a fastly popular contemporary writer Boris Akunin and a controversial dancer / singer Boris Moiseyev.  



The diminutive for Борис is Боря ("BOH-rya"). Unlike Антоша or Андрюша, Боря can be used among friends / buddies to address a grown man in a friendly manner (just make sure you are friends).

By the way, Big Brother from Orwell's 1984 can be translated  as Большой Брат ("Bohl-SHOI braht"), both words starting with letter Б.

Learn Russian: free online resources

Here are some links to free online resources to help you learn Russian:


Time to speak Russian

A complete, I would even say state-of-art, online Elementary Russian course.
May not be suitable for absolute beginners (you may need to know at least the alphabet).
Conversation, Grammar, Vocabulary sections, videos, interactive exercises and quizzes, cultural information.
Has versions for the speakers of English, German, French, Italian and Chinese,as well as a Russian-only version.

Learn Russian . Net

"Free Russian Course" - Currently includes 8 lessons on Russian Alphabet, Meeting People, Introducing others, Fun and Games, Directions, Congratulations and Wishes, Hobby and Activities, At the hotel.  Lessons include Vocabulary, Listening and Grammar sections.
Other sections: Grammar, Vocabulary, Literature. Features a dictionary and a Forum.


Russian for Everyone

A lesson on Russian alphabet, 10 "Introductory Lessons" and 2 "Phrasebook topics", layered with 4 quizzes.  These will give you some sound basics, especially if you are struggling with reading Russian.  The rest of the goodies (which the site appears to have plenty of), you would have to pay for.  Also features a forum.


Study Russian Online

"Online Course": The first 5 lessons are free. The topics are:  "Greetings"; "Introducing yourself"; "Where are you from?"; "Professions"; "Language Skills". A rather nice collection of words and phrases, complete with audio. Also features  "Russian Pronunciation" and "Reading Russian" sections. Greatest feature: an audio file for next to anything, and audio quizzes.

Russian Alphabet and Keyboard

For today, just a couple resources to help you type Russian (the ones I found least confusing):

Russian Keyboard Online -  works as if you had a Russian keyboard installed.

Russian Translit - no need to learn which keys are which Russian letters.  Just type as if Russian language used English alphabet.

And you are welcome to check out my collection of free online resources for those brave souls who are learning Russian by themselves.

Russian Alphabet: Some more letter "A" words.

Ok, first and foremost, as promised in yesterday's post:

11 countries that start with "A":

Австралия (Ahf-STRAH-lee-yah)

Австрия (AHF-stree-yah)

Азербайджан (Ah-zehr-buy-JAHN)

Албания (Ahl-BAH-nee-yah)

Алжир (Ahl-ZHEER), zh="s" in "pleasure"

Ангола (Ahn-GOH-lah)

Андорра (Ahn-DOR-rah)

Антигуа и Барбуда (Ahn-TEE-goo-ah ee Bar-BOO-dah)

Аргентина (Ahr-ghen-TEE-nah)

Армения (Ahr-MEH-nee-yah)
Афганистан (Ahf-gah-nees-TAHN)


A couple of places in Russia that start with "A":

The mountains of Altai

And a Black Sea resort town Anapa




Some of the fruit that you will easily find not only in Анапа, but in most Russian markets:

Абрикос

(Ahb-ree-KOHS)

Арбуз

(ahr-BOOS)

Here is a memory key for this one: think "Our Booze"

Апельсин

(ah-pel-SEEN)

Try "up-ill-seen"



Since more likely than not you will want more than one of these, for the plural just add "ы" (something like "i" in "big").  So, if you we are buying a bunch of them, they will be

абрикосы

арбузы

апельсины

That's all for now.  If you want to know more about the Russian alphabet in general, or Russian letter "A" in particular, check out this, or just drop me a line.

Here is something to help you with Russian Alphabet:

Starting Russian Alphabet series

I am starting a Russian Alphabet series - with a twist. I will be telling you about Russian culture - in alphabetical order.  If you have any suggestions or special requests, please let me know.

So, let's start at the beginning.

Russian Letter:

Read it as if it was "a" in "father"... or like "Ah!"



Russian names:

Probably the most common woman's name that starts with letter "A" is Анна.  If you are close friends, or if she is still a little girl, she will probably like it if you call her Анечка ("AH-nech-kah"), Анюта ("Ah-NYOOT-ah", or maybe "new" in the middle will be easier to remember: "Ah-NEW-tah") or Аннушка ("AHN-noo-shka" - please please PLEASE remember to stress the FIRST syllable if you use this variant).


A Soviet-born Polish singer Анна Герман (here in English) was once very popular in that part of the world.




Another common Russian name starting with "A" is Алла ("AHL-lah").  Again, if she is your close friend or still a little girl, you can try calling her Аллочка ("AHL-lahch-kah").  Here, of course, I have to mention Алла Пугачёва (here in English), another singer, vastly popular in the 80-ies and 90-ies, and not completely forgotten to this day.

Here is a classic from the 80-ies (was our favorite nursery school song - not officially, of course... for some reason it was perfect to shout when on a swing.)



Here is a newer one:

Now, to the gentlemen:

Андрей ("Ahn-DRAY") is a fairly common name. Unless you are his mother or he is a little boy, he may not like being called Андрюша ("Ahn-DREW-shah").

Андрей Дмитриевич Сахаров (here in English) was one of the Soviet h-bomb creators, a Nobel Prize laureate, a dissident and one of the best-known Perestroika people.

Photo: "book, Заступница. С. В. Калистратова. Составитель: Е.Печуро. «Звенья», 1997. (in Russian)", retrieved form Wikimedia Commons, Copyright: M.A.Kallistratova et al. 




Another name I would like to mention is Антон ("Ahn-TOHN"), or Антоша, ("Ahn-TOH-shah") if you are his mother, or he is a little boy.  If he is a little boy, his buddies probably call him Антошка ("Ahn-TOHSH-kah"), a diminutive variant used in an old Soviet cartoon:

On a more serious note,
you have probably heard of
Антон Павлович Чехов (here in English).

Source: Wikimedia Commons

OK, enough for today.  For tomorrow:  fruit, cities and countries starting with "A".  Can you think of any?  Drop me a line.



Here is a challenge:

There are  

11 countries 

that in the Russian language start with "A".  

How many can you name?

The answer (as well as more letter "A" words) is here.

British Open... what is that?

British Open remains a hot topic on the web, the English-reading web that is.  It appears, however, that the RuNet, as we call the Russian-language part of the World Wide Web, is hardly bothered.  This will probably tell you that golf is not one of the most popular sports in Russia.  Honestly, I learned about its existence from English-Russian dictionaries and language textbooks, and I had not seen a live golfer until, if I remember it right, 2007.

Apparently, this is not all that surprising.  According to Wikipedia, there were no golf courses (none!) in the whole then-USSR until 1988!  That is 22 402 200 square kilometers (8,649,538 sq mi) and not a single golf course!  The same Wikipedia article states that even now, there are only six golf clubs in the whole country.  On a more positive note, though, thirteen more golf clubs / country clubs are being built.

That having been said, there is - or should I say was - such thing as The Russian Open, part of PGA European Tour,  and Russia does have a National Golf Association and a national team. 

The other thing I have to mention is, of course, that as you move up the social ladder, the closer to the executive world you get, the more you will hear about golf.  But then you will also hear about a numerous other things non-existent for the majority of Russia's population.

For those learning the Russian language, here is an interesting Golf Glossary.  While it was obviously developed for beginner golfers and focuses primarily on explaining the concepts, you will notice that each word has an English equivalent.  And since there are only 47 items on the list (at the time of writing), it shouldn't be impossible to use this reference as both a Russian-English and an English-Russian "Golf Dictionary". Happy Putting!


No girls or spies for today - sorry.

Tiger Woods, Steve Jobs, and three Presidents

As I have been browsing the news, two people caught my attention...

The first one was Tiger Woods... it is amazing how people are so much more interested in his affair than pretty much anything else about him.  C'mon guys, there's life out there besides his.

This reminds me of Clinton-Lewinski scandal back in 1998.  You know what what the most important news about it in Russia? That "their" (the US) president "still CAN"! Then-President Clinton's informal "approval ratings" went through the roof, and the popular sentiment was that such incident deserved decoration, rather than impeachment. You see, those were not the best of Yeltsin's years...  And pictures of Clinton with a sax evoked only one association. (Curiously, this particular saxophone was a present from Boris Yeltsin, back in 1994)


Well, whether it was President Yeltsin's perceived (not only political) impotence, or the consequences of a devastating financial crisis that hit the country later that same year...  but in 1999 Russia met a new President-to-be.

(the source of the three photos above: www.kremlin.ru)

Now, that was a guy to have a crush on!

 

What does the omni-present, omni-potent, eternal Steve Jobs have to do with this?  Well... other than that both look better in turtle-necks than they do in suits,  other than the fact that both always have a "it's your own fault"- style response ready...  Other than...

Anyway, take a look at these:

 (source: wikimedia common, more info here)

(source: www.kremlin.ru)

Russian Spy Words

For those that are interested, here is your Russian Spy vocabulary list:

шпион
a spy

шпионить (за кем-либо)
to spy (on somebody)

шпионаж
espionage

заниматься шпионажем
engage in espionage

If you are not sure how to read the Russian words, try Google Translate - it will say the word for you.


Here are a couple of soviet "anti-spy" slogans:

"Смерть шпионам!"

(Smehrt shpee-OHN-am)
"Death to spies", or "Spies must die" - a popular slogan of Stalin times, a very convenient one, as almost anyone could be made to match the definition.

"Болтун - находка для шпиона"

(Bahl-TOON na-KHOHD-ka dlya shpee-OHN-ah)
Roughly translates as "A blabber is a (precious) find to a spy"... Sort of like the British WWII poster "Keep mum - she's not so dumb"

Russian Spies. Or, rather, foreign spies and Russian scouts.

The recent Russian Spy Ring affair has been getting quite a buzz - on both sides of the Ocean...  Whatever that story is really about -  I grant you, we will never know. But it reminded me of something...  I remember asking what the difference was between "shpion" (spy) and "razvedchik" (scout or intelligence officer, depending on the context). How would you answer a question like that from a -say- five-year-old?  The answer I got was that when they are ours, they are "razvedchiki", intelligence officers.  When they work for the enemy's side, they are, of course, "shpiony", spies. Other than that, the unspoken assumption was that they are the same. My first lesson in semantics... lol. On a more serious note, once my mother - who understood some basic English - helped a confused foreign couple discover the store they were in did not sell "halva"... or rather was (rather permanently) out of that supposedly-Russian supposedly-delicacy. All she said was, "Halva? Halva - no! Halva no here."  The following morning (!) she was called to drop by "Department One", where a non-uniformed officer asked her if she remembered the papers she had signed... about not talking to foreigners, you know, those papers... I guess Big Brother was watching.

Russians, Soviets, girls, drinks... and much more

It's about things Russian and Soviet, stories I have heard and history I have lived  - encompassing pretty much the lifespan of that monster called the Soviet Union, from before its "birth" to after its collapse.

It's about the Russians as I know them - by the way they are not all hot-blond-spy-mail-order-brides.  (Some are guys, you know... most are not blond... and quite a few are not hot at all)

And yes, I will teach you some important vocabulary - both Russian (hopefully, we will go beyond "Putin", "Lenin", "vodka" and "nyet") and Renglish (it's like Spanglish, only for us Roosskies).

Don't worry, Russian girls / singles / dating / brides (and a long list of those hot search words) will not be deprived of attention either.

It will be very not logical, and hopefully not academic at all.  But I promise you - it will be authentic.  And honest. Questions welcome.