— Why Do You Always Put parentheses In Messages? — I Feel More Comfortable With Them)) — What

This story always makes me laugh. I just thought the internet needs to see this.

The original video: https://youtu.be/MHkgXL3DTmw

Сесть and its many meanings

Basic verbs can be surprisingly tricky. You might think the verb садиться/сесть ("to sit down") is straightforward, but it's anything but simple. Here's a dive into its multiple meanings:

To board (a bus, train, etc.):

Мы сели в автобус - We got on the bus.

To run out of battery:

У телефона села батарейка - My phone's battery is dead.

To shrink:

У меня футболка села после стирки - My T-shirt shrunk after washing.

To get imprisoned:

Он сел на пять лет - He went to prison for five years.

But that's not all! Here are some more uses:

My voice is gone, I can't speak:

У меня сел голос, я не могу говорить.

I am on a diet:

Я сел на диету.

I started a book - I want to finish it by summer:

Я села за книгу - хочу дописать к лету.

Which meaning of 'сесть' surprised you the most?

I’m not gonna lie, this is probably my favourite episode from Evening Urgant. This is a bit from the interview with Stephen Colbert.

What are they talking about? Stephen and Ivan are referring to the so called ‘White Nights’ (Белые ночи), which Saint-Petersburg is famous for. It’s a night when it is never properly dark. The White Nights’ season usually takes place from June 11th to July 2nd. By ‘the bridges’ Ivan meant the Palace Bridge, which draws at 1:10 AM and 3:10 AM.

A picture from Wikipedia taken in Saint-Petersburg. June 23rd, 2009, 11:49 PM

The Palace Bridge during White Nights

The original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT3VFQ8wYZg The cut version they showed at Stephen’s show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWnVV3-0wgw

I was just serfing the net and came across this video. I really love old educational videos for Russian learners, so I thought I’d share it. (I don’t know why I find the last conversation so funny, but it is)

So I was innocently watching a stand up about Russian language and found this comment. Even though it includes a lot of swear words, I thought it would be useful to people who have trouble remembering some Russian words. The stand up I was watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtMd6PbscwE&t=14s

THIS ONE. This is my favourite episode of Improvisation. Hands down. I strongly recommend to watch this one with sound on! * — wooden spoons are actually a Russian traditional musical instrument. Nope, not joking. Here's a cool video that shows what these spoons look like and what they sound like: Russian Wooden Spoon (Musical Instrument Sound).

The magic of the language...

“There are certain things in the movie that are very Russian that is difficult for an American audience to pick up on. Like when [Kirk and Sulu] freefall and I capture them and I say something in Russian….[says Russian phrase]…it means “Oh man!” basically, which is something I ad-libbed. Which goes back to what I was saying. Chekov never speaks Russian in the series, and that was Russian slang. And that that is something I decided to add just for the hell of it, because JJ [Abrams] said ‘throw in some Russian, let’s do it for fun.’ It was just a moment that needed some kind of reaction, and they loved it out there. It is one of those things that Russian people get. I think Russian people are very happy with Chekov because he is one of the few Russian characters in American pop culture history that is not the Red Dawn kind of Russians.” — Anton Yelchin

Hey, it’s that Russian learner who sent you an ask several months ago saying I watched your clips to help me. Just wanted to drop by again and say I’m still learning Russian and your videos are still hilarious! I’ve even watched a few bits of Improvisation on my own, and while I haven’t really been able to find anything with good subs, I have been able to practice my listening skills by typing the stuff I didn’t understand into the translator, lol. Thanks for the update, glad these guys are still around. Definitely glad to have discovered you!

You have no idea how happy I am I'm actually crying 😭 So glad to know you're still learning Russian! I'm even more glad to know Improvisation and my blog have been a part of your learning journey. I'm sure you've made a huge progress these past couple months! I hope you continue sticking around and good luck with Russian (๑•ᴗ•๑)

Here's a list of great VK public pages in Russian that I adore: pt 1

If you're learning the language, I think these might help you get more familiar with not only reading and spelling, but with how Russians actually communicate. And these pages are pretty cool too, so you can just check them out even if learning the language isn't the main goal.

1. покажи нам кусочек своей жизни/show us a piece of your life

A rather cool page where people share random pictures from their phones with a bit of info about themselves. Every post has its own aesthetic but more importantly, these posts feel very real and authentic. Here's what some of these posts look like.

"I'm majoring in geo in Moscow, sing in choir, and right now I'm writing my thesis a bit worried about my future. But I'll be fine. Kindness to all"

"the life of a physics teacher 💫"

2. пушистые морды/fluffy faces

Another page that accepts post suggestions. Here you can share your adorable pet (it's mostly cats).

"his name is Oleg"

3. мам ну не читай/mom don't read it

Did you have a diary when you were a kid? I cringe every time I read my old diaries. But this page collects all the weird diary entries and posts them. Not sure where they take them from, but they're all pretty hilarious.

"the door to the future"

"the page of positivity"

I'll be back with a part two!