The Magic Of The Language...

Dmitri Prigov’s visual poetry

Dmitri Prigov (1940-2007) was a Russian conceptual poet, artist, and dissident. One of the things he is famous for is his стихограммы (стих ‘poem’ + грамма (’gram’, a part of words like phonogram or program, from Greek γράμμα ‘recording’)) 

I don’t understand much about poetry, and probably neither do you, but I mean look at that 

Как я весел! Как я мил! – How cheerful I am! How nice I am! Смерть рядом – Death is near

Ин вино веритас – ‘In vino veritas’ (Latin), In wine there is truth А в пиве что? – And what’s there in beer?

В начале было слово, и слово было у Бога, и слово было Бог (сentral circle) – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God  И свет во тьме светит – And the light shines in the darkness

Если враг не сдается, его уничтожают – If the enemy does not surrender, he must be destroyed Нет – No Враг – Enemy

И восстанут они все из могил своих, и призовут нас всех к ответу – And then they will all rise up from their graves and bring us all to justice

“I want to invite you to the skating rink*” *Каток (katok) - a word that means both “skating rink” and “road-roller”

hi everyone!

my name is yeliza, i’m ukrainian, living in kyiv. funny story but currently we have a 150k+ army of russians all over the ukrainian borders, as well as an ongoing shelling from uncontrolled territories that has been averaging more than 1000 strikes daily. more fun facts - we are currently in a state of emergency, and it’s of high probability that russians will start a major invasion pretty damn soon. kyiv will be one of the first to be hit :)

i wanted to use this as an opportunity to spread the information about the whole situation, but also ask you to help me disperse it further: you can get the main points about the russo-ukrainian war and current escalation here. also PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING TO OUR ARMY - the link is here. any amount would be helpful - even some of your pocket money. we are in the dire need for the global support, truly.

much love and appreciation for your help!

if you have any question regarding the situation, i’ll be glad to answer as long as i’ll be able to! stay safe!

UPD. The National Bank of Ukraine has also opened a donation account for Ukrainian army, the number of the special account: UA843000010000000047330992708 . Proof here. PLEASE DONATE

My boyfriend woke up from a nightmare last night, got up from our bed, took his laptop and launched chess. Half asleep, he was silent the whole time, thinking of his moves. When he finally won against the computer he calmed down and explained with relief: "I saw a dream where I became dumb..."

Source: https://vk.com/pn6

IYKYK

this post isn't about translation or Improvisation. it's just a couple of pictures I took in Moscow so far.

I'll be back home this Sunday. my next translation is half done already. thank you for your patience!

When you listen to an entire song in your target language and one thing makes sense:

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!

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

Ladies and gentlemen, Alexander Rusakov as Russian Levi. You're welcome.