Learning Russian - Blog Posts
Just a fun fact #7
The origin of the Russian (and English) word ‘робот’ (robot) comes from Czech’s ‘robota’, which translates to ‘forced labour’. From this word also comes Russian’s ‘работа’, which means ‘work’.
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
"Внимание!
Мокрый пол"
=
"Attention!
Wet floor"
The magic of the language...
The LITTLE BIG moment that had me shook
LITTLE BIG music videos are unique and interesting to Russians not only because of all this crazy stuff they always come up with, but also because these guys invite tons of Russian YouTubers to every music video. I might even write a list of people who have been invited so far, if Russian YouTube is interesting to you.
But my favorite cameo happened in their “I’M OK” music video.
You see, the character on the left is Arseniy Popov. He’s one of the actors in Russian TV show “Improvisation” (pretty much the Russian version of “Whose line is it anyway?”). The thing is, there is an inside joke in the show about Arseniy being homosexual.
In the LITTLE BIG's music video Arseniy Popov not only appeared as the first TV celebrity, but the band kept the inside joke that they were clearly aware of.
As a big fan of both “Improvisation” and LITTLE BIG, I was absolutely thrilled.
"trying to pronounce мягкий знак (ь)
(didn't succeed)"
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)
Just a fun fact #6
Some more slang!
"Mi mi mi" (Ми-ми-ми) is used to describe something incredibly cute.
Example:
Этот котенок просто ми-ми-ми! - This kitten is just so mi mi mi!
Fun facts:
A Russian late night talk show 'Evening Urgant' has a rubric called 'mi mi mi', where the host of the show 'interviews' cute animals.
'Mi Mi Mi' is a song by the Russian band Serebro. You must have heard it. The thing is, sometimes online lyrics sites write 'mi' as 'me', which is obviously incorrect. But now you know :)
Just a fun fact #5
There are very, VERY few words that begin with "Й". The only ones that exist (or the ones that are at least used commonly) are:
Йод - iodine
Йогурт - yogurt
Йога - yoga
Йоркшир - yorkshire
Maybe there are more words, but those are the only ones that I know and use on a daily basis.
Just a fun fact #4
It's time for some slang!
Sometimes, when we want to say "___ is not the same now" ("___ уже не тот"), we say "___ is not a cake now" ("___ уже не торт"), because I guess "тот" and "торт" sound similar. Plus, by comparing the object with cake we express our disappointment that it is not as sweet and good as it used to be.
Examples:
"Шерлок" уже не торт - "Sherlock" is not a cake now
Мне раньше нравилась эта группа, но сейчас она уже не торт - I used to like this band, but it's not a cake now
Я подписалась на этот канал ради обзоров мемов, но сейчас он уже не торт - I subscribed to this channel for meme reviews, but it's not a cake now
Hey guys! Here's a quick tip on how to start to write in Russian cursive right away! I hope it was useful! Have a nice day! 💜
"In my language, we don't say 'I love you'. We just tag each other in memes and I think that's beautiful."
Guys, don't worry. Sometimes we're not sure either.
Just a fun fact #3
The phrase “peace to the world” in Russian may sound funny at first, as it translates to “миру — мир”. But this is because the word “мир” in Russian means both “peace” and “world”. I’m personally really amazed by this fact.
However, this may lead to confusion sometimes. For example, the name of the famous Leo Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” can be misunderstood by Russians for this reason. And I’m not embarassed to admit that I used to be one of those poeple.
But regardless, миру — мир! <3
Just a fun fact #2
In old Russian times, people used to say "спаси тебя бог" (spasi teb'a bokh), which literally means "God save you". But then, someone took the first and the last word from that sentence and put them together. This is how "спасибо" (spasibo) was created back in 17th century, and Russians use it as "thank you" nowadays.
— Why do you always put parentheses in messages? — I feel more comfortable with them)) — What do you mean? — Parentheses look like they are hugging words and they become kinder))
Actually, we don't say 'бутылированная вода' that often because I guess it takes a lot of time to say it. We prefer saying something like 'вода в бутылке' (voda v butilke) which means 'water in a bottle'. Although it doesn't mean that 'бутылированная вода' is not used at all.
🥤 Choosing a Drink in Russian! PS: Learn Russian with the best FREE online resources, just click here: https://www.russianpod101.com/?src=social_special_infograph_drink_031219