Достопримечательности Москвы
This is the longest word I know in Russian- and it is actually a useful term! One of the girls in our class brought it up when our professor asked us what words are most difficult to say in Russian- it was incorporated into our class and now I think we are all able to say this extremely long word (but maybe it is considered short for native speakers). “Достопримечательности” means “landmarks“- so the title of this post is just Moscow Landmarks. This past week, I have been sightseeing a lot, and visiting many достопримечательности! On Sunday, I visited Царицыно with my language exchange partner. It is free for students! It was very interesting to walk around, despite that I couldn’t understand most of the captions and museum information. It was Catherine the Great’s Palace (Catherine II), although she supposedly she never lived there. The architects were freemasons, and she fell in love with another palace in Saint Petersburg.
Here are some more photos, thanks to my language partner Надежда:
Not sure who these people were, but I think they were (Russian) tourists.. haha
Парк искусств Музеон
This week I felt so busy & occupied my time doing some interesting and productive things around Moscow! I was tutoring in English for some extra cash (not much)… and on Friday one of my friends invited me to go to Pushkin’s Fine Art Museum. It was so windy and I didn’t get any pictures because I thought we weren’t allowed to bring in cameras (but little did I know- people in Russia don’t care about rules, and people take pictures all the time). It was sort of interesting, but the current exhibition mostly featured 18th – 20th century European Art, which perhaps you can see in places like LA’s Getty Museum (which is also a pretty interesting experience). Anyways for students I believe it costs around 250 rubles.
The next day, a friend and I went to Park Kultury area. It was extremely windy (as you can tell- I can barely open my eyes from the wind), but it was a sunny day and the sky blue! This cathedral is one of the major tourist attractions in Moscow. The line to enter was very long, and we didn’t go inside. We simply walked around the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour after we had visited a nearby park, and snapped some photos:
The park that my friend and I decided to visit was the Fallen Monument Park or (Парк искусств Музеон). I have always seen pictures of this place online and I’m glad I finally made it out there to take a visit. There were lots of interesting sculptures, and a little outdoor market with handmade arts and crafts.
“СССР оплот мира” – (USSR- bulwark of peace)
It’s not so much a museum (the outside at least), but rather a park with tons of sculptures. Here is a picture of a vandalized Stalin sculpture.
A bust- or possibly a former statue of Lenin? As you can see, it is spring in Moscow, and the snow is melting, but it is still cold and windy.
Here’s an interesting looking sculpture. The style seems a bit more modern compared to the more traditional ones seen above.
The park didn’t just have old Soviet sculptures, but also contemporary art from 1990’s and even 2000’s. Thought this big cage of heads was pretty interesting too:
My friend and I thought these sculptures looked like a cemetery. They were all modern and had similar themes like “Girl with a ball”, etc.
Hand in the sky.
Москва, я люблю тебя
I wanted to share this video I saw in class today. <<Москва, я люблю тебя>> is a collection of short films. We only saw 5 of them in my class. This was one of my favorites. The metro is actually very close to where I live too. There is no speaking in this one, but there is a lot said without words:
A New Month & Outlook
I woke up today feeling very motivated. Usually I am tired and rushing for class, but I got up early today- about 2.5 hours before my class started. I felt more refreshed and ready for the day. I realize that it is already my 11th week being in Russia, and I really want to make the most of my time being here. Although I have about 12 weeks or so left (possibly less), I don’t want to spend all my time sitting around or studying 24/7. Before I know it, I will be back in the USA. I’m not working 40 hours a week like before. Right now, I am lucky to have so much free-time for personal growth and new experiences. Despite that I go out often with friends (mostly just weekends though), I haven’t really explored the city, or walked around aimlessly like last year (when I was really lost- not knowing how to read or speak Russian). Yes it’s cold, but that is no excuse to wander around and have a mini-adventure in the city!
I love the architecture in Moscow, and I think it’s one of the reason I was drawn to come to Russia in the first place. The chapels aren’t the only captivating buildings in Moscow either. Walking around, I always see interesting, sometimes eerie looking buildings. Some photos from today:
Today, I decided to walk around улица oстоженка. It is close to Gorky Park. Supposedly, it is one of the most expensive streets in Moscow. There were so many beautiful buildings on this street and an interesting mix of architecture styles. I wonder what is actually inside some of these historical buildings?
So many churches- and they’re all so close in proximity. Right across from these two, they were actually building a another chapel that looked like it was going to be bigger than both the ones pictured:
I really liked the small details on this building. A big contrast from the soviet style общежитие that I am currently living in right now.
Зимой и летом одним цветом.
So, a few days ago I had my first language exchange. Надежда found me online (I think from my hh.ru profile- which is a “Russian” LinkedIn for those who have never heard of it), and we decided to meet in the Starbucks near Юго-Западная. She is the same age as me, and has studied English for 1 year already. Надежда is learning English because she plans to work abroad at an international company. We were at Starbucks for around 2 hours. She wanted to learn Modal Verbs and practice reported speech. As a native speaker of English that has never taken a linguistics course, I have never even heard of these terms, so I had to do a bit of research beforehand.
Anyways, we went through a bunch of English exercises for about an hour and then we switched to Russian. I practiced using the prefixes над- и под-. Going over them together was actually very helpful! I think it was a successful language exchange and meeting was helpful for both of us. We even live on the same Соко́льническая ли́ния, which is very convenient. We made homework for each other, and our next meeting is this Thursday, and I hope we both can progress in our language learning!
Funny thing is, the next day I went to class, the teacher asked us to solve a Russian riddle! It was the same one that Надежда told me the day before, and I was the only one that knew the answer:
“Зимой и летом одним цветом.”
Ответ: Ёлка
Conjunctions: И – А – НО
So the above words are very simple: И (and) – А (and/but) – НО (but). But I sometimes use them interchangeably, when they aren’t. In English language, we don’t really have the concept of А (and/but), so it was not so intuitive to me when deciding which conjunction to use. I was told this will frequently come up in the TORFL test or ТРКИ (beginners test of course), so it must be important to understand something as basic as and/but. Below I will explain a very simplistic meaning in my own words, which sort of helps me personally remember which conjunction to use. If you have anything to add or suggest regarding this subject I would love to hear too.
И: Linking two different things to one group.
Eg. I read and speak Russian.
Я читаю и говорю по-русски.
А: Comparison, and adding information. (не…always followed by a). не is often used before the conjunction:
Eg. She is not student, but a teacher.
Она не студентка, а преподаватель.
НО: Big contrast & comparison. (не только…always followed by но). не is often seen after the conjunction:
Eg. I am listening, but I don’t understand.
Я слушаю, но не понимаю.
Test yourself:
И vs. А vs. Нo (Check answers below)
I. Днем он работал в фирме, ___ вечером учился на курсах.
II. Зимой мы катаемся на лыжах в Альпах, ___ летом ездим на дачу.
III. Моя мама – врач, ___ папа тоже врач.
IV. Мой дедушка – адвокат, ___ и мой папа – адвокат, ___ я – программист.
V. Слева была гора, ___ справа – море.
VI. у меня дома не работает Интернет, ___ я хочу позвонить провайдеру.
VII. Вечером все пошли в кино, ___ Виктор пошел на стадион.
VIII. Я взяла на обед мясо и салат, ___ моя подруга только рыбу.
IX. Я люблю опеду, ___ он – балет.
X. Собака смотрит, ___ не видит.
XI. Здесь курить нельзя, ___ он курит.
Check your answers:
I. a | II. a | III. a | IV. и,a | V. a | VI. и | VII. a | VIII. a | IX. a X. но | XI. a или но
Russian Language Textbooks Used at Moscow State University
So in this post I will talk about the textbooks being used in the introductory Russian language courses at Lomonosov Moscow State University aka MSU or МГУ. Note, that the russian language program is very informal for beginners like myself, so textbook use may vary a bit, but I will mention the basic textbooks being used. Students are put into groups of 5-10 each based on their level. When I first arrived, I didn’t take any sort of Russian Language test, and they placed me in a group that was already on Chapter 9 in Самовар, which introduces basic verbs of motion (идти, ходить, ехать, ездить). I switched classes and we were using Самовар still, so these books seem to accompany most if not all the beginning courses.
Самовар by Е.Н. Машовец, Е.Г. Суворкина
This is a Textbook + Workbook used for the beginning A1 and A2 level groups. I forget the cost, but I think for both, they were under 700 rubles. We use these textbooks everyday in class and our homework usually consists of 1 or 2 exercises in the workbook and/or textbook. Has a total of 21 chapters. These books are 100% Russian language, and in my opinion, only good for being used in the classes. I don’t think they are available to purchase online or anything, but I wouldn’t recommend purchasing these textbooks anyways. These books have many pictures, stories, and interactive exercises that are meant for a classroom environment.If you are preparing to come to MGU to study Russian language, there are better textbooks out there if you want to get a head start. If you are self-studying, It wouldn’t make sense to use these books.
Русский язык в упражнениях by С.А. Хавронина, А.И. Широченская
This is the second textbook that our professor recommended us to buy and we use it in class in addition to Camovar since it is a lot more in-depth. The newest version costs 350 rubles. It is Russian & English- I’m not sure if they have Russian + other language versions. It is very well structured and you can check your answers in the back of the book. Lots of exercises + grammar explanations. Not much pictures, stories, or interactive exercises. This books is pretty much strictly written exercises (hence the title), but it is great for practice.
Русский язык: 5 элементов by Эсмантова Т.Л.
So this textbook was not recommended to be purchased by our professors, but we are given scanned handouts from this textbook all the time. It is 100% in Russian and comes with a CD. It’s a bit more costly around 700 rubles. It has different versions for each levels: A1, A2, and B1. In our class we have been using A2, but I decided to buy the B1 textbook since this is my goal before I leave. I was a bit impatient because this is higher than my current level, so I haven’t really touched it. So I can’t review it really. However, compared to the two previous textbooks mentioned, It appears to be slightly in the middle. It has some pictures, a few story exercises, some audio exercises- it is mainly written exercises though. It seems a bit more modern than the other two textbooks.
Глаголы движения — без ошибок by Галина Скворцова
Like the title says, this text is strictly focusing on verbs of motion. It is also 100% in Russian and our professors did want us to buy it. It costs 250 rubles. However, we haven’t used it much, perhaps because it is a bit advanced still, thus I can’t really review it. Our professors did say that for the B1 test verbs of motion will be a big aspect, so perhaps an entire text based on the subject is needed to do well on the exam.
Блог о моих старых путешествиях (По-Русски)
В Исаакиевского Cобора.
Я был в Голландии, Чехии, Венгрии и России в Декабре 2012. Голландия- это маленькая, дорогая, современная страна. Я был в Амстердаме и я видел Дом Анны Франк и я ходил на плавучии рынок с тюльпанами.
После Амстердама, я приехал в Прагу. По-моему, Прага- это самый красивый город, где я был. Я думаю, что в Праге красивая, старая архитектура. Я уехал из Праги и приехал на вентерский вокзал. В общежитии я встретил человека из Тайваня и мы пошли на рождественский рынок. Будапешт- это большой, интересный, но бедный город. Я узнал об истории Венгрии и было при нацистах и советах.
Когда я был в Санкт-Петербурге, я встретил сумашедших русских в общежитии. Они любят пить водку. В Санкт-Петербурге было очень холодно, но очень красивый город. Я ехал в поезде в Москву. Я встретил хороших друзей и я был гостем в их доме на новый год. Мне понравилось видеть русскую архитектуру и рисовать в моем этюднике. Я думаю что Россия- ето таинственная страна с хорошими людьми.
If you notice any mistakes or suggestions, feel free to comment !!
Update: 2 Months in Russia
It has been exactly 2 months since I have been in Russia. I arrived on January 18th and today is March 18. I haven’t been updating this blog, but I will make more effort to do so. I will post more so I can track my progress, maybe do some dorm review/information post, class/textbook reviews, more photos of Moscow, etc.
Class + Life
I have been enjoying my life here. I really like MGU, my professors and my class. It was slow in the beginning, but the difficulty level is picking up now, and it doesn’t feel as relaxed (which I prefer). We had 2 Americans, 2 Japanese, 1 Chinese, 1 Cuban, 1 Korean, 1 Turk, and then me. Just last week, one American student went back and also a Japanese student left too. I thought it was so nice that he left our class with a Japanese pen each, even though we didn’t talk too much. Hiro, was the youngest and seemed the most motivated too. I think he wanted to study in Moscow after he graduated. Greg, who was a year older than me, will go to the army afterwards. I think we have an interesting mix of students.
Language Update
Well, since last week (or maybe the week before), I have learned all 6 cases. Of course I am not perfect at them still, but I have made a lot of progress in 2 months. Before I came back to Moscow, I only knew 2 cases (Nominative & Prepositional). Right now we are learning various verbs of motion, prepositions, and prefixes (по-, у-, при-, об-, под-, в-, вы-, etc etc etc). I think it is a bit challenging for me, but I just need more practice. Especially using them while speaking. I think reading is my strong suit (At least at the moment), while I need more help with listening and speaking. I guess I need to expand my vocabulary perhaps. I still have my same notebook- already on page 164! It’s funny looking back at old mistakes I made.
Russian Culture + Music: Серебро- Не время (2010)
Found this song Не время (No time) randomly and I’ve been listening to it a lot. Seems like this is their only good song though. It is a bit challenging for me to find interesting Russian entertainment- movies, music, etc. If you have any recommendations feel free to share.
Update: Anki, Russian Scholarships, МГУ, Blog Updates
Language Update
Wow, I can’t believe it has almost been 3 months since my last blog post. Of course I have been studying Russian despite abandoning this blog for a bit, but I have gone through some major life crises, unfortunately. I am still making progress, but a lot slower since I have come back to California. It seems like I cannot function whenever I am in this city. Anyways, I have been using Anki (http://ankisrs.net) since Summer- it is a flashcard system where you can download packs on your phone and practice. It is a great and easy way to practice and only takes about 15 minutes- I downloaded Russian 500 Nouns, and it really helps with picking up vocabulary. I am thinking I need to learn more adjectives now, so maybe I will download an adjective flashcard set.
Scholarships
So, for those of you that are also interested in studying in Russia for a bachelors, masters, specialty, or PHD degree, I found out that the Russian Ministry of Education offers scholarships every year to foreign students. It seems as though they provide full tuition, monthly scholarship, and dorm accommodation- although the website is very unspecific regarding the application process, etc. Unfortunately, the Russian government has a quota for each country, and I called to find out in the USA they only offered 1 student a scholarship last year. You need to call the Russian Embassy in your own country to find out more about the application process, deadlines, etc. http://en.russia.edu.ru/enter/1906/ is the link to the 2012 scholarship page in English, the 2013 scholarship is only in Russian language.
I am thinking about still applying for the scholarship next year, but I am pretty doubtful I would get it. Right now, I just want some change, and I would be happy and lucky to study in another country, if it is something that I think I would benefit from.
МГУ
Still waiting to hear back from MGU / MSU this month as to whether or not I am able to study Russian language from January-June. Thinking about it makes me a bit nervous. I hope I will be able to handle the course, improve my language, etc. I am worried about everything- cost, class, social aspects, and returning to the US. I am a very shy person, and I don’t want to bore people to death because I can’t have interesting conversations in their language due to my lack of skill.
Blog Updates
As you might see, I have been messing around with the blog template and design, and I am even thinking about switching everything over by getting my own domain, hosting, etc because it might be more beneficial in the long-run.
Learning New Vocabulary
One thing that I have noticed on various other language blogs, is the discouragement of using flash cards to learn new vocabulary. I have read, “They don’t work”, “I don’t believe in using them”, and that you simply cannot memorize words using this method.
In my opinion, this is somewhat true. Then why do I have a picture of flashcards in this post? Well, the reason is because I believe using flash cards does actually work for me when I am trying to learn new Russian vocabulary, but I don’t rely on solely using flash cards to do so. I always use the new vocabulary by practicing the exercises, or even creating my own exercises by writing out sentences.
Part of the reason I was dreading starting Chapter 5 of тройка is because of the huge amount (to me) of vocabulary in this chapter: 85 words. The previous chapters also had a lot of vocab, but not this much. How will I learn most of the new words? Flashcards and writing exercises. Most of the vocabulary is essential, while others like “subtropical” seem pretty unnecessary for Chapter 5 of a Beginning Russian textbook. This textbook is a bit convoluted, and like I said before, I will do a review on this textbook later. I am going to return it soon since I only rented it, and I will buy the 1996 version which seems to be eventually the same, but we’ll see.
Lomonosov MSU
Well I applied to the Russian Language Program at Lomonosov Moscow State University. If everything goes through then I would be staying there for Spring Semester, which is still a pretty long time (from January-June). I am hoping to hear back from them soon. The program is actually cheap compared to classes at the university in my hometown. Fulltime student tuition at MSU or 30 academic hours (I think this is 15~20 quarter credits) + flight costs is about the same cost as non-matriculated tuition at UW Seattle for 15 credits (=1 year of College Russian). Pretty sad (that education in the US is so expensive). I started my new job, but I am still a little worried about costs to cover 6 months being abroad.
Today I studied a couple hours of Russian. I think I am much more comfortable with Prepositional cases, plurals, etc now. I was working on Chapter 4 workbook exercises but didn’t get to finish. Hoping I can get through the whole thing this weekend, so I can focus on Chapter 5 over the week, which is geography- eh I am not looking forward to it. I was looking ahead and Chapters 5,6, and 7 seem pretty difficult. If I can finish Chapter 6 though, then I have made it through 1 quarter of college Russian, studying out of a class! The more I think about it, finishing the entire book by the end of the year might even be an attainable goal- but very ambitious. Maybe I’m crazy then. This means 3 chapters a month:
September: 6, 7, 8
October: 9, 10, 11
November: 12, 13, 14
December: 15, 16, 17
Life
Well today was my first day at work. It was pretty chill and the majority of the time I didn’t work because they forgot to give me access to some of the computer programs I was supposed to use to work. Actually, most of the time they let me sit at my desk, so I had a chance to work on my Russian workbook exercises, and pretty much I finished Chapter 3, and plan to do the rest of Chapter 4 tomorrow.
Forgetting Material
Something that I am worried about is forgetting material from previous chapters. If I am inconsistant with my studying, I am not going to make any progress, and this makes me a bit nervous. When I go back to SLO for school, I want to maintain my current learning pace, and still retain everything that I learned before. Today, I just finished all of Chapter 4 exercises, yet I would say that I am pretty rusty on the material still after doing all of the exercises. I kind of struggled through this chapter, which introduced prepositional cases (in/on/at) and also nominative plurals of nouns & adjectives.
One thing that I have neglected is using the тройка workbook. I have been doing exercises in the textbook, but I have avoided opening the workbook until today. I decided to start doing Chapter 3 workbook exercises and by tomorrow I should be able to finish Chapter 3 & 4 in the workbook, since they are relatively easy to get through.
Yet, I wonder if doing these extra written exercises are really helping me retain this information in the long-run. One disadvantage of self-study is that you don’t have quizzes, tests, or exams. Thus, I can’t really see if I am “failing” at Russian or know exactly when it is the right time to move on to the next chapter or not.
сегодня (8/22/2013)
Привет. Сегодня, читаю урок 4 в мой учебник. Я учу медленно говорить, понимать, и писать по-русский. По-моему, мне нужно практиковаться в русском. В пятницу я работаю. Я бухгалтер и пятницу пе́рвый день. На этой неделе, мне грустно потому что моя семья. Я устал.
^^ Just some random thoughts for today (please correct me if I say anything wrong). Below is just a random picture taken in Москва.
русская музыка
I am not extremely familiar with Russian media, but one song I really enjoy is called “Here and There” by Alexey Chumakov, which I know thanks to a friend I met in Moscow. It is relaxing but also mellow at the same time. One thing I have noticed is that it is pretty difficult to find english translations of Russian songs, and I thought it would be interesting to translate passages of songs into english. Note that I am not claiming these to be accurate, but rather a process in learning.
Part 1.
Алексей Чумаков – Тут и там
(Alexey Chumakov – Here and There)
Хоть в мире много есть удивительных мест
(Though the world has a lot of amazing places)
Это лучше всех, ты здесь
(This is the best of all, you’re here)
Я иду пешком, забываю куда
(I walk, I forget where)
Мне приятно что ты та.
(I’m glad you’re the one)
Добро пожаловать!
This blog is meant to be a record of my Russian Language Learning Journey. I have been studying Russian for about a month or two, and know relatively little grammar and vocabulary. However, I have been using the book Tройка, pictured below, and I am near the end of Chapter 4. This is a beginning Russian college-level textbook and I don’t really recommend using it. I am not too fond of a lot of the exercises, dialogues, explanations, or even the layout of the book. I can go into further detail of this textbook later on in another blog post.
I definitely find writing in Russian to be more challenging than reading and speaking, and I am hoping this blog can help motivate me to write more in Russian. That being said, for my first post, I will simply introduce myself. If there are any more advanced Russian language learners feel free to correct me on my choice of words or grammar
Здравствуйте. Меня зовут Рeoн. Я студент русскоязычный. Я учуся говорить по-русски сам. Я знаю немного слова русский. Я живу в Сиэтлe но я американец н филиппинские. Я люблю русский язык!
Troika: A Communicative Approach to Russian Language, Life, and Culture, 2nd Edition / Edition 2 by Marita Nummikoski
моя pусская тетрадь 