How I Fell In Love With The Russian Language

Language is of the soul, and when you begin to learn a new language you're not just learning a language, you're starting a new life entirely.

_{Photo by Дмитрий Трепольский}

The Pandemic

Hello there! I'm Clint Aribs. Back in 2020, in the middle of the Covid 19 pandemic, I believe everybody had their own way of dealing with this situation. For some, it may be video games, maybe FaceTime with friends. For me, it was spending so much time on YouTube watching anything I find interesting, pretty much.

So one day I was just spending time on YouTube and I was watching a lot of YouTube videos on ASMR. I just follow the algorithm basically. Eventually, the content started evolving and I started seeing other contents like eye contact videos. Just like that, from one video to the next, I just started seeing more and more of this. If you already know how YouTube or pretty much any other social media platform works then you know that once you start seeing one thing, they start bringing you more and more of the same thing.

_{Photo by Joshua Miranda}

The Divergence

So that's how I began watching eye contact videos on YouTube. In one of these videos, the girl in the video stares at the camera straight for like a few minutes, she didn't even say anything. That's what I found was different about this video compared to the other videos that I was watching. But even more interesting is the fact that I could not stop watching.

_{Once I'm Friends With You, You're Stuck With Me}

I opened the channel to see who's making videos like this and I found a sea of videos just like this one. The channel is now called The Library of Emotions by Yuliku. I watched so many of the videos on this channel and I really, really enjoyed them.

_{Image Source : Screenshot from my phone}

Unusual Bond

But out of all the videos that I found on this channel, the video that I found in my feeds that led me to checking out the channel remained my favorite one. I don't know, there was just something about the girl in the video that made me feel at peace. I guess I can say I fell in love with her almost immediately. Whenever I was having a shitty day, I just put on the video and I forget that I have problems in this world. I would have mental conversations with her about how I'm feeling. I know it's weird, but because I know she's not going to say anything in the video, it made me feel like she was listening.

It got to a point where I just couldn't stand the fact that we're still strangers. I needed to know who this girl is. I figured I could ask Yuliku who made the video, but I had to be creative about the process. So I decided to do a drawing of the girl first, seeing as I drew quite well. So I put on the video and just grabbed my pen and notebook and 2 hours later I was done with the drawing and I sent it to Yuliku.

_{My drawing of the girl from Yuliku's video}

She was happy that I did a drawing of someone from one of her videos and ultimately, she gave me this girl's Instagram. I got to find out that this girl was Russian when I saw videos of her singing in a foreign language. It was nice to have finally heard her voice. I wanted to know what language that was but there was no information about the songs in the videos. So I memorized the first line of the songs and used Google Assistant's voice search to find them. I sang the song to Google and Google brought me a match. I found that they were songs from two old Soviet Russian movies. That's when I knew she was probably a Russian girl.

_{Кавказская Пленница
(Caucasian Prisoner)
1967}

_{Вам И Не Снилось
(You Couldn't Dream It)
1980}

Little Doors To Big Worlds

These two movies gave me a glimpse of what life was like back in Soviet Russia, and I became curious about the Russian culture. I went back to YouTube where it all began and I started searching for videos about what life in Russia is like today. I found so many amazing YouTube channels that cover this topic. Bald and Bankrupt, NFKRZ, Natasha's Adventures, Beloe Zlato, BeFluent by Fedor Shirin, Natalia Practical Russian, etc.

_{Bald and Bankrupt}

_NFKRZ

_{Natasha's Adventures}

_{Beloe Zlato}

_BeFluent

_{Natalia Practical Russian}

Lost In A New World

I spent months just binge watching as many videos as I could. I also watched movies like

Кавказская Пленница (1967)
Вам И Не Снилось (1980)
Attraction (2017)
Бригада (2002)
Брат (1997)
Operation Y & Other Adventures of Shurik (1965)
etc.

_{Operation Y & Other Adventures of Shurik (1965)}

Listened to songs like

Ой то не вечер favorite🔥
Я когда-то была молодая
Прятки_Hamali & Navai
Это ли счастье_Rauf & Faik
Детство_Rauf & Faik
Капитан_Miyagi
Зачем Солнце Рано Пало
Как Хотела Меня Мать
etc.

_{Ой то не вечер}

I was so immersed in the Russian culture. Ultimately, I ended up picking up the language in the process.

И так вот, в май 2021 году, я решил что мне нужно изучать русский язык на высоком уровне.

So in May 2021 I decided that I needed to learn the Russian language to a high level.

_{Image Source Polyglot club}
I started by trying to learn the alphabets. It was a tough 2 week battle in my head to accept that letters "B" is now "V", "P" is now "R", "H" is now "N", and so many other struggles with characters that are totally new to me.

Next, I started to master basic everyday phrases like,

1. Здравствуйте! (f) / Здравствуй! (inf) : Hello!
2. Привет! : Hi!
3. Доброе утро! : Good morning!
4. Добрый день! : Good afternoon!
5. Добрый вечер! : Good evening!
6. Как дела? : How are you?
7. Хорошо : Good.
8. Нормально : Okay.
9. Ничего : So-so, Nothing.
10. Неплохо : Not bad.
11. А у Вас / тебя? : And you?
12. У меня тоже. : Me too

Most of which I learned from my favorite Russian language teacher - Natalia Practical Russian

_{Image Source: A Screenshot from Natalia's video}

_{My drawing of Natalia}
Her free material contains over 150 common Russian phrases.

_{Image Source : Screenshot from my phone}

Next, I spent months watching as many videos by Natalia Practical Russian as possible, on repeat, non stop. I would focus on one video until I've fully absorbed the vocabulary in it before moving to the next one. Even after mastering one video, I would regularly circle back and retest my comprehension skills.

The Aftereffects

This is one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. I have enjoyed every aspect of this process, it's been absolutely transformational for me. I realized since I started learning the Russian language that language is of the soul, and when you begin to learn a new language you're not just learning a new language, you're starting a new life entirely. You absorb the culture and mentality of its speakers and a new person starts to grow inside of you.

My mental health drastically improved and my post-Covid depression absolutely vanished. The language learning process completely nurtured me back to life. Everytime I think about how far I've come in this language, I always remember where it all began. It all began with that video that I found on YouTube. Prior to doing the drawing of that girl, I hadn't even drawn anything in 3 years due to other personal life issues. But after this experience, I picked up drawing again and I've been drawing quite actively recently especially after joining Hive Blog.

_{Screenshot of my Instagram}

To Be Or Not To Be? That Is The Question

Unfortunately, I never actually reached out to the girl from Yuliku's video despite getting her Instagram from Yuliku. I didn't have the guts. Maybe I just didn't want to bother her. I have a feeling that I would regret this inaction someday. But today, somewhere in this world is a girl who doesn't know what she's done for me. A girl who has transformed my life without having to say a word.

I feel like whenever I share this story, I don't give Yuliku from The Library of Emotions enough credit for what happened. She is a genius! Her experiment with eye contact is a smashing success. I've even seen a video where she explained why she started making videos like this. She talked about being in a country (Georgia) where she did not understand the language and her only way of communicating with the locals was through eye contact.

_{Yuliku - What made me interested in doing the eye language project?}

So when she started making these videos, she just wanted to share with the world her experience. She wanted to change people's perspective and get them to feel what she felt. For every person who watches her videos, there's always gonna be that one video that gets the job done. That one video that makes them feel what she and even I have felt.

Thank you, Yuliku.

_{My drawing of Yuliku}

Where Do I Go From Here?

_{Russian National Anthem}

I'm not sure exactly why this language stuck with me. I've tried learning other languages before. French, German, and Spanish. None of them were able to breach deep into my soul like Russian did. I just opened my eyes, ears, and heart, and all the pieces simply fell into place. Now I have two people inside of me. The English Clint Aribs and the Russian Clint Aribs. I'm still getting to know Russian Clint a little better, he seems like a cool guy.

Even though my unusual bond with the girl from Yuliku's video has dissolved, her language and culture will always have a place in my heart. I've never been to Russia before. I was heartbroken when the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out. I hope to visit the region someday. Though I don't practice the Russian language as often as I used to, seeing as I live in a country where the langauge isn't used, once in a while, I do communicate with some Russian friends I made on language exchange apps like HelloTalk and HeyPal.

I will forever cherish these memories.

If you read this to the end, you're superhuman. You rock! Thanks for stopping by.