Dear Steemians. This is the sixth in a series I'm posting to support Golos and expand the Steemit system. I'm a Russophile and I'm tremendously excited about the changes Russia is experiencing. I hope you enjoy it:
So its time to learn some vocabulary. We'll keep it simple and fun.
There's something about how Russian artists use the colour blue which no one else can match. Here the painter has used a startlingly bright blue, highlighted to purple. It gives a particular 'morning' feeling to this breakfast scene don't you think?
You see cobalt blue used a lot in wonderful Russian ceramics too.
How to say the word 'blue'?
синий (seenee)
Here is Red Square.
Isn't it beautiful? In the foreground you can see St. Basil's cathedral. Behind that is the GUM shopping centre. I hope to visit in 2017.
So how do you say 'Red Square'?
Красная площадь (krasnaya plooshet)
площадь isn't the word for a geometric square, but more like the word for piazza, or plaza.
Once you get the pronunciation of this one right it's about THE most Russian sounding thing you can say.
And WHERE is Red Square?
где (g'dye) Красная площадь?
Москва (Moscow)
в Москве (In Moscow)
Note the change in the ending...
Look at this Faberge egg.
This egg was recently sold for $9,000,000
And yet it is маленький (malinkee)
It is small.
Here is Evgenia Obraztsova
Pretty isn't she?
She is small.
она маленькая (ona malinkaya)
Note how the word 'small' changes when used in this sentence.
Those little legs would have been enough to make even Pushkin's heart beat faster...
Here is where she often dances.
This is the Bolshoi Theatre, home of the Bolshoi Ballet Company.
большой (bolshoi)
It simply means 'big' or 'great'.
Since we're dealing with complimentary pairs. Here's another more modern set.
Here's Tarkovsky burning down a house.
oгонь (Agon) fire
And here's a compilation of how Tarkovsky uses water in his films.
вода (voda) water
I hope whilst learning these few easy words you're developing a taste for the incredible richness of Russian culture!
(None of the images in this post were created or owned by me and are widely available from different sources on the internet)
Great idea Niko!
Upvoted and followed!
When I was a child, I learned Russian. Now I remember many words but cannot speak. Maybe I learn again? My son goes to Russian lessons in his high school. He says, Russian is much more difficult to learn than English, which he speaks fluently.
Russia is cool, never been there but I have high respect on what they did and do - love the Russian women :-) - i only struggle with kyrilic indeed, my wife is from Bulgaria and i tried to learn this but my head's hard disk seems to be full language wise :-)
Determination is all you need.
Look at my earlier posts and follow the instructions. They're easy to read and they'll give you a good foundation for learning.
One of the earlier ones talks about how to learn Cyrillic.
Thanks mate, i might give it another go
Good post. Hope to visit travel in Russia someday. I know a couple of things in Russian that I learnt from a Russian co-passenger during a stopover at Moscow enroute to Amsterdam couple of months ago. Overall I travelled through Moscow airport twice and I liked it :D
Glad you liked the post. I'm fascinated by Russia. I want to visit too. Hopefully this year!