A new word for today

[mendeleyev]

A new word for today is Cегодня.

Cегодня = today, and sounds like "si-VOD-nya."


For better understanding:

- Cегодня is an adverb, but in some situations is a noun.

- The third letter, a D, is converted to a V when speaking.

[mendeleyev]

There are several new words for today, and each comes from one. How? It is magic!

The first new word is завтра = tomorrow, and sounds like "zaf-trah."


For better understanding:

- Yes, the third letter is a V, but it is voiced like its counterpart, an F.


The next new word is really a phrase, and it originates from this word, завтра. The phrase is до завтра which means "till morning." It sounds like this: "da zaf-trah." Use that when you want to tell someone that you'll see them in the morning, go somewhere in the morning, or do something in the morning.

Warning: it is sometimes used as a brushoff. Just because someone says this, doesn't necessarily mean that you'll get what was promised.


The third new word is завтра with a K added at the end. завтрак is the word for breakfast. It sounds like "zaf-trak."

You can use до завтрак as an expression of "before breakfast" or in some cases "to breakfast."

[mendeleyev]

Earlier we learned the name for "month"

A new word for today is месяц.

месяц is "month" and sounds like "MhYEH-sits."


For better understanding:

- месяц is a noun.

- A common abbreviation is: m.

Now, lets learn the names of each month.

январь is January. январь sounds like "yeen-VAHL."

февраль is February. февраль sounds like "feev-RAHL."

[mendeleyev]

This is not for beginners, but for those with advanced linguistic interests, it might be fun for you to know the names of the Russian months of the year in the Old Slavonic Russian. That is something easy to research, and for those who already know quite a bit of Russian. It is interesting, but quite useless as those names are no longer in use. 

[mendeleyev]

[mendeleyev]

Two new words for today:

 Март - March, sounds like "mahrt"

 Апрель  - April, sounds like "ah-PRYEHL"


For better understanding:
- Both are nouns. All twelve Russian months are masculine nouns.

[mendeleyev]

There are three new words today:

 Май  - May, which sounds like "mahy." Take "my" and "may" and sort of mesh them together. Review the videos above.

 Июнь  - June, which sounds like "ee-yoon."

 Июль  - July, which sounds like "ee-youl."


For better understanding:
- All Russian months are naturally nouns. All of them are masculine nouns.

[mendeleyev]

It likely comes as no surprise that expats often come to Russia with little or no language training. They come because of work with an international firm, as a spouse or family member, or for some other reason.

There are language clubs that are either free, or low cost. Visitors are welcome and so you do not need to be an expat to attend most of these. I will from time to time highlight those clubs and organizations here.

Moscow Language Exchange Meeting is a free weekly event.
 
 Weekly attendance can be from 25 to 200 and the idea is to practice in a safe environment while meeting others. They not only teach Russian, but to entice native Russian speakers to teach, you can help native Russians learn English, German, Italian, French, or whatever is your native tongue.

This group meets every Sunday evening from 6pm to around 11pm (you do not have to stay the entire time) at the Hard Rock Cafe near Metro Smolenskaya. The Hard Rock is at 44 Arbat Street.
 
 This free group organizes a section of the cafe around tables with a flag. The flag is of the country whose language is being practiced at that table. If you are interested in practicing that language, you sit at that table where native speakers are there to help you practice.

 Buying food or drink is not required, however the Hard Rock is donating the tables to the group so it is a nice idea to purchase a drink of some sort to show appreciation to the cafe for use of the space. The tables are not waited, so you walk up to the bar if you wish to order something.

 There are also board games, played in the languages being practiced, at a section of separate (5) tables nearby. There is no cost, however one must have a drink from the bar in hard in order to play.
 
 If you are hungry and wish to eat, there are a few tables where you can order, eat, and practice language. It is not required to order something, but if you order from the food menu there is a 10% discount from items on the Hard Rock menu.

This is an all volunteer group so if you attend, please be respectful of those teaching and leading. Not all members attend every Sunday, but with over 300 active members you will never be alone if you wish to learn and practice.

[mendeleyev]

We have several new words for today as we conclude the months of the year:


август = August; sounds like "AHV-goost.:

Сентябрь = September; spoken as "sehn-TYABR."

Октябрь = October; pronounced like "ak-TYABR."

Ноябрь = November; sounds like "na-YABR."

 Декабрь = December, spoken as "dek-KABR."
                     

[mendeleyev]

Have you memorized the months of the year yet? This is a fairly important task for beginning so here is one more video for review:

[mendeleyev]

An amazing number of words are shared by both Russian and English. Many of these don't go thru grammatical changes because they are "foreign" and that makes learning and using them even easier.

Words that are the same are called cognates.

There are two kinds of cognates: true and false. That means that some are both the same in sound and meaning, but others are false which means they sound the same but mean something different.

Here are a sampling of true, or "friendly" cognates:

администратор sounds like ahd-min-is-stratar. It means "administrator." Make sure you speak the last syllable with an "a" instead of the "o" you see written.

директор sounds like DE-rek-tar and means "director." Again, as that last letter "o" is not stressed, we change it to an "a" sound.

пицца is kind of obvious and sounds like PE-tsah. Yes, that is "pizza." In this case the Cyrillic spells it as p-i-ts-ts-a.



But, there are false cognates to contend with, too. Examples:

Артист or AHR-teest sure sounds like an artist, but that is what you call an actor in Russian.

Интеллигентный when spoken as in-telli-gent-nee sure sounds as if someone is intelligent, but it means "cultured."

Кабинет sure sounds like cabi-NYET but it is not found in the kitchen. A "cabinet" in Russian is an office or in some cases a work station.


In the coming days we'll explore some of these cognates and you will be surprised at how much Russian you already know!

[mendeleyev]

To reinforce the idea of Russian words that you already know....


бар - bar  "BAh-r"

кафе - cafe  "kah-fey"

меню - menu  "myen-U"

кофе - coffee  "KOH-fye"

чай - tea  "chai"  Note: This cognate is from the French language from which Russian borrows many terms. Due to coffee places like Starbucks, etc, English speakers are very familiar with this term.

суп - soup  "su-ph"

[Boethius]

чай - tea  "chai"  Note: This cognate is from the French language from which Russian borrows many terms. Due to coffee places like Starbucks, etc, English speakers are very familiar with this term.

It likely was introduced from Turkey ("çay"), or perhaps Mongolia (it is the Mongols who introduced tea to Russia), though the word is also "chay" in Hindi and Urdu.  There are lots of words in Russian and Ukrainian with Turkish roots.

The French use the word thé for tea.  If you are ever looking for superb teas, I suggest this site -

http://www.mariagefreres.com/FR/accueil.html

Their shops in Paris are incredibly elegant.  I enjoy Twinings, but my tea connoisseur better half prefers loose leaf Darjeelings, and he has proclaimed their offerings the best he has ever enjoyed.

[mendeleyev]

Thank you for that correction, Bo.

I'm guessing that you are right about the Turkish roots. The samovar, so popular in the FSU, is thought to be from Persia if memory serves me correctly.

[SANDRO43]

Mongolian for tea is tsai (цай) presumably from Cantonese 茶 (chá), the beverage obtained from the plant Camellia sinensis. On the other hand, tea is from the Amoy tê of southern Fujian province. A third form, the increasingly widespread chai is likely to have come from Persian چای (chay) - both the châ and chây forms are found in Persian dictionaries. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_tea).

[ML]

Best tasting is chai tea.

[mendeleyev]

Here are more words that you already know:

видео = video  "vee dyo"

гитара = guitar  "ghe tar ah"

директор = director  "de REK tar"

еврова = Europe  "Yev roph ag"
 
интернет = Internet  "in ter nyet"

 
 Please keep in mind that you will need to speak these as stressed and accented by Russian speakers. If you simply speak them like you do in English, you may not be understood.

[mendeleyev]

As you can see, it is nice to have so many common and shared terms. Your ability to recognize these will often depend on your ability to read the 33 letters of the Cyrillic alphabet.

[mendeleyev]

Countries that celebrate a day of Thanksgiving do not include Eastern European nations, and thus depending on how familiar your lady is with Western traditions, she may not know about your Thanksgiving holiday weekend. That is easy to explain, but it is much more difficult to explain the meaning of Black Friday afterward.

If you wish to tell her about the day, here is something that she will understand: ДЕНЬ БЛАГОДАРЕНИЯ (day of thanks).


New words for today include how to say thank you.

спасибо = thanks/thank you  "spa-see-ba"

Большое спасибо = thank you so much! or many thanks!  "bal shoye   spa-see-ba"

Благодарю вас = use this to say thank you in formal settings. "bla ga da ru  vas"


Saying thank you in Russian is an abbreviation of the old Russian custom of saying "God save you!" as a way to thank someone.

[mendeleyev]

Here are more words that you already know:

Америка = America  "ah myer ika"

Европа = Europe  "yev-rop-ah"

Азия = Asia  "ah-ziya"

Канада = Canada  "ka NAh da"

Китай = China  "ke TIE" (Think of a key, then wear a tie. Key-TIE.)

Бельгия = Belgium  "byee lgiya"  (This one is a bit more difficult especially the first syllable.)

Англия = England  "ahn glee ya"

Африка = Africa  "ahv ree ka"  (This is really close to English, especially if you get the "ahv" right on the first syllable.)

Украина = Ukraine  "ooh KRY eena"  (Speak the first syllable with a "u" sound, not an "O" and you'll nail this one.)

Беларусь = Belarus  "byela rus"

Испания = Spain "e spawn ya"

[mendeleyev]

Here are words that mean the same in Russian and English:

директор= Director  "DE rek tar"

климат = climate  "KLEE maht"

парашют = parachute  "pah ra SHOOT"     

трактор = tractor  "TRAK tar"

материал = material  "mah tyer al"

The next word brings one of those grammar rules discussed previously into play. We will take the letter D at the end of the word and give it a T sound:

шоколад= chocolate  "sha ka LAhT"

[Darth_Budda]

Ни хрена себе = Fuckity duh da

My new favorite word...

[krimster2]

"yalky palky"   kind of like "oh well..."

[mendeleyev]

Sophia of RT, and a Mendeleyev Journal language contributor, has left Russia for a job at a television station in Israel. In addition, she is getting married! We are happy for her, but understand that her time is now more limited to assist.

The Mendeleyev Journal is happy to announce a new resource: "Russian with Naya" and I think that you will enjoy her videos. Please watch, and if you find them helpful then please subscribe to her YouTube channel as she updates videos frequently.

[mendeleyev]

I have spoken with Naya (see videos immediately above) and in videos going forward she will use printed letters instead of cursive. We discussed how difficult the cursive can be for new students who are still learning how to navigate the alphabet.

Here is a nice topic on feminine nouns: