Here’s a link that provides several articles on what it’s like for the gay community in Russia. I’m gay and this is a Russian blog, so I say it’s relevant. :) Наслаждайтесь чтением!
http://community.middlebury.edu/~moss/RGC.html
Here’s the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_culture_in_Russia
девочка (она) - girl
мальчик (он) - boy
они - plural, a group
женищина - woman
мужцина - man
читает - read
готовит - cook
бегут - run
пишет - write
пить (пьёт) - drink (is drinking)
есть (кушать) - eat or ‘done’ as an exclamation
I will add on to this list as I begin to learn more pronunciations and sounds.
и - ki
ки - ki
жи - shi
ни - ni
чи - chi
ы - eh
ит - et
ут - oot
ка - kah
ча - cha
Благодарю вас for the comment, Beck! Reposting it so the tips have a seperate entry.
1) The fact that Russian is a mouth-mostly-closed language, meaning that when speaking it one should primarily utilize their lips and tongue in the pronunciation of words. As one woman described it:
“One time I was watching a Russian newscaster read the news on Moscow TV and he wasn’t moving his lips at all! This guy was talking clearly enough to be a famous TV broadcaster but he didn’t move his lips. The key thing to saying hello and most other words in Russian is that you need to keep your jaw mostly closed and use your lips and tongue to make the sounds.”
2) The fact that Russians do not expect things to be going excellently, and so such enthusiastic terms should be used on a limited basis. For example, when posed the question of “How are you?” by a Russian, appropriate answers include:
“If you’re truly feeling great, go ahead and answer pryekrasno! (pree-krahs-nuh; wonderful), or vyelikolyepno! (vee-lee-kah-lyep-nuh; terrific). But beware that by saying “terrific” or “wonderful,” you’re putting your Russian friend on guard: Russians know all too well that life is not a picnic. To a Russian, wonderful and terrific events are the exception, not the rule. To be on the safe side, just say either Nichyego or Nyeplokho (неплохо).”
Found this set of articles this morning when I was trying to find extra supplements to the book I’m working with. They are very approachable articles, and quite useful phrases! Perhaps we can all work through them together?
Ёжик в тумане (Hedgehog in the Fog)
Based on a Russian Folk Tale
with English subtitles:
“The first thing my mom says to a person who’s trying to learn a language - watch movies (better - cartoons) in that language. Without translation. And just try to understand. That’s why cartoons are easier - you can understand a lot without words.”
With help from Alik :)
source: http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/russian.php
