Posts tagged with "News"

Reading the News – In Russian

Posted by Natalie 1 Comment
Jan 23 2012

«Добрый вечер, дорогие читатели!» [Good evening, dear readers!] Today I want to share with you a technique I have used for learning Russian that has helped me immensely: reading the news. «Я люблю читать новости и по-английски, и по-русски» [I love reading the news in both English and Russian]. It is always interesting to read what is going on «в мире» [in the world], and what better way to learn about this than in Russian. «Давайте читать!» [Let's read!]

The article I am referencing can be read here (but don’t worry, I will be quoting from it right on this blog, so you do not need to worry about click the link to read it). It is called «Путин предложил организовать в интернете дискуссию о будущей госструктуре по нацполитике» [Putin has proposed organizing an online discussion about the future state agency for national policy].

«Премьер-министр РФ Владимир Путин предложил развернуть дискуссию в интернете о том, какую организационно-правовую форму придать будущей госструктуре по вопросам национального развития и межнационального благополучия, о создании которой он написал в своей программной статье.» That sentence is long and looks intimidating, but we can easily break it down and translate it: The prime minister of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has proposed developing a discussion on the internet about which organizational and legal form the future state agency on national growth and interethnic welfare will take. He wrote about creating this in his {election} program article. Yes, I know the original Russian is one long sentence, but the grammar stickler in me will not let me translate that into a run-on sentence in English!

To continue: «Путин, баллотирующийся в президенты РФ, в статье, размещённой в понедельник в “Независимой газете”, в частности, предложил создать в РФ госструктуру по вопросам нацполитики, ужесточить правила регистрации мигрантов и санкции за их нарушение, а также обязать мигрантов сдавать экзамены по русскому языку и основам права.» [Putin, who is running for president of RF (Russian Federation), in the article published on Monday in Nezavisimaya Gazeta, in part proposed to create in Russia a state agency for {working on} the question of national policy, toughening the laws of migrant registration and sanctions for transgression, and also requiring migrants to take exams on Russian language and fundamentals of law.]

«Выступая на Форуме народов юга России в Кисловодске в понедельник, Путин отметил, что, “к сожалению, мало внимания уделяется работе по межнациональным и межконфессиональным отношениям, она у нас на втором плане”. “Но это не должно быть простым бюрократическим образованием”, – сказал Путин о новой госструктуре.» [Speaking at a forum in southern Russia in Kislovodsk on Monday, Putin noted that "unfortunately, little attention has been given to work on inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations. It is for us in second place (i.e. not the first priority). But this should not be a simply bureaucratic entity," Putin said about the new state agency.]

This was how I used to learn Russian vocabulary, my friends: I would slog through news articles, looking up every word I did not know (and there were quite a lot!). Also, my translation is not so polished – I tried to stick to a fairly literal one, because I feel that helps the most while learning.

The Polish Air Crash of 2010

Posted by Natalie No Comments
Apr 25 2011


Well, «дорогие читатели» [dear readers], this is going to be a depressing post. It is about «авиакатастрофа в Смоленске 10 (десятого) апреля 2010 (две тысячи десятого) года» [the plane crash in Smolensk on April 10, 2010]. It made headlines at the time and a year later, people are still talking about it. Why? Read on to find out. In the photo: «Смоленск» [Smolensk], a city in Western Russia.

«10 (десятого) апреля 2010 (две тысячи десятого) года» [On the 10 of April 2010], «президент Польши Лех Качиньский» [the president of Poland Lech Kaczynski] was flying to «Смоленск» [Smolensk]. He and a Polish delegation were going to take part in a commemoration of «Катынский расстрел» [the Katyn massacre]. The entire delegation was aboard one plane, «Ту-154» [a Tupulev Tu-154].

In the airport where they were supposed to land, there was «сильный туман» [heavy fog]. Because of this, the plane could not land and crashed. «Восемьдесят девять пассажиров и семь членов экипажа погибли.» [Eighty-nine passengers and seven crew members died.] «В их числе — президент Польши, его жена и почти всё вышее военное командование.» [Among them were the president of Poland, his wife, and almost all of the military high command.]

Of course, this was a terribly tragic event and Poles mourned in Warsaw that evening. (There were some very moving pictures of a candlelight vigil in Warsaw on the BBC website.) But very soon after, people started to question what happened and ask who was at fault. Some said (and still say): «Россия виновата» [Russia is guilty]. Others said it was simply an accident. There was an investigation. «По результатам расследования, все системы самолёта работали нормально.» [According to the investigation, all the airplane's systems were working fine.]

The whole event is controversial–I’ve heard that some Poles reject the investigation’s findings. For what it’s worth, I attended «семинар в Оксфорде» [a seminar in Oxford] at which Norman Davies, a renowned historian, said that he thinks the whole thing was just an unfortunate accident.

«После авиакатастрофии» [After the air crash], Poland held elections for a new president. The man who won is named Bronislaw Komorowski and I’ve heard that his detractors have nicknamed him Komoruski because of his (alleged) sympathies towards Russia. (I say “alleged” because I really do not know that much about the man.)

In Which I See Sergey Lavrov

Posted by Natalie 6 Comments
Feb 21 2011

«Дорогие друзья» [Dear friends], there has been a reason for my long absence. «На прошлой неделе» [Last week], a series of events converged to make me extremely busy. «Мне было надо написать письменную работу» [I had to write an essay] and I managed to acquire «приглашение на выступление Сергея Лаврова» [an invitation to a talk by Sergey Lavrov]. So, in this post I will tell you all about «Сергей Викторович» [Sergey Viktorovich (i.e. Lavrov)] and my tiring but exciting day last Tuesday. In the photo: «Сергей Лавров» [Sergey Lavrov], courtesy of Wikipedia.

«Кто такой Сергей Лавров» [Who is Sergey Lavrov]? If you are a hardcore Russia watcher, you will probably know the answer to this question. «Сергей Лавров –– министр иностранных дел» [Sergey Lavrov is the Minister of Foreign Affairs (or you could simply translate this as Foreign Minister)]. «Он родился в Москве» [He was born in Moscow]. He received his university education at «Московский институт международных отношений (МГИМО)» [Moscow Institute of International Relations (MGIMO)]. He has worked «в МИДе» [in MID, i.e. the Foreign Ministry] for many years. No one (or at least very few) in the United States knew of him until the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, presented him with a “reset button” that had the wrong Russian word on it. (It said «перегрузка» [reload] instead of «перезагрузка» [reset].)

The talk was at «Лондонская школа экономики и политических наук» [the London School of Economics and Political Science]. «Я ездила в Лондон на автобусе» [I went to London by bus]. I had to take «Лондонский метрополитен» [the London Underground, or Tube] «в час пик» [at rush hour] and let me tell you, it was almost as crazy as Moscow.

The talk was about «российский бизнес» [Russian business] and «русско-британские отношения» [Russian-British relations]. The best part was that the audience was able to ask questions. I waved my hand in the air, but, «к сожалению» [unfortunately] the moderator did not call on me.

All the questions were interesting. One thing I noticed that amused me was when the British students asked questions, they addressed the Foreign Minister as “Mr. Lavrov,” but the Russian students called him «Сергей Викторович» [Sergey Viktorovich]. Hardly surprising being that Russian people address each other «по имени-отчеству» [by first name and patronymic], but it still made me happy.

After the talk, «я ходила по Лондону» [I walked around London]. I even went by «посольство Российской Федерации» [the Russian Embassy]. Then, I returned from London, very, very tired.

Безопасно ли летать в России? [Is It Safe to Fly In Russia?]

Posted by josefina No Comments
Sep 14 2008

 It’s happened again. A plane crashed at 3:10 по московскому времени [Moscow time] right before it was supposed to land in Пермь [Perm'], a city with over a million inhabitants located about six hours west of Yekaterinburg, on the European side of the Ural Mountains. I’m quoting an article from the Swedish paper Dagens Nyheter: “All of the 88 people who were onboard are said to have died in the crash, among which six were children, one infant and five members of the crew. [---] During last year 318 people have died in 33 plane accidents in Russia. These accidents have become six times as frequent since 2005 and according to experts the reasons for this are lacks in education of the crew and the old fleet of planes. The planes used for flying national flights within Russia are around 30 years old, while the planes for international flights are 18 years old, according to AFP.” And today the question – безопасно ли летать в России? [is it safe to fly in Russia?] – seems more appropriate than ever. Even though the information above about the age of planes used by Aeroflot for national flights are not news to me (I’ve been on too many of these flights inside Russia not to notice the poor condition of these old aircraft), it is still a tragedy and a great loss. Perhaps this accident is no more a tragedy than the 33 tragedies of last year, but this feels more like it to me since it’s so close to where I am, because, yes, I’m back in the Urals, back in Yekaterinburg. Forgive me for being biased while I translate a little bit from a Russian article on the accident – В Перми в результате авиакатастрофы перекрыт Транссиб [In Perm as a result of the air catastrophe the Tran Siberian Railroad is closed off].

Kol\'tsovo Airport, YekaterinburgI don’t know about you, but I always get  nervous while waiting for a plane to take off, and it doesn’t matter if I’m flying Aeroflot or not [though most likely I'm flying Aeroflot since I'm even a member of their bonus club!]. What bothers me is the unnaturalness of it being so high up in the air – and now I’ll have to worry about falling down too?!

«Самолёт упал в черте города на юго-западе Перми, в овраге в нескольких десятках метров от жилых домов Индустриального района. [The plane fell down within the city limits in the south-west of Perm, in a ravine a couple of ten meters from apartment houses in the Industrial District.] По уточненным данным, он принадлежал авиакомпании “Аэрофлот-Норд“.» [According to more precise information it (the plane) belonged to the aircline "Aeroflot-Nord".]

«В связи с катастрофой в Пермь вылетели комиссия во главе с министром транспорта РФ Игорем Левитиным, и главой Росавиации Евгением Бачуриным, а также группа следователей и криминалистов центрального аппарата следственного комитета при прокуратуре РФ.» [Because of the catastrophe a commission flew out headed by the minister of transport of Russian Federation Igor Levitin, and the head of Rosaviatsia Jevgeny Bachurin, but also a group of investigators and specialists on crime from the central staff of the investigatory committee under the office of the public prosecutor.]

«На месте катастрофы уже работают около трёхсот спасателей, пожарных, сотрудников милиции и других служб, из Екатеринбурга прибыли сотрудники Приволжско-Уральского центра МЧС. [On the place of the catastrophe there are already working about three hundred rescue workers, firefighters, officials from the police and other services, from Yekaterinburg officials have arrived from the Around-Volga-and-Ural center of the Ministry of Extreme Situations.] По факту авиакатастрофы возбуждено уголовное дело.» [On the fact of the air catastrophe a criminal case has been filed.]

Is anyone else as worried as I am? And yet, despite all one reads in Russian papers about Aeroflot buying new aircrafts, I’ve never had the pleasure to fly on one of them except for on flights from Moscow to Stockholm. Разумеется [of course]. Has anyone of you ever been on an Aeroflot flight within Russia and seriously doubted whether or not the plane would make it all the way to the final destination? Should one choose other airlines for national flights – and keep fingers crossed that those aren’t at least worse – or hope that Aeroflot will take notice and do something about the situation?

 

 

 

 

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