Posts tagged w/ russia

Two Years with Russian Blog!

Posted by Josefina
Nov
9
2009

«Да!» [Yes!] «Наконец!» [Finally!] Today is not just another day, today is «девятое ноября» [the 9th of November] and a very special day. Why? Not simply because today is «день рождения великого русского писателя Ивана Тургенева» [the birthday of the great Russian writer Ivan Turgenev] - happy 191st b’day to the author of «Отцы и дети» ["Fathers and Sons"]! - but also because «в этот день» [on this day] two years ago I published my first post here on this blog. So it is finally official: «я пишу для этого блога про русский язык, русскую культуру и русскую литературу уже два года» [I have written for this blog about Russian language, Russian culture and Russian literature for two years already]. «Ура!» [Hurrah!] I thought I’d take today to switch to a more personal tone in this post - something I rarely do due to the enormous amounts of grammar that constantly need to be dealt with and explained. Today I will tell you a little something about «моя жизнь тут в России» [my life here in Russia]. After all, most of the readers of this blog have probably noticed a steady decrease in the amount of post published here these days, and there’s an explanation for this. This explanation is «моя русская жизнь» [my Russian life]. Before continuing any further I would also like to say that - just like I did in my post a year ago - all of your comments are very dear to me! I love it when you correct me and my sometimes sloppy grammar (big shout out to all the native speakers who read this blog! Thank you! both Russians and native speakers of English, that is…). I love it when you share your thoughts and experiences from Russia with me, and I would very much like this dialogue between us to continue also in the future. So keep reading, and I’ll keep writing - anytime I get - and keep commenting! I love the comments. They give me so many new ideas of what to write about, so keep them coming!

 On nights like these I fall in love with Russia all over again…

What can I say about myself, then? When I started writing this blog two years ago I was 22 years old and living my fourth year in Russia. Now I’m 24 years old and this is already my sixth year in this country. Originally I’m «из Гётеборга» [from Gothenburg] the second biggest city «в Швеции» [in Sweden]. I moved «в Россию» [to Russia] in late August 2004 when I was 19 years old. First I lived in Saint Petersburg for a semester, while I studied Russian as a foreign language. In February 2005 I moved «в Омск» [to Omsk] «в Сибири» [in Siberia] where I also studied Russian as a foreign language. I stayed in Omsk for a year and a half and even though it is pretty much impossible to sum up that experience in just a few words, I can say this much: it changed who I am forever. Summing things up even more I can say that I have grown up in this country. When I arrived here I didn’t know anything. I was a teenager with nothing but a huge dream: I wanted to become a professor of Russian literature. But at the time I didn’t speak Russian at all. All I knew when I arrived were two words: «пиво» [beer] and «привет» [hi]. Needless to say, my first week in this country was splendid… I am living proof that it is actually possible to «выучить язык» [to learn (completely, fully) a language] just by living in a country and studying hard and trying with all that you’ve got. Now I wasn’t always the best student. Right now I am the best student I have ever been, as a matter of fact, but I’ve always tried hard and spent a lot of time with Russians. And that’s how I learned this language and this country’s culture - from spending a lot of time with Russian friends. If you don’t have anyone to talk to, then you’re not going to learn how to talk. So during these past five years and plus-two months I’ve done a lot of talking! That’s one of the best advices I can give to anyone who wants to learn Russian - find Russian speaking friends! If you’re not in Russia, then go to a language club or café and sit there with your little phrase book and try your best at making conversation. Who knows? Maybe you’ll not only learn something new, but also find a new friend in the process….

I moved «в Екатеринбург» [to Yekaterinburg] in late August 2006 and have been living here ever since. All the time I’ve been a student «в Уральском государственном университете» [at Ural State University], «на филологическом факультете» [at the department of philology]. Now I’m a second year student «в магистратуре» [in the Master's program] and will be graduating in June next year with a diploma that says I’m «преподаватель русской литературы» [a university teacher of Russian literature] with all «отлично» [‘excellent', the equivalent of an A or a 5] grades - so far, anyway (keeping my fingers crossed). I have already worked as a university teacher, though, at Ural State University since October 2007. But I don’t teach what I’ve actually studied; I teach Swedish as a foreign language. And that’s one of the main reasons as to why I don’t have enough time to write here as much as I would like to since the beginning of this fall semester - this year I have three groups in different levels and I teach three evenings straight a week, leaving me almost dead by Friday night. I have two hour classes every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 18.30 to 20.30. But I love to teach, and I love my Russian students. We learn from each other, I teach them Swedish and they teach me Russian, they teach me about Russian reality and I try my best to show them what Swedish reality is like. I would also advice anyone who ever gets to chance to teach abroad to take this chance - it can give you so much! You’ll meet lovely people, though - of course - there are going to be many though times and rough patches and hard obstacles to overcome. Thankfully, I only have lectures in the Master’s program on Mondays and Tuesdays, so that leaves me with enough time to prepare my own classes the rest of the week. When I’m not stuck reading tons of Russian literature for seminars, that is…

I love Russian literature. I don’t think I’ve ever loved anything as much as I love Russian literature (except for my family). That’s why I also love this painting of «Владимир Маяковский» [Vladimir Mayakovsky] that I came across on my way home one evening.

As you’ve probably noticed if you’ve been reading this blog already for some time, I have two favorite Russian writers that are dearer to me than all the rest of them (although I appreciate all of them equally!): «Фёдор Достоевский» [Fyodor Dostoevsky] and «Варлам Шаламов» [Varlam Shalamov]. My Bachelor’s thesis was on Dostoevsky’s time in Siberia, and my future Master’s dissertation will be on how he used material that he collected during his time there in his future novels. But in the future I would like to go on and research the connection between these two writers; I would love to write a doctoral dissertation on how Shalamov used Dostoevsky’s “Notes from the Dead House” in his “Stories from Kolyma”. To get even more personal I can reveal that I have applied to study at a graduate program in the U.S., but I’m not sure if I’m going to get in. Come early February and I’ll know where I’ll be headed next - perhaps, to California! If not, then I will continue to dedicate myself to Russian literature and Russian language somewhere else. Perhaps I’ll move back home to Sweden and start working at the university there instead. I would have loved to stay in Russia for all of my life, but for many reasons this is not the best place to start an academic career. And I really want to start an academic career! Does that sound silly? I suppose it is a little bit silly. But then again, most dreams are a bit silly… My ultimate life goal - or maybe it is just a dream anyway - would be to move back to Russia in a couple of years, once I’m done with my Ph. D. and go teach somewhere in Siberia. I love the city of «Томск» [Tomsk], where I’ve been twice, but I think I’d rather go to «Иркутск» [Irkutsk] and live there instead, even though I’ve never even been there… Not even traveled through!

I think it is true that once you’ve become very close to a foreign culture, when you’ve come to close that it has become a part of who you are, then you can never truly let go of it. Even if I’m not always going to live in Russia, a part of my heart will always belong to this country. People here often ask me about my future, and since I don’t know where I’ll end up, I always tell them: «Несмотря ни на что, душа моя требует России!» [Despite everything, my soul demands Russia!] There is still much in this country left for me to discover, and still I have many stories that I haven’t yet told anyone… This country has taught me a lot. And I am so thankful for everything that this country has given to me - education, experience, friendship. Maybe this sounds like I’m already saying «до свидания» [farewell] with another eight months left to spend here? That’s not entirely true. I’m just summing up what I’ve come to understand so far. And what I’ve come to understand is this - life is beautiful. And no matter what we must always appreciate, respect and love life.

 What it all comes down to is that I’m just «обычная девушка» [an ordinary girl] and like all other girls I love «пить вишнёвое пиво» [to drink cherry beer]. So is there a better way to end today’s post than to say «на здоровье!» [cheers!]?

 
Posted under Culture, History, Literature, News, The Russian Emotion, Traditions, language
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Riding «общественный транспорт» [Public Transportation] the Russian Way

Posted by Josefina
Oct
9
2009

Sometimes «остановка трамвая» [a tram stop] look like this in even a larger Russian city - this picture was taken on the central «площадь 1905 (тысяча девятьсот пятого) года» [‘The Square of the Year 1905'] here in «Ёбург» [‘Yekat', it's Russian slang for «Екатеринбург» (Yekaterinburg) since that takes far too long time to pronounce on a regular basis!]. Above you can clearly see how it’s done here in the wild East: you must both wait and get on the tram in middle of busy «проспект Ленина» [Lenin's prospect] as cars rush by…

Some people do not own a car. Other people do not even have any «водительские права» [driver's license]. These people have to «пользоваться общественным транспортом» [use public transportation]. I am one of these privileged people since «у меня нет ни машины, ни водительских прав» [I have neither a car nor a driver's license]. But what about this makes me feel privileged? Because I have the constant opportunity to choose from the abundance of different means of public transportation here in Russia! Even though I’m really a devoted «пешеход» [pedestrian] and love «ходить пешком» [to walk on foot], there are times in life when one must «ездить на чём-то» [travel on something] in order to get where one is going. Remember the last post, in which I tried to sort out when to use the prepositions «в» and «на» in Russian? Remember how I promised to sort out these «предлоги» in combination with means of transportation in a separate post? Well, this is it! This is the post in which I’ll try to sort things out in this regard. First we must understand that there are many kinds of public transportation in Russia, and that it functions in a different manner then in, for example, Europe. I’ve lived in Russia for more than five years and I’ve seen a «расписание» [timetable; schedule] almost «на каждой автобусной остановке» [on every bus stop] but I’ve never seen buses keeping these times nor Russians expecting them to do so. Public transportation comes and goes as it pleases in this country. For some this might sound crazy (it did to me also in the beginning) but as a matter of fact it is not the least crazy. Russian public transportation WORKS! You never have to wait for «автобус» [the bus] in Russia. If there’s no bus, then there’s always «трамвай» [a tram] or «троллейбус» [a trolleybus]. But if both of there fail to show up one can always jump on «маршрутка» [a ‘marshrutka'] of which there comes about one every minute in average big Russian cities. And then there’s also to possibility of riding «метро» [the subway] in many bigger cities. Therefore one needs not have wheels of one’s own in this country. Not only because you’ll keep getting stuck «в пробках» [in traffic jams] anyway, but because there’s plenty of other - cheaper and more environmentally friendly! - ways of getting around.

«Автобусы» [pl. buses] exist in many different sizes, color and shapes in Russia. Here we have «жёлтый автобус» [a yellow bus] and «зелёно-белый автобус» [a green-white bus]. Very often in Russian cities you can see «старые автобусы из Европы» [old buses from Europe]. For example, «в Перми» [in Perm] there are many buses «из Дании и Германии» [from Denmark and Germany] and for me while riding them it was very entertaining because I felt like I was back in the past century’s Europe…

The preposition used with means of transportation in Russian is «на» [‘on', ‘in', ‘at']. You can also use «творительный падеж» [instrumental case] with the very same means of transportation and the meaning remains pretty much the same. There’s of course nothing wrong with asking someone on the street on Moscow either of the following questions: «Можно добраться до музея Булгакова автобусом?»  [Can you to get to the Bulgakov Museum by bus?] or «А доехать до Большого театра возможно трамваем?» [And is it possible to get to Bolshoi Theatre by tram?]. But let’s keep it simple today and focus with means of transportation in combination with the preposition «на». In all of the examples below I’m going to use the verb of motion «ехать» in all ways it can be changed in present tense:

«Я еду на трамвае» - [I'm going by tram].

«Ты едешь на метро» - [You're going by subway (metro].

«Она едет на автобусе» - [She's going by bus].

«Мы едем на троллейбусе» - [We're going by trolleybus].

«Вы едете на маршрутке» - [You're going by marshrutka].

«Они едут на машине» - [They're going by car].

Behold my beloved: «троллейбус» [trolley bus; large vehicle which operates on electricity]. Since I come from a country where «троллейбусы» [pl. trolley buses] are a thing of the past - sadly - I was astonished the first time I saw one of these «в Санкт-Петербурге» [in Saint Petersburg] «в глубокой моей юности в 2004 (две тысячи четвёртом) году» [in my ‘deep' youth in the year 2004]. While living in Siberia I further developed my love affair with this kind of Russian public transport and if there’s ever an opportunity to ride on of these babies I take it! Though there’s no real logic behind my love for the «троллейбус»… Behind it you should be able to spot the smaller and very orange «маршрутка» [which is short for «маршрутное такси»].

But when we’re using the preposition «на» together with means of transportation in Russian, we’re actually not speaking of location as such, but of a way of moving ahead; getting where you want to be, so to speak. If you want to express location within a mean of transportation in Russian, then the preposition you should use is «в» which in this case translates very simply into ‘in’ or ‘on’. Does that sound tricky to you? Let’s have a look at two helpful sentences using the word «поезд» [train] which I’m sure will clear up things a little bit at least:

«Вика любит путешествовать НА поезде» - [Vika loves to travel by train].

«Вика познакомилась со своим мужем В поезде» - [Vika met her husband on/in a train].

Of course I had to save the best - and worst! - to last. What is this, you wonder? Let me explain! This little square thingy is called by «русский народ» [the Russian people] for «пазик» [‘pazik'] which is made from the abbreviation «ПАЗ» standing for «Павловский автобусный завод» [Pavlovo Bus Factory]. In some Russian cities ‘pazikis’ perform the role of local ‘marshrutkas’. That’s okay. But very often here in the Urals they also traffic roads between smaller towns and villages and since they are the most uncomfortable mean of transportation ever invented by mankind riding them for more than an hour equals shaking until your insides feels like milkshake. «Не хорошо!» [Not good!]

 
Posted under Soviet Union, Traditions, language
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Евровидение! [Eurovision Song Contest!]

Posted by Josefina
May
13
2009

Suddenly it is that time of the year again - the time when one cannot help but feel that one is, was and will always remain a European. This feeling is first and foremost connected with an important European annual event in May: «Евровидение» [Eurovision Song Contest]. This year the competition takes place here in Russia, in everybody’s favorite capital with the red Kremlin and Lenin the mummy, and thus gives me a good reason to write about it here. Not only because after the first semi-final yesterday, on the 12th of May, it was decided that Sweden’s Malena Ernman gets to sing in the final on Saturday the 16th, and when I woke up to these news this morning I found myself suddenly caring about the Eurovision Song Contest again. Before the final there will be a second semi-final, on the 14th of May, and not until after that will we know for sure which countries will be competing for the prestigious title of “Winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2009″. And what is more important - to get the competition to take place in their country next year! For those of you who have managed to forget I can inform you of the fact that Дима Билан [Dima Bilan] won in Belgrade last year (with more than a little help from Плюшенко [Plushenko], I’d say, and I think everyone who saw the performance a year ago agrees with me] with the song “Believe” and that’s why Moscow - for the first time ever! - gets to host the contest this year. This year Russia is represented by Анастасия Приходько [Anastasia Prikhod'ko] and the song “Mamo” [Russian: «Мама»; English: "Mother"] which is sung in both Russian and Ukrainian.

So, how do you best prepare for this Saturday’s big night? A good warm-up would be of course to watch all of Russia’s entries in Eurovision, something that is easily done on this excellent post by Siberian Light. Or you could busy yourself by trying to learn the lyrics to Russia’s entry by heart already now so that you’ll be ready to sing along come Saturday. Here’s the Russian version with my own little translation in English, I’ll hope you’ll get the general idea of the song:

Вышел из тени вновь [He came out of the shadow again]
Мой враг - моя любовь [my enemy - my love]
Неизбежна моя доля, [my lot is inescapable,]
Сколько сердце не готовь [how much you prepare the heart]
Но прежде, чем уйти [but before he left]
Колечком золотым обручил меня с собою [with a golden ring bethrotet me with him]
И от чар не защитил [and against goblets didn't protect]
И на волю мою душу не пустил… [and didn't free my soul...]

Припев: [Refrain:]
Мама, [Mother,]
А ты ж мне сказала [but you told me]
Не ожидай [don't expect]
Мама [Mother]
А я ж тогда не знала  [but then I didn't know]
Где та беда [where that sorrow is]
Мама [Mother]
А ты же мне говорила [but you said to me]
Время вода [time is water]
Мама, мама, мама [Mother, mother, mother]


Любовь - беда [love is sorrow][I will throw away my dream]
И об пол разобью, [break it against the floor]
Как сломал ты мою долю [like you broke my lot]
И оставил на краю [and left me on the edge]
Я дождём девичьи слёзы разолью… [I will cry a rain of maiden tears...]

Припев: [Refrain:]

Once you’ve learned these - far from difficult lyrics - by heart it is about time to learn a thing or two about the host country: Russia. This can be done on Eurovision Song Contest’s official website, which informs you of the most crucial things you need to know about this country, including that its history is ‘long and complicated’. After you’ve done that, you can move ahead and read up on Patricia Kaas, France’s entry, and worry about how your country (if you’re not a very patriotic Russophile/Russian and can’t imagine voting for anything but the Motherland) will ever be able to stand up against this superstar on one and the same stage. You could also buy (or download) the whole “Eurovision Song Contest 2009″ album and irritate members of your immediate family, friends and close neighbors by putting these 42 excellent examples of ‘Euro pop’ on repeat all week long. After all, Eurovision is about two things: 1) listening to music of questionable quality without any shame, even dancing to it if you’ve managed to completely clear yourself of any shame you might’ve had left after downloading the album, and 2) voting for your neighboring countries. The last one is colloquially known as ‘friend-vote’ in Europe and this year they’ve decided to try to limit this phenomenon by giving the jury an equal chance to choose the winner. 50% of the votes will be from watchers/listeners, while the other half belongs to the jury. Otherwise Norway and Sweden always give each other the highest scores, as does Ukraine and Russia, and the country that wins is the country with most neighboring countries. (Now I suppose nobody’s the least surprised that Russia scored it last year?)

Generally speaking, every European country, just like European citizen, has its own point of view on the Eurovision Song Contest. In Sweden it is a bigger deal for us to choose our own entry, as we have four semi-finals and one final within our own country, and come May most Swedes have already had enough their own native ‘Euro pop’ to care about the ‘real’ finale. And thus the final contest in the middle of May is viewed by most as an excellent opportunity to gather family and friends around the TV to watch other country’s entries and make ironic comments. The ironic comments are such a large part of Sweden’s relationship to Eurovision that even papers, blogs and TV channels try to outdo each other by making the best ironic comments. I haven’t noticed such an ironic tone in Russian media, but that could be because Russians don’t see Eurovision as a game on life and death, as Swedes do. Which is easy to understand once you’ve contemplated the fact that it was there that ABBA got their big breakthrough with “Waterloo” and we as a nation can’t let go of the dream that something like it could be happen again…

«Смотрите Евровидение на своё здоровье!»

Who do you think would be a worthy winner? And what do you think about Russia’s entry this year? Does it have a chance?

 
Posted under Culture, News
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Once Again About ‘The Great and Mighty’ [«ещё раз о великом и могучем»…]

Posted by Josefina
Mar
25
2009

Sorry for the poor quality of this picture from the student magazine «Студик» that published my little article «Великий и могучий - с точки зрения не-носительницы его» [The Great and Mighty from a (female) non-native speaker's point of view" in its March 2009 number.

In many ways I can honestly say that «мне повезло с группой в магистратуре» [I was lucky to end up in such a good group in the Master's program], and not only because one of the girls in my program - Ирина Кристева (of no relation to Julia Kristeva, though, even if that would have been cool… We also have a girl with the last name Бахтина, but she’s also not related to the great Russian literary theoretic Mikhail Bakhtin) is the editor of one of Yekaterinburg’s student magazines, «Студик» (it doesn’t have a website, but you can find a group for it on the Russian ‘Facebook’ www.vkontakte.ru, with pictures of every page from every number since the first number Irina made in October 2008). Ever since she got the job as editor she’s been begging me to write an article, and finally I did it for the latest number (and, hopefully, I’ll be able to continue «писать колонку» [to write a column] on the Russian language from my point of view in it every month). Here it is in the original Russian, accompanied with a few comments in English to clear some things up - hope you’ll enjoy it!

Here’s a bigger version of the small picture used in the article above - me and my soul mate (graffiti on a wall in Tomsk from last April, I think I’ve already used it here, but hey, there’s nothing wrong with repeating a good thing!).

«Россию я полюбила сразу; стоило лишь несколько классик (классика - here in the meaning of a 19th century novel; ‘a classic‘) прочесть, и я окончательно влюбилась в эту странную, очаровательную (очаровательный - charming) страну, - а русский язык? С великим и могучим было труднее. Говорят, что «умом Россию не понять» (‘you can‘t understand Russia with your mind‘) но это не вся правда: душой-то (with you soul) её всё-таки поймёшь рано или поздно, а русский язык ни душой, ни умом никогда не поймёшь! Русские с удовольствием пропускают то местоимения (местоимение - pronoun), то глаголи настоящего времени (verbs in present tense), и спрашивают, например «ты куда?» или «как тебе?» и непонятно, совершенно, что под этим имеют в виду. Со временем у иностранца вырабатывается некая интуиция. Она нам очень нужна, поскольку в русском языке есть свободный порядок слов («ты куда?» может быть и «куда ты?»). Сначала иностранцам кажется, что это хорошо потому, что слово «свободный» - положительное понятие (a positive concept). А потом станет ясно, что нельзя, например, от других предложений отличать вопросы по-русски. И по интонации тоже не скажешь, когда русские спрашивают, а когда приказывают (приказывать - to order; command). В русском языке есть около семи разных интонаций, но я считаю, что они просто семь разных степеней приказов (приказ - order; command). В течение первых двух лет в России я на все соглашалась из-за того, что не могла понять, вопрос ли это или нет, и была верна своему шведскому воспитанию (воспитание - upbringing) - что нельзя обижать человека, и, прежде всего, всегда нужно быть вежливым (вежливый - polite). И говорить «да». И ни в коем случае нельзя говорить «да нет», что тоже является примером непонятности русского языка… Но об этом как-нибудь в другой раз. В заключение хочу сказать, что, несмотря на всё вышеупомянутое (вышеупомянутый - above-mentioned; aforementioned), я отношусь к великому и могучему с надеждой на будущее понимание между нами - ведь, моё любимое слово по-русски: «ещё». Итак, ещё!»

Actually, I think I was being a tad ironic when I wrote that «русский язык ни душой, ни умом никогда не поймёшь!», because I really believe that Russian language can be understood, just like Russia herself, with you soul… As a comment to my article an American girl here told me she was going to write on the subject of «Русские всё время говорят «Россию умом не понять» - и гордятся этим!» [Russians all the time say 'you can't understand Russia with your mind' and they're proud of it too!]. I myself think I’ll dedicate myself to the six glorious cases next time - and write with true outrage of how badly the instrumental case behaves with sweet little innocent words like «день» (I mean, seriously, in «днём» and «днями» what’s there really left of the poor word? Two letters! Нахальство [impudence; insolence; impertinence] I tell you!). 

 
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November Snow: Winter in Russia

Posted by Josefina
Nov
28
2007

There’s something about Russia which cannot be experienced during those hot, sunny months of continental summer. There’s something about Russia which only comes out with the first snowfall, something that can only be seen when those first, fragile white flakes start to fall. As the ground gets covered, more and more, minute by minute, by a layer of glittering frost, that something about Russia becomes a reality. Russia is at its best during the winter. And lucky for Russia winter here is not a brief period that is over before it has even begun, but at least four months long. In some places it is shorter, in the Caucasus for example, in other places it is longer, such as in northern Siberia and northern Far East. Winter is what makes Russia another world.

During the other three seasons of the year Russia and Russians look like most people in most countries; they wear jeans and t-shirts and sneakers. Not until that one sacred season starts, not until those dark and cold months begin, not until then do they go all out fashion wise and not only show but also prove that they are another people, with an utterly different culture. Fur-spotting could and should be considered an official sport for foreigners here. Anything and everything is either entirely made out of fur or has fur trimming or other kinds of fur details. Men and women who respect themselves greatly wear fur hats twice the size of their heads. This can cause a problem when getting in and out of buildings and public transport since removing headwear outside in Russia is considered to get you a cold within five seconds and therefore not an option. Men and women who respect themselves to a lesser degree wear fur hats of smaller size. The same rule also applies when it comes to fur coats – the more respect one has for oneself [or the more money one has in one’s pocket], the bigger and longer and fluffier is the coat. However, all of the above have one thing in common – they are made out of real fur.

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