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Top New Year Resolutions in Russian Posted by on Jan 3, 2012 in language, Russian for beginners

Do you know that there are THREE Russian-language versions of the “Jingle Bells” song? In addition to the more grown-up version from the video above, here are the texts of two more

Three days into новый год (the new year), how are you doing with your новогодние решения (New Year resolutions) also known as новогодние обещания? Have you made any? Have you broken any yet?

Have you ever promised yourself to начать новую жизнь в новом году (to start a new life in the New Year)? Except who can ever start anything new on первое января (January 1st). Нет, нет и ещё раз нет! (No, no and once again no!). This day is reserved for sleeping in, nursing hangovers and finishing the leftover салат Оливье (Russian potato salad known in Russia as the Olivier salad). That is if you celebrate the New Year как положено (as expected).

Of course, you can skip all the excessive noise, eating, drinking and merriment, go to bed early and be свежий, как огурчик (as fresh as a cucumber) on the first day of the year. You also probably earn a reputation of a person with whom и Новый год по-человечески не встретишь (can’t even celebrate the New Year properly; lit: humanly).

Fortunately, 2012 is a year that lets you и на ель влезть, и зад не ободрать (lit: both to climb up a pine tree and not skin one’s rear end; less literally – “to have your cake and to eat it too).  After all, January 2 falls on a Monday this year.

If you поставили перед собой цели (set goals for yourself) this year, then you likely already read полезные советы (helpful tips) on как эти цели достичь (how to reach these goals). I thought, maybe writing them down in Russian would help you to a) strengthen your resolve and/or at least b) teach you some useful phrases.

So I did a quick search online and found out that some of the most popular New Year resolutions include:

  • Снизить вес or похудеть (lose weight)
  • Прийти в лучшую физическую форму (become more physically fit)
  • Придерживаться бюджета (stick to a budget)
  • Избавиться от долгов (get out of debt)
  • Проводить больше времени с родными и близкими (spend more time with family and friends; lit: with our kin and those close to us)
  • Найти родственную душу (find a kindred spirit) or любимого человека (one’s love), hopefully this being one and the same person
  • Бросить курить (quit smoking) or бросить пить (quit drinking)
  • Найти лучшую работу (find a better job)
  • Научиться чему-нибудь новому (learn something new)
  • Стать организованнее (become better organized)
  • Научиться справляться со стрессом (learn how to deal with stress) or уменьшить уровень стресса (lower stress level)
  • Больше помогать другим (help others more)

Does this sound like something you are attempting to accomplish this year? So how do you say “This year I want to…”?

В этом году я хочу then add any of the above options, except for #9, and you are good to go.

#9, the “to learn something new” goal is a bit tricky since you typically would want to specify what it is you are trying to learn. But never fear and meet the challenge head on by saying:

В этом году я хочу + научиться + infinitive of the verb that describes what it is you plan on learning plus any clarifying words.

В этом году я хочу научиться рисовать (This year I’m trying to learn to draw)

В этом году я хочу научиться водить гоночные машины (This year I’m trying to learn to drive race cars)

If you already know how to do something, but would like to learn how to do it better, you’d say

В этом году я хочу научиться лучше рисовать (This year I’m trying to learn to draw better)

В этом году я хочу научиться лучше говорить по-русски (This year I’m trying to learn to speak better Russian)

Of course, есть шанс (chances are) that you have made a resolution or several that don’t fall under #1-12 above. Unless it’s something сверх-секретное (super-secret) or очень приватное (very private), let me know what it is вы хотите сделать в новом году (you would like to accomplish in the New Year).

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Comments:

  1. Вероник:

    Hi Elena, many thanks for this very actual post. Very interesting and nicely writen, as usual. This year I have decided to spend more time in living and enjoying my freedoms : another way to look at the half full glass. Wish you a happy happy new year ! Веро

    • yelena:

      @Вероник Thank you, Veronique! I do love your resolution and the whole approach of looking at a glass as half full. Happy New Year to you too!

  2. Richard:

    Yelena,

    С Новым годом and thank you for all the hard work you put into making these videos. I’ve never made a video for the Internet, so you’re one up on me! LOL

    I just have to point out that проводить больше времени с родными и близкими would translate as spend more time with our kin and those close to us. “Kin” not “keen”.
    “Keen” can be a noun as well as an adjective, but as a noun it means a loud wailing or crying for the dead, and I don’t think that’s what you had in mind 🙂

    Ваш скромный редактор,
    Ричард

    • yelena:

      @Richard Thank you, Richard! This is just the kind of mistake that the silly spell-checker doesn’t catch. Please continue keeping your keen editorial eye on my writings!

  3. Minority:

    С новым годом!

    I don’t make any specific resolutions before New year, but I’d like to visit couple of interesting places this year during my vacation and to improve different skills at work. =)

    • yelena:

      @Minority С новым годом, Minority! Ah, travelling and learning new things – these are wonderful goals for the year. If it’s not a secret, what are your travelling plans? I’m sure with a job like yours, you have to constantly learn new things and acquire new skills.

  4. David Roberts:

    С новым годом всем!

    Вчера вечером мы (русский кружок Журавли) смотрели и слушали “Бубенцы”. Изумительный вариант песни! Мы очен благодарные Лене. Следующей неделей мы будем переводит лирика.

    Lena, two of the group couldn’t make it, so group photo is postponed until next week.

    Rather annoyingly – I can follow the trackback by “Falando Russo” better than I can the lyrics of Бубенцы, despite never having studied portuguese! It resembles spanish enough to be understandable. Looking on the positive side, it illustrates just how difficult Russian is for non-slavic speakers, and how pleased all we non-native speakers should be that we’ve got as far as we have.