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пятница, 13 октября 2017 г.
HOW TO ASK PEOPLE THEIR NAMES IN RUSSIAN?
Enjoy Russian language school video lesson 5!
Recently our school set a tradition on making weekly lessons about Russian language grammar and Russian way of life. We’ve already covered such topics as weather, greetings in Russian, “How are you” vocabulary and the difference between verbs LEARN and STUDY.
This time school’s tutor Alina and our guest from the USA Jack are talking about asking people their names. After watching the video you’ll learn some useful vocabulary and will be able to ask Russian President about his name!:)
If you want take part in this video project choose one of our courses and come to Petrozavodsk! And you are going to be our next guest!
четверг, 12 октября 2017 г.
ORTHODOX CHRISTMAS: LET’S CLARIFY THE DATES AND LOOK THROUGH RUSSIAN TRADITIONS
When and how do people celebrate Christmas in Russia?
Sometimes “Enjoy Russian” school students who come to learn Russian in Petrozavodsk during winter time (December and January in particular) associate Christmas in Russia with the 25th of December. Catholic world does celebrate Christmas on this day, but not the Orthodox communities. At least, not all of them. To understand the reason dates differ from country to country one should get an insight into the history.
Why Christmas date is different around the world
The reason for this 13-days-difference is hidden in the calendars people use. Starting with the year 1582 many countries around the globe switched to Gregorian calendar from the Julian one (introduced by Julius Caesar in ..) According to some statistics the process took almost 300 years. And when it finally came to Russia the Orthodox Chirch did not approve shifting to this new-made year calculating system and remained stick to the Julian calendar.
As a result, in modern world we have Catholic communities using Gregorian calendar, some Orthodox communities living with renewed Julian calendar (which nowadays coincides with Gregorian one and Christmas in these countries is celebrated on 24-25th December) and countries living with Julian calendar like Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Montenegro, Belarus, Egypt that celebrate Christmas on 6-7th of January.
What do Russians do on Christmas day
At all times people in Russia were preparing themselves to Christmas day very carefully. From November 28 till January 6 the religious are fasting and mentally purifying themselves. On this holiday people cook traditional Christmas food, but do not start dinner ceremony before participating in a night church service (usually starts at midnight). Making a wish on this night is also a common tradition.
On the next day the front doors of all houses were open to everybody: people congratulate each other with the great day and invite even strangers to drop by.
And after that the 12-day holiday season starts. Through to the Epiphany Day (January 19) people go sledding, join open-air celebrations, play musical instruments at the streets. An integral part of Russian Christmas celebration is called «колядки». People dress up in a fancy way, come to random houses and sing short humorous songs. The men of the house usually give some sweets to unexpected guests.
Even though Russians do not celebrate Christmas in a grand-scale manner as they do on New Year’s Eve, they find it very enjoyable and delightful.
To experience your Christmas in Russia, choose our 1 or 2 week Russian language course with special festive cultural program! You will have a chance to enjoy a trip to Russian Uncle Frost Residence, will be able to decorate your own Christmas tree toys and attend special theatre performances! Sign up for a course here
вторник, 10 октября 2017 г.
If you want to make your Russian more correct and fluent the first thing you need to do is to memorize the following list of the essential verbs!
In this post we are going to put together all the need verbs and their conjugations.
ЖИТЬ – to live
я живу мы живём
ты живёшь вы живёте
он / она живёт они живут
ХОТЕТЬ – to want
я хочу мы хотим
ты хочешь вы хотите
он / она хочет они хотят
ЕСТЬ – to eat
я ем мы едим
ты ешь вы едите
он / она ест они едят
ПИТЬ – to drink
я пью мы пьём
ты пьёшь вы пьёте
он / она пьёт они пьют
ПЕТЬ – to sing
я пою мы поём
ты поёшь вы поёте
он / она поёт они поют
ПИСАТЬ – to write
я пишу мы пишем
ты пишешь вы пишете
он / она пишет они пишут
МОЧЬ – to be able to
я могу мы можем
ты можешь вы можете
он / она может они могут
Join our courses and polish your Russian language skills!
понедельник, 9 октября 2017 г.
IT WAS VERY PROFESSIONALLY DONE!
Enjoy Russian student shares the impressions on Individual Russian language course
Klaus from Germany had been learning Russian language in Petrozavodsk for two weeks. Daily classes, constant practice with the host family and personal motivation have brought him to a great result. On the last day of classes Klaus told the story of his life completely in Russian. Without any help, uncertainty or hesitation.
“My friend from Berlin has recommended me this school. I had an individual course which met all my requirements. I learned a lot and what is more important I understood how I should learn Russian language in the future. My teacher Katya did a great job. As a result my ambition and interest in learning Russian increased. She got far beyond my most optimistic expectations on this stay in Petrozavodsk.
Communication with the family was very pleasant too. I also got a chance to meet a student from the Netherlands who was living in this family. And we had very nice evenings.
As for organization of the course I got everything in time. The moderators are friendly, efficient and flexible. I would like to participate in the program again because the school is good, teachers are very professional and kind and I had a nice homestay.
My progress in the Russian language? I improved everything. Pronunciation and spelling. Now I actively speak Russian!”
Watch the video to get a valuable piece of advice on how to learn Russian efficiently!
For each person winter festive season is especially precious and magical. People all over the world enjoy getting together with the family, sharing the memories of the year ending and maybe someone discuss where to learn Russian language next year:) For some countries this holiday is not in the list of let’s-celebrate-it-loud holidays but every country has some certain traditions connected to December 31. In Denmark people place the piles of broken dishes in front of the friend’s door as a symbol of friendship. Chinese people tend to paint the front doors in red to attract happiness and fortune. The Dutch way of celebrating this holiday reminds the full-scale party and swimming in the North Sea next morning. So what about Russians?
Step 1. Prepare yourself for hours of cooking
The 31 of December is a working day all over the country. But! It is shorter than an ordinary one: people finish all the tasks (or leave them till better days in new year) one our earlier and here they could be divided into two groups. Some people have everything ready: they’ve done all shopping a week ago to beat the rush, know exactly how many guests they are going to have. But others start running there and back in attempts to find the missing ingredients or trying to decide on the better place to spend the night. But what is common for all is the fact that they spend so much time in the kitchen making salads and sophisticated delicacies while watching Soviet movies.
Step 2. Watch the Russian President’s speech and eat your wish!
Anyways all of them find themselves in front of big plates with ОЛИВЬЕ and glasses filled with champagne around 11.45. And the celebration starts! Never ever forget to say goodbye to the ending year and don’t you dare miss the President’s speech! Make a wish (or write it down on a piece of paper, then burn it, then put the ash into your glass and drink! 100% the dream will come true). See the flash lights? Grab your friends and get out of the house to enjoy colorful fireworks. Russian people usually don’t tighten the purse strings when it comes to fireworks. Jump into the snow and make a snowman, sing a song around the Christmas tree and say something pleasant to all the strangers you meet. And remember – you are not allowed to sleep!
Step 3. Be ready to entertain yourself for 8-10 days
Yes, even your boss takes a rest for that long. Take a tour to the residence of Дед Мороз (Russian Father Christmas, Santa, Jack Frost) or join the crowds at street festivals, invite all the relatives and go to a deer farm. Leave some time for writing down your New Year resolutions. Skiing and ice skating, snowball fighting, dog racing… Be creative and make something amazing! However hard you may try it’s basically impossible to hide from that total festivity!
Step 4. Sign up for a special New Year program at Enjoy Russian!
If you decide to learn Russian starting with the 11 December you have a unique chance to become a part of this huge holiday through Russian traditional food cooking classes, making toys, banya with snow-bathing, festive theater performances and many many other activities! Or feel free to choose individual course and come whenever you want!
суббота, 7 октября 2017 г.
Last places available in the Russian learning groups in 2017!
Levels: A1+ (elementary) and B1 (1st certificate) Duration: 2 weeks Dates: November 13-24 Tuition fee: 320 euro (40 lessons)
If you want to achieve fast results in Russian, intensive Russian course in Petrozavodsk, Russia is what you're looking for! Effective Russian lessons, creative teachers, friendly atmosphere and joyful amusements will make your Russian vacation unforgettable!
And your first Russian word ЗДРАВСТВУЙТЕ is an imperative aspect of the verb ЗДРАВСТВОВАТЬ (to be healthy and wealthy). Did you know that?
How do we form imperatives? We need to conjugate a verb in the third person plural form and change the ending to -й (for the first group verbs) and -и (for the second group).
Here are a few examples:
1.ДЕЛАТЬ (First group verb)
ОНИ ДЕЛАЮТ —> ДЕЛАЙ
To make it formal add -те:
ДЕЛАЙ + ТЕ —> ДЕЛАЙТЕ
2. ГОВОРИТЬ (Second group verb)
ОНИ ГОВОРЯТ —> ГОВОРИ
To make it formal add -те:
ГОВОРИ + ТЕ —> ГОВОРИТЕ
Sometimes there is a soft sign instead of и or й
ВЕРИТЬ to believe – ОНИ ВЕРЯТ they believe – ВЕРЬ believe (imperative informal) – ВЕРЬТЕ believe (imperative formal)
БРОСИТЬ to throw – ОНИ БРОСЯТ (they’ll throw) – БРОСЬ throw (imperative informal) – БРОСЬТЕ throw (imperative formal)
Imperfective and perfective imperative are formed according to the same rule, but their functions are different! See the attached photo! And let me know if there are any questions left!
Use imperative in real life conversations with Russian in Russia! Come to Petrozavodsk winter course. Enroll now
