My Chai

Hurrah! A Russian Cognate.

chaibaby31 — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:30:32 +0000

While looking at a website of Russian cognates (words that are similar in both languages) I came upon the strangely useless yet so interesting communality of the word ‘hurrah’. In Russian it is ‘ypa’. So now when I really want to do something but can’t express myself well I can just so ‘hurrah’ and everyone can think I am a huge dork. Perfect.

Russian Roulette

chaibaby31 — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:51:50 +0000

Russian Roulette (Русская рулетка, Russkaya ruletka) is a game that many historians believe came from Russian prisons in the 19th century. Supposedly prisoners were forced to play for the gambling pleasure of the officers.

Ever wanted to play Russian roulette but didn’t want the embarrassment of shooting yourself in the head? Now there is a Russian Roulette iphone app that can ‘save face’.

Check it out!

Got to get on track!

chaibaby31 — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:34:43 +0000

Sorry to all my readers who have probably thought I fell of the face of the earth! Between my new job (I’m working in a local restaurant) and life in general, I’ve been too busy/tired to make any entries. But today is my day off! And my new entry is to say that TODAY I will go to the store and get a calendar that I can track my Russian Learning Program Progress in. Because I still need to create that Russian dinner, write a Russian pen pal, etc, etc. And posting is going to be much more frequent! That’s my New Year’s Resolution to You! (New Years resolutions usually fall through though hehehe) But not mine!

Fighting Is My Job

chaibaby31 — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:19:51 +0000

The Russian “Parliament” is called the Ду́ма (Duma) from the verb думать (dumat’) meaning ‘to think or consider’. The Russian statesman belonging to the Ду́ма are supposed to ‘think‘ for their supper just like in England or America, right?

The English governing body, the Parliament, has a different word origin however, meaning ‘to talk’. So that’s what those English are doing.

What about the American Congress? Originally congress came from Latin: congressus “a meeting, hostile encounter”. But by the 1770′s meant a meeting of delegates. Coincidence? I think not.

My Favorite Russian

chaibaby31 — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:47:41 +0000

Ok, so if you don’t know Hot for Words and you love words (or hot blondes) then you need to check this out. I wish she would do some videos about the origins of Russian words! Go get ‘um Marina!

Keep the Change!

chaibaby31 — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:53:01 +0000

Russia is my kind of country (even though I’ve never been there). How do you say “Keep the change” in Russian? Quite literally it’s “The rest is for tea“. (Astavtye na chai. Oставте на чай.) Unfortunately, I drink so much tea that I need a bit more than pocket change to feed the addiction. lol.

Here is the strangest video of people using a Samovar you will ever want to see.

t.A.T.u

chaibaby31 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:16:01 +0000

Hahaha…these girls crack me up

Even though these two are obviously cranky like noted in the video I bought their song “Ya Soshla S Uma (I’ve Lost My Mind)” I think this could be very good vocab to learn lol.

Foxhall? What?

chaibaby31 — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:48:25 +0000

The Russian word for TRAIN STATION is вокзал ‘vokzal’ which many believe came from the English word VAUXHALL. If your not from London you might be confused.

Legend has it that when the Russians first wanted to build a Railroad station they visited a South London train station named Vauxhall. The Russian engineers mistook the name to be the generic name for a train station, hence the word, вокзал.

Vauxhall Station.

Michel Thomas Is My Favorite!

chaibaby31 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:24:44 +0000

If you want to learn the basics for a new language I promise that you should start with the Michel Thomas method! I loved learning the basics of Spanish with his CD’s. Today I started with the Russian CD’s that use his method. http://www.michelthomas.co.uk/default.htm

To learn about him check this out!

Getting Down to Business: How I Will Learn Russian

chaibaby31 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:31:39 +0000

It’s time I learn Russian. I have always wanted to. My grandmother is from Russia and that’s were I get this fascination from. I learned Spanish by studying and living in Chile…but I’m not a student anymore so the wanderlust lifestyle is on hold for awhile. So while I would like to learn Russian by living in Russia and immersing myself with the language I will do the next best thing….pretend.

My Language Learning Plan:

1. Listen to ‘learn Russian’ CD’s and tapes for 30 min. each day.
2. Learn about a Russian tradition/ cultural oddity each week and try it out.
3. Make a Russian meal 2x a month.
4. Find and write a Russian penpal.
5. Jam to awesome Russian pop music in the car.