Language learning

Russian Idioms: Going into the Depths of the Mind

Ever wondered why we use colorful phrases to describe our mental struggles? Dive into the fascinating world of Russian idioms that paint a picture of the labyrinthine workings of the human mind!

In this post, we’ll explore gems like “шевели извилинами” (stir your convolutions) – a quirky way to tell someone to think hard. We’ll also delve into “голова не варит” (my brain isn’t cooking), the perfect expression for those moments when your mind goes on strike.

Stay tuned for more mind-bending idioms and discover how Russians express frustration, confusion, and the burden of self-inflicted problems!

What is Basic?

Over the past few weeks, several of my students have shared their frustration with me: “I’ve been studying Russian for so long and I still can’t use basic vocabulary! When I asked what kind of vocabulary they were referring to, they mentioned specific cooking verbs (e.g., verbs for cutting ingredients in different ways), words describing

Eight Things Wiktionary Teaches for Free

Wiktionary is an invaluable source of linguistic information. In this article, I’ll show you how to use it wisely.

Language as a Performing Art

A few years ago, I explored one of the popular online learning platforms, and found two music courses. I don’t remember the exact names of the courses, but one was called something like “Developing Your Musicality”, and the other was titled “The Basics of Music Theory” or something like that. The first course was designed

Studying in Russia: Part I Learning Russian in Russia

According to the official Russian statistics, in the academic year 2019-2020, the number of international students in Russia was slightly short of 300,000 people. This is almost twice as many as in 2010. The most recent statistic is unavailable, because of “damn ‘rona”, but, most likely, the trend will persist for the next few years.

How to Improve Your Russian Using Online Tools

Learning a new language is always a demanding task. There are so many things you need to cover, from grammar to conversation skills. The same goes for the Russian language, which has so many difficult segments we need to master. Those segments are writing, reading, listening, and speaking. Each one is challenging in its own

Suddenly Dumb

Embarrassing Story When I moved to Canada, my fluency in English was confirmed twice by IELTS. I had been studying English for decades, since I was twelve. I had ten years of experience working in an international company where English was the only spoken language. I was pretty confident in my speaking abilities, when one

Synonyms: How to Tell the Difference

Synonyms are a blessing and a curse for language learners. How can a language learner know the difference between two words that mean the same thing? How do you know when to choose one word, and when to choose the other? Can they be used interchangeably, or does each word have a specific niche and belong to a certain context? I will try to answer those questions in this article, and I will share a few practical tips on how to make synonyms your friends.

What Makes Russian So Hard: Perfective and Imperfective Verbs

In the previous two articles, I talked about Russian cases and how words agree in a sentence according to their gender, number, and case. With the cases, the hard part is memorizing all those endings. The concept of grammatical cases is relatively easy. Perfective and imperfective verbs do not create too much extra work for

What Makes Russian So Hard: Cases

Speaking a language is a practical skill, almost like driving a car or cooking. Understandably, most language learners want to start using their target language as soon as possible. When I approach a new language, I feel the urge to say something meaningful from lesson one. However, as a language teacher, I know that for

Category: Language learning