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Grappling with Clumsy Russian

President Putin’s proposed amendments to the Russian constitution have received a lot of attention. Leaving politics aside, let’s look at the language and style of an introductory paragraph. «Российская Федерация, объединенная тысячелетней историей, сохраняя память предков, передавших нам идеалы и веру в бога, а также преемственность развития российского государства, признает исторически сложившееся государственное единство». Here’s …

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A subjective look at ходил vs шёл

Recently I was reading a Facebook post in Russian with an interesting example of a motion verb in the past. Here it is, without the verb: Потом я прилетал из Америки и сразу (went) ____ в “Мемориал” еще раз, и еще раз. Без бабки не появлялся, конечно. Then I flew in from America and immediately …

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Retrieval Practice: a Key to Success with Russian?

What’s your favorite study method for new vocabulary or other material? Flashcards? Reviewing the book? Copying out word lists? I’m working on a project that takes a different approach, and I’d love to get your comments on it. A little background: in preparation for a trip, I’ve recently started learning Mandarin Chinese. At yoyochinese.com, I’ve …

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Forgotten Words, Unpaired Opposites

Можно.. нельзя.. льзя?? You may have learned the words можно (‘permitted, allowed, may’) and, as its opposite, нельзя – ‘not allowed, not permitted, forbidden.’ Have you ever wondered why the opposite of нельзя isn’t just… льзя? Marina Koroleva (that’s Королёва!) had a nice column in Российская газета about this a while back. She begins with …

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