Just A Fun Fact #4

You have no clue how happy I am to be able to translate Improvisation for you guys again! Here's another great episode.

Hi! Please do more of Evening Urgant or Improvisation videos.. I love watching them and they are really helpful for my Russian but I can't find them anywhere else online so I hope you translate more. You have an amazing blog keep up the good work!!

Hi! Absolutely! There's a lot of Evening Urgant content on the official Youtube channel (youtube.com/c/urgantshow), but unfortunately none of the videos are subbed. The Improvisation content is a lot trickier, there's almost no public access to the episodes online. I myself had a hard time finding the source, and the videos aren't subbed either. I already have a couple of episodes in my drafts. I'm going to translate them once I'm finished with all of my exams! Thank you for the feedback, it means so, so much!

Hey guys! Here's a quick tip on how to start to write in Russian cursive right away! I hope it was useful! Have a nice day! 💜

Tips to learn a new language

The 75 most common words make up 40% of occurrences The 200 most common words make up 50% of occurrences The 524 most common words make up 60% of occurrences The 1257 most common words make up 70% of occurrences The 2925 most common words make up 80% of occurrences The 7444 most common words make up 90% of occurrences The 13374 most common words make up 95% of occurrences The 25508 most common words make up 99% of occurrences

(Sources: 5 Steps to Speak a New Language by Hung Quang Pham)

This article has an excellent summary on how to rapidly learn a new language within 90 days.

We can begin with studying the first 600 words. Of course chucking is an effective way to memorize words readily. Here’s a list to translate into the language you desire to learn that I grabbed from here! :)

EXPRESSIONS OF POLITENESS (about 50 expressions)      

‘Yes’ and ‘no’: yes, no, absolutely, no way, exactly.    

Question words: when? where? how? how much? how many? why? what? who? which? whose?    

Apologizing: excuse me, sorry to interrupt, well now, I’m afraid so, I’m afraid not.    

Meeting and parting: good morning, good afternoon, good evening, hello, goodbye, cheers, see you later, pleased to meet you, nice to have met.    

Interjections: please, thank you, don’t mention it, sorry, it’ll be done, I agree, congratulations, thank heavens, nonsense.    

NOUNS (about 120 words)

Time: morning, afternoon, evening, night; Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday; spring, summer, autumn, winter; time, occasion, minute, half-hour, hour, day, week, month, year.    

People: family, relative, mother, father, son, daughter, sister, brother, husband, wife; colleague, friend, boyfriend, girlfriend; people, person, human being, man, woman, lady, gentleman, boy, girl, child.    

Objects: address, bag, book, car, clothes, key, letter (=to post), light (=lamp), money, name, newspaper, pen, pencil, picture, suitcase, thing, ticket.    

Places: place, world, country, town, street, road, school, shop, house, apartment, room, ground; Britain, name of the foreign country, British town-names, foreign town-names.    

Abstract: accident, beginning, change, color, damage, fun, half, help, joke, journey, language, English, name of the foreign language, letter (of alphabet), life, love, mistake, news, page, pain, part, question, reason, sort, surprise, way (=method), weather, work.    

Other: hand, foot, head, eye, mouth, voice; the left, the right; the top, the bottom, the side; air, water, sun, bread, food, paper, noise.    

PREPOSITIONS (about 40 words)    

General: of, to, at, for, from, in, on.    

Logical: about, according-to, except, like, against, with, without, by, despite, instead of.    

Space: into, out of, outside, towards, away from, behind, in front of, beside, next to, between, above, on top of, below, under, underneath, near to, a long way from, through.    

Time: after, ago, before, during, since, until.    

DETERMINERS (about 80 words)  

Articles and numbers: a, the; nos. 0–20; nos. 30–100; nos. 200–1000; last, next, 1st–12th.    

Demonstrative: this, that.    

Possessive: my, your, his, her, its, our, their.    

Quantifiers: all, some, no, any, many, much, more, less, a few, several, whole, a little, a lot of.    

Comparators: both, neither, each, every, other, another, same, different, such.    

ADJECTIVES (about 80 words)    

Color: black, blue, green, red, white, yellow.    

Evaluative: bad, good, terrible; important, urgent, necessary; possible, impossible; right, wrong, true.    

General: big, little, small, heavy; high, low; hot, cold, warm; easy, difficult; cheap, expensive; clean, dirty; beautiful, funny (=comical), funny (=odd), usual, common (=shared), nice, pretty, wonderful; boring, interesting, dangerous, safe; short, tall, long; new, old; calm, clear, dry; fast, slow; finished, free, full, light (=not dark), open, quiet, ready, strong.    

Personal: afraid, alone, angry, certain, cheerful, dead, famous, glad, happy, ill, kind, married, pleased, sorry, stupid, surprised, tired, well, worried, young.    

VERBS (about 100 words)    

arrive, ask, be, be able to, become, begin, believe, borrow, bring, buy, can, change, check, collect, come, continue, cry, do, drop, eat, fall, feel, find, finish, forget, give, going to, have, have to, hear, help, hold, hope, hurt (oneself), hurt (someone else), keep, know, laugh, learn, leave, lend, let (=allow), lie down, like, listen, live (=be alive), live (=reside), look (at), look for, lose, love, make, may (=permission), may (=possibility), mean, meet, must, need, obtain, open, ought to, pay, play, put, read, remember, say, see, sell, send, should, show, shut, sing, sleep, speak, stand, stay, stop, suggest, take, talk, teach, think, travel, try, understand, use, used to, wait for, walk, want, watch, will, work (=operate), work (=toil), worry, would, write.    

PRONOUNS (about 40 words)

Personal: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, one; myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.    

Possessive: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs.    

Demonstrative: this, that.    

Universal: everyone, everybody, everything, each, both, all, one, another.    

Indefinite: someone, somebody, something, some, a few, a little, more, less; anyone, anybody, anything, any, either, much, many.    

Negative: no-one, nobody, nothing, none, neither.    

ADVERBS (about 60 words)

Place: here, there, above, over, below, in front, behind, nearby, a long way away, inside, outside, to the right, to the left, somewhere, anywhere, everywhere, nowhere, home, upstairs, downstairs.    

Time: now, soon, immediately, quickly, finally, again, once, for a long time, today, generally, sometimes, always, often, before, after, early, late, never, not yet, still, already, then (=at that time), then (=next), yesterday, tomorrow, tonight.    

Quantifiers: a little, about (=approximately), almost, at least, completely, very, enough, exactly, just, not, too much, more, less.    

Manner: also, especially, gradually, of course, only, otherwise, perhaps, probably, quite, so, then (=therefore), too (=also), unfortunately, very much, well.    

CONJUNCTIONS (about 30 words)

Coordinating: and, but, or; as, than, like.    

Time & Place: when, while, before, after, since (=time), until; where.    

Manner & Logic: how, why, because, since (=because), although, if; what, who, whom, whose, which, that.   

Here's a comp of completely random pictures in Russian that make me giggle: pt 3

[Mom]

I'm sorry for my excitement when you said Olezhka was an abuser. I though abuser meant he worked somewhere in IT.

open it up I farted

5. PROCEDURE FOR RESOLVING DISPUTES

5.1 Should any disputes or disagreements on the current contract arise, both parties are pledged to a knife fight face to face.

[The driver is on the way.]

17:46

Hello, please order another cab.

My depression is starting.

my spine is tired of carrying my gigantic sexual nature

DRUG ADDICTION?

ALCOHOLISM?

THERE IS A WAY OUT!

POTATOES

Have a great day!

Я шагаю по Москве - Никита Михалков

This song comes from the 1968 movie of the same name. It’s a good speed if you’re just getting used to listening to Russian and quite catchy :) Any feedback/corrections, please let me know! 

Бывает всё на свете хорошо Sometimes everything in the world is good В чём дело сразу не поймёшь You don’t immediately know what’s the matter А просто летний дождь прошёл And a simple summer rain fell Нормальный летний дождь Normal summer rain

Мелькнёт в толпе знакомое лицо A familiar face will appear among the crowds Весёлые глаза Cheerful eyes А в них бежит Садовое кольцо And in them runs the Garden Circle* А в них блестит Садовое кольцо And in them shines the Garden Ring И летняя гроза And a summer thunderstorm

А я иду шагаю по Москве, And I’m walking around Moscow, Но я пройти ещё смогу, But I can still go further, Солёный Тихий океан The salty Pacific ocean И тундру, и тайгу. The Tundra and Taiga.

Над лодкой белый парус распущу Above the boat I’ll set a white sail Пока не знаю с кем With who I don’t yet know Но если я по дому загрущу But if I start longing for home Под снегом я фиалку отыщу I’ll find a violet under the snow И вспомню о Москве And remember Moscow И вспомню о Москве… And remember Moscow…

*A big ring road around central Moscow

A quick grammar reference: what -ся may mean and how to use it.

Happy learning about this meme day!

The very infrequent “Russian meme of the day” topic continues with a meme that’s been going strong for over a year now that I’m sure you will appreciate. 

It started with joking about your elderly relatives online sending out of the blue funky images congratulating you with the most random celebrations, the progenitor of such being this:

Cement day

Which soon enough caught on and became a meme, now supplying you with celebratory images for all occasions 

Happy broken charger day! 

Happy 4 hours of sleep day!

Happy burnout day!

Happy chip day! a classic of vaccinations 

Happy teflon pan tay!

Happy welded joint day!

Happy stress eating day!

Happy fucking scorcher day!

Happy day of day!

Happy waiting for the next day day!

Happy sad vegan sausage day!

The celebrations are endless, so I congratulate you with endless celebrations day!

MAJOR GROM: PLAGUE DOCTOR Extended Version