A couple months back I was loading a truck and the Russian/Slavic-looking/sounding driver (and the name of the truck line/owner printed on the truck was definitely Slavic) had a hole cut in his shirt and his necklace/pendant was pulled thru the hole so that it was visible. My somewhat foggy memory thinks it was something religious icon-y. My question: Is this something other than an individual quirk and if so can you tell me about it?
posted by J0
on May 21, 2013 -
7 answers
What are your tips and techniques for learning advanced vocabulary and grammar in a foreign language?
[more inside]
posted by kristi
on Feb 26, 2013 -
15 answers
We're thinking of travelling to
Tula for our honeymoon. How hard is it to travel in Russia these days, if you're not going to a usual travel destination?
[more inside]
posted by small_ruminant
on Feb 23, 2013 -
3 answers
I'm learning Russian right now. I wonder if there's a website that has the whole script for the 1971 Soviet cartoon, Cheburashka. I've been using Yandex and Google and I didn't get any result for the past few days. Thank you.
posted by sanskrtam
on Feb 12, 2013 -
4 answers
For years, I've accepted as fact that Russian-language PDFs don't play nice with other programs. That if you tried to paste copied text into Word or Notepad, you'd get gibberish characters. (I work on two laptops, one with Windows Vista and Acrobat, the other Windows 7 and Reader.) Are there any clever workarounds or programs I should know about?
[more inside]
posted by lily_bart
on Jan 19, 2013 -
7 answers
There is a film series of short films called "cities of love." The most common one is "New York, I love you." and "Paris, j t'aime" which are all over the place. However, my friend said "Moskva, ya lyublyu tebya!" (Moscow, I love you) is really good, but I can't find the English subtitles. I already have the movie, I just need the subtitles file. (Though hints on finding the movie with subtitles is also appreciated!)
Any ideas where to look? This movie seems to be really obscure!
posted by pandorasbox
on Jan 18, 2013 -
1 answer
In Soviet Russia, Cucumber Eats YOU!: okay, I can't believe I'm using a question on this, but I've been driven mad by it for years: my dad claims that Russians eat cucumbers in a certain distinctly Russian manner, and that Yul Brynner once ate one that way in a film. Do they? Did he?
[more inside]
posted by julthumbscrew
on Dec 6, 2012 -
15 answers
How do I go about getting hired for a position that doesn't exist: a High School Russian teacher?
[more inside]
posted by SollosQ
on Sep 28, 2012 -
20 answers
Attention, language types of MetaFilter: The Russian word
poshlost' is roughly equivalent to the English "banality" or "self-satisfied mediocrity." Vladimir Nabokov wittily rendered it as
poshlust ("posh" + "lust"), and described it as "not only the obviously trashy but mainly the falsely important, the falsely beautiful, the falsely clever, the falsely attractive."
Is there a specific term for this kind of word play?
[more inside]
posted by easy, lucky, free
on Sep 27, 2012 -
4 answers
Is there any way of adding new dictionaries to the system dictionary app for Mac OSX? I am learning russian and would love to be able to highlight a word and receive an english-to-russian or even just russian definition.
[more inside]
posted by 221bbs
on Sep 24, 2012 -
5 answers
Is it a good idea to practice russian by reading english websites translated into russian via google translate?
[more inside]
posted by mnemonic
on Jul 10, 2012 -
16 answers
I have several identical Bonds written entirely in ?Cyrillic/Russian and would much appreciate their headings translated for me. (No need for a full translation!)
Here is a picture.
[more inside]
posted by lungtaworld
on Jun 16, 2012 -
3 answers
Do you know any good videos for young children to learn a little Russian?
[more inside]
posted by spbmp
on May 17, 2012 -
11 answers
I'm looking for lyrics (in Russian/Cyrillic) to
this song. I'm not familiar enough with russian to do more than pick out a few words. I don't want the English lyrics, I would like to figure that part out myself. :) Any help at all would be appreciated.
posted by subarctic_guy
on May 11, 2012 -
2 answers
I am visiting Russia in June - Moscow, St Petersburg and Magadan. What should I buy while I'm there? Which food items, clothing, booze or um anything-at-all are wonderful, affordable and hard to find elsewhere?
[more inside]
posted by Marquis
on Apr 30, 2012 -
12 answers
I am an English speaker learning Russian. I am also interested in the recent protest movements in and around Moscow. Where are the forums/twitter accounts/facebook accounts/blogs where opinions are being formed? They will be used as a resource in learning the language and understanding contemporary russian politics.
posted by 221bbs
on Mar 31, 2012 -
6 answers
Can you recommend passages I can memorize in Spanish, French, Italian, German, or Russian?
[more inside]
posted by kristi
on Mar 15, 2012 -
12 answers
Is there any way I can replace the standard dictionary on my Nook Simple Touch with a Russian/English dictionary?
[more inside]
posted by griphus
on Feb 21, 2012 -
2 answers
Why are there so many Taiwanese, Japanese, and S. Koreans learning Russian as a foreign language? My American-bred stereotype is that Asians tend to study topics which are industrial and "useful": engineering, English. So is there something I'm missing here if it's for personal pleasure? Or if it is just for business, what are the specific industries, commodities, and companies that make Russian applicable in that region of Asia?
[more inside]
posted by peachtree
on Jan 31, 2012 -
17 answers
Help me give my fictional characters non-stereotyped names!
Degree of difficulty: Iranian and Russian
[more inside]
posted by Lady Gaga
on Oct 9, 2011 -
29 answers
Do you know anything about Kazakhstan, or how to say "the phone is already unlocked" in Russian? How about using an iPhone in Kazakhstan? Please help me reassure my extremely skeptical Kazakh student that her new, unlocked phone will work at home -- huge bonus points if you can do it in Russian (or Kazakh)!
[more inside]
posted by amtho
on Sep 3, 2011 -
18 answers
Is there a name for the practice of transliterating between alphabets, but doing substitutions based purely on
shape, not sound? e.g., Я becomes R, З becomes 3, И becomes N...
[more inside]
posted by soma lkzx
on Aug 25, 2011 -
6 answers
How can I configure WiFi and iTunes on a Windows 7 machine, when not only don't I know much about Windows 7, but the entire user interface is in Russian?
[more inside]
posted by amtho
on Aug 12, 2011 -
7 answers
There's a "Trimet Respects Civil Rights" notice on all the public transit vehicles in Portland. It's one straightforward paragraph translated into 6 languages. Why is it that in the [what I believe to be] Russian translation, the word "Trimet" only appears once, whereas in the 5 other languages it appears twice?
[more inside]
posted by desertface
on Apr 14, 2011 -
6 answers
A guy in Tallinn pointed at me and said something that sounded like "satavaziru!" (emphasis on the "zi" syllable). What might that mean?
[more inside]
posted by mokudekiru
on Apr 13, 2011 -
12 answers
Identify the 80's movie (could be a TV episode): "Toys" found on the moon by astronauts are brought back to earth and turn out to open alien portals which are discovered to be the true source of unsolved "kidnappings".
[more inside]
posted by white light
on Mar 14, 2011 -
1 answer
Someone I met once mentioned to me that her name, Judy, meant "catastrophe" in Russian, her mother's native language. Is this true? Do I have the details wrong? What Russian word was she talking about?
posted by i_am_a_fiesta
on Feb 21, 2011 -
4 answers
What is the best russian language school for english speakers in St. Petersburg?
[more inside]
posted by mnemonic
on Jan 6, 2011 -
3 answers
Is there any particularly Russian shout of celebration? Like "hooray!" or "hurrah!", but more Russian?
posted by Artw
on Nov 12, 2010 -
7 answers
I spent most of my childhood in Ukraine. I am what you might call a
heritage speaker of Russian (and, to a lesser extent, Ukrainian). What can I do with them?
[more inside]
posted by Nomyte
on Nov 5, 2010 -
25 answers
I am looking for a classical music piece, or snippet, connoting "toil" or "hardship", and I think it's Russian or at least Eastern European.
[more inside]
posted by everichon
on Oct 18, 2010 -
4 answers
I'm at different levels in three different languages I'm learning (French, Hebrew, Russian/Lithuanian). How to proceed in each?
[more inside]
posted by lhude sing cuccu
on Aug 7, 2010 -
11 answers
Vaguely remembered Russian/Soviet spy school in a movie: perfect small town America in the 1950s, everyone going about their business on Main Street. Camera pulls away to reveal that it's a set inside a secret spy-training school. Anyone know the name of the movie?
[more inside]
posted by mareli
on Jun 29, 2010 -
10 answers
LanguageFilter: I have resources coming out my ears (not literally) and need help to come up with a plan for actually learning Russian. I've never tried to learn a language outside a school setting before, and am not quite sure how to begin.
[more inside]
posted by josyphine
on Jun 28, 2010 -
16 answers
Was there an 80s techno or dance track featuring some spoken Russian with a guy talking about Sputnik? I was guessing M.A.R.R.S'
Pump Up the Volume, but none of the mixes I've found match, and my Google skills are failing me.
posted by Harald74
on Jun 11, 2010 -
5 answers
I'm looking for a guitar tab for the song
Zhdat by the Russian band Marakesh, but I cannot navigate the murky Russian internet waters. Help?
posted by Askiba
on May 25, 2010 -
2 answers
How much should we expect to pay for Russian to English translation services?
[more inside]
posted by macfly
on May 22, 2010 -
10 answers
