The Russian Experience. Seeing as I am going to be living there for at least ten months, and more likely ten months out of the year for five to six years, it is vital that I have this category and all of its sub-categories. Here you’ll find my observations, my struggles, and my triumphs with all things Russian.
Neither Obama nor McCain’s answers to the Russia situation make me happy. Neither of them seem to understand that marginalizing Russia, and especially Putin, is a terrible idea that will rear its ugly head. Just three years ago, people still thought nothing of Russia — a deadened, once super-power nation with no leg to stand on. Now, they’re a force to be reckoned with and that force will only increase. As Philip Longworth put it in his book Russia: The Once and Future Empire, “Through the centuries, Russia has swung sharply between successful expansionism, catastrophic collapse, and spectacular recovery.” And it always recovers. When Russia comes back to its full strength, we want to be allied with them, and certainly not against them.
Read more of this article.Search online for “Russian alphabet” and you’ll find dozens of sites providing you straight transliteration, and even some that give clues for how the pronunciation of Russian characters sound. But, in my own personal experience, looking at it from a purely transliterative perspective, you lose any chance at understanding the nuances of some of the character’s sounds, which is what I intend to do here.
Read more of this article.I have always felt that the Russian language is one of the most misunderstood. Having so long been the “villain” of the Cold War to us Americans, the Russian language has often, if not always, played a “Bad Guy.” For this it is often interpreted as a crude and harsh language — and it is truthfully neither.
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