The Three Most Difficult Things About Learning Russia

Mankind has always aspired to be the largest, biggest, strongest, highest, essentially the best in everything. This is not untrue for the Russians who have had the largest country in the world for quite some time now. Russia covers one-sixth of the entire world’s land mass and has had a significant part in modern history. However, in order to understand why a country has become what it is now, one must look at its culture. A country’s culture not only reflects its citizens now but also its history and future.

Throughout the entire world, two of the most distinct and dominant countries are Russia and America. While they are similar in size, they are very culturally diverse and feature distinct differences in language, food and religion. Firstly, the languages of Russia and America vary greatly. Although research from the Modern Language Association states that the languages of English and Russian are predominantly spoken in their native countries, their alphabets and sentence manners decidedly oppose each other. While English-speaking Americans use a basic English alphabet and are able to communicate formally with relative ease, Russians use a complex Cyrillic alphabet that leads to a distinguished, less formal way of speaking that switches between

With many new factors making the world globalized and as steps were taken toward modernization in the 1700s, the world underwent many changes, however still keeping some of its initial traditions. From 1700-1900 in Eastern Europe, the economy had switched from agricultural to manufacturing due to the growth of factories and industry in the 1800s and serfdom was abolished, however the tsars still remained the center of authority.

Within Russian culture, the written word was often used as a catalyst for social change—or rather to reinforce distinct Russian ideology—and was expressed in letters, journals, and manuscripts that were disseminated throughout the literate public, and later adopted into the peasantry.

by the East Slavs who had pagan beliefs, but in the 10 th century adopted the

The student’s main strength is that she is not afraid of speaking and making mistakes. Being an elementary level student, she makes regular mistakes corresponding both to the level and to being a Russian language speaker (Learner English, Swan, M and Smith, M CUP).

Russia’s unique Cyrillic script and language set it apart from the Latin alphabet of the West and the ideographs of the East. The Cyrillic alphabet is the basis of alphabets, and it is used in various languages in parts of southeastern Europe and northern Eurasia, especially those of Slavic origin and non-Slavic languages influenced by Russian. In 2011, around 252,000,000 people in Eurasia used it as the official alphabet for their national languages, with Russian accounting for about half of

I think that the most difficult part of the Soviet system was its economy where most of the productions and incentives went to the military and not much was going towards the people and the most difficult part of life that the USSR citizens lost was security, work, healthcare and hope from the rapid changes. The aspect of the Soviet life that citizens were most happy and relieved to be freed of is the restrictions imposed on its citizens regarding religion and

The country of Russia: enormous, expansive, wide-open. The words that describe this Euro-Asian country can be attributed to its origins from its Slavic inhabitants and the takeover by the Varangians. Kievan Russia, as it was called, started its own civilization in the year 862.

During Russia’s transition to communism in the early 20th century, conflict and unease permeated every part of life. Nothing was stable and very little of what the Bolsheviks had fought for had come to fruition by the time the USSR disbanded in 1991. The “classless society”, which was to work together for the prosperity of everyone, never became a reality. In the end, the majority of Russia’s 20th century was an utter failure on a grand scale. However, there were many amazing products of the system do to the great importance of education in Russian culture. Priceless novels were written, timeless movies were made, and great scientific endeavors were realized despite the rigid control placed upon Russian persons by the government. In

Growing up in Russia I would always see my mom smoking and drinking and I did not think much of it I just thought that's what all the adults did for fun. During all the Russian holidays our home would be filled with people I didn't even know or ever seen before and they would all be smoking and drinking; people always tried to give me their drinks to drink but I would never drink them because I was only six and thought that it smelled atrocious. I had no clue how bad alcohol or smoking was at the time because in the Russian school systems they did not educate us on those types of things because in Russia everyone was okay with it. I could tell it was not good for you though because my mom would act all funny when she drinks and I hated the smell of cigarettes so I thought those two things where no good. I would constantly beg my mom to quit and she would say okay but I always saw her sneak out to the balcony to smoke or drink. I would confront her about this but all it would lead to is fighting between the two of us; I eventually learned to accept her life choices even though I did not

When we hear the term Russian culture many Americans tend to have negative thoughts like the cold war, their government ruling with an iron hand, and the Red Scare. These thoughts do not do the justice to the Russian people or to their long history as a people dating back to INSERT DATE. One of the major themes throughout Russian history and this course is the idea that the Russian people value intangible things more than the tangible. The Russian people have a long rich heritage, they are deep in there Christian faith, and they pride themselves on hospitality and value there community, families, and fellow Russian people. They have learned how to sacrifice from the constant invasions and being forced farther and

The present day Russian Federation involves a democratic system, given the presence of elections, an independent judiciary, and the supremacy of law. Yet, in democracy, the crux of it involves an inevitable paradox: law limits state power, but the state must have the power to enforce the law. However, finding the balance of the ability to enforce laws, and therefore maintaining order, while not infringing on civil liberties, requires a mutual understanding, a social contract, between the rulers and the ruled. This requirement has not found its place in the Russian political arena, especially since “creating a rule-of-law-based sate out of dictatorship is not easy” (Bressler 2009). In addition, the Russian psyche views authority as a source of force and violence (Yakovlev 1996), an etymological result of a continuity beginning from imperial Russia. Although the Russian Federation, the Union Soviet Socialist Republics, the Russian Empire, and the Tsardom of Russia differ significantly, a strong state remains prevalent in the core of Russian history and politics. In short, the nature of political rule in Russia involves a never ending tug of war between the seemingly undying authoritative soulless entity known as the state and the equally undying Russian people’s hunger for liberty.

Russia 's history began with that of the East Slavs, whom only emerged as their own distinct group in Europe somewhere between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior and his descendants, the medieval state

In this essay, I will be discussing my experiences with modals in English and Russian. The purpose of my project is to investigate the differences in the usage and meanings of modals between the two languages. My focus will be on the modal, “must,” and what contexts it is mainly used for.