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Did you know that Vladimir means “owning the world” and Svetlana – a “woman of light”? Here is some interesting info that you may not learn in your Russian lessons but can impress your Russian friends with! Three components of Russian names I have written about Russian names in this blog explaining their structure – the 1st name, the surname, the patronymic – ИВАН ИВАНОВИЧ ИВАНОВ. If you learn Russian, you’ve got to learn the correct way of addressing people. But how do people choose their kids’ names? And what do they mean? Russian people are superstitious, and there is a saying: “sow a name, harvest a destiny”. Many people believe that a name will influence a person’s character and life. A Svetlana, for example, is expected to be blond. Tatianas are supposed to be organised and efficient. Read on to find out more! Endings of Russian names: masculine and feminine One tip about Russian names: all male names end in a consonant, and the female ones end in either A or Я = YA, according to the rule consistent with the masculine and feminine genders of nouns. So in Russian it’s always easy to tell whether it’s a man or a woman you are dealing with (in correspondence, for example) – something that is often not clear in English in writing. The exception are the diminutives of male names which acquire a feminine ending (Misha, Sasha, Dima) – it makes them sound soft and affectionate. The origins of Russian names Most names given to people are very traditional ones – Biblical, Latin, Greek or ancient Slavic. In Russia, you will not meet anyone called “Apple” or “Poppy” just because their parents were keen gardeners or thought it sounded pretty – this would be a social disaster for the kid. But there are millions of Natalias, Alexanders and Olgas. Perhaps a bit boring and predictable, but we are a conservative folk. In the old days, people were named after a saint on whose day they were born: a Russian Orthodox priest had a list of several saints for each day of the year from which the parents could choose. This of course is not the case any more – now names follow a fashion, often influenced by pop culture, films and even soap operas. As a result, a disproportionate number of girls in my generation are called Yulia (Julia), and the boys are all Sashas. And, when a popular Mexican soap “Simplemente Maria” ran on Russian TV in the nineties, a lot of girls were named Maria, an old forgotten Biblical favourite. The most common Russian names But let’s start with everyone’s favourites of all times. I think the most popular female name in Russia is Natasha, and the most popular male one is Sasha. Sasha is short for Alexander, which has a Greek root, meaning “a courageous/manly defender”. The name was traditionally given in honour of Alexander the Great (or Alexander of Macedonia, in the Russian tradition), to both boys and girls. As for Natasha, it’s a diminutive for Natalia, meaning “Christmassy”, or born at Christmas, from the Latin “natale domini”. The above mentioned Sveltana is a Slavic name, meaning “light”, hence a strong association with blondes. It is a relatively new name, made up at the beginning of the 19th century, hugely popularised by the famous 19th century romantic poet Zhukovsky, who wrote a beautiful romantic ballad called “Svetlana”. In the Russian tradition, it’s shortened to Sveta, whereas in the West it often becomes Lana. Since it’s a made up name, there is no saint patronising Svetlana, so all Svetlanas are officially registered by the church as Fotinias – a strange match! Russian names mean… Alexey, another hugely popular name, is also a defender, according to its Greek root. Andrei (Andrew) comes from the Greek for “manly, courageous”. Andrei, together with his brother Peter, was the first of Christ’s apostles. The Russian diminutive is Andryusha. Anna (a version of Hanna, old Hebrew) is God’s grace. It is apparently the most common name in Slavic countries. Anastasia – (Greek) reborn, resurrected. In the Russian tradition, contracted to Nastya. For Elena (Helen) – there are two versions of the origin of the name, both Greek. It could mean “sunlight” or “Greek” – “Hellene”. The first known and the most famous Elena was, according to ancient Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world. The distributors of destiny, the Moiras, allocated 5 husbands to her. The first one was the king of Sparta, Menelaos, from whom she was abducted by Paris, which caused the Trojan War. Hence, the “face that launched a thousand ships”. Luidmila – a Slavic name, comes from “милая людям” – dear to people, liked by people. Contracted to Liuda or Mila. Sergei – from a Roman name meaning “serving” and “obedient”. The most famous Sergei (Sergiy) in Russia was Saint Sergiy of Radonezh who lived in the 14th century, the founder of the famous monastery complex in Sergiev Posad, just outside of Moscow. The diminutive for Sergei is Seryozha. Maria – means “bitter” in Hebrew. According to the legend, she was so called because she was born at the time when the Egyptians made the life of the Jews bitter. Maria is the greatest of Christian saints, the mother of Jesus Christ. Marina – means “of the sea” after the Greek goddess Venus Marina, who was born from the sea. Dmitry – derived from the name of the Greek goddess of fertility, Demeter, means “giving life”. The most famous Dmitry in Russia is Dmitry Donskoy, the 14th century prince who put the end to the Tartar domination of Russia. The diminutive form is Dima. Vladislav – a Slavic name, consisting of two parts – “vladet’” – “to own, to have”, and “slava” – “glory”. The diminutive forms are either Vlad or Slava. Igor – a Scandinavian name – “protected by Ing, the God of prosperity”. The most famous bearer of this name is Prince Igor (10th century), one of the first Russian Royals. Oleg – another Scandinavian name, meaning “saintly”. Prince Oleg was…

When do we use surnames? In Russian, someone’s surname is one of three components of a person’s full name, the other two being the Christian name and the patronymic. Surnames are used only in formal situations, mostly in writing, often preceded by “Господин” (Mister) or “Госпожа” (Miss/Mrs). Generally, calling someone by their surname is not a very friendly thing to do. It reminds one of being at school or being told off by a strict boss on one’s first day at work. What we know about the history of Russian surnames Surnames in Russia were introduced relatively late. According to a census of 1897, 75% of the population of the Russian empire did not have surnames. Most of these people, however, were citizens of the ethnically non-Russian regions of the empire. It was only long after the revolution of 1917, in Soviet times, that a hundred percent of the population got official surnames and passports. In Russia itself, which was an agricultural country, the majority of the population until 1861 consisted of peasant serfs, almost fully dependent on their lords. They had very few rights, were obliged to work on the lord’s fields and pay a monthly contribution (wheat or other commodities) and could even be bought and sold. Until 1861, when serfdom was abolished and the peasants became free, most of them did not have surnames. For official documents, if necessary, it was enough to mention the village a person was from, or the name of their lord, or the first name combined with profession/occupation. In the 17th and the 18th centuries, even those peasants who did have surnames, did not inherit them from earlier generations. The surname was the same as the patronymic. If an Ivan had a son called Vasily, he would be called Vasily Ivanov, but Vasily’s son would be called Vasilyev. Thus a surname would only last a lifetime. The first Russians who acquired surnames were the citizens of the great city of Novgorod in the middle ages, the first Russian democratic city-state, later destroyed by the Tartar Mongolian invasion. Moscow aristocracy acquired surnames around the 14th-15th century. The origins and the derivation of Russian surnames Most surnames were derived from patronymics or nicknames related to a person’s occupation, place of dwelling or a physical peculiarity. Kuznetsov (from the word кузнец) is a smith, for example, and Sapozhkikov (from the word сапог) is a boot maker. Very often family names are derived from Christian names. Grammatically, they are possessive adjectives with the suffixes “ov”, “ev” and “in”. Which suffix to use is determined by a phonetic rule, depending on whether the name it is derived from ends in a vowel or consonant. Hence, there are a lot of Mikhailovs, Ivanovs and Nikolaevs in Russia (meaning, the son, or the descendant of Mikhail, Ivan or Nikolay). To form a female surname, we add the ending A, so you always know (in writing, for example) whether you are dealing with a man or a woman. In the Russian tradition, married women usually take the surname of their husband. However, this has not been a legal requirement since 1918. Nowadays, more and more women get married later in life and keep their original surname, simply because it is too much of a hassle to change it. Russia being a land of forests and rich wildlife, you will find a lot of surnames derived from names of plants, animals and various weather conditions. We have countless Volkovs (wolf), Zaitsevs (hare), Morozovs (frost), Sinitsins (blue tit), Medvedevs (bear), Kozlovs (goat), Korovyevs (cow) and so on and so forth. There even some Svinyins (pig)! Amusingly, there are rather unpleasant sounding surnames around, sometimes even derived from swear words, which always made me wonder – why don’t those people change them? It is easily done, after all – you go to the register office/passport authority, pay a fee and choose any surname you like! “Geographical” Russian surnames Another group of Russian surnames came from geographical names, church holidays and saints’ names, with the help of the suffix “ский – skyi”. This suffix is normally used to form adjectives from place names, e.g. Moskva – moskovsky (московский). Some examples of such names are Rozhdestvensky, Smolensky, Nikolsky. Historically, such names are related to clergymen, or western Russian Lithuanian aristocracy (from the great Lithuanian Principality). They sound pretty and “posh” to a Russian ear. Surnames coming from pre-Christian Russia Yet another group of surnames is derived from old pagan Slavic names that came about before the introduction of Christianity in the 10th century: Zhdan (waited for) – hence, Zhdanov; Liubim (beloved) – hence Liubimov. Interestingly, some of those names are “negative” – “Nekrasov” (not pretty), Durov (stupid), Chertanov (devil). It can be explained by the fact that in the old times people were given names describing negative characteristics in order not to tempt fate, to keep away evil spirits. Negative names were supposed to fulfil their meaning in the opposite way – A Dur (Дур – studid) will grow up smart, and a Nekras (Некрас – not pretty) – will be handsome. Surnames in the ex-Soviet countries Most surnames in the ex-Soviet republics, the Caucasus and Central Asia (they all used to be part of the Russian empire and later the Soviet Union) have Russian endings because Russian civil servants in the 19th and the 20th century created and wrote down people’s surnames, forming them according to the Russian system. 10 most common surnames in Russia 1. Smirnov (peaceful, quiet)2. Ivanov (from Ivan’s family)3. Kuznetsov (smith)4. Sokolov (falcon)5. Popov (priest)6. Lebedev (swan)7. Kozlov (goat)8. Novikov (new)9. Morozov (frost)10. Solovyov (nightingale) Translations of some famous Russian surnames:  This is rather amusing: Tolstoy – derived from the word “fat” – толстыйPushkin – derived from “пушка – pushka” – a cannonPutin – from the word “путь – Put” – a way or a road. Medvedev – a typical Russian surname meaning “bear” (Medved’ is a bear)Stalin – a man of steel. It is a revolutionary pseudonym, his real surname is…

The first question that students ask in the very first lesson is – what do you know about the Russian Cyrillic script? The usual answer is – all we know is that it’s different, and we have to learn it! So, are there any tricks that would help learning it? What do we know about the Cyrillic alphabet? It was created in the 9th century AD by 2 brothers – Cyril and Methodius, who were learned monks and Christian missionaries, striving to introduce the Christian faith to Eastern Slavs who, at that time, were pagans. The brothers were Greek by birth and knew several languages. They based the new Cyrillic alphabet on the Greek one, with some elements of Latin, Hebrew and a couple of completely new letters. The modern Russian alphabet (which is a simplified version of the original one) has 33 letters. Two of them are silent: Ь – the “soft sign” and Ъ – the “hard sign” that only modify the pronunciation of other letters.  The good news about the Russian alphabet is that it’s based on the phonetic principle: one letter corresponds to one sound (with the exception of the two silent letters). So once you have learned the letters, you will be able to read a text in Russian correctly, even if you don’t have a clue about what it means! Types of letters in the Russian alphabet When we teach the alphabet to complete beginners, we usually do not do it in alphabetical order, but divide it into sections: the same letters as in English (the simplest portion!); the so-called “false friends” – the letters that look the same as the English ones, but represent completely different sounds; the Greek letters; and everything else – that is, the letters that are unique to Russian. The most difficult letters are the “false friends”. Old habits die hard, so when you see the letter P, you automatically pronounce it as the English P, but it is, in fact, the Russian R! Not to worry – with time, your brain will get round that problem. So what is the best way to learn the new alphabet? 10 tips for learning the alphabet Here are a few tips for beginner students: 1. Listen to the letters as they are read out (there are a lot of websites and You Tube videos teaching the pronunciation of the Russian letters), repeat them after the speaker, trying to associate the image of the letter with its sound. 2. Make a “cheat sheet”: one small page with the Russian letters and their equivalents in English (or any other language that you know!), with examples or illustrations. Use this sheet every time you read. There is nothing wrong in looking up the letters as you read. If you do it long enough, there will come a time when you will not need your cheat-sheet anymore! 3. Visualise the letters, using your imagination. For example, the letter Ч looks like the chair upside down, and represents the same sound: CH. The letter Г looks like gallows and represents the sound G. Д looks like a house and the Russian word for a house is ДОМ. 4. Associate letters with familiar words and geographic names. For example, Лондон (London) or ЛАМПА (lamp) should be associated with Л. The letter C goes with СПУТНИК (Sputnik) etc. 5. Make flash cards with a Russian letter on one side and its English (or your language) equivalent and an illustration on the other side, and look at them when you have a spare minute – on public transport, before going to bed, while doing house chores. 6. Read a lot of international words and geographic names written in Russian letters. Any textbook of Russian for beginners should have those. The point is – you don’t have to learn the new words plus the new alphabet at the same time. There are plenty of Russian words that you know already (банк, лифт, футбол, интернет, Америка etc), you just need to read them! 7. Write international words in Russian. Even if writing is not your priority and you are interested in spoken Russian only, you still need to be able to read! Writing down words will help you remember the letters better. 8. Write down in Russian your name, names of your family members, pets, the place where you were born, and see if your teacher/fellow students/Russian speaking friends can figure out what they are. 9. If you have a chance to visit any Russian speaking countries, it will help to read all the announcements, ads and street signs. See if you can recognize any familiar brand names (Mакдональдс for example) and familiar words. 10. Repeat the letters as often as you can. After all, repetition is the mother of learning!  The new letters will gradually settle in your memory if you repeat them every day. Take your time doing it: learning a language is a long and, ideally, a slow journey that you should enjoy.

Thursday, September 2, 2021 Learning Russian remotely is the opposite of a traditional classroom setting, students and the teacher are not in the same room, they can only meet virtually. Material is typically transmitted through technology so that no physical presence in the classroom is required. In spite of some drawbacks, remote Russian courses are becoming the growing norm. You don’t need to live in a Russian-speaking country to turn into a fluent Russian speaker. If you learn Russian regularly, you don’t even need to leave your home town. The most common explanation is the lack of time. Most people work full time and that’s the reason why they don’t have the chance to learn the language. But if you have the right mindset, success is reachable. Pedagogical Advantages of Learning Russian Remotely You use authentic materialsReading Russian textbooks, besides being boring, is not enough. Instead, remote Russian learning gives you the tools to immerse yourself in the language through Russian texts or articles written for and by native speakers. It could be challenging at the beginning but it turns into something way more interesting once you master it. You get onlineYou can be in contact with teachers from all over the world. Via Skype or by phone, taking an online Russian course will help you improve your Russian and learn about different cultures. It is a pretty interesting and fun experience. You listen to real RussianIt is an excellent idea to practice listening without seeing things written down, just focusing on understanding it and on the right pronunciation. Free conversation is very powerful to improve not only your fluency but also your listening comprehension skills. Practical Advantages of Learning Russian Remotely The most important advantage of remote learning is that it allows you to fit your learning around your work and home life: You can usually set your own pace of study, which doesn’t happen when you’re studying in groups. Everything is personalized! It is up to you as to when and where you want study. You assure yourself you are getting instructions from a native person. A Remote  Russian learning course often costs less. Online Russian courses look great on a resume.