Colloquial Russian: The Next Step In Language Learning

2Colloquial Russian

The Colloquial 2 SeriesSeries Adviser: Gary King2The following languages are available in the Colloquial 2 series:FrenchItalianRussianSpanishAccompanying cassettes and CDs are available for the above titles. They can beordered through your bookseller, or send payment with order to Taylor & Francis/Routledge Ltd, ITPS, Cheriton House, North Way, Andover, Hants SP10 5BE, UK,or to Routledge Inc, 29 West 35th Street, New York NY 10001, USA.

2Colloquial RussianThe next step in language learningSvetlana le Fleming and Susan E. Kay

First published 2003by Routledge11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EESimultaneously published in the USA and Canadaby Routledge29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’scollection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group 2003 Svetlana le Fleming and Susan E. KayPrinted and bound in Great Britain byTJ International, Padstow, CornwallAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproducedor utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission inwriting from the publishers.British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British LibraryLibrary of Congress Cataloging in Publication DataLe Fleming, Svetlana.Colloquial Russian 2: the next step in language learning / Svetlanale Fleming and Susan E. Kay.p. cm. – (The colloquial 2 series)Includes indexes.ISBN 0-415-26116-31. Russian language – Conversation and phrase books – English.2. Russian language – Textbooks for foreign speakers – English.3. Russian language – Spoken Russian. I. Title: Colloquial Russiantwo. II. Kay, Susan E., 1947– III. Title. IV. Series.PG2121.L364 2003491.783′421–dc212002152412ISBN 0-203-38052-5 (Master e-book ISBN)ISBN 0-203-38670-1 (Adobe eReader Format)ISBN 0–415–26116–3 (book)ISBN 0–415–26117–1 (cassettes)ISBN 0–415–30250–1 (audio CD)ISBN 0–415–26118–X (pack)

6789401421111ContentsAcknowledgementsHow to use this bookUnit 1Rossiq i russkij qzykviiviii1Russia and the Russian languageUnit 2Transport39TransportUnit 3Turizm57TourismUnit 4Migraciq75MigrationUnit 5Sport92SportUnit 6Kul;turnaq 'izn; v Rossii111Cultural life in RussiaUnit 7Sredstva massovoj informacii (CMI)128The mass mediaUnit 8Rynok truda146The labour marketUnit 9Demografiq163DemographyUnit 10Obrazovanie180EducationUnit 11Rossijskoe Ob]estvoRussian society198

vi Unit 12ContentsZdravooxranenie216The health serviceUnit 13Vybory v Dumu234Elections to the DumaUnit 14Internet250The InternetGrammar referenceKey to exercisesEnglish–Russian vocabularyRussian–English vocabularyGrammar indexRussian index270288308318342344

9401421111AcknowledgementsThe Authors and Publishers would like to thank the following forpermission to reproduce material in this book:Argumenty i fakty, Delovye lyudi, Itogi, Komsomolskaya Pravda,Literaturnaya gazeta, Moskovskie novosti, Nezavisimaya gazeta,Novoe vremya, Priglashaem na rabotu, Salon krasoty, Stolichnoeobrazovanie, Vash dosug, Versiya, Vremya novostei.Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge ownership ofcopyright. The publishers will be glad to hear from any copyrightholders whom it has not been possible to contact.

How to use this bookColloquial Russian 2 is intended for students who, working on theirown or with a teacher, have already completed a first-level course inRussian and want to continue their study. The book starts with arevision unit which covers all the basic structures, including cases andaspects, so it is not a problem if you are a bit rusty.The book is thematically based and draws on sources from newspapers and magazines. The aim is to provide interesting informationabout Russia at the same time as introducing new vocabulary andlanguage points. It addresses some of the particular problems oflearning Russian, such as memorising vocabulary, stressing wordscorrectly and choosing the right preposition. Each unit contains abrief section in English on its theme, a dialogue, a text, usually basedon a newspaper article, as well as various other written materialsencountered in everyday life: advertisements, tables and graphs,questionnaires and forms to complete. The text is also illustratedby photographs. There are a variety of exercises, designed to testcomprehension and practise the new language points. In the sectionson word building, guidance is given on how to increase your Russianvocabulary. Key new vocabulary is given in each unit and thereis a cumulative Russian–English vocabulary, including all key words,at the end of the book. The English–Russian vocabulary containsall the words needed for the English–Russian translation exercises.At the end of the book there is also a key to exercises, quick reference grammatical tables and an index of the language points coveredin the course.On the accompanying tapes and CDs you will find not only thedialogues but also comprehension exercises and exercises to practisethe new language points in each unit. The exercises on stress are aparticular feature. And don’t forget, there’s a website to supportthe Colloquials course. At http://www.routledge.com/colloquials/russian you will find extra exercises as well as links to sites thatbuild on the material in the units.

94014211111 ROSSIQ I RUSSKIJQZYKIn this unit you will learn some facts about the history of Russia revise the basic structures of Russian grammar including casesand aspectsWhen Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union in March 1985 he recognisedthe need for fundamental economic reform. His policy of perestrojka (economic restructuring) had very little impact, but his otherfamous introduction, glasnost;, an element of freedom of speechand political freedom, ultimately led to the collapse of the USSR.Reformist politicians were successful in the elections of 1989, revolutions took place in the Soviet Union’s East European satellitesduring 1989–90, and the republics of the Soviet Union also startedto demand independence. The final blow was the unsuccessful coupby conservative elements in August 1991, which eroded Gorbachev’sposition and brought Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia, to the fore.The Soviet Union was finally dissolved in December 1991. Thecollapse of the Soviet Union was also the birth of a new Russia. Sincethen Russia’s history has not been smooth, characterised by suchnotable events as Yeltsin’s violent clash with parliament in October1993, ending in the siege of the Russian ‘White House’, and the financial collapse of September 1998. Despite its problems, Russia is acountry with a rich culture, huge resources, both human and physical,and its capital Moscow is now a vibrant and exciting city.

2 Russia and the Russian languageLanguage revision Rules of spellingThese rules apply throughout Russian and impact on all the otherlanguage points described below.1234AfterAfterAfterAfterg, k, x, ', h, w, ] replace y by i.', h, w, ], c replace unstressed o by e.g, k, x, ', h, w, ], c replace q by a.g, k, x, ', h, w, ], c replace [ by u.CasesUnderstanding of the case system is fundamental to a grasp ofRussian. Cases hardly feature in English: there is only some differentiation in the use of pronouns. Contrast ‘I like her’ with ‘She likesme’. The forms ‘I’ and ‘she’ are used when they are the subject ofthe verb, or nominative case, and ‘her’ and ‘me’ when they are theobject, or accusative case. In Russian, not just pronouns, but nounsand adjectives proclaim their role in the sentence by changing theirending, and the number of cases extends beyond nominative andaccusative to six in total.Comprehensive tables of the endings of nouns, adjectives andpronouns are at the back of the book.The nominative caseUses of the nominative case1 The nominative is the case of the subject of the verb:Moskvá procvetáet.Moscow flourishes.2 It is also used as the complement of (i.e. following) the nonexistent present tense of the verb ‘to be’ and after \ to ‘it is’ andvot ‘here is’:Moskvá – stolíca.Moscow is the capital.Vot Moskvá. to stolíca.Here is Moscow. It is the capital.

Rossiq i Russkij 56789401421111 3The nominative may also be found after the past tense of byt;, wherethe permanence of a state is being emphasized:Púwkin byl velíkij po\ t.Pushkin was a great poet.Endings in the nominative caseSingular revol[ zmó'nost;opportunity-mqvrémqtimeNote:There are three genders of nouns in Russian and, in most instances,the gender is indicated by the letter a noun ends with in the nominative singular. When a noun ending in -a or -q clearly refers tosomeone of male gender, the word is masculine: mu'hína ‘man’;dq́dq ‘uncle’. In practice, this means that it changes its endings likea feminine noun but adjectives and verbs agreeing with it have masculine endings.Plural PluralSingular �vínatramvájtramváirevol[ ciqrevol[ ó'nostivrémqvremená

4 Russia and the Russian languageNotes:1 The spelling rule may require a change from -y to -i: kníga –knígi ‘books’.2 Some masculine nouns have a nominative plural in -á: béreg –beregá ‘banks’; véher – veherá ‘evenings’; dom – domá ‘houses’;górod – gorodá ‘towns’.3 Nouns in -anin end in -ane: anglihánin – angliháne‘Englishmen’ but gospodín – gospodá ‘gentlemen’.4 Other exceptions: uhítel; – uhitelq́ ‘teachers’; brat – brát;q‘brothers’; stul – stúl;q ‘chairs’; drug – druz;q́ ‘friends’; syn– synov;q́ ‘sons’; dérevo – derév;q ‘trees’; rebënok – déti ‘children’; helovék – l[ di ‘people’; mat; – máteri ‘mothers’; doh;– dóheri ‘daughters’. (Note that all forms of mat; and doh;,apart from the nominative and accusative singular, have-er- before the ending).5 Some nouns, generally of foreign origin, are indeclinable. Theynever change their endings and do not even have a plural.Adjectives describing them will decline in the usual way, however.Their gender can generally be determined by their ending, as withdeclinable nouns, but note taksí – neuter.AdjectivesThere are two basic sets of adjective endings: hard and 1 Adjectives with stressed endings have the masculine ending -ój:krutój, krutáq, krutóe, krutýe ‘steep’.2 Endings may be altered by the spelling rules: rússkij, rússkaq,rússkoe, rússkie ‘Russian’; xorówij, xorówaq, xorówee,xorówie ‘good’; bol;wój, bol;wáq, bol;wóe, bol;wíe ‘big’.

Rossiq i Russkij 56789401421111 5PronounsSingularPluralqImywetyyou(singular and familiar)vyyou(plural and polite)onhe, it (masculine)oníthey (all genders)onáshe, it (feminine)onóit mojmymoq́moëmoítvojyour (singularand ivawyour (pluraland eh;qh;ëh;i\ totthis/these\ ta\ to\ titotthat/thosetatoteNote:The third person forms are indeclinable and remain the same whatever the case gender or number of the noun they describe:egóeëixhis, its (m and n);her, its (f );their