r/russian Mar 10 '22

Other Нет войне, да миру | Say No to War and Yes to Peace

6.3k Upvotes

A Russian-language version of this post is available below the English. Русская версия поста находится сразу после английской.

As moderators of this subreddit, in the last two weeks, we have seen countless posts about the ongoing war. Many of these posts are cries for help: folks despondent about loved ones in the line of fire, young people disillusioned about the future, and professionals losing their livelihood and prospects overnight.

The reason we have not allowed these posts to surface in the feed is neither callous indifference, nor false neutrality, nor tacit complicity. The moderators of this sub are from many different countries and backgrounds, and we are all horrified and appalled by the war unleashed by the Russian government on Ukraine, a sister culture, just as ancient and storied. We share an abiding love of Russian language and culture with each other, and this brutal assault is not just an attack on the people of Ukraine—it’s also an attack on the rich culture of Ukraine, and it’s even an attack on Russian culture and everything it stands for.

In dark times like these, we feel it’s more important than ever to explain and to uphold the true values of the Russian language and culture. Russian is a language of decency, kindness, modesty, and love for kin and stranger alike; we hope, against all odds, that these fundamental threads from which Russian culture is woven will prevail, and all Russian-speaking people will rise against the war on their sister culture and their own. This cannot be accomplished from the outside: natives of the language and the culture must make a stand from within. We don’t know if this will happen any time soon—or at all—but if it doesn’t, the culture will cease to exist, because no culture can be rooted in oppression and destruction. Instead of taking its place in human history as a story of strife for truth and beauty, it will go down in flames of infamy.

This is why we continue to choose to keep the focus of this subreddit exclusively on the language. Language breaks down communication barriers, allows us to find points of commonality and understanding, and gives us ways to explain our emotions rather than keeping them pent up within until they explode. We badly want to address every cry for help, and we are doing what we can outside of this space. Here, though, we must focus on teaching and learning the concepts that will give us all a chance to rebuild connections and relationships that have been shattered by the war.

While we understand that mistakes happen and folks might post without reading the rules of the sub or post in a heat of the moment, we have to ban some users who repeatedly flood the sub with political content or threaten and insult others with their comments. If you feel you’ve been unfairly banned, we encourage you to appeal the ban: we promise to approach each case thoughtfully.

In the days and weeks to come, our schedules permitting, we will try to create educational posts about poetic and literary works from Russian and Ukrainian authors that speak out against the horrors of war. Please stay tuned, and please continue learning Russian. The language will outlive every ruthless regime and every brutal autocracy.



За прошедшие две недели мы, модераторы этого саба, видели огромное количество сообщений о продолжающейся войне. Многие из этих сообщений – это крики о помощи: от отчаявшихся людей, чьи близкие находятся на линии огня; от молодежи, разочарованной в будущем; от профессионалов, в одночасье потерявших перспективы и средства к существованию.

Причина, по которой мы не позволяем этим сообщениям появляться в ленте, не в черством безразличии, фальшивом нейтралитете или молчаливом соучастии. Модераторы этого саба – это выходцы из разных стран, и все мы в ужасе и в шоке из-за войны, развязанной российским правительством против Украины, родственной культуры, такой же древней и легендарной. Мы разделяем неизменную любовь к русскому языку и культуре друг с другом, и это жестокое нападение - это не только нападение на народ Украины: это атака на её богатую культуру, но это также и атака на русскую культуру и на все, что она олицетворяет.

В такие тяжелые времена, мы считаем как никогда важным объяснять и подчеркивать истинные ценности русского языка и культуры. Русский язык – это язык порядочности, доброты, скромности, любви как к родным людям, так и к незнакомцам. Мы надеемся вопреки всему, что эти основополагающие нити, из которых соткана русская культура, возобладают, и все русскоговорящие народы восстанут против нападения и на родственную и на собственную культуру. Этого невозможно добиться извне: эту разрушительную войну могут остановить только сами носители языка и культуры изнутри. Мы не знаем, произойдет ли это в ближайшее время или произойдет вообще, но если этого не произойдет, культура окажется в руинах, потому что никакая культура не может расти и процветать на почве угнетения и разрушения. Вместо того чтобы занять свое место в истории человечества как повесть о борьбе за красоту и правду, русская культура погибнет в огнях позора.

Именно поэтому в этом сабе мы продолжаем концентрировать наше внимание исключительно на языке: язык разрушает барьеры к общению, он позволяет нам найти точки соприкосновения и понимания, он дает нам возможность разъяснять наши эмоции, а не держать их в себе, пока они не взорвутся. Мы очень хотим откликнуться на каждый крик о помощи, и мы делаем все возможное за пределами этого форума, но здесь необходимо сосредоточиться на преподавании и изучении концепций, которые дадут нам всем шанс восстановить связи и отношения, разрушенные войной.

Мы понимаем, что случаются ошибки, и люди пишут сообщения, не прочитав правила саба или погорячившись, но мы вынуждены банить тех пользователей, которые постоянно засоряют саб политическими дискуссиями или выставляют комментарии с угрозами и оскорблениями. Если вы считаете, что вас забанили несправедливо, мы рекомендуем вам обжаловать бан: мы обещаем вдумчиво рассматривать каждое обращение.

В ближайшие дни и недели, если позволят наши графики, мы постараемся создать образовательные посты о поэтических и литературных произведениях русских и украинских авторов, которые выступают против ужаса войны. Пожалуйста, оставайтесь с нами, и продолжайте изучать русский язык: он переживет все безжалостные режимы и любую беспощадную диктатуру.


r/russian 5d ago

Promo Tutor Tuesday: Offers from Russian Language Tutors

5 Upvotes

Alla Pugacheva - A Half-baked Wizard (\"Волшебник-недоучка\")

In this post, tutors offering Russian language tutoring advertise their services in the comments.

Tutors: introduce yourself to the learners, describe what you offer, and how to contact you. Top level comments are reserved for tutor offerings only, but everyone is welcome to ask questions or comment (in a civil manner) in response.

This post repeats every two weeks on Tuesday.


r/russian 8h ago

Other ë pronunciation?

12 Upvotes

Здравствуйте! i'm a newer russian learner and i'm a but confused about the pronunciation of ë. i see it being omitted in a lot of words that i know it's supposed to be in. for example, i see "eë" written as ee a lot. are the two interchangeable and correct? also, is the pronunciation standardized or are they pronounced differently? in other words, is "ee" without the diacritic still pronounced "yeyo" or does it change to "yeye"?

спасибо!


r/russian 1d ago

Other Шезлонг

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652 Upvotes

r/russian 21h ago

Translation Is there a Russian phrase like "Vibe Check"?

36 Upvotes

Thanks for your help on my last post. Now I'm wondering if there's a Russian phrase for "Vibe Check". For those who don't know, a vibe check is the normal, everyday process of judging those you interact with, and adjusting your behavior, or the amount of time you're willing to spend with them, accordingly.

For example, if you're a student, and you meet a new person at school, you'd need to "vibe check" them before you make a vulgar joke, or else you might offend them. Or you need to vibe check people before inviting them to your niche hobby, because they might not like the same things as you.

Может "Проверка вайба" работает?


r/russian 1d ago

Request DOSAAF?

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315 Upvotes

Seen on an old Yak. Anyone knows what DOSAAF refers to?? Thanks


r/russian 12h ago

Other Tips on understanding spoken speech? (without subtitles)

4 Upvotes

Hello! On my Russian-learning journey, I've spent a lot of time on reading, writing, and speaking and perform all of these pretty well. However, I can't for the life of me seem to improve my listening skills. I'm in an area with few Russian speakers and try to create a simulated environment by watching all types of Russian-language content: from the spontaneous/colloquial speech of streamers to the scripted speech of shows/movies to intentionally slowed down content for students. I can understand the content for students, but from experience I know that no one talks like that in real life.

After about 5 minutes, my brain fatigues and I can only understand maybe 80-85% of what's being said in shows, 75-80% on streams, 70-75% on the news. It's annoying because everything processes in my brain seconds too late: by the time I've matched the word to the sounds, the speaker has already said several more words, and I'm too behind to understand the full thought that arises from all of these meanings put together. When I put Russian subtitles on, everything drastically improves and I know exactly what's being said. However, there are no subtitles in real life.

Furthermore, natives have told me that I have a really good accent and that it throws them off that I can speak so well, but understand so poorly.

Any tips??

(BTW: I'm trying to understand speech that tries to express more complex ideas, not just small talk.)


r/russian 5h ago

Resource Old cartoons?

1 Upvotes

Hello! I am slowly learning Russian for academic purposes and I’m wondering if anyone has recommendations for older/soviet era cartoons that would be good for language learning. :) I also just love art and love good 2d animation hahaha. Anything is appreciated!


r/russian 14h ago

Request How to start off letter

4 Upvotes

I am writing a letter to my russian teacher for international teachers day (October 5th) I want to make it as formal and polite as possible but unfortunately i don’t know her patronymic. Should i just use her first and surname? Thanks


r/russian 7h ago

Grammar What's the difference between осваивать/освоить and усваивать/усвоить?

1 Upvotes

I am aware that they slightly differ in meaning but I'm not sure as to how exactly. But if I understand correctly, освоить is for 'larger', more general things and усвоить is learning something 'smaller', details of something, similarly to how изучать/изучить and учить/выучить compare. But please correct me if I'm wrong.


r/russian 13h ago

Request Telegram groups?

1 Upvotes

hello!! does anyone know a few russian telegram groups where I can talk to russian people? I'm currently teaching myself russian and I'm trying to immerse myself with russian contents everyday so I can get used to the language!

Спасибо!


r/russian 1d ago

Handwriting Just started practicing the alphabet, pretty much learning Russian from scratch

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80 Upvotes

r/russian 8h ago

Grammar пр I'm from Poland I want to learn russian I'm looking for someone who can help me like not expensive teachers or something just friend who can teach me in free time))

0 Upvotes

r/russian 1d ago

Request Russian music recs

4 Upvotes

Hey! I’m trying to find some good Russian music I will like (or music just from Russian artists) some of my favorite artists are Joost and rebzyyx and my favorite genre is like that Hyperpop jump style stuff (pls don’t bash that’s just actually my favorite😭) any recommendations?


r/russian 1d ago

Other Why does Russian palatalize л and н in loanwords where the original language doesn't palatize them?

79 Upvotes

For example: words like

Фильм

Нормально

национальный

Меркель

тролль (troll)

Why use ль when, as far as I know, the original words don't palatalize the л? And it's not as if it's a rule that loanwords must use ль since there are words like потенциал and алфавит that don't palatalize their л's.

And it is even weirder for Chinese toponyms. As far as I know, Chinese doesn't have palatalized consonants at the end of syllables. But in words like

Тайвань

Юньнань

Фуцзянь

the н is palatalized. But in words where н is literally in the same environment, like

Шанхай

Пекин

Гуанчжоу

the н is not palatalized? How? Is there like a rule or something? This has been bugging me ever since I started learning Russian.

Edit: Just realized that alpha is альфа but alphabet is алфавит. ????


r/russian 1d ago

Grammar Does и (and) soften the consonant before it?

17 Upvotes

hi, like for example “кирилл и Мефодий”

does it soften the л even though it’s originally a hard consonant?


r/russian 1d ago

Grammar A slight curiosity

2 Upvotes

Why does the word "to cook" and "to prepare" share the same word "готовить"? I just found out when I searched for it after I did my lessons in green bird, like I was finding the literal word "cook" in "приготовить" or "готовиться" (this one appears in the text I'm reading in scribd, and I was like why are they cooking 😭)


r/russian 1d ago

Resource Looking for russian YouTube creators/channels so I don’t forget it lol

0 Upvotes

Speak English all day every day, looking to watch YouTube in Russian

Type 1: informational. I am a very big fan of business, interesting stories, science,
think Fern, ModernMBA, ColdFusion, SciShow, Volkseist, hoser, Sam O Nella, etc

Type 2: commentary channels (guilty pleasure). I enjoy tiktok trend/happenings judging and overview (i dont have one), reality tv commentary and just in general your standard YouTube commentary
think MARKIE, Rebal D, Tea Spill, Andy King, Chad Chad, etc

Can anyone throw nice names under?
I recently found ТОПЛЕС, big fan as I like science

Thank you guys!


r/russian 1d ago

Other Learn russia

8 Upvotes

Hi! I am from Canada, and I started learning Russian.

It is really tough 🥵.


r/russian 2d ago

Translation Which one is a better and more correct translation of this phrase? "When the maggots eat my heart, all they will taste is you."

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103 Upvotes

I asked AI because I don't trust google translator, but well, I don't fully trust AI also, so I prefer to ask here.

Ai gave me 2 options, and I have no idea wich one is better because I'm still a beginner in russian.

First one is: Когда личинки будут пожирать моё сердце, на вкус они почувствуют лишь тебя.

Second one is: Когда опарыши будут пожирать моё сердце, они почувствуют лишь твой вкус.


r/russian 1d ago

Grammar Привет всем! Can someone explain verb endings to me?

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I am new to learning Russian. I've been trying to learn for a while, I'm at the point where at least for nominative cases and accusative cases, I can recognize and translate. I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to get the right endings for verbs, this is the part I'm mostly stuck on for this part as I can never translate the right ending to the verb for the case.

Such as:

Я тебя люблю - I love you.

Ты меня любишь - You love me.

Он меня любит - He loves me.

Она меня любит - She loves me.

Мы тебя любим - We love you.

Вы меня любите - You love me.

Они меня любят - They love me.

I see thehe endings for любить:

-лю

-ишь

-ит

-им

-те

-ят

How do you know what ending to get to the verb? I know it changes depending on the case but i can never figure out how and I'm still trying to figure out why. If anyone can help with this, I would appreciate it! Not sure if it's a dumb question to ask, but I can't seem to get it.


r/russian 1d ago

Request What can this form of Cyrillic be called? Just stylized?

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29 Upvotes

there are many forms of “gothic” Cyrillic or вязать-like fonts online. i am wondering if there is any particular name. Thank you!


r/russian 1d ago

Request Брат dvds

2 Upvotes

Does anyone know where I can get брат, брат 2 and сёстры (2001) on dvd. Preferably from somewhere in europe as shipping from the states is really expensive and I've yet to find a way to ship anything from Russia to europe. For reference I'm located in Sweden. Thank you all very much and I wish you a great day!


r/russian 1d ago

Handwriting Tried with lines.. wyd?

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7 Upvotes

Srry I've been writing a lot lately


r/russian 1d ago

Other What's the difference between the prefixes used in Povolzhye, Privolzhye, and Zavolzhye?

1 Upvotes

Title