Learn Russian: Russian Made Easy 30
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Episode #30 Final Episode
Welcome to this final Podcast of Russian Made Easy. Today’s our final exam. Let’s start by listening to the following Russian conversation. Then we’ll go over it line by line. Ready?
Привет Андрюшка. Как дела?
Привет Маша. Всё хорошо. А у тебя?
У меня всё хорошо…очень хорошо!
Очень?
Да. Очень. Папа купил мне машину!
Он купил тебе машину? Где она?
В гараже. Иди…смотри!
Вау! Хороший подарок!
* * *
So, let’s translate each line. After each line, hit PAUSE and say your translation out loud, then hit play to compare your answer.
Привет Андрюшка. Как дела?
Hi Andrei. How’re things?
Привет Маша. Всё хорошо. А у тебя?
Hi, Masha. Everything’s good. And with you?
У меня всё хорошо…очень хорошо!
At me everything is good….very good!
Очень?
Very?
Да. Очень. Папа купил мне машину!
Yes. Very. Dad bought me a car!
Он купил тебе машину? Где она?
He bought you a car? Where is it?
В гараже. Иди…смотри!
In the garage. Come…look.
Yes, virtually the whole last line was new to us, but garage is a cognate, and I bet you spotted the prepositional case ending…that “yeh” at the end of garage. And иди….смотри…Well, you would’ve gotten that if you were there with her. She’d be gesturing for you to follow her to the garage.
And finally, when he sees the car, Andrei says:
Вау! Хороший подарок!
Wow! Good gift!
Let’s do some random translating here. This is tough because everything’s out of context. Of course, this is your final exam. It’s supposed to be tough…
Speaking politely to your friend’s grandmother, ask her:
Do you need the telephone?
Вам нужен телефон?
Ask her in two words:
Want some raw pig fat?
Хотите сало?
Ask your friend:
Where’s your pig fat?
Где твоё сало?
Ask Grandma:
Do you have a cat?
У Вас есть кошка?
Ask your friend:
Do you have a cat?
У тебя есть кошка?
You’re headed to the kitchen to get your friend and her grandma something to drink. You want to be certain you heard what grandma asked for, so try saying:
You said that you want beer, yes?
Вы сказали что Вы хотите пиво, да?
Careful with the tenses on that one. We had a past tense verb…you said, and a present tense verb you want. Listen again:
Вы сказали что Вы хотите пиво, да?
To your friend, who is a girl, say…
Whereas you said that you want tea, yes?
А ты сказала что ты хочешь чай, да?
Ask Grandma:
Do you like jazz?
Вам нравится джаз?
Ask a stranger on the street:
You wouldn’t happen to know where there’s a bank?
We start literally with: You dont know…
Вы не знаете где есть банк?
Imagine this scenario: You’re talking on the phone with some Russian relatives. As they tell you things, you’ll be rephrasing them for the Russian speakers who are in the room with you. Like this. The person on the phone tells you…
Мы живём в Минске.
Which means, We live in Minsk.
So you tell the people in the room, in Russian….
They live in Minsk.
Они живут в Минске.
Try this next one:
Мы работаем в Риме.
Рим is how Russians say the city of Rome. Anyway, you now say…
They work in Rome.
Они работают в Риме.
On the phone the person says….
Мы говорим по-итальянски.
Say: They speak Italian.
Они говорят по-итальянски..
She then says, a tad randomly…
Мы не знаем где метро.
That means, We don’t know where the metro is.
So you need to rephrase it:
They don’t know where the metro is.
Они не знают где метро.
They must be calling from a restaurant because she then says…
Мы будем чай с лимоном.
Лимон is the Russian word for lemon. By saying с лимоном she was putting the word into which case? If you said the instrumental case you win a thousand imaginary rubles.
Anyway, tell everyone:
They’re having tea with lemon.
Они будут чай с лимоном.
Then she tells you…
Мы были в Ватикане.
So tell everyone:
They were in the Vatican.
Они были в Ватикане.
Мы купили сувениры.
Say: They bought souvenirs.
Они купили сувениры.
As you hang up the phone, your friend comes into the room. Since he missed the whole conversation tell him:
They said they’re living in Rome.
Они сказали что они живут в Риме.
Let’s end this exam with one final random phrase. Tell your Russian friends:
I love pig fat!
Я люблю сало!
I want to thank you for listening to this podcast, and especially for all the emails and great feedback you sent. If you haven’t written already, I’d love to hear how you did throughout the podcast, so please feel free to email me. My email is mark@russianmadeeasy.com
Hopefully you’ll continue on with my RussianAccelerator.com course, but wherever your path takes you, I hope you continue speaking Russian. Your investment in the language will pay dividends for life.
All the best, and до свидания!
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Note*** There are no exercises for Lesson 30
Please comment or share with one of the buttons below. Your support helps keep the ball rolling!
Dear Mark,
Thank you very much for these lessons! I think they are very useful.
I used the little exam of lesson 30 to check my knowledge of the lessons you provided and how the result was influenced by the fact that I made it in handwriting.
Survey of the mistakes I made:
ласо instead of сало (3 times)
твой instead of твоё
Вы скали instead of вы сказали
Она скала instead of Она сказала
Missing есть in the sentence: Вы не знаете где есть банк? ( is this wwrong?)
работаут instead of работают
говорит instead of говорят
по-италиански instead of по-итальянски
знаут instead of знают
в Ватикан instead of в Ватикане
As to the mistakes I made while handwriting:
While handwriting I often have to correct т into m; and m into handwritten m.
I have some trouble to read my own writings, specially the g for д.
Perhaps this information is also useful for you to answer my question about handwritten flashcards that I have send you at podcast 27.
Thank you for these very interesting lessons. I will start saving money for the Russian Accelerator.
I already paid for 12 lessons to the People’s University in Utrecht. So I think I will take those first.
It will be interesting to compare the lessons she will give there with the 30 lessons you gave me.
Thank you very much for them. It was a pleasure to work through them.
Hi Mark. just finished your podcasts! your materials really helped me understand Russian grammers. It was kinda surprising that it is quite similar to German. I ‘ve been struggling with both languages for quite a long time. Your course really helped me go through those really easily.
허서영 from Seoul, South Korea.
Hello Mark.
I just finished the last episode of your podcast, and I want to thank you for all the good work you have done. Your material was my first aproach to russian, and the way you explain things made the learning process really easy for me, even when english is not my native language. I am really looking forward to learn more, so I will stay around your website looking for more ways to keep learning.
Greetings from Argentina, and again, Спасибо.
Привет Алехандро!
Thanks for the kind words. I’m so glad you enjoyed my podcast. I hope you’ll check out my premier online course called Russian Accelerator. I promise, we’ll turn you into a confident, conversational Russian speaker.
You can learn more about it here…
https://www.russianaccelerator.com/sign-up.html
Kind regards from Ukraine!
Mark Thomson
Pres. Russian Accelerator
Thank you so much for helping us to learn in a much easier way this amazing language!! I’m pretty excited to learn it more and more and as soon as possible will join your acellerator course!! A big thank you from Brazil!!
Спасибо, Роберто!
I look forward to welcoming you to Russian Accelerator!
Regards from Ukraine,
Mark
Hello Mark,
Thank you for making thoses courses ! It was fun and I learned a lot compared to other courses with other teachers who can make it a bit boring.
Good luck for the futur and thanks again 😉
Al
Mark, I just completed your course and wanted to say how much I enjoyed your well-organized approach, enthusiasm, and willingness to share your knowledge. Best wishes in your future endeavors.
Spasibo bolshoe,
Reece from Louisiana, USA
Привет Рис!
Thanks for the kind words. I’m so glad you enjoyed my podcast. Now that you’ve finished it, I hope you’ll check out Russian Accelerator!
Thanks Mark for all the efforts you made to bring those podcasts to us. I’m done with # 30 and strangely feel like an orphan.! What will I do next? I will certainly enroll in the Russian accelerator course. No need to compare with other courses like the P or Y S.
Your method worked for me and this is the best test.
Спасибо большое… 😊 😜
Hi Marc (In Russian: МАРК)
Thanks for your kind words. How did you do on the final exam?
Anyway, I look forward to welcoming you to my Russian Accelerator course.
All the best from Ukraine,
Mark Thomson
Pres. R.A.
Excellent lessons. Very nice presentation. Much more helpful while visiting russia.
Hi Mark!
Bet you wouldn’t have imagined you have a Zambian in your class! I’ve been listening to your podcasts and let me say that this is by far the most effective course out there and believe me, I have looked! I love your methodical and thorough style of teaching. I’ve been playing your podcasts everyday in my car on my way to work for the last one week and I have learned more in these days than in the last few months combined! I’m only on the 14th episode and I’m already worrying about where to go after the 30th episode.
Just wanted to appreciate your work and let you know it is working!
Third Zambian today, actually. :-0
Thanks for writing. And when you’ve finished all 30 episodes I hope you’ll check out Russian Accelerator. It’s my online, video course. You can learn more about it here…
https://www.russianaccelerator.com/sign-up.html
Thanks again for your support,
Mark
This is by far the best basics course I’ve found thus far; great for beginners, or as a refresher.
Also:
Thank you for providing the transcripts, I find I am far more likely to recall a word when I have read and sounded it out for myself.
Спасибо, Бреннан!
Thanks for the kind words. How’d you do on the Final Exam?
Anyway, I hope you’ll check out Russian Accelerator. It’s my online, video-based course. You can learn more about it here…
https://www.russianaccelerator.com/sign-up.html
Thanks again,
Mark
After 13 years in Russia, I finally understand the basics of grammar. Thank you
Hi Mike,
Better late than never, right? So glad we were able to help you with that.
And hope to see you in Russian Accelerator next, and take your Russian to a much higher level.
Пока!
Марк
Just finished #30. Loved it, you’re a genius! I really enjoyed your podcasts, especially because I felt like the boy I was many many years ago, fond of learning and guessing what my school teachers were going to tell.
Please excuse my bad English, and thanks again,
Simone Brizio – Genoa, Italy
Hi SImone!
Spasibo bolshoe for the kind words! So glad you enjoyed the podcast.
Maybe we’llsee you inmy Accelerator course. You can feellike a kid for another year or so. 🙂
Mark
Thanks once again for these lessons. I feel I have made great progress and am now able to write a lot of sentences! I’ve recommended it to someone else I know who is struggling to learn it.