Category: All Levels

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Movie Recommendation: Стиляги

Стиляги [2008] (Stilyagi, translated as Hipsters) is a movie musical set in Moscow in the mid 1950s. Its story follows a boy named Mels as he transitions from fitting in with the grey and black dress of Soviet youth, to that of the colorful stilyagi.

The stilyagi were Russians who thought Americans wore bright, outlandish clothing, and wanted to replicate this form of expression that was oppressed during Soviet times. Along with the plot, the movie also shows the negative view Soviet society had of this subculture, and how the stilyagi would have to dress up and listen to jazz in secret.

You can find the full movie on YouTube here. The Russian isn’t too fast or complicated, but there are subtitles if you find yourself not being able to keep up.

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Learn Yiddish Online

Yiddish, a historically Jewish language, is closely related to German. It’s often said that Yiddish vocabulary is about 80% German words, 10% Slavic, and 10% Hebrew. Both were developed during the Middle Ages in central Europe, and many German speakers today can understand the language.

Yiddish uses the Hebrew alphabet, and writes from right to left. Start out by learning the Yiddish Alphabet at the YIVO institute’s webpage. YIVO also offers other resources online.

Yiddish Dictionary Online – Although the website is a bit counterintuitive, this is one of the most comprehensive Yiddish dictionaries available online. Many other dictionary websites use the data from this website with their own

Yiddishpop.com is a bit silly but is a great way to start learning the language. The lessons use short, animated videos. The benefit to these is that they are completely in Yiddish, and use context rather than translation to help you learn.

Yiddish Biz is a more traditional way to learn the language. Made up of a series of English-Yiddish videos, the site progresses from single words and short phrases, many of which involve English cognates, to more complex sentences.

Once you’ve mastered the basics of Yiddish, be sure to look at some of the cultural resources. The Yiddish Book Center website offers digital collections of books in Yiddish, as well as a number of other resources. The Yiddish Daily Forward is a cultural and news journal with many articles in English and Yiddish.

Last but not least, here’s a Yiddish pop song, “Dona Dona,” written in the 1940s and sung by Nehama Hendel in 1965…

 

 

 

 

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Deutsche Welle App

The Deutsche Welle App is an excellent place to start if you’re looking for a German grammar review, or to improve your German skills on the go.

Start with an “Einstufungstest” (placement test) to figure out which level you’re in. Deutsche Welle features A1, A2, and B1 exercises, that is, from beginner to intermediate. Each placement test features 30 questions. 

The “Übungen” (exercises) in the placement test can also be found in the “Alle Kurse” (all courses) section. These are divided into levels, beginner through intermediate, and contain exercises focusing on grammatical concepts.

The Deutsche Welle App also features an overview of grammar, including verbs, adjective endings, and cases. These short summaries are similar to what you’d find in a German 100 or 200-level textbook, and are divided into bite-sized pieces.

The grammar review section (Grammatikübersicht) gives clear, short descriptions of the grammatical concepts. Although they aren’t as thorough as college textbooks, they are useful for reviewing.

Have fun learning!

 

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Russian Idioms

 

Many Russian idioms are very fun, but do not at all translate directly into English, and can therefore be hard to learn how to use. With Очень по-русски (Very much Russian), you can hear them used and explained with everyday examples by a native speaker.

The website features frequent episodes about all kinds of idioms. It is intended for people learning Russian, so the speaking is slow and comprehensible, and is always provided with a transcript so you can follow along.

Like this one, where they explain “днем с огнем,” or literally in English, “during the day with fire.” Obviously this doesn’t make much sense to an English speaker, so the blog goes through simple examples to give it some context, along with explaining where it comes from.

You can also find Russian jokes and an article about how to navigate Russian humor, along with dictionaries and sources to learn the alphabet!

 

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Try Learning Estonian!

Estonian is the official language of Estonia, and is spoken by about 1 million people. It is a Uralic, Finnic language, but borrows many words from German and Russian, so the vocabulary might not be as daunting as it would seem if you’ve studied or speak other Indo-European languages. There are many dialects, but the two main groupings are the northern dialects, associated with the city of Tallinn (left), and the southern dialects, associated with Tartu (right). Standard Estonian is based on the one in Tallinn, so that’s probably what you’ll find in most language programs for it.

If you want to give it a try, the Estonian government started a language program called Keeleklik where you can take courses for free in Estonian. Aside from that, one of my favorite ways to practice language is watching cartoons.

On Youtube, you can find many Estonian cartoons from the 1970s made by Tallinn Film Studio, or Tallinnfilm, such as this one. These are fun to watch, and the Estonian is simple and slow, so you can try and keep up!

There’s also loecsen, which has lessons on basic phrases for traveling to Estonia, along with other languages you might want to learn.

 

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LanguageTool

LanguageTool is a web-based grammar tool, useful for correcting texts in many languages or for checking your spelling. 

LanguageTool supports a large number of languages, including many not offered at Reed. These include: Asturian, Belarusian, Breton, Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, French, Galician, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Khmer, Perrsian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Chinese (Simplified), Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Ukranian.

LanguageTool is much more powerful than its competitors BonPatron and Reverso, allowing 20,000 characters (about 2,500 words). It also allows for correction of different dialects/regions, e.g., Swiss and Austrian German, or Brazilian vs Portugal Portuguese.

Grammatical explanations are only in the language, for example French or German. LanguageTool also has a useful Google Chrome extension and a Google Docs add-on, which allow the user to correct text while typing online or in a Doc, as well as an add-on for Microsoft Word.

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Media Recommendation: “Sommers Weltliteratur to go”

“Sommers Weltliteratur to go” (Sommer’s World Literature to go) is a German YouTube channel made by Michael Somme, and originally presented by Reclam (those little yellow books every German student knows and loves). Each episode summarises a literary work, from the German classics like Faust and Parzival to modern literature like Der Hobbit and Harry Potter.

The fun twist is that Sommer presents these works in vignette form, using Playmobil figures…

The episodes are fairly short, normally between 6 and 12 minutes, and are a great way to brush up on your knowledge of German literature (and other classics), while also practicing your listening skills.

The language in the episodes isn’t too complicated, but it is sometimes spoken a little fast. I’d recommend starting with some books you’re already familiar with. Start with something like Der Herr der Ringe (The Lord of the Rings) or Der große Gatsby (The Great Gatsby) before moving on to Goethe, Brecht, and Kafka!

 

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Russian Film Database: Mosfilm

 Мосфильм (Mosfilm, https://www.mosfilm.ru/main.php)

Mosfilm is one of the largest and oldest film studios in Europe. The studio was established in 1923, and by the end of the Soviet Union had produced over 3,000 films. They’ve put many of them up on this website, including works by Sergei Eisenstein and Andrei Tarkovsky, or even adaptations of books you might read in literature classes, like Anna Karenina or War and Peace. Aside from the large variety of types of films, they also have pictures of old posters, sets, costumes, and cars that you can sort through. This website is great if you want to watch films of varying topic or Russian-language difficulty, and also good for learning about Soviet culture and Russian film culture.

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Die Heute Show: German Late Night TV

Based on shows like The Daily Show and The Tonight Show, the heute-show is a satirical late-night program presented by Oliver Welke.

The heute-show presents the news in a comedic way, often tying in interviews, skits, and a whole lot of sarcasm. Episodes are shown Friday nights, and you can either watch live on their website, or find clips on their YouTube channel.

The language level is intermediate/advanced, since it requires understanding of the subject and its humor, but the visuals are helpful for understanding the materials provided. The heute-show also often covers American stories.

 

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An Introduction to Russian News Sources

Since it is sometimes hard to find unbiased news sources, the Russian media can be hard to navigate. Here are just a few suggestions when trying to learn about the various facets of Russian media and culture.

Russia Today

https://www.rt.com/

This is a state-funded news outlet that is understood as the point-of-view from the Kremlin. It’s always interesting to learn what kind of thoughts the Kremlin wants to support, and since they cater to an international audience, they have a great Russian learning page that has lots of grammar, vocabulary, and speaking exercises.

Медиязона (MediaZona)

https://zona.media/

Pretty much the exact opposite of Russia Today, Медиязона was founded by two members from the group Pussy Riot, Nadya Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina. They cover political stories, such as those about law enforcement and judicial news. This is a good way to find out about the few opposition media outlets, and what they are focusing on today.


The Moscow Times

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/

This is an English-Language, Moscow-based online newspaper. They are independent, and cover stories about pretty much anything. If you just want a more familiar outlet that still discusses current events in Russia from a local perspective, this is a good one to start with.

Of course there are many more Russian news sources to choose from. These are just a few very different ones that might get you started!