Words you already know!

RUSSIAN COGNATES are words that look and sound similar to their English counterparts. They are also known as "international words".

Feel free to add more if you know some!

аэропо́рт --- airport
бар --- bar
брюне́т --- brunette
бюдже́т --- budget
бюст --- bust (sculpture)
ви́део --- video
во́дка --- vodka
гита́ра --- guitar
дире́ктор --- director
джи́нсы --- jeans
Евро́па --- Europe
журнали́ст --- journalist
зе́бра --- zebra
иде́я --- idea
Интерне́т --- Internet
кафе́ --- cafe
класс --- class
компью́тер --- computer
лифт --- lift (elevator)
меню́ --- menu
му́зыка --- music
музыка́нт --- musician
но́мер --- number
океа́н --- ocean
о́пера --- opera
парашю́т --- parachute
па́спорт --- passport
президе́нт --- president
радиа́ция --- radiation
ро́бот --- robot
санда́ли --- sandals
секс --- sex
студе́нт --- student
субъе́кт --- subject
телеви́зор --- television
телефо́н --- telephone
ура́ --- hurrah
фильм --- film
футбо́л --- football (soccer)
хокке́й --- hockey
цирк --- circus
центр --- centre
чемпио́н --- champion
шокола́д --- chocolate
шофёр --- chauffeur
шо́рты --- shorts
экза́мен --- exam
ю́мор --- humour
юри́ст --- lawyer
я́хта --- yacht

If you are learning Russian - test your level...

Here is the test to check your level of Russian. It will take about 20 minutes to finish.
Go to test

How to say hello and good-bye in Russian

Здравствуйте, привет - Hello , Hi
Доброе утро - Good morning
Добрый День - Good day
Добрый вечер - Good evening
Спокойной ночи - Good night
До Свидания - Good-bye, bye
Увидимся скоро - See you soon
Увидимся позже - See you later

Пожалуйста - Please
Спасибо - Thank you
На здоровье - Your welcome
Простите, извините - Excuse me
Простите, извините - Sorry
Поздравляю - Congratulations
Удачи (вам) - Good luck


Here you can listen how each phrase sounds

Russian alphabet

Here you can see Russian alphabet and listen how each letter sounds.

Trying to keep language

I was born and grew up in Russia. So Russian is my native language. I live in the USA for 8 years. My daughter was born in Russia and came to the USA when she was 4 y.o. My son was born here. I am trying to make sure that my kids are bilingual. Sometime it's not easy to keep language in the house. But we are trying. This summer we are working on improving my daughter's reading in russian and teaching my son how to read. This is not an easy task. He is very active little boy. Usually we spend about 5-10 minutes learning how to read. But I see that it's still work! Slowly he starts reading easy words...
I also have students, whom I teach Russian. I really enjoy to share my knowledge of language, trying to use different technique to make it easy and fun.
I hope this blog will be useful for anyone, who wants to learn more about Russia and some russian language too.
Just think about it... Learning a word a day... how many words you can learn in a year... :)