Russian Idiom: как не знаю кто

Here's the promised translation of 'Improvisators' that I mentioned in my prevoius post! I reaaally enjoyed this one and I hope you will too!

Thank you for waiting <3

Click here for the FULL EPISODE

"Crocodile Gena" (1969) and "Cheburashka" (1971) are puppet cartoons, based on the book of Eduard Uspensky. Crocodile Gena works in a zoo as a crocodile. He is very lonely. Gena finally decides to make friends. Animals and people react to his announcement. Soon, Cheburashka comes to his place, and together they begin to do good things.

«Крокоди́л Ге́на»» (1969) и «Чебурáшка» (1971) - ку́кольные мультфи́льмы, сня́тые по моти́вам кни́ги Эдуа́рда Успе́нского. Крокоди́л Ге́на рабо́тает в зоопа́рке — крокоди́лом. Он о́чень одино́к. Наконе́ц Ге́на реша́ет завести́ себе́ друзе́й. На его объявле́ния отклика́ются зве́ри и люди. Вско́ре к нему́ прихо́дит Чебурáшка, и они́ вме́сте начина́ют де́лать до́брые дела.

Among his multiple talents, Gena plays accordion and sings. On a rainy day, which happens to be his birthday, he sings the following song:

Песня Крокодила Гены

Пусть бегут неуклюже,

Пешеходы по лужам,

А вода по асфальту рекой.

И неясно прохожим,

В этот день непогожий,

Почему я весёлый такой.

Я играю на гармошке,

У прохожих на виду,

К сожалению, день рожденья,

Только раз в году.

Прилетит вдруг волшебник,

В голубом вертолёте,

И бесплатно покажет кино,

С днём рожденья поздравит,

И, наверно, оставит,

Мне в подарок пятьсот эскимо.

Я играю на гармошке,

У прохожих на виду,

К сожалению, день рожденья,

Только раз в году.

Gena the Crocodile's Song

Never mind that the clumsy pedestrians

are jumping over rain puddles.

And that the water is streaming down the street.

And never mind that the passers-by can't make sense of

Why is it that I'm so happy on such a dreary day.

Yet I'm playing my accordion

In front of everyone on the street.

It's so sad that a birthday

Can only happen once a year.

A wizard will suddenly appear

In a blue whirlybird,

And will show me free movies.

He'll say Happy Birthday

And just before he flies away

He'll probably leave 500 ice cream cones for me.

Yet I'm playing my accordion

In front of everyone on the street.

It's so sad that a birthday

Can only happen once a year

(https://youtu.be/lUBNtYixTSs)

Russians use some phrases from this cartoon in speech:

Некоторые фразы из этого мультфильма русские используют в речи：

Мы строили, строили и наконец построили. Ура! (We built, built and finally finished. Hooray!)

Чебурашка, ты настоящий друг.(Cheburashka, you are true friend)

Опять чебурахнулся*. Ух ты, Чебурашка какой. (*ЧЕБУРÁХНУТЬСЯ - Упасть с шумом /this verb means to fall with a big noise. The name Чебурашка is derived from the verb чебурахнуться)

“There are certain things in the movie that are very Russian that is difficult for an American audience to pick up on. Like when [Kirk and Sulu] freefall and I capture them and I say something in Russian….[says Russian phrase]…it means “Oh man!” basically, which is something I ad-libbed. Which goes back to what I was saying. Chekov never speaks Russian in the series, and that was Russian slang. And that that is something I decided to add just for the hell of it, because JJ [Abrams] said ‘throw in some Russian, let’s do it for fun.’ It was just a moment that needed some kind of reaction, and they loved it out there. It is one of those things that Russian people get. I think Russian people are very happy with Chekov because he is one of the few Russian characters in American pop culture history that is not the Red Dawn kind of Russians.” — Anton Yelchin

Here's a list of great VK public pages in Russian that I adore: pt 1

If you're learning the language, I think these might help you get more familiar with not only reading and spelling, but with how Russians actually communicate. And these pages are pretty cool too, so you can just check them out even if learning the language isn't the main goal.

1. покажи нам кусочек своей жизни/show us a piece of your life

A rather cool page where people share random pictures from their phones with a bit of info about themselves. Every post has its own aesthetic but more importantly, these posts feel very real and authentic. Here's what some of these posts look like.

"I'm majoring in geo in Moscow, sing in choir, and right now I'm writing my thesis a bit worried about my future. But I'll be fine. Kindness to all"

"the life of a physics teacher 💫"

2. пушистые морды/fluffy faces

Another page that accepts post suggestions. Here you can share your adorable pet (it's mostly cats).

"his name is Oleg"

3. мам ну не читай/mom don't read it

Did you have a diary when you were a kid? I cringe every time I read my old diaries. But this page collects all the weird diary entries and posts them. Not sure where they take them from, but they're all pretty hilarious.

"the door to the future"

"the page of positivity"

I'll be back with a part two!

Дайте человеку хлеб - и он сыт весь день (Give a man bread and he's full all day long)

Дайте человеку арбуз - и он ссыт всю ночь (Give a man watermelon and he pisses all night)

There is a pun here, the two words sound absolutely the same: - сыт - is full. - ссыт - pisses This is what makes it very funny in Russian.

Vocabulary: сытый (short form: сыт, сыта, сыты) - to be full ссать - to piss (colloquial)

I was just serfing the net and came across this video. I really love old educational videos for Russian learners, so I thought I’d share it. (I don’t know why I find the last conversation so funny, but it is)

Сесть and its many meanings

Basic verbs can be surprisingly tricky. You might think the verb садиться/сесть ("to sit down") is straightforward, but it's anything but simple. Here's a dive into its multiple meanings:

To board (a bus, train, etc.):

Мы сели в автобус - We got on the bus.

To run out of battery:

У телефона села батарейка - My phone's battery is dead.

To shrink:

У меня футболка села после стирки - My T-shirt shrunk after washing.

To get imprisoned:

Он сел на пять лет - He went to prison for five years.

But that's not all! Here are some more uses:

My voice is gone, I can't speak:

У меня сел голос, я не могу говорить.

I am on a diet:

Я сел на диету.

I started a book - I want to finish it by summer:

Я села за книгу - хочу дописать к лету.

Which meaning of 'сесть' surprised you the most?

i’m a native speaker and never realized that until now omfg

In Russian we don’t say “You’re annoying”, instead we have “ты меня бесишь (ty men'a besish)”, which literally means “You’re turning me into a demon” and this is just too #relatable.

Submitted by @karl-the-not-so-great

ни ра́зу ― not once; never

не раз ― repeatedly

tricky! (from Wiktionary)

Hello everyone!

This post is a little late, but I wanted to thank you all for 500 followers!

Though sometimes I make some grammar mistakes in my posts, I really hope that I am making learning Russian a little more fun to you guys. I intent to improve my content and keep sharing some cool stuff about the Russian language.

You are the best 💜