Russian through Film

Russian lessons containing film fragments with the subtitles, the scripts and the vocabulary commentaries.

Russian Shopping: A Nervous Buyer

Russian Shopping: A Nervous Buyer

In this scene you can hear a lot of Russian idioms and etiquette elements. Also you can hear some sports vocabulary. Moreover, you can see how a polite question addressed to an unknown person changes first into persistent and then into a demanding one. And if you have mastered all these language nuances, just enjoy watching these wonderful actors, especially Sergey Bekhterev’s brilliant performance who plays a nervous buyer. By the way, do you recognize yourself in this character?.. 

Language of Russian Schoolchildren: A Schoolboy and a Robot

Language of Russian Schoolchildren: A Schoolboy and a Robot

In this conversation a robot called Elektronik resembles you a little, dear learners of Russian. Firstly, because Elektronik’s style of speech is a bit formal. By contrast Syroyezhkin speaks very colloquial and adequate language typical for school children. Secondly, Elektronik doesn’t understand many idioms and as a result Syroyezhkin has to either interpret his own words or use basic vocabulary. This fragment of one of he most popular films for children is full of useful and expressive phrases.

Russian Criminal Investigations: An Informal Interrogation of a Shady Tradesperson

Chyornyy Princ

You will learn new expressive elements of Russian vocabulary. Notice how differently two people from different backgrounds sound in terms of word usage and intonation. Colonel Zorin uses formal and law vocabulary, but at the same time his intonations are of an average person coming from a village. In Danik’s speech city slang elements are combined with criminal slang in a peculiar way. Their conversation is a complicated duel of two rivals who respect each other.

Russian Criminal Investigations: An Interrogation of a Jewellery Salesperson

Shantazh

You will see an example of a first person narrative with expressive figures of speech of the Russian language and with stylized speech elements. Mirkin’s speech is a speech of a well-read young man, who is familiar not only with the language of philosophers but also with the language of criminals. He decorates his speech with vintage speech elements, and it might cause understanding difficulties for non-native speakers. Investigator Znamenskiy is an example of a great professional listener.

Russian Love Talks: Talking about the Meaning of Life

Zhazhda nad Ruchyom

In this lesson you will see how to describe your routine in Russian and self-reflect on a monotonous life-style. The dialogue has examples of ellipsis, the omission of one or a few words from the sentences. Note that this dialogue takes place between to very close people, so they understand each other well and don’t need to sound formal. We hope that you quickly get through the script, practice your pronunciation and, being motivated by your success, move on to more difficult lessons.

Russians in Extreme Situations: A Pilot and a Doctor Part 2

Ostrov Volchiy

Understanding of an unadapted Russian dialogue is the aim of this easy lesson. Here you can see how a dialogue develops in a conflict situation. There is not a lot of specific vocabulary or difficult grammar here. We hope that you quickly get through the script, practice your pronunciation and, being motivated by your success, move on to more difficult lessons. You can find the next part of this dialogue in “Extreme Situations: A Pilot and a Doctor Part 1”.

Russian Love Talks: A Talk between Two Lovers Who Are Too Dfferent

Korotkie Vstrechi

The aim of this lesson is to show you a very private Russian conversation between two lovers. It is a great example of an intimate language register in the Russian language. Imagine yourself being in love with a Russian and talking to them about sweet nothings. We hope that you quickly get through the script, practice your pronunciation and, being motivated by your success, move on to more difficult lessons.

Russians in Extreme Situations: A Pilot and a Doctor Part 1

Ostrov Volchiy

The aim of this short lesson is to practice your listening skills. Also you can study a few examples with verbs of motion and impersonal verbs. We hope that you quickly get through the script, practice your pronunciation and, being motivated by your success, move on to more difficult lessons. You can find the next part of this dialogue in “Extreme Situations: A Pilot and a Doctor Part 2”.