Friday, April 21, 2006

Lesson 12 - Happy Birthday!

Topic - Birthday Greetings

• ❑1 intro


Добрый день, друзья! (Hello, friends!)
Как дела? (How are you?)
Надеюсь, что у вас все хорошо. (Hope you are doing well.)



Thank you for keeping up with this podcast even though I do not produce them as often as I'd like to. I am excited to get e-mails and comments on the spoonfulofrussian.com site. Your enthusiasm is contageous! For those who asked about the condition of our house, we just sold our restored home and are planning on moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, right after our trip to Russia in August. I can hardly wait!


• ❑2 Happy Birthday!

It's lesson 12 (двенадцатый урок). Tomorrow we'll be celebrating my youngest daughter's 6th birthday. I taught my daughters to say a few birthday greetings in Russian. Let me share them with you.

So, How do you say 'Happy Birthday' in Russian?
Эмили: "I know." It's "С Днем Рождения".
That's right, Emily. "С Днем Рождения" means 'Happy Birthday' . So, what are you going to say to your sister tomorrow?
Эмили: 'С Днем Рождения, Джулия". To which Julia will probably reply "Спасибо, Емили".

Then Russians usually wish health, happiness and longevity to the birthday person among other things. The phraze 'I wish you' will be 'Я желаю тебе...' (informal, to be used addressing friends, family, children) or ' Я желаю Вам'... (formal, to be used addressing older people, people you are not very close to, or just to show respect). Can you say 'Я желаю тебе...' 'Я желаю Вам...'?

Good. Let us wish Julia health. 'Я желаю тебе здоровья'. Emily: 'Я желаю тебе здоровья'.
Now, let's wish her happiness. 'Я желаю тебе счастья'. Emily: 'Я желаю тебе счастья'.
Let's also wish her long life - долгих лет жизни. 'Я желаю тебе долгих лет жизни.' Emily: 'Я желаю тебе долгих лет жизни.'
Молодец, Эми. What would I do without you? ('Что бы я без тебя делала?')
Emily: 'Пожалуйста, мама.'

Alright! Now you know what to say next time you are invited to a Russian birthday party. And if any of my listeners happen to celebrate their birthday today, we are saying 'С Днем Рождения' to you!

Here are the phrases again:











• ❑3 song

For the musical part of today's podcast I chose a song from a Russian cartoon "Cheboorashka". The character that sings this song is happy on a very dreary day. It's his birthday! The people passing by cannot understand why he's so happy. The singer also regrets that birthdays only come once a year.


" Чебурашка и Крокодил Гена"


День рождения


Пусть бегут неуклюже
Пешеходы по лужам,
А вода по асфальту рекой.
И не ясно прохожим
В этот день непогожий,
Отчего я веселый такой.

А я играю на гармошке
У прохожих на виду.
К сожаленью, день рожденья
Только раз в году.

Прилетит вдруг волшебник
В голубом вертолете,
И бесплатно покажет кино.
С днем рождения поздравит
И конечно, подарит
Мне в подарок пятьсот "эскимо".


I even mada a video tutorial for you. Enjoy!



• ❑4 closing

I hope you enjoyed the song and learned something new today. As always, e-mail me if you have any comments or questions. My e-mail address is speakrussian at mac dot com. You can also leave your comments on this website. До свидания и всего хорошего! ('Good bye and all the best')!

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Lesson 11 - Love is in the Air

(Due to lack of interest in the enhanced version of the podcast I am going to stick with the audio only version. Below is the Valentine's Day enhanced show converted into .mp3 file)

Привет! Hey there, all you Russian language addicts and all those who have just subscribed. Welcome! (Добро пожаловать!)





It’s Lesson#11 - Love is in the Air. It's been a while since I cranked up my Microphone and my Mac to produce a podcast. My house renovations are still going on, and we are still living with my in-laws. Even though my current environment is not ideal for writing and producing podcasts, I felt that I needed to get back out there for several reasons. I'm still getting lots of e-mails on a daily basis from listeners who express their desire for more of 'A Spoonful of Russian'. Another reason is we are working on getting things ready for our trip to my hometown in Russia this summer, and my daughters are in serious need of freshenning up their Russian:) There are other reasons as well. But personally, I just miss it myself. I miss plotting the idea of the lesson, typing it on my PowerBook (while listening to some nice classical music. Russian, of course), recording it, choosing different audio transitions, piecing it all together in GarageBand, uploading it, and getting your responses later.

As much as I'd like to produce lengthy and in-depth lessons on a weekly basis, that would not be possible for the time being. The next few lessons will probably be shorter and carry less info. Hey, it's 'A Spoonful of Russian' after-all:)



LESSON - "Love is in the Air"

You all know that Valentine's Day ( 'День Святого Валентина' in Russian) is just around the corner. I am not going to go into the history of the holiday. You can do a little research on the subject at wikipedia.org if you want. But wouldn't it be cool to send your sweetheart a valentine written in Russian? I'm gonna show you how to do it. Here are some simple phrases you can use:





- "I love You" , of course. "Я Тебя Люблю." For your convenience I created some flash-cards to go with the lesson.




- Another phrase you can put down in your valentine is: "Be Mine". And depending on the gender the Russian translation is either "Будь Моим" or "Будь Моей".




- "We're Made for each Other" - "Мы Созданы Друг для Друга".

- If you are an older couple I have a perfect card for you on Apple site. It's one of the iCards Apple offers. It uses one of my photos that depicts a pair of old boots. It says: "We May be Old, but we Match!" In Russian, "Хоть Мы и Стары, Мы - Идеальная Пара!" You can locate my card on mac.com --> iCards --> under "new in iCards".







ENDING WORD and a SONG

Now that you have a few phrases in Russian to dazzle your sweetheart, you might want to play this next song for her/ or him. It's called БЕЛОЙ АКАЦИИ ГРОЗДЬЯ ДУШИСТЫЕ. Literally "Sweet-smelling clusters of acacia". It's a romantic song about 2 lovers reminiscing about their time together one summer. The unforgettable time they spent under an acacia tree, listening to the nightingale's song and whispering the words "I am yours forever".




БЕЛОЙ АКАЦИИ ГРОЗДЬЯ ДУШИСТЫЕ
(А.Пугачев – музыка неизвестного автора)


Целую ночь соловей нам насвистывал,
Город молчал и молчали дома...
Белой акации гроздья душистые
Ночь напролет нас сводили с ума.

Сад весь умыт был весенними ливнями,
В темных оврагах стояла вода.
Боже, какими мы были наивными,
Как же мы молоды были тогда!

Годы промчались, седыми нас делая.
Где чистота этих веток живых?
Только зима да метель эта бела
Напоминают сегодня о них.

В час, когда ветер бушует неистово,
С новою силою чувствую я:
Белой акации гроздья душистые
Невозвратимы, как юность моя!
Белой акации гроздья душистые
Неповторимы, как юность моя...