It's a cold Winter's morning as I write this - not Siberian cold, but cold enough. To warm your spirits wherever you may be I have created a new section on Listen2Russian.com called "Listen2Rusisan On Video". You can access this section by heading to the menu page and clicking the Video camera LCD screen in the right-hand panel (or hover your mouse above it for a treat!).

We plan to build a good selection of videos here that I hope will aid in making your Russian lessons not quite so dull! If you want to suggest a video for inclusion on the site then please Contact Us.

We also have some other new surprises coming up soon!

Many apologies to those who have not received an email response over the past month as I have been incredibly busy with work - I run a small business, and if you have had experience with this you will understand how much time it takes. But I will endeavour to reply to everyone as soon as I can.

Until next time, I hope you enjoy the videos!!

Jonathon.

Over the past few months we've received many emails that ask, "Why do you do it?", "Why don't you charge any fee for your lessons?". The answer is that we do it because it's our hobby, and once you start making money from a hobby it takes the fun out of it. Listen2Russian will always remain free, but we appreciate your thankyou's very much!

Tommy, a tailor from Koh Samui in Thailand, recently wrote to us and asked if we could list some phrases that might be useful in his business. He has many Russian customers, and, in general, you will find quite a few Russians travelling throughout Thailand.

Tommy, here are some useful phrases to get you started:

• Suit: костюм (ka-stYOOm)
  [деловой костюм is the formal name for a business suit, but everyone will understand what you mean if you just say 'костюм']
  
• Suit jacket: пиджак (pi-jAk)
  
• Suit pants: брюки (brYU-ki)
  
• Business shirt: рубашка (roo-bAsh-ka)
• Tie: галстук (gAl-stook)
• Good quality fabric: качественная ткань (kA-chest-veh-na-ya t-kAn')
• Price: цена (tsye-nA)
• Good price: хорошая цена (kha-rO-sha-ya tsye-nA)
• For you, good price : для Вас, хорошая цена (dl-ya vas, kha-rO-sha-ya tsye-nA)
• Special discount: специальная скидка (spetz-i-Al'-na-ya skId-ka)

Please let us know if you need any more!

Also in this update we have loaded instructions on how to make your own Mail.ru email account. This section features a lot of computer terminology that isn't available in any dictionary Ive seen before.

E.g, I'm yet to find a Russian-English dictionary with the word for 'inbox' (входящие)! I realise this word is a neuter combination of вход (entrance) and ящик (box), but I can't find the word reported in any dictionary. Please let me know if you find one..

Personally, I spend a lot of time on Mail.ru, and especially the social site called "Мой Мир" (My World). If you create a profile and list a location from outside the Former Soviet Union you will get many emails from strangers wanting to hear more about your country. Many can't speak English so it's a good test of your Russian skills!

Very soon Lena will be making new recordings, especially some of the more difficult pronunciations from the Mail.ru section. Unfortunately we have lost Irina to the pressures of school work and teenage life, so if anyone else would like to make some recordings please contact us. We are always looking for new talent!

Finally, we would like to make a "Russian Student Profile" page that features a new Russian student each month. If you're interested we will ask you to submit a photo and write a short piece (in English) about yourself and why you are interested in Russian, what difficulties you have encountered, what techniques have been useful, what keeps you motivated, etc. Please contact us if you would like to be featured on Listen2Russian!

Ahhh, I wish I was sitting at a beach-bar in Koh Samui right now......maybe Tommy will fly me over if he sells enough suits? :)

Jon.

Privyet fsyem!

I hope I find you all eager to learn new Russian words and phrases! As many of our loyal visitors have noticed, we haven't updated Listen2Russian.com for some time. We regret that we haven't been able to find any funding that would help us make time to work on the website, so unfortunately the updates have been few and far between.

I draw your attention to some new 'New Years' phrases recorded by the lovely Irina (Ira) from Rostov-on-Don (not to be confused with teenage Irina!). We hope to hear more of her voice in the future and we thank her very much for her assistance with devising new Russian phrases.

Please see here: Advanced "New Years" Phrases (Part 2)

And: Standard "New Years" Phrases

We hope you also enjoy the new Lesson 10: Introduction to Russian Verbs.

In Melbourne, Lena and I recently attended the St. Vladimir's Grand Ball, celebrating the Bicentenary of Russian-Australian relations. It was a wonderful event at the beautiful Melbourne Town Hall ballroom, with over 600 Russians and Australians in attendance. Highlights included the Russian ballet, Cossack dancers, Russian singers and a Balalaika Orchestra (and the Stolichnaya vodka deserves an honourable mention!)

A few photos from the Ball:

Lena and Russian friend

Lena, Jon, Elena, and Tony

Russian Ball formalities

Sydney was also honoured to host the 2007 APEC meeting, which marked the first ever visit to Australia from a Russian Head-of-State. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, attended the conference, along with the President of the USA, George Bush, the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, and a host of other world leaders.

If you study Russian diligently, you could meet the President of Russia too!

We hope to have more lessons online for you very soon.

Jon.

The adjectives have landed!

If you've got your head around the fact that nouns can be masculine, feminine or neuter, then the grammar rules for adjectives won't be too hard to understand. Of course there are some exceptions to the rules that are difficult to remember, but these will come with practice.

We will add more adjectives over the coming month, but we would like to record and upload "Lesson 10 - Introduction to Verbs" as soon as possible.

We hope you enjoy the new lesson, and if there is anything that is confusing then please contact us.

Jon.

The day before Easter we received several requests for the Russian version of 'Happy Easter'. Unfortunately we didn't have time to make these new recordings so quickly, but they have now been created and uploaded to Lesson 5.

Better late than never! :)

"Lesson 9 - Introduction to Adjectives" is coming very soon! If you have any special requests for particular adjectives then please email us.

Jon.

We have finally uploaded Lesson 08, an exposé on the Russian soft-sign. Creating this lesson went way past the deadline for a few reasons, mainly because both Lena and I have recently started new jobs that demand a lot of time. And secondly, there aren't many resources available on the internet or in textbooks that could assist us to explain the nuances of correct soft-sign pronunciation. Despite what you might have been told, it isn't simply a matter of adding a small 'y' sound.

Personally I talk to Russians everyday who correct me when I don't say words correctly, but to explain to Listen2Russian users how to position your tongue and produce new sounds is a real challenge. I hope I have been able to explain the procedures correctly and succinctly, and if they don't work for you then you might try something else to mimic the soft-sign combinations that you hear in the recordings. Personally I have had to adapt my own style to pronounce -рь correctly, so you may also find easier ways to make these soft-sign sounds.

When I was initially learning the soft-sign I had great difficulty until I asked several of my friends to show me what they do with their tongue when they say these words. My Russian friends thought it was quite funny (and probably a bit odd :) when I asked to look in their mouths while they pronounced the soft-sign combinations :) So I've tried to accurately translate into words what I observed.

If some of the instructions are hard to follow or if you need more clarification then please email us. Also, if you come across a soft-sign word that you would like to hear on Listen2Russian.com then let us know and we will endeavour to put it online for you.

Have fun!

Jon.

Following official feedback (well, actually, my mum logged onto the site and saw all the Google ads for Russian brides.... :) we have decided not to plaster the pages of Listen2Russian.com with Adsense ads.

Not that I have got anything against Russian girls .. ! They truly are the most beautiful girls on the planet :) .. but the ads are an obstacle and distraction to a smooth learning experience, and interfere with our mission to make the site one of the best resources on the internet for learning Russian.

To maintain a good relationship with Google (i.e., to make sure their crawler keeps visiting the site) we will keep one small Adsense ad on our links page where it is more appropriate. We hope you find the Google links are relevant and interesting.

On another note, sorry for the delay in uploading new content .. we have the next 5 lessons planned already but just no time at the moment to do all the background work that goes into getting the sound samples from Russia to Australia and then onto the web. Please understand there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work involved in making everything look and sound nice.

Thanks everyone for your feedback and I'll post again soon when the new lessons come online (hopefully around March 21).

Da sveedania!

Jon.

Listen2Russian.com site update:

Lesson 01

• Now has audio for each letter
  
• Added handwritten alphabet
  
• Added common acronyms (e.g., KGB, BMW, MP3 etc)