Russian Blog
This is a blog by JustRussian about learning Russian. You will find useful tips for learning Russian, Russian courses available in London, information about Russian culture and links to websites with information for students of Russian.
Russian materials and the Media
By Vlada 21 May 07
Course materials
Have you decided to take Russian lessons and looking for a textbook? Or just looking for something to read in Russian?
The place to go is a shop called Grant and Cutler, Foreign language booksellers. Their address is 55-57 Great Marlborough Street, London W1V 2AY. Phone – (44) 020 7734 2012; www.grantandcutler.com The nearest tube station is Oxford Circus, it’s about 10 minutes walk from the tube. They have a very good selection of Russian textbooks and course materials including some newest ones just published in Moscow (at much higher prices than in Moscow – but that’s only fair, they have to be imported!). They also sell Russian newspapers, books, DVDs, Russian Cyrillic stickers for a computer keyboard, for those who type in Russian. If they don’t have in stock the textbook you need, you can order it by post.
Russian press
If you are looking for Russian news on the net, the place to go is www.smi.ru This website has links to all Russian publications, both “paper” and on-line ones. It gives you categories of news, as well as links to publications by name. You can browse articles and archives of most Russian newspapers and magazines free of charge.
The most popular Russian newspaper is called Argumenty i Facty (Arguments and Facts). It’s a weekly with a circulation of about 3 million copies. It’s a universal reading material for every taste: serious articles about politics, society and economics are mixed with gossip, jokes and horoscopes. Persistent advertising of medicines and clinics makes you think that you are dealing with a nation of severe hypochondriacs… which is only partly true. On the whole, I would recommend Argumenty i Facty to any advanced learner. They maintain a good standard of writing, have practically no mistakes in Russian and provide interesting topics for discussion. I use it a lot myself as a source of materials for advanced courses. The version of Argumenty i Facty sold in London is unfortunately different from the authentic Russian one. I remember buying it a couple of times, looking forward to the news and the gossip, and getting disappointed by a big boring section dedicated to Russian communities across Europe.
The most scandalous papers are called Moskovsky Komsomolets and Komsomolskaya Pravda (the names are a heritage of the Soviet times, they ironically and totally contradict the content!) They are so gossipy and so full of slang that you need to be a native speaker to read them.
A good magazine to read is the Ogonyok (another Soviet name – “Sparkle” or “Little Flame”). It’s a serious yet interesting magazine with very high quality writing. Unfortunately I’ve never seen it on sale in London but it’s available on the net.
As for all the numerous Russian language newspapers published in London, I am afraid they are only worth reading for ads of Russian restaurants, services and events. It’s a mystery to me who writes for them (someone who needs to take Russian lessons?!) but the number of mistakes in both Russian and English is scary. The Russkaya Mysl (“Russian thought”) is a happy exception (kind of) but it’s published in Paris.
The Russian Internet
The biggest Russian search engine is www.rambler.ru There you can find anything and everything that exists on the Russian net.
A site with e-cards in Russian is www.virtualflowers.ru
A charming site with old-fashioned Soviet-time posters which can be sent as e-cards is www.davno.ru