Archive for May, 2009

Russian speakers everywhere

Friday, May 15th, 2009

Living in Russia it’s obvious that all people around speak Russian. Visiting other countries the Russians think that everybody speak the only language of the country they come to.  Huh, they are wrong I have to say. If you are even in mountains five thousand meters above the sea you might meet somebody from Russia :) Russians are everywhere! That’s why Russian has become more and more popular amongst students from all over the world.

I read posts in communities which are devoted to learning Russian, just for fun. It seems to me that there is a lack of information, especially for learners who have an intermediate level. Beginners learn basics: alphabet, phonetics, cases. Sometimes it takes them about three years to cover main structures! It’s too long. Advanced students are able to read any contemporary texts already and there are lots of information for them, just ask Yandex.  I believe that the opinion that the russian language is the most difficult to study is right. Maybe I’m wrong, but there aren’t good Russian grammar books at all. What a shame! Learners have to resort to the Internet :( It’s not a good idea from my point of view. Just because the Russians makes too many mistakes :( But the good point is that this is real Russian!

I wish there were lots of Russian grammar books for Russian learners in good quality. Studying English we have books by publishers from Oxford, Cambrige and other universities. I don’t understand why, for instance, Moscow State University doesn’t publish anything? The more we invest in the russian language the more popular this coutry is! So obvious and so difficult to understand.

The set of useful phrases — 2

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

Today we are going to overview a few helpful phrases which you could use in the case of interview (if you are looking for a job). Your role in this conversation is the point of view: you might be an interviewer and you could be an interviewee as well. So, let’s glance at questions you might be asked, I will mention only the most interesting of them.

So, let us suppose you had moved up the ladder in our company, what would be your priorities in approaching your job?

You’ve been asked about your capability to get on with your colleagues, subordinates and the higher-ups; if you understand the role you’re going to play in this company on a new position.

What would you say if you faced this situation?

As you can see the most widespread type of questions during the interview has second conditional structure. The situations are always imaginary and you should be ready to answer to the question even about Peter Pen.

Let’s have a look at answers.

If I had to deal with this problem, I would…

Again we meet the second conditional. This type of answers is about your actions in different cases. What about questions when you have to characterise yourself?

I am a strongly-motivated, well-organised person…

Don’t be shy, in the case of looking for a job you had better tell an interviewer everything good about yourself ;) Compound adjectives are very suitable for this type of answer.

Thank you for coming and reading :) Next time I am going to have a look at constructions you can use on meetings.