Learn how to talk about your ethnicity using the verb meaning "to be"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Erik: Hello everyone, and welcome to our second Basic Bootcamp lesson. |
| Oksana: This five-part series will help you ease your way into Russian. |
| Erik: We’ll go over all the basics that will really help you understand Russian much quicker and much easier. |
| Oksana: In this lesson, you will learn how to introduce yourself and tell people where you are from. |
| Erik: That`s right, Oksana! And these phrases are essential because they will be the first question that people will want to ask you: “where are you from?” |
| Oksana: We’ll also go over one of the easiest building blocks of learning Russian word order. |
| Erik: Pretty much no matter where you are, you can always meet someone from a different country. |
| Oksana: And in this bootcamp, we’re talking about nationality. |
| Erik: So, please, listen to Oksana and I talk about where are we from. |
| Oksana: Ok, Erik. So, let`s listen to our conversation. |
| Erik: Ok, Oksana, here we go! |
| DIALOGUE |
| Oksana: Здравствуйте. Меня зовут Оксана. Я - русская. |
| Erik: Здравствуйте, я - Эрик. Я - американец. |
| Erik: One more time, slowly. |
| Oksana: Еще раз, медленее. |
| Oksana: Здравствуйте. Меня зовут Оксана. Я - русская. |
| Erik: Здравствуйте, я - Эрик. Я - американец. |
| Erik: Once more, natural native speed with the translation. |
| Oksana: Еще раз, с переводом. |
| Oksana: Здравствуйте. Меня зовут Оксана. Я - русская. |
| Erik: Hello. My name is Oksana. I'm Russian. |
| Oksana: Здравствуйте, я - Эрик. Я - американец. |
| Erik: Hello, I'm Erik. I'm American. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Erik: So, Oksana, one interesting point about the prevalence of the Russian language is that so many people, especially from the older generations all over the world, can speak it! People from post -USSR countries, even middle Europeans and Chinese… |
| Oksana: Well, it might not sound very encouraging for people who travel to Russia to experience its modern life and meet girls, for example. But look at the bright side! If you get lost, let’s say, in Beijing, and ask an old taxi driver for the directions in Russian, there’s eighty percent chance you will get the answer! |
| Erik: Wow, that`s really interesting, Oksana! Something else interesting is to find out all the different reasons people are learning Russian. |
| Oksana: What are some of the reasons you’ve heard, Erik? |
| Erik: Well, Oksana. There are a lot of good reasons. Russia no longer keeps the image of a scary country. Possibly one extreme vision of Russia that it`s a scary country with bears wandering the streets and mafias shooting from every corner. This is no longer the image for most people. Nowadays more and more people want to go to Russia and of course, it helps quite a lot if you can speak some basic Russian. |
| Oksana: That's so true, because often taxi drivers, restaurant staff, and the police, they don’t speak a word of English. |
| Erik: In addition, it`s useful to learn Russian for business purposes. I’ve met a lot of people whose interest in Russian started from business. |
| Oksana: Yes, it’s always safer to rely on your own understanding than on the translations of the third party. Besides, any Russian interpreter will, of course, guard the interests of the Russian side in doing business. |
| Erik: Complicated stuff. But it`s good to start somewhere and that`s why we are here for in the basic bootcamp to get you started. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Erik: Now, let’s look at some of the vocabularies we used in this lesson. Our first word is…. |
| Oksana: русская [natural native speed] |
| Erik: Russian (nationality, feminine) |
| Oksana: русская [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Oksana: русская [natural native speed] |
| Erik: Next: |
| Oksana: американец [natural native speed] |
| Erik: American (nationality, masculine) |
| Oksana: американец [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Oksana: американец [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Erik: Now let's take a closer look at how the words and phrases are used. Ok, Oksana, we've already learned the greeting... |
| Oksana: здравствуйте |
| Erik: From our first Bootcamp lesson. And also… |
| Oksana: Меня зовут |
| Erik: Which means “Hello” and “My name is….” respectively. And, so now we move on to nationality. So, Oksana, are you really Russian? |
| Oksana: Well, now that you asked, I am not really Russian, I am Ukrainian. But most of the Ukrainians speak Russian. |
| Erik: Ok, so, you are just using that as an example of someone if you were to meet them in Russia. |
| Oksana: Exactly. |
| Erik: They would say “Я-русская”. |
| Oksana: Yes. |
| Erik: If you are talking to a woman. How would you say “I am Ukrainian”? |
| Oksana: For a woman, it would sound like “Я - украинка”. |
| Erik: So, Oksana, just to be clear... Do most people in Ukraine speak Russian? |
| Oksana: Yes, most people do speak Russian especially in middle Ukraine and eastern Ukraine which is close to Russia. Yes. |
| Erik: So, Oksana, if you go to the capital of Ukraine, which is Kiev, you will be able to use these Russian phrases, right? |
| Oksana: Of course. Even people whose native language is Ukrainian can speak perfect Russian with no accent. |
| Erik: Ok. Great. I noticed you said “Я - русская”, right? |
| Oksana: Yes, I did. |
| Erik: And that`s all you need is just “я” which means “I” and your nationality? |
| Oksana: Yes, that`s all you need. |
| Erik: Ok, so, one more time, how would you say that you are Ukrainian? |
| Oksana: “Я - украинка.” |
| Erik: Ok, and if you check the PDF you'll find many different nationalities, how to say them both in masculine and feminine genders. Oksana, can we have a few examples? |
| Oksana: Sure. |
| Erik: For example, how would you say “I am Chinese”? |
| Oksana: Я-китаянка. |
| Erik: Ok, how about “I am Canadian”? |
| Oksana: Я-канадка. |
| Erik: And how would you say “I am Canadian” as a male? |
| Oksana: Canadian male. Ok. Я - канадец. |
| Erik: And, how about Australian? I am Australian. |
| Oksana: Male, female? |
| Erik: Both. |
| Oksana: For female it would sound like: “Я -австралийка” and for male “Я - австралиец”. |
| Erik: Ok, Oksana, last one. How would you say “I am Brazilian”? |
| Oksana: For female - “Я - бразильянка”. |
| Erik: And for male? |
| Oksana: “Я-бразилец”. |
| Erik: Ok. So, for more examples please check the PDF. Ok, then, let's move on to the grammar section and explore this pattern a little bit more. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Erik: So, Oksana, in the examples you gave: American, Canadian, Brazilian, Australian - they all had similar endings. What were they for male? |
| Oksana: The ending is -ец. |
| Erik: Can you say that one more time: American, Canadian, australian...brazilian. |
| Oksana: Sure. Американец, канадец, австралиец, бразилец. |
| Erik: Ok, so, they all had similar endings. |
| Oksana: That`s right. |
| Erik: What was the ending again, Oksana? |
| Oksana: The ending -ец. |
| Erik: There are other endings but this is the common ending for males when they are saying their nationality. How about for females? |
| Oksana: For females, in our examples, except for “русская”, Russian, the ending is - ка. |
| Erik: Ok, so could you give example of American, Canadian, Australian, Brazilian in for females. |
| Oksana: Sure. Американка, канадка, австралийка, бразильянка. |
| Erik: For females, the most common ending is with a - ка. |
| Oksana: Yes, just remember “русская”, Russian. And most nationalities go with the ending - ка. |
Outro |
| Erik: Ok, we`ve come to the end of our lesson. Please, stop by RussianPod101.com and leave us a comment and tell us where are you from. |
| Oksana: We are looking forward to hearing from you. До свидания! До новых встреч! Goodbye and see you soon! |
| Erik: Goodbye! |
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