I’ve started to read Conan Doyle’s stories about Sherlock Holmes. Of course, I’d read it before, but that was a Russian translation, and despite its quality — I’ve . . . → Read More: “Draw”]]> I hate this English verb  “draw” — when you finally believe you already know ALL of its translations — it appears in some text with  new one.

I’ve started to read Conan Doyle’s stories about Sherlock Holmes. Of course, I’d read it before, but that was a Russian translation, and despite its quality — I’ve missed much.

“Study in scarlet” — is a very first novel of Sherlock Holmes adventures. When i started it — I wasn’t ready for the Victorian English. Some phrases are very easy and understandable, but other ones are tricky as hell.

By the way — English of 19 century was full of euphemisms. The minced oaths were nice way to said bad things. so gentlemen said “By Jove!”, instead of  “By God!” and “deuce” instead of “Devil”.

Yesterday I overheard Angry Birds theme, translated by some FM-radio. This is quite strange for me. If i was told ten years ago that music from some computer game . . . → Read More: The Net vs. The Real World.]]> Some people say something like “there are only the Net phenomena”. I wonder if someday people will tell “It’s only Real World stuff, just ignore it”.

Yesterday I overheard Angry Birds theme, translated by some FM-radio. This is quite strange for me. If i was told ten years ago that music from some computer game was translated by ukrainian radiostation — surely I would have thought the guy is joking.

So I have some old kid’s fun — melt ice on frozen . . . → Read More: General Frost came into town]]> First half of this winter was unusually warm — we hadn’t any snow until middle of January. And then — bah! White Winter with a Russian flavor — a lot of snow and very cold. Now we have about –15 Celsius (5 ºF).

So I have some old kid’s fun — melt ice on frozen balcony window with my palm and look how it freeze again. When glass is really cold — it looks very interesting — you see as crystal of ice forms and glass freezes back.

First one is my older handprint, then fresh one with ice crystal formed, and then zoomed one.

But Russian and English are very different, so russian-speaking people (including me) usually have similar problems with English: 1. A and The. Russian language doesn’t have nor indefinite, nor definite articles. This means Russians have a . . . → Read More: Why English is so difficult for russian-speaking persons?]]> Maybe because Russian language itself is very complex, so all necessary brain cells are already used by it? No!

But Russian and English are very different, so russian-speaking people (including me) usually have similar problems with English:
1. A and The. Russian language doesn’t have nor indefinite, nor definite articles. This means Russians have a tendency to skip both articles, or use one instead of another.
2. Word order in English sentences is much more strict, than in Russian ones. So russian-speaking make a lot of mistakes, trying to copy russian sentence structure.
3. Verbs and their tenses. English verbs are hellish nightmare for Russians.

These weak points very typical for people with native Russian, who learn English now.

Today I’ve decided to start English blog. This is quite a decision for me, because my English is very work-oriented, and I use it for business communication and customer interaction only. I believe I need to change it and start to speak and write just for fun. There is only . . . → Read More: Let’s start it…]]> Hello, my name Eugene Ronin.

Today I’ve decided to start English blog. This is quite a decision for me, because my English is very work-oriented, and I use it for business communication and customer interaction only. I believe I need to change it and start to speak and write just for fun. There is only way to do it — begin write something like this blog.