# Forum Practice and Perfect your Russian Говорим по-русски  Picture of my Russian Writing

## xXHoax

photo1.jpg

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## xXHoax

упс! я сказал "я вижу", я хотел сказать "я живу".

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## jim

много ошибот граматических, даже не хочется разбирать. cursive is fine.

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## Valda

Красивый почерк, к сожалению никогда не выучила как читать такие!

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## alexsms

> Красивый почерк, к сожалению никогда не выучила как читать такие!

 same with my Hebrew ::

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## alexsms

> упс! я сказал "я вижу", я хотел сказать "я живу".

 by the way, d u mean WA state? If so, you want to say Я живу в штате Вашингтон. Otherwise, я живу в городе Вашингтон.

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## Throbert McGee

Your Cyrillic handwriting is very good, but I would recommend one important change: the letters *л*, *м*, and *я* should ALWAYS begin with a small "hook" -- i.e., a little point or upward "bump" in the pen-stroke. Putting in this little hook/point/bump is especially important when one of these letters is in the middle of a word and is joined to the letter that comes before it. They're not just for decoration; they make it easier to distinguish the letters. (A cursive *л* without a "hook" can look too much like a cursive *г*, for example.)  
Here's an example that I found on the Internet -- it's actually a Russian example of a "pangram", i.e., a sentence that uses every letter of the alphabet. (Which makes it a good practice exercise to learn touch-typing on a Cyrillic keyboard, too.)     
Note that in the words мягких (line 2) and булок (line 3), you can clearly see the "hooks" I'm talking about.  
P.S. If you have trouble viewing the image, it says: Съешь же ещё этих мягких французких булок да выпей чаю! 
Which you can translate as "Eat up some more of these soft French loaves 'n' drink some tea!"  ::

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## maxmixiv

Capital T is incorrect,   1845-13467033-hand_font_russ.jpg 
some longer words lack some strokes (грамматика, for example). 
Personally I am waiting with impatience when hand writing is prohibited. I get a stress every time I have to take a pen.

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## UhOhXplode

Good work xXHoax!
@ McGee. Those hooks just solved my biggest issue with learning to use script. It was a nightmare dealing with г, и, л, м, and ш in single words. I'm definitely gonna start using those hooks.

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## alexsms

by the way, you don't have to connect the letters, it's possible to use them separately if it's easier (i.e. the connection lines between the letters are not a must, they just happen to be there as a natural way of writing by natives and with them the writing looks natural).

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## UhOhXplode

Thanks for that information, Alexsms. I already found 2 lower-case letters that I probably won't connect - у and д. They look like the english y and g and I never connect those when I write in english script. 
I got determined to learn Russian script when I noticed that in text messages on Russian holiday cards, sometimes letters looked like script - the г, и, and т. 
I also noticed on the 50 let Pobedy icebreaker, the л looks like the script л and the д is pointed at the top. 
But it got really strange when I was trying to read Russian commemorative coins. That's when I learned about the old Church Slavonic alphabet. Now I can read the coins too.

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## Lampada

Russian Writing (Mouse over a letter to see an animation of how it is written.)   http://nekin.info/pro/text-primo/primo-demo-black.pdf

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## Lampada



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## Lampada



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## Lampada



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## Lampada

http://russian.lingualift.com/ru/fil...ng-cursive.pdf   http://www.livejournal.com/tools/mem...ian&filter=all

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## Throbert McGee

> Good work xXHoax!
> @ McGee. Those hooks just solved my biggest issue with learning to use script. It was a nightmare dealing with г, и, л, м, and ш in single words. I'm definitely gonna start using those hooks.

 In my first-year college Russian class, we were taught that the "hooks" are absolutely mandatory. True, when native Russians are writing cursive in a quick-and-sloppy way, the hooks can be difficult to see, but they are not entirely omitted -- at the very least, there's a bit of an upward wiggle in the pen stroke. 
On the other hand, it's NOT mandatory -- but many people would recommend it -- to put a horizontal line over the *m* (i.e., the cursive *т*) and also under the cursive *ш* and *щ*. And some people put a very short horizontal stroke through the middle of the cursive *ж*, but as far as I know, this is less common. 
Also, one other non-mandatory suggestion for xXHoax and other learners: As a beginner, try to get in the habit of marking the stressed vowels. Yes, native Russians don't use these accent marks except in the rarest cases (e.g., with newly borrowed foreign words), but it will help you learn pronunciation of words as well as sentence intonation when you're just starting out. For example, here's that pangram sentence with the stressed vowels underlined:  * Съешь же ещё этих мягких французких булок да выпей чаю!* 
 Notice that when the one-syllable word *да* means "yes", it is always stressed -- when it's unstressed, the meaning is "and" or "but" or sometimes "let it be so" (*Да будет свет*, "Let there be light!"). On the other hand, the one-syllable emphatic particle *же* is NEVER stressed, as far as I know, while one-syllable pronoun forms such as *я/мне*, *ты*, *он/им*, *ей*, *мы/нас/нам*, *вы/вас/вам*,  *тот/та*, etc., are ALWAYS stressed. 
(The point is that it's a good idea for beginners to mark stress in one-syllable words, too, although many dictionaries only use stress marks with words of more than one syllable.) 
P.S. Here's an image that shows the horizontal line over the lower-case *т* and under the lower-case *ш*  (again, these are OPTIONAL, but recommended for easier reading) and also including the two variants for lower-case *д* (you can write it either as "g" or "a backwards 6").

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## Throbert McGee

> Russian Writing[SIZE=2]   [SIZE=3]([COLOR=#000000][FONT=Times New Roman]Mouse over a letter to see an animation of how it is written.)

 I greatly recommend this page because the animations show you the ideal order to make the pen strokes!

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## Throbert McGee

> 

 I've never heard this one before, but the lyrics were surprisingly suggestive (for an old folk song, I mean!), and reminded me just a little bit of the Everly Brothers ditty "Wake Up, Little Susie"!  _("Whatta we gonna tell your mama? / Whatta we gonna tell your pa? / Whatta we gonna tell our friends when they say 'Ooh-la-la'?")_  
Anyway, beginners won't recognize some of the words, so here's a transcription and my translation: 
Русская народная песня "Шумел камыш"
Russian folk song "The cattails/water-reeds were rustling (lit. "making noise")"
Исполняет Надежда Кадышева
Performed by Nadezhda Kadysheva   *Шумел камыш*, The cattails were rustling *Деревья гнулись* The trees were bending over *А ночка тёмная была* And the night was dark.  *Одна возлюбленная пара* A certain couple in love *Всю ночь* [Spent] the whole night *Гуляла до утра* Strolling until morning.  *А поутру они проснулись* And in the morning they woke up *Кругом помятая трава* Around [them in a circle], the grass was disheveled/crushed *Там не одна трава помята* And not only the grass there was disheveled *Помята девячья краса* The damsel's beauty was disheveled, [too].
(NB: Video seems to have a typo -- *девячья* should be "*девичья*", if I'm not mistaken!!!)  *Иду домой, а дома спросят:* I'm going home [she said] and at home they'll ask: *"Где ночь гуляла, с кем была?"* "Where were you strolling [all] night, who were you with?"  *А я скажу: "В саду гуляла,* And I'll say: "I was strolling in the garden, *Домой тропинки не нашла."* "And couldn't find the path home."

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## Meerkat

> *А поутру они проснулись* And in the morning they woke up *Кругом помятая трава* Around [them in a circle], the grass was disheveled/crushed *Там не одна трава помята* And not only the grass there was disheveled *Помята девячья краса* The damsel's beauty was disheveled, [too].
> (NB: Video seems to have a typo -- *девячья* should be "*девичья*", if I'm not mistaken!!!)

 Variation of a theme  ::   
Знает только ночь глубокая,
Как поладили они.
Распрямись ты, рожь высокая,
Тайну свято сохрани! 
Only the deep night knows,
What they agreed upon.
Straighten up now, oh tall rye,
And keep their secret scrupulously!  Korobeiniki - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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## Lampada

> I've never heard this one before, but the lyrics were surprisingly suggestive (for an old folk song, I mean!),

 Ещё эту песню можно назвать _застольной._  Её хорошо петь после застолья.

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## Throbert McGee

> Ещё эту песню можно назвать _застольной._ Её хорошо петь после застолья.

 I was trying to figure out the best English translation for "застольная песня", so I did a YouTube search for the phrase. This famous number from _La Traviata_ was one of the top hits:     _(В ролике, украинский театр оперы исполняет "Травиату". В начале видео, показывается на экране за певцами русский перевод итальянского текста!)_ 
Thus, although *застолье* means "banquet" or "feast," the phrase *застольная песня* should probably be translated as "a drinking song".   ::  -- "Либьямо, либьямо, не льети каличи..."

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## alexsms

застольная песня is a song (often its author can't be traced back) typically sung when people eat and drink at a holiday party, gathering. They are generally simple and *traditional* (it is often claimed that the author of such a song is PEOPLE - народ, and it can be called народная песня which is a more generic term), but a melody can be beautiful. The themes are often some events in Russian history, Russian nature, they may be sad or cheerful. 
The classic example is Ой, мороз-мороз. Ой, мороз мороз - Oi, moroz moroz - YouTube 
Some famous songs in this genre can be performed by эстрадные артисты (исполнители), хоровые ансамбли (folk bands) on the stage, so it's generally in the category of народная музыка. 
As for Traviata (opera) it is probably a feast song (Western type), the same term has been used, but the meaning is different from traditional Russian застольная.

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## Alex_krsk

> Ещё эту песню можно назвать _застольной._  Её хорошо петь после застолья.

 Застольная песня потому и застольная, что её поют не *после*, а *во время* застолья.

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## Lampada

> Застольная песня потому и застольная, что её поют не *после*, а *во время* застолья.

 Тогда после того, как выпьют.

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## iCake

> Тогда после того, как выпьют.

 Пить тоже не обязательно, нужно только сидеть за столом, когда поешь  ::

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## chaika

> I've never heard this one before, but the lyrics were surprisingly suggestive (for an old folk song, I mean!), and reminded me just a little bit of the Everly Brothers ditty "Wake Up, Little Susie"!  _("Whatta we gonna tell your mama? / Whatta we gonna tell your pa? / Whatta we gonna tell our friends when they say 'Ooh-la-la'?"_

 Nice catch with the Everly Bros. I was wondering about that song being risque too, but you nailed it.   
Also people can note the way Lampada wrote her lowercase т, just one stem with the crossbar. I always write it that way, ever since high school (back when the Everly Bros were in vogue).

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## archeria

They are a bit slow for their calligraphical part but for the alphabet they are ok:     
The next parts of the series are also in youtube. For the other ones you need to check this site. For the last videos though you need to pay one dollar I think... 
I do not recommend their language practice in texts and audio (my personal preferance) but their videos are quite good.

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## Throbert McGee

> застольная песня is a song (often its author can't be traced back) typically sung when people eat and drink at a holiday party, gathering.
> [...]
> The classic example is Ой, мороз-мороз. Ой, мороз мороз - Oi, moroz moroz - YouTube

 Hmmm... as we all know, the last stanza of "Ой, мороз-мороз" has the words *"Напою жену, обниму коня"*, so I think it must be a drinking song!))))))))))

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## jim

I have downloaded the english cursive pages, after coming across a cursive handwriting book. i did not want to buy it so i downloaded cursive writing and printed them on printer. first i printed each page on a4 so i can draw them very easily and also printed the two pages on one page, for a second time. so now i am practicing writing english cursive, because my english teacher in school did not feel like it’s important. i even asked the english teacher about cursive english and they said that written type english is enough. and many teachers write english without cursive.
except it takes a lot of time, so i practice writing when i feel like it and when i have time. some of the letters are surprising in the way they are written such as small f, and capital G, but makes perfect sense from writing them.
i attach pdf link here for anyone who is interested or for whatever http://www.aquariancharterschool.com...%20Cursive.pdf
after writing in english i actually stopped writing russian in cursive.

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## diogen_

> Hmmm... *as we all know*, the last stanza of "Ой, мороз-мороз" has the words *"Напою жену, обниму коня"*, so I think it *must* be a drinking song!))))))))))

  ::  What? Do you mean you’ve heard the words ‘I’ll make my wife drunk in order to hug a mare’? I can’t believe such stanza exists anywhere. Please correct me with the link or some other proof if you can. The standard words are as follows, “Обниму жену, напою коня” (I’ll hug my wife and water my horse”.(1:41) and nothing else. Given the wrong premise, the conclusion may  be incorrect just as well.)))    Ой, мороз, мороз — Википедия

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## Suobig

> What? Do you mean you’ve heard the words ‘I’ll make my wife drunk in order to hug a mare’? I can’t believe such stanza exists anywhere.]

 Do I really need to explain you the *russian* joke, told you by *an american*, who definitely understands it?  ::  
Do you know what Freudian slip ("оговорка по Фрейду") means and how many jokes based on in exists?

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## Antonio1986

> 

 Lampada "k" is written extremely slowly. 
I think there is another way to write it more quickly when you connect the letters.
Is there a picture with arrows showing how to write k quickly in a word?

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