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We tweeted up!

By Karyn Dubravetz

Yesterday I organized my first Russian language tweetup. Overall, I’d say it went pretty well! We had a handful of participants, most of whom were native speakers, which is great for those of us who are still learning! It got off to a little bit of a slow start, but after a while it was almost hard to keep up with all the tweets!

We tweeted up
Photo by netzkobold

Personally, I really enjoyed it. Just like at the real-world Meetups, it’s good to have a time where you tell yourself, okay, for right now, it’s Russian only. I’ve gotten a lot of practice speaking lately, but writing is another story. You can’t fudge those case endings!! And it’s good spelling practice, too!

So I want to thank everyone who participated. I’ve already gotten some feedback, and it seems that everyone would be interested in doing it again, so I’m thinking this could be a monthly thing. So if you missed it this time around, stay tuned – you’ll get your chance!

Thanks, also to the tweeps who filled out the survey. If you participated in the tweetup, and haven’t filled out the survey yet, here’s the link.

And finally another big thank you to my fellow bloggers who helped me spread the word: Vicki Boykis, Russia Without Borders, and Russian Sphinx.

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This entry was posted on March 1st, 2010 under Uncategorized.

What’s Ashton Kutcher doing in Russia?

By Karyn Dubravetz

So the other day, I was running my usual twitter search to see what people were saying about Russian language. And much to my surprise, I saw a few tweets to @aplusk, who I happen to know is the unofficial king of Twitter, himself, Ashton Kutcher. So I click on his twitter page, and sure enough, he’s in Russia.

I was a little surprised, so I immediately googled, “What’s Ashton Kutcher doing in Russia?”

Ashton Kutcher, Red Square
Photo by @aplusk (via twitpic)

As it turns out, he, along with other American Technology gurus, was participating in a State Department Delegation to Russia. To put it very briefly, the goal of the trip was to meet with Russian technology and community leaders to discuss how technology and social media can save the world.

For more information, see:

  • My google search
  • Ashton’s tweets from the trip (Search for #rustechdel on twitter to see all tweets about the delegation.)
  • Venture capitalist and fellow delegate, Esther Dyson’s flickr page for pics
  • A report on the outcome of the delegation in English or Russian

    • ***And finally, see Ashton talk about the trip live on USTREAM on February 25, 2010 at 10:00AM PST!!

    So here’s my question: Ashton, now that you’ve been to Russia and all, will you be participating in the Tweetup this Sunday??? (Hope to see you all there!!)

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    This entry was posted on February 24th, 2010 under Uncategorized.

    The Olympics Hockey

    By Karyn Dubravetz

    The 2010 Winter Olympics begin this Friday, February 12th. So I wanted to talk about which events Russia is expected to dominate in. But with the exception of a few figure skaters here and there, there is really only one sport to talk about when it comes to these games: Hockey!

    Now I don’t want to offend the other athletes. You can get the low-down on all the Russian sports here. But Russia is expected to take the gold in men’s hockey – in part because of the Washington Capitals’ own Alex “Ovie” Ovechkin (not to mention Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin and Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk).

    Alex Ovechkin
    Photo by clydeorama

    As someone who has lived in the DC area for a few years now, I am ashamed to admit that I have never seen this scary Russian in action. He was the NHL MVP for the last 2 seasons and was recently chosen as the new captain of the Capitals, whom he has lead to victory in their past 14 games!! (Game stats here.) He has already won too many awards and honors to mention in this blog, but you get all the info here.

    So if you want to check out Ovie and the other Russian hockey players in the Olympics, here is the schedule. And don’t forget to check back in 4 years, when the 2014 winter Olympics will be held in Sochi!!

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    This entry was posted on February 10th, 2010 under Uncategorized.

    Let’s tweet up!!

    By Karyn Dubravetz

    Something I have been wanting to do since I’ve been on Twitter is host a Russian language “Tweetup”. I organize real-world Meetups every week to practice Russian, so why not do the same thing on Twitter?

    So it’s settled, I’m hosting my first Russian Tweetup on February 28th at 1:00pm EST/GMT-5 (1:00pm = 21:00 Moscow time) and you’re invited! (Click here if you need help with time zones.)

    Tweetup!
    Photo by dicktay2000

    This is the first time I’m doing this, so it’s going to be a little experimental, but this is how it should work:

    • Everyone will log onto Twitter on the day and time specified above.
    • Simply tweet as you normally would, but follow each post with this hashtag: #rltu (Russian language Tweetup)
    • You will need to run a search for this hashtag to follow all the tweets. You can do this simply through Twitter, but it’s best to use an application like TweetDeck, or HootSuite.
    • The point is to practice Russian, so tweets should be in Russian.
    • It’s a good idea to have a Russian/English dictionary open at the same time in case you need help. Multitran.ru is a good one.
    • The Tweetup will last an hour.

    Well, I think that’s about it! Let me know if you have any questions, and I’ll be tweetin’ with you soon!

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    This entry was posted on February 3rd, 2010 under Uncategorized.

    To each his own (pancake)

    By Karyn Dubravetz

    They say that each culture has its own version of the pancake. Here’s an article on the topic, but I just have to point out that it claims that a blini (used as a singular noun) is Russian and a blintz is Jewish. Now I don’t know about the ethnicities of these pancakes, but as far as the language is concerned, a blintz is the English translation of the word блин. The plural form is блины in Russian or blintzes in English. Okay, I feel better now. (And don’t get me started on the word blinis!) Check dictionary.com for more.

    On a side note, the word блин is also used in slang to mean dang or darn.

    So, as some of my twitter followers already know, I had the pleasure attending my very first blini party this past weekend. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of the event, but basically there was a stack of blintzes that reminded me of this picture from Shel Silverstein’s “Where the Sidewalk Ends”.

    Here is the accompanying poem, if you’re interested:

    PANCAKE?

    Who wants a pancake, Sweet and piping hot? Good little Grace looks up and says, “I’ll take the one on top.” Who else wants a pancake, Fresh off the griddle? Terrible Teresa smiles and says, “I’ll take the one in the middle.”
    —Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends

    So we started with the stack of blintzes. Two stacks, actually – one sweet and one not-so-sweet. The not-so-sweet blintzes were accompanied by a choice of a mushroom sauce or a chicken and egg dish. Oh, and of course сметана – or sour cream! For the sweet blintzes, there was variety of fruit-related toppings. I have to admit, I filled up mostly on the sweet blintzes, topped with Nutella and bananas. What do you like with your блины?

    All of this deliciousness, was accompanied by an endless supply of mimosas – all in all, the perfect blini party!!

    A big shout out and thank you to my buddy, Alex, for inviting us!! Can’t wait for the next one!

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    This entry was posted on January 27th, 2010 under Uncategorized.

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