Sharing common roots, Russian and Ukrainian, at first glance, look very similar. This is not so. In reality Russian and Ukrainian have more differences than similarities. The following is an article that originally appeared on Russian7.ru (Русская Семерка). The original can be read here. The following translation to English has been provided by Lindsey Greytak, […]

Kulich (Кулич) is a lightly sweet, yeast-risen bread baked with considerable amounts of egg and butter. It may also contain raisins, almonds, candied or dried fruit, lemon zest, and various spices including cardamom and even saffron depending on the recipe and personal preferences. It is a tall, cylindrical-shaped bread with a rounded top, and it […]

International Women’s Day was first celebrated in St. Petersburg in 1913, declared by activists there and celebrated with rallies that demanded more rights. It did not become an official state holiday and day off, however, until 1965. In that year, March 8th was chosen as it marked the day when, in 1917, women again marched […]

SRAS has developed the test below to help you gauge your Russian language skills! Anyone interested in gaining more knowledge should check out the the resources under “language” on our main menu including especially our Resources for Students of Russian and the Russian Talking Phrasebook. You can also sign up to study Russian online or […]

The following TORFL reading comprehension practice test has been developed by SRAS based on the official TORFL test to help you gauge your knowledge of the Russian language! Anyone interested in gaining more knowledge should check out the the resources under “language” on our main menu including especially our Resources for Students of Russian and […]

The following TORFL grammar and vocabulary practice test has been developed by SRAS based on the official TORFL test to help you gauge your knowledge of the Russian language! Anyone interested in gaining more knowledge should check out the the resources under “language” on our main menu including especially our Resources for Students of Russian […]

The below test has been developed by SRAS to help you gauge your knowledge of the Russian language! Anyone interested in gaining more knowledge should check out the the resources under “language” on our main menu including especially our Resources for Students of Russian and the Russian Talking Phrasebook. You can also sign up to […]

Many American students of the Russian language take part in study abroad programs in such Russian-speaking countries such as Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, and Lithuania, to name a few. Kinginger (2009, p. 11) defines study abroad as “a temporary sojourn of pre-defined duration, undertaken for educational purposes.” After entering a new country and culture, these […]

Because historic travel diaries by definition capture moments of cross-cultural interaction, they often preserve important evidence of interethnic -and even inter-church- solidarity and strife. This essay hones in on one nineteenth-century, non-African diarist in Ethiopia in order to better understand how international Orthodox populations have related in the past, despite differences in culture and creed. […]

Medovukha (медовуха) is a Slavic honey-based alcoholic beverage. It is one of the most recent and perhaps the best known iteration of a long evolutionary tree of Russian honey-based beverages that can be traced all the way back to the Old Slavs. In Russia today, some argue that a return to these honey drinks, which […]

Kartoshka cake, known as in Russian as “пирожное картошка” (Pirozhnoe kartoshka – literally “cake potato”), or sometimes more affectionately just картошка (kartoshka – “potato”), is a mouthwatering pastry that takes many people from the former USSR back to their childhood. Once used to prevent food loss and combat shortages, kartoshka cake spread widely in the […]

Quarantine Diaries is a series of free language lessons from SRAS. Each lesson can take a variety of forms but all focus on building intermediate and advanced vocabulary and listening skills. Read the text and familiarize yourself with the new vocabulary (you can hover over the bold Russian to reveal its English translation). Then, watch […]