Learning Russian

Post date: Aug 23, 2015 4:45:20 PM

Greetings from Balkhash,

Having an interesting time here. Had my first real day of work since leaving London on Thursday night so starting to feel useful.

We flew into Almaty early on Friday and I checked out the city while my travel companions had some meetings - check out the pictures below.

In Kazakhstan they speak Russian and I have really been struggling to pick up any of the language. The sounds that you need to make are very different from English (forget about the characters!) so much so that the tongue of a native Russian speaker sits differently from that of someone who was brought up speaking English. The English speakers tongue will lay at rest touching the back of the top teeth while a Russian speakers tongue lies flat in their mouths while not in use.

Attached the list I've been using. Think I've got Hi and thank you mastered but the rest needs work.... but I did manage to get a black coffee and a bottle of water this morning without help. Fortunately Alexey, one of guys travelling is fluent so he does most of the ordering.

Off to bed now but will speak to you all soon.

Russian Greetings

Saying Thanks in Russian

Kazak Graveyard

Apologies

Saying Goodbye in Russian

Very nice bank

Speaking, Comprehension

Zenkov Cathedral