Talk Russian!

I am no good at foreign languages. I think it is something to do with my creative intelligence ;-) Actually, learning new words is just a drag and I can't be bothered. At odds with this is my fascination with 'language'. I know a lot about the roots and origins of english words and this can be very helpful when trying to decipher foreign languages.
I only spend two months at any one time in Russia and so I have a limited time to aclimatise myself to the language. I have a well established vocabulary now of about 80 words. My finest hour with the Russian language was when I bought and paid for 5 kg of potatoes from a street vendor.
Enough about my stupidity!
As most of us know Russian has its own peculiar alphabet - Cyrillic - named after an Orthodox Saint called Cyril. It has 33 letters, many shared in common with our own alphabet. It is almost consistently phonically regular i.e. with few exceptions each letter keeps its own unique sound no matter where it is found.
Once you have mastered the alphabet it becomes surprisingly easy to decipher many words as there is a significant common vocabulary with english. Words such as computer, menu, telephone, minute, technology etc. are there in their Russian shape.
A car in Russia is feminine!Yes, like a lot of foreign languages it is complicated by the mysterious need to give a gender to inanimate objects. I have not yet worked out why this is necessary, or how it should evolve in one language and not in another. No one seems able to explain it.
English is taught in all Russian schools so if you visit you will be able to get by with english. I was approached by a shop assistant once and replied 'Ya ne gavario pa Ruski'(I don't speak Russian). He replied, 'OK then, we'll speak in English.'
His accent was perfect:-)

Do svedanya,

Graham

Factoid: The word in Russian for man (Moshina) is feminine.