English speaking room

Nataly Thank you. Your information is very helpful. This is exactly what I was looking for. The insider opinion . I would never thought about AC problem or something getting wrong

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but it was very hot in our suite

and idea about a 4-desk boat - is very good. Again, I would not know that there are different boats. Here I just saw one advertising of Russia river cruise. So, what the minimum days would be enough to have a good trip? We don't have a long vacation here
and what cities are must to see? Thanks a lot

Esmira

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one day, maybe Hawaii but I am not big fan of flying so I postpone the trip to Hawaii for now. I am such a scary cat! girl_haha

Do not be scary! It is OK to fly. You are gonna love Hawaii! Plus, you can have an ocean cruise to there. I envy you ( in a good way) I did not see Bermuda, Bahamas or Caribbean. Heard - they are beautiful. How hard was to get the their visas? Do you even need a visa? [/quote]

Моментик писал(а):

So, what the minimum days would be enough

It depends on what cities and towns you'd like to see. I think it'd better to have a 5 day trip at the first go-of . Youl'll visit Uglich, Mishkin and Yaroslavl but spend the whole day in the last one. We were short of time that;s why our cruise was shorter and the boat wasn't not very comfortable.

Моментик писал(а):

I did not see Bermuda, Bahamas or Caribbean. Heard - they are beautiful. How hard was to get the their visas? Do you even need a visa? Do not be scary! It is OK to fly.

Yes, they sure are! Just what I love!

No, once you are an American Citizen you do not require a visa to these beautiful places, thanks God! Are you?


As to flying, what can I say? I just strongly dislike the idea so I try not to fly much. I finally got brave 2 years ago and went to see my relatives in Azerbaijan after 11 years of being away from them. I am planning to go to Russia next year. My sister lives in Sankt Peterburg and I am ashamed to admit I have never been there. Well, I am planning to change that.

What I also admired about those two cruises that I sailed from NY and came back. In order to go to Hawaii I have to fly first somewhere and I do not like that idea. Once I will finish with Russia I will go there as well one day.

NatalyS and Esmira

Thank you a lot for sharing your information.
No, I am not a citizen, so, it would be a visa problem, probably.
I guess, I also, first go to Russia and then to Bermuda, Bahamas or Caribbean.

Olga, no problem and you are more than welcome!

Yes, I am sure if you do not have USA passport you will require a Visa but you always can check that out.

Hello everybody,

may I join your English speaking room? NatalyS, thanks a lot for inviting - I am a new to this forum so haven't realised we've got such a chat..
Anyway, nice to meet all of you

Irina, welcome to our little comfy corner!

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Irina, welcome to our little comfy corner!

Thanks, Esmira!

Is it morning in the US now? I live in Leeds, UK, here it's just 7pm.[/b]

Hi Irina! Welcome to our group!
It is a morning in California US now is 11 am

Irina F.
Hello, hello, hello Glad to see you. It's very kind of you not to ignore my message. Hope to see yoy often here.

NatalyS,

no problem at all, I'll try to attend this room. Although I live in the UK now, for now I have only got Russian speaking friends here, so it's perfect opportunity to improve English and to get to know people from all over the world. Besides, people in West Yorkshire have specific pronounciation that can't be understood sometimes, also they are saying [u] instead of [a] in many cases.. like "bus" would sound like [bUs]

Nataly, you are English language teacher, aren't you? (I just started reading English speaking room from the 1st page )[/b]

Irina F. писал(а):

Nataly, you are English language teacher, aren't you? (I just started reading English speaking room from the 1st page

Quite right. I worked at school for 18 years, then at the institutes for 19 years. Now I'm retired but didn't stop teaching as far as it's impossible for a teacher to change life style. Moreover I like my profession. My former students live and work all over the world and I'm happy to hear from them from time to time.
If you have some problems with the language I'll be happy to help if certainly my professional level is appropriate.

Hi Моментик, nice to meet you! Enjoy your morning tea then

NatalyS, thank you! I think only the language teacher can notice mistakes that random people would never thought of - as you are used to keeping your eye on such details

Irina, it is 3:00 PM (afternoon) in NJ right now! I am done with the coffee for the day and looking forward to jump into the pool soon; the weather is perfect and will stay this way for the whole week. Lucky us! How is the weather by you?

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the weather is perfect and will stay this way for the whole week. Lucky us!

Esmira, that's right, you are lucky

We've got an usual English weather - it's not cold but quite changing - from sun to rain and back. The good thing about this - you can always be sure that sun will show up afterwards anyway

Irina, we have the same thing actually. I am just not crying, like most people, if it is raining and have the same attitude like you do. In fact, I was swimming in the rain the other day! Pretty crazy, I know, but I enjoyed it so much. There was one more person swimming so I am not only crazy person after all! It would not bother me at all if I would be all by myself as I am pretty determined and pretty much doing my own thing. If I am not hurting anyone, then I am OK, that is my attitude. Anyway, so this rain started and it was such a refreshing feeling that I kept swimming until they asked us to leave the pool. I guess, life guards are not as strong as we are, though they are just teenagers. Normally, they will not allow you to swim if it is thundering but this time the rain started to come like crazy so they decided to close the pool temporary. Well, I got my swimming session anyway, an about 50 minutes, so I went home with a smile on my face. So you know now that I am crazy person! We have any kind of people on this World and that is what keeps things interesting, right?

Irina F.

Nice to meet you. Welcome to our chat

For how long have you been living in Leeds?? Is it a big city?? I read that you have Royal Museum and Abbey somewhere nearby. Sorry for such a lot of questions, I'm dreaming about visiting Great Britain

Dear girls,

Nice to see that there are so many Russian English speaking people from all around the world. I live in London and I am new to this room (also thanks to Nathalie ) Interesting phenomenon: I always seem to make friends/acquaintances of all backgrounds, but British. Maybe this is due to the fact that I work in a multi-lingual environment. But the most interesting fact is that I have been incredibly surprized when someone French and Italian approached me at work and started speaking Russian (quite fluently and without mistakes). I, of course, started speaking very clearly and slowly to allow those girls some time to understand what I was saying etc.. but after a short while I realised that that was unnecessary. Also, last week, while a friend of mine and myself were having lunch in the park, an Indian man sitting close to us asked us to teach his 15-year old daughter some words in Russian. She was said to be fascinated about Russian language and could pronounce KGB in full, not abbreaviated.

As a conclusion to this one woman's speech I shall say that we should be proud of having Russian as a mother tongue, as if you think, it is a hard language to learn. Of course, we should also be proud of ourselves to be able to speak English . I fully support the idea of this chat room.

As a number of people on this forum seem to have migrated abroad, do you have any funny situations to share? E.g. when you didn't know how to express yourslef, or used a word that was not appropriate for the situation? or anything like that?

Hope to speak to you soon
Julia

Julia-Julia
Hello, Julie! glad to see you. I like your ideas about the position oh the Russian language in the international environment and like you I'm proud being Russian though it' doesn't mean that I don't treat people from other countries with respect. I do respect them. I wish I had more and more friends and good acquaintances from all over the world especially native speakers as far as modern world has become an international village where everybody and everything is connected or at least should be to understand each other better.
Thank you for your kind and interesting ideas.

Julia, I am impressed by your stories about other nationalities speaking fluent Russian, WOW! Unfortunately, when it comes to most Americans, they speak only English. I was fascinated by some teachers I had when we just came to this Country but never met anyone who is not a teacher and speak Russian. I do agree that Russian would be very difficult to learn as our grammar is pretty complicated. Once I will have my grandchildren, I am going to speak to them in Russian, as I am sure my kids will speak to them only in English. This way, my grandkids will know both languages. I certainly hope so as I speak English most of the time these days, even to my kids.

Esmira писал(а):

I am going to speak to them in Russian,

And it'll be right I have some friends and former students living in the English speaking countries. You see all of them do their best to make their children and grandchildren bilingual. when it comes to choosing a profession bilinguals have more opportunities as compared with those ones who speak one language. It's the same everywhere, that's why more and more young people do classes in foreign languages and English comes first. When I finished secondary school and chose the English department at the univesity my dad tried to make me give up the idea and study at the Russian department. At that time it was but natural as few specialists speaking English could get a decent job to earn their livelyhood. Fortunately it's different now.

Nataly, I can not be agree more! Also, being not only multilanguage person but exposed to other cultures I have noticed that it makes you well rounded and very understanding person, not judgmental. Also, I read and know from my own experience, that multilanguage people’s brain become more flexible so to speak, isn't it great! Lucky us! Well, I definitely feel it and so glad that I grew up in a multilanguage family!

Esmira and Nathalie,

It is definately great to be able to meet people of different nationalities and get to know their culture. I am personally really interested in international cuisine (although often I just have to have a break and return to the Russian one, which is most probably normal ). Oh, and that reminds me of the time when my Italian friend and I got together one evening to knit. My god! That was a great experience!!! The way she was knitting amazed me so much! I am not sure if it is typical Italian technique, but I've never seen anyone else knit that way. I will try to explain in more detail . Basically, she would put one needle under her arm and create the stiches by twisting/turning the yarn with fingers. She would use the second needle very little, just to help with formation of the loops/stiches. And of course the whole process was incredibly quick . Funny enough for me, she could not get her head around the way I knit (which is to me the very standard way of knitting ). I must say that all we did that evening was taking turn in watching each other knit . So, definately, international friendship is both educating and a great fun!

As for the children and grandchildren, I also support the idea that they would benefit from being brough up in multi-lingual families.

Esmira,

Esmira писал(а):

but exposed to other cultures I have noticed that it makes you well rounded and very understanding person, not judgmental

I fully agree with you

My husband and I don't have children yet, but we've already started thinking about what languages we should speak to our future children. And there the fun starts . I would like them to speak Russian and English in the first place (no arguement about that). As my husband is from Ukraine and I am from Estonia, I don't know if it would be wise to teach them a little bit of both as well.... And I also want them to speak French or German. So...we are still in the process of deciding who's going to speak what..



Nathalie,

NatalyS писал(а):

my dad tried to make me give up the idea and study at the Russian department

it must have been a challenge for you to go against your dad's will

Dear friends, I want you to see another fountain. It's in my native town and decorates the main square where all official events and not only official take place. It was opened 4 years ago and now it's one of the most favourite places.
The pfoto was taken from my former student's album. She lives in New Jersey and I hope Maria won't object.

Nice view! Especially with those lights on!