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WARNING START You are browsing 2001-2004 newsletters archive
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2001
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2002
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2002
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2003
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Oops:)
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Away
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2004 |
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Dear Sir or Madam,
 It's
the end of summer already, time is flying fast... The summer has been fun
even though St Petersburg gets so crowded with all its visitors. It is
also the time when many St Petersburg natives try to get out of the city,
spend time at their suburban houses or go on on vacation. Just like most of my friends
did; now heading to south: Sochi, Adler and many other places on the Black sea... I am seriously considering a trip down
there too, just for a little swim and some sunbathing, you know.
Russian Lessons
from Peter
Or how not to get lost in St.Petersburg:
In the meantime though, while my friends are away, I am
all alone in this city. Well, not completely alone but almost ... Those of
my friends who are still here seem to be pretty busy. As you can imagine,
the old problem of communication has arisen again. But in a different way. I feel pretty confident meeting new people almost everywhere I go,
like clubs, bars, even shops sometimes. Yeah, it works just fine. But
then...
A couple of days ago I got some digits in the club. The
girl seemed really nice and all, but with a pretty strange name. I
still felt like calling her up for a drink and stuff. I mean it would have
been fun. So I did but... It wasn't her who answered the phone.
Why am I so sure, you ask? Well, very simply. It was a man, you can be
pretty sure. That very moment I realized, I have absolutely no idea of now
to ask for her. Like NONE.
I tried telling him the girls name, mumbling in English,
as always. Didn't work. I think I've heard something like "What an
idiot" before the guy hang up on me... What does this sad story have
to do with our lessons you ask? Nothing much really. Just to emphasize the
importance of telephone communication, I suppose. Plus I needed to get it
off my chess :-)
OK, here goes the lesson: When picking up the
phone, most Russian people say "Allo" which has no
actual meaning, this word is only used to answer the phone. Some also say "Da"
(or "Yes") or "Ya slushau" ("I'm
listening"). If you hear that and you are pretty certain this is
not the person you are calling, it is a wise idea to ask for them.
The official way to say "May I, please, speak to +
name of a person" is "Mogu ya pogavarit' s + name of a person +
pazhaluista?" although most people shorten it to "Mozhna
+ name of a person" (please, keep in mind that the latter is
not acceptable in official conversations).
Another way to make it shorter but sound polite is "Pazavite,
pazhaluysta + name of a person". This can be literally
translated as "Could you, please, ask - name of a person - to the
telephone". Pretty funny, huh?
Well good luck with your telephone conversations while in
Russia and more Russian lessons in our future Newsletters!
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What's
new in Educacentre
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Russian for your job? Easy! Some
time ago I bumped into the guy that I used to know in college in
the Educacentre computer room. God, was I amazed. He was one of
those Russian Studies major, so I thought his Russian would be
perfect. And then I meet him in a Russian language school. Wow. He
told me his story though. He started working for a big
company here, doing Marketing and all sorts of Business talks for
them. In
less than a month he realized that he wasn't doing so well. Why? Oh
simply because his Russian wasn't good enough for serious
negotiations. He could speak freely about weather, food, outing and
all other aspects of social life. He could even read Dostoevsky in
the original. But he didn't feel confident enough at the meetings
and with business papers. He said he was close to despair
when he learned about the Russian for Specialists course in
EducaCentre. At first, he was a little skeptical about it, simply
because he's skeptical about everything. But it turned out to be
very effective, better than he thought it could be! If you feel
the same way, Russian for Specialists course at EducaCentre
may be a good choice for you. Or your employees. The courses,
specially designed for people who wish to feel confident using Russian in their
job, include Russian for Marketing, Banking, Tourism, Overseas Teachers
and many other areas. Ask Slava at rus@educacentre.net
if you'd like to know more.
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*****
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NEW!!! More
Feedbacks are added after a hot season!
EducaCentre's had a hot season this year! Many
students from all over the world have chosen to improve their
Russian here and have fun in St.Petersburg. I've met quite a few of them, they all
had so much fun together, you know, visiting places, going out,
doing sports, and all in Russian... Or at least EducaCentre stuff
wishes, they were speaking Russian all the time. Check out their
comments on EducaCentre here.
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*****
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HOT! To
Sochi on vacation!
In this case, I am using the word "hot" in its literal
meaning. Kate, one of the Educational Consultants of
EducaCentre, is on vacation in Sochi now. Sochi is probably the most
famous Russian resort down at the Black sea. The place is rather
unique because you have a really nice beach down at sea but if you
drive some 40 km eastwards, you hit the mountains where you can
still find some fresh snow good enough for skiing. Kate says she's having
a great time there. The rest of EducaCentre staff is dreaming they
were down in Sochi too. Interested in travelling to Sochi in person
and checking out what it's like? Just ask Irina at travel@educacentre.net.
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This month in
Saint Petersburg and Russia
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Get ready for September! August is a little strange
time here. For most people it's just the end of summer, good time for
vacation and all. But not so much for school kids, politicians and
journalists. They are getting ready for September 1st when the school
year starts for kids and hot political season starts for
the others. At least something to read in the newspapers again :-)
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Something that I've always fancied is experiments. Any sorts of experiments, in science,
literature, arts... But I could never imagine there could be a whole festival
on it. Yet there is one and it's being held for the forth time now. From August
21st through August 25th, the 4th International Festival on Arts and
Performance will be taking place at
Central Exhibition Hall "Manege". I'm really curious
what it is all about...
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*****
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Remember, I've mentioned this one earlier. August 28th
through September 1st, Exhibition Centre Lenexpo
at Gavan will be featuring the 11th World agricultural fair
"Russian Farmer". Everything about agricultural
equipment, products, flowers, technology and the biggest Russian
village festival of the year. Russian folk dancing and songs included!
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*****
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Did you know that only the Orthodox choral tradition developed without instrumental
accompaniment? Well, do not worry, I didn't know either. But now I
think it was very clever because the human voice seems to be the
perfect instrument. I mean good human voice, of course. If you want
some proof, just go to one of the concerts of the St Petersburg Male Voice Choir under Vadim Afanasiev. One of
Russia's best choral groups is giving concerts in
Peter and Paul Cathedral. The program includes religious works by Russian
composers and folk songs.
Concerts start at 7 p.m. every Friday until 13 September.
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*****
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Since my friends are gone now, I have plenty of free time for all the
cultural stuff again. But this exhibition I couldn't miss even if I
was the busiest man on Earth. Or maybe I could, who knows... Anyways,
from August 7th a retrospective exhibition of the modern American artist
George Segal (1924-2000) opened in the rooms of General
Staff at the Hermitage museum. All the stages of this master's creative life are
represented by 98 exhibits including sculpture, paintings and drawings. Open
through October 30th of this year!
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***** |
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Of course, some sport news are always coming up
in the summer. Some Summer sport news! For all hydroskiing (and
normal skiing) lovers the Hydroskiing Cup is taking place on 27th
and 28th of August at the Kirov Stadium in St
Petersburg. I wonder why I am not competing there too... Not enough
training, I guess. Those guys are true professionals, riding so fast
and doing all the jumps. Oh well, water-skiing itself is a lot of
fun, so I am simply doing it for the sake of water-skiing. Who needs
a title anyway.
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*****
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Saint-Petersburg Challenger by KINEX! The
end of August is bringing one more tennis tournament to St Petersburg.
Only for tennis professionals, the members of tennis association, this
time. August 29th through 31st at the open courts of the
St Petersburg Governor's tennis club. Well, at least
I'll get to see the tennis club itself if not play.
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You must be a little surprised that there are no
theatre news this month? Well, I should tell you that many of them
have closed their 2001/2002 season, and September will also bring the
opening of their new season of 2002/2003! Something to look forward
to, you know.
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***** |
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!!! See you next month with my new stories !!! |
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This is a monthly newsletter from your friendly travel
company EducaCentre/ Russian St.Petersburg Tours. Please,
contact
us if you have any questions about our offers and news.
We love hearing from you!!! If you do not wish to receive
our newsletter, please, fill in our
unsubscription form.
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Our best wishes for
this month.
Peter,
EducaCentre/Russian St.Petersburg Tours Team
e-mail : travel@educacentre.net
Web : www.educacentre.net
Phone +7-812-974-0373 Fax +7-812-974-0373
22 Sinopskaya emb., St. Petersburg 191167, Russia |
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