{"id":9950,"date":"2024-02-10T21:59:37","date_gmt":"2024-02-10T19:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/?p=9950"},"modified":"2024-02-10T22:54:58","modified_gmt":"2024-02-10T20:54:58","slug":"learn-to-speak-russian-in-1000-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/learn-to-speak-russian-in-1000-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn to Speak Russian in 1000 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The cynic’s guide to speaking Russian fluently even if no one understands you … least of all yourself<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

10 February 2024 ~ Learn to Speak Russian in 1000 years<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whenever anybody hears about my associations with Russia, once they have voiced the usual prejudices and have stopped tutting and shaking their heads or staring at me in abject astonishment, I am often asked \u201cCan you speak Russian?\u201d They obviously don\u2019t expect or want an affirmative answer, so I oblige them with, \u201cDon\u2019t be ridiculous! Russian is such a complicated language even the Russians can\u2019t speak it!\u201d Most Brits tend to take the answer at face value and, instead of having a chuckle, look at me with solemn sincerity and nod their heads in a sanguine way. Ahh, now it all makes sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That having been said, I remember remarking to our late friend Stas<\/a> that in attempting to learn the Russian language, I was having difficulty following and even determining some of the rules. To this, he replied cynically, \u201cWell, what do you expect? This is Russia not England. Which rules are you referring to?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what is it that is so difficult about being English when it comes to speaking Russian? The quick, but insoluble, answer lies in the juxtaposition, English-Russian. Historically, the ‘West’s understanding of Russia, all things Russian and Russians themselves has been mired in myth, misconception, intentional and unintentional myopias and homespun mystery. Consider Winston Churchill\u2019s cryptic comment: \u201cRussia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma\u201d. By accepting his definition, Stas\u2019s \u201cWhich rules are you referring to?\u201d is meaningfully abstruse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, if you take politics and the latent desire not to understand out of the equation, the fact remains that linguistically, grammatically, syntactically and the rest, the inherent dissimilarities that exist between the Russian and English languages are so obvious that gradually not being able to speak or understand it makes infinite more sense than otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the course of my studies, I have arrived at the near paradoxical point where I can speak Russian, basic Russian, better than understanding it. Patience on the part of the second party helps, since patience is a confidence-builder. (Please be gentle with me; I am but a language virgin \u2026) But patience is a virtue which, like decency and common courtesy, is fast going out of fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the real world (and that\u2019s a scary place, isn\u2019t it!), whenever I listen to, or listen in, on other people\u2019s conversations, I very often catch enough of their words and phrases to get the gist of what they are talking about, and as I am constantly working hard on expanding my vocabulary, I\u2019m getting slowly but progressively better. Besides, the way I see it, the effort and mental concentration involved in attempting to learn a second language, irrelevant of success, has to be good ooprasnernia <\/em>(exercise) for my starry oom<\/em> (old brain).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you know?<\/strong>
Russian is the third most difficult language in the world to learn, superseded only by Mandarin and Arabic!<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I am not sure how many different ways, scientifically proven or hearsayed, exist for learning languages. By all authoritative accounts, the one that rates most highly for success is being born into the culture of the language taught at birth, which, the experts tell us, is the language one will most likely master. However, exceptions to that rule exist. In Britain ~ especially in Britain ~ not everyone speaks their native tongue and many of those that do, either speak a different language or just speak gibberish (especially Liberals). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversational language courses<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

An all-time and back-dating favourite of year-dot language learners has to be the learn-from-recordings method. As an antiques junkie, I have often turned up old 78rpm record sets called \u2018Conversational Courses\u2019 that promised the would-be linguist that all it takes to learn the language of their choice is to drop the needle into the groove and listen yourself proficient. The fact that so many of these cased record sets have survived, and a disproportionate number with the disks in better condition than the protective cases themselves, would seem to suggest that the eager students’ initial enthusiasm quickly fizzled out on making the discovery that whilst sales talk may sell records it doesn\u2019t necessarily a fluent speaker make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, since the dawn of this methodology, which first saw light in the early 1900s, learning how to speak sales has never been less problematic. Every generation has been faithfully supplied with its version of the shellac-based miracle language-learning recording, along with the proven art and science that by combining the spoken and written word vintage dealers such as myself are destined to uncover in virtually every house clearance throughout the land a boxed set of language recordings and the booklets that accompanied them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, over the decades, we have seen vinyl \u2018conversational courses\u2019 supported by written work, books adorned with reel-to-reel tapes, partwork publications married to cassettes and, since the advent of the good old internet, a veritable explosion of visual aids, podcasts, YouTube videos and interactive learning programmes all purporting that they can provide a fast-track lane for learning languages. Not that this approach is resoundingly futile for everyone, it\u2019s just the \u2018fast and easy\u2019 that you need take with a pinch of salt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Four easy steps to learning Russian<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To be frank, I have not the slightest idea which of the many language-learning techniques flaunted as the most effective has the edge on the other, but what I have gleaned from discussions on the subject, and from my own experience, is that in the world of learning per se, there are two preferred often separate approaches, the one being auditory, the other visual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take me, for example, at the risk of sounding voyeuristic, I can categorically state that I am a visually dominant learner. In other words, I memorise what I see better than what I hear. Whilst this propensity doubtlessly has its advantages, ie there\u2019s a lot to learn from peeping through keyholes, I cannot help suspecting that when it comes to learning the spoken language any advantage attributed to a photographic memory is relegated to second place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Illustrative of this could be when someone shouts F..k Off! Assuming you are a visual learner and the recipient of this imperative, if at the time the instruction was given you happened to have no visual contact, learnability could be gravely compromised, depriving you of the resolve to act, whereas a learner in the auditory class would get the message loud and clear, quicker than you could see Jack Robinson, and presumably without hesitation would swiftly arrive at the understanding that he or she is longer required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn to speak Russian the visual way<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To learn a language by the visual method, it is necessary to write out the phonetic spelling of each and every particular word and commit them to memory. Writing them repetitively after the fashion of writing lines at school for having been caught doing something you should never have been caught for, eg \u201cI must not whinge when I am made to write lines at school, because that is what woke people do\u201d, is a good way of hammering home the words you are trying to learn. You can also mimic your auditory peers by saying the words out loud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, on those occasions when I am secretly being big headed, I will take the words that I have photographed cerebrally and think the pictures through until they form and move in streams of language, thus creating sentences in my mind which I can ‘speak’ at the pace I would normally utter them. In this way, I am learning language according to my visual penchant and also listening to myself in an auditory fashion, although the only one who knows this, and the only one who can hear me doing it, is nobody else but me [a peel of fiendish laughter!]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whoever we are and however we do it, when we come to speaking a second language, that is speaking language out loud, mistakes inevitably happen. It is only natural and also unnatural, for example think of Biden. The sounds of our own language, our native language, are familiarly attributable, whereas the sounds of a second language are, particularly during the early days of learning, mere alien substitutions, seemingly made to trip you up. Sometimes, when I am actually speaking Russian, that is speaking Russian to Russian people and know I have made a mistake, I simply think \u2018Good moaning\u2019. It always brings a smile to my face. To paraphrase the great bard, \u201cTo err is to be stupid\u201d. And he really does have a point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The numeric problem<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Numerically challenged, and there are few so numerically challenged as I, (I got a grade 9 CSE in maths), getting my head around Russian numerals is like trying to comprehend why inadequate people need lots of friends on their social media page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a day-to-day basis, my latent numerical deficiency exposes itself at worst when I go to the supermarket. It\u2019s all well and good to boast that I can count to one hundred in Russian, but as the Russian currency routinely extends into thousands and multiples thereof, I can find myself at the checkout till in a right old two and eight (and they said he couldn\u2019t count!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily for me, the local supermarket checkout ladies are willing to make allowances. They see this silly old bugger, an Englishman, heading their way with his burgeoning basket of produce the cost of which he cannot add up let alone put into words, and they know it\u2019s back to primary school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is one till in the local shop the payment screen of which is a\u00a0 close-guarded secret to customers. Without this visual aid, all I hear is a \u2018grr, grr, grr\u2019 as the shop assistant asks for payment.\u00a0How I get around this problem is to think myself Squint Westwood, hand the lady a fistful of roubles and then on receiving the change, along with my receipt, walk away looking tall as if I have done something clever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But enough of this idle waffling. Let\u2019s consider some of the inherent difficulties the English person will encounter in his or her attempt to master spoken Russian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I were to say to you, and I am going to, \u2018masculine, feminine, neuter\u2019, you, being English, wouldn\u2019t be too surprised, although you might feel inclined to ask, \u2018Don\u2019t you mean gender-neutral?\u2019 and \u2018Would it not be more inclusive to give equal preference to the non-binary?\u2019 To which I would typically reply, \u201cDon\u2019t be so daft, you silly old leftie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the context of the Russian language \u2018masculine, feminine and neuter\u2019 are the three categories of noun gender. So, how does one know which words in Russian belong to which gender? The \u2018Learn Russian the Day Before You Thought of Learning It\u2019 books, tell you that the secret lies in the last letter of the noun. Thus, masculine words end in a consonant or the letter \u2018\u0439\u2019; feminine words in the letter \u2018a\u2019 or \u2018\u044f\u2019; and neuter in an \u2018o\u2019 or \u2018e\u2019. However, if the last letter is a \u2018soft sign\u2019 \u2018\u044c\u2019, it might be masculine or it might be feminine. \u201cAh, so, the Russian language suffers from the same problem we have in the UK when it comes to gender identity!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not exactly, but one thing for certain is that my way of visual learning does not like it. To best enable my memory to flag which noun goes with which gender type, I have had to create a table and separate the different nouns into three vertical columns headed up by the three noun genders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To give you some idea of the complications involved, let\u2019s now take a look at the way in which possessive pronouns work with gender. For example, the seemingly innocent and simple word \u2018my\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Russian, there are three permutations of the word \u2018my\u2019, each governed by gender association. Thus:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My (+ masculine noun) = Moy
My (+ feminine noun) = Miya
My (+ neuter noun) = Miyor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, you don\u2019t, because there is in  fact a third form and that comes into play when the word \u2018my\u2019 is used in conjunction with plural nouns. The plural form of \u2018my\u2019 is \u2018miyee\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, if that isn\u2019t bad enough for native English speakers to get their heads around, each possessive variant changes according to who is doing the possessing, ie \u2018my\u2019, \u2018your(s)\u2019, \u2018his\u2019, \u2018hers\u2019, \u2018its\u2019 \u2018ours\u2019 \u2018theirs\u2019. Easy peasy, no it \u2018aint, because there are two types of \u2018your(s)\u2019: the first used when you know somebody well and the second used when you don\u2019t; in other words, type 1 is familiar and type 2 formal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I cannot understand why nationals of the West have difficulty understanding their counterparts in the East, can you?<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Unlike the Cold War of days gone by and the disavowed cold war of today, the language cold war has been going on for centuries and shows every sign of abating never.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now let\u2019s take a look at verb endings but, for the sake of  brevity, in the present tense only. The endings of verbs, and indeed other words, in Russian tend to change faster than couples at a swingers\u2019 party. That prompts the example \u2018To love\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018To love\u2019 in Russian is the same as \u2018to like\u2019. I\u2019m not sure how you navigate the difference with a verb like this, when, for instance, you are talking about your history teacher. \u2018I like\/I love my (Moy? Miya? Miyor? Miyee?) history teacher\u2019, but let\u2019s not go there and press on with our verb-ending example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The infinitive of \u2018to love\/to like\u2019 in Russian is \u2018Lubits\u2019. And here are the variations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love = Ya lubloo
You love = Tey lubish
He\/she loves = On\/Ana lubit
You (formal) loves = Vey lubitye
We love = Mey lubim
*They love = Anee lubyat <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Note that the ending here has a \u2018yat\u2019 sound, but don\u2019t be fooled by this. Mysteriously, and for no apparent reason other than with some words it sounds phonetically better, the ending \u2018yat\u2019 can turn to \u2018yoot\u2019, as in \u2018they sell\u2019: \u2018Anee pradayoot\u2019.  And don\u2019t forget that here we are dealing with the present tense only. There are different forms and rules for the past and future tenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When making the comparative transference of English to Russian and vice versa, the two languages throw up all sorts of interesting and perplexing anomalies. The above are just two examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is another: \u2018to have\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, based on what has been said already, you might think that \u2018I have\u2019, \u2018you have\u2019 etc, would follow the same pattern as that already demonstrated, as in \u2018Ya\u2019, \u2018Tey\u2019, \u2018On\u2019 etc. But, as far as I can make out, not so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My understanding of this usage goes something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have = oo minya yest
You have = oo tebia yest
 He has = oo nevor yest
She has = oo neyor yest
You have (formal) = oo vas yest
We have = oo nas yest
They have = oo nihu yest

What was it my late friend Stas said, \u201cWhich rules are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word for \u2018what\u2019 in Russian is \u2018shtor\u2019. So, you would naturally presume that the question, \u201cWhat is your name?\u2019 would begin with \u2018shtor\u2019, but that\u2019s where you\u2019d be wrong, because the word \u2018shtor\u2019 in this phrase is substituted with \u2018kak\u2019, which means, among other things, \u2018how\u2019. So, the question \u2018What is your name?\u2019 becomes \u2018Kak tebia zavoot?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It couldn\u2019t be simpler if you wanted it to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, let\u2019s recap on what I stated earlier about the two fundamental and essential approaches to learning a second language (because after learning a second language, only child prodigies and masochists go on to learn a third and more).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two types of language learner and some of those are bi (It\u2019s not what you think, I hope!) Some people are auditory learners, they learn not only language but almost everything around them by listening, or, as you might say in colloquial terms, \u2018ear-oling\u2019. Others are visual learners; they remember what they have clocked with their eyes. Often auditory learners and visual learners live in entirely different learning dimensions, but there are some, as in all walks of life, that are apt to swing both ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, where language is concerned and, by extension, in every other sphere of my life, I am a visual learner. In other words, I retain things through visual memory. This can be extremely useful in certain circumstances but a bugbear in others, and it is my belief that when it comes to learning languages the auditory learner has the edge. For a visual learner like me, a person who retains things better by sight than by ear, the only sure-fired way of retaining language, ie memorising vocabulary, is to write down the word in English and then visually, as well as audibly, memorise the phonetic version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Learn
The visual language-learner at work<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have been told that I should listen to auditory recordings in Russian and watch more Russian films, films with subtitles, as an aid to learning, but so far, as well as eavesdropping on Russian conversations, I have attained little success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequently, I now find myself in the peculiar position of being able to speak basic Russian better than I can understand basic Russian: \u2018shtor?\u2019 But one continues and perseveres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One method of vocabulary expansion that is often ridiculed, but which in my case works, is to associate the sound of the Russian word I am learning with a word I know in English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some examples of words that I have learnt using the \u2018association method\u2019: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ootoog <\/em>(iron, as in clothes iron) think \u2018YouTube\u2019
Gavyadinner<\/em> (meat), easy-peasy (Have yu dinner) ~  similar to Cockney rhyming slang
Shootka <\/em>(joke) (shoot yer)
Paul<\/em> (floor) I think of one of my favourite uncles
Pay lee sauce<\/em> (vacuum cleaner). I think \u2018pay for your sauce\u2019 and sometimes \u2018Lea\u2019 as in Lea and Perrins
Simpatichnee<\/em> (handsome). I pick up my smartarse phone, suck in my cheeks, angle my head, press the button and think \u201cMe, Me, Me!\u201d (In spite of the fact it\u2019s not me at all.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there is \u2018morzhit bates\u2019 (possibly). I\u2019ll leave you to work out the word association for that one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn to speak Russian using rude words<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Go on, you are dying to ask: What about rude and impolite words?

According to language specialists, obscenities are the first words of any new language learnt. I bet you know all of those, Mick. Well, no, as it happens, I don\u2019t.  Although I have been told some of the mucky words in Russian, I haven\u2019t taken enough interest in them to remember them with any degree of accuracy. This can only work in one\u2019s favour, as by lacking usage confidence one is hardly likely to run the risk of bringing them into play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All languages contain comparatively much longer words than the native language equivalents, and these can arrest the speed of learning: \u2018Padbarroardock\u2019 is a good example, the English equivalent of which is \u2018chin\u2019. Then there is \u2018nearcartourrayear\u2019, \u2018some\u2019; and \u2018zharkvartayviushi\u2019, which means \u2018fascinating\u2019, which is conveniently close to frustrating. The consolatory fact about long words is that once you have taken the trouble to learn them, they lodge themselves in your mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Somewordsaresolongthattryasyoumightyouwillneverbeabletorememberthem\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Stress. Yes, learning a language is stress full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find that the stress in most Russian words fall within the word exactly where in the English equivalent you would not expect it to be. For example, take the word \u2018Bagati\u2019 in Russian, meaning \u2018rich\u2019. My natural predilection is to place the stress on the first part of the word, \u2018bag\u2019, but in fact it should be at the end of the word, \u2018ati\u2019. Similarly with the word \u2018savings\u2019, \u2018zbier rear zhen eeya\u2019. Every part of my linguistic soul screams out to place the stress on \u2018zbier\u2019, but correct me if I am wrong, and I was, the stress occurs on \u2018zhen\u2019. Similar with the noun \u2018woman\u2019, \u2018zhensheena\u2019. Put the stress on \u2018zhen\u2019 and there\u2019s nothing simpler, but shift it along to \u2018sheena\u2019, and the word becomes as difficult as the object that it references.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning to speak Russian, and to understand Russian when people (Ludi) speak to you, can be \u2018troudnay\u2019 (difficult\/problematic) and very often \u2018raz dra zha ushi\u2019 (annoying) when the stress belies anticipation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the assumed and more often than not justified complexity of language learning, it is not surprising that the language aids that people instinctively reach for are those which attach importance to the concepts of \u2018fast\u2019 and \u2018easy\u2019. The proliferation of technological language portals are still matched by\u00a0 a prodigious number of learn lingo fast books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forget them. Learn Russian in Five Minutes <\/em>or Learn Russian Instantly Whilst Standing with Your Trousers Down on the Edge of the M25<\/em> may seem an appealing and credible way of doing it, but why would you, unless, of course, you happen to bear an uncanny resemblance to your worst best friend. For most people, excluding the most linguistically gifted, learning Russian is going to be hard graft. It takes perseverance, commitment and dedication. I haven\u2019t a clue where these are coming from, perhaps they arrived in a boat at Dover, but I am grateful for their assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russian is a hard nut to crack (I\u2019m talking about the language, but \u2026). In fact, the only other language that might prove considerably more difficult for English people to learn has to be American. This is especially true whenever Democrats open their mouths. They just never seem to make sense.\u00a0 So, if you are English and off to America remember to take your translation app. And if you are English and off to Russia, remember what I have told you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2018-2024 Mick Hart. All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image attributions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stack of books:<\/strong> https:\/\/publicdomainvectors.org\/en\/free-clipart\/Education-learning-concept\/89745.html<\/a>
Confused lady:<\/strong> https:\/\/publicdomainvectors.org\/en\/free-clipart\/Confused-lady-image\/70851.html<\/a>
William Shakespeare:<\/strong> https:\/\/publicdomainvectors.org\/en\/free-clipart\/William-Shakespeare-portrait\/81511.html<\/a>
Man in front of Gramophone:<\/strong> https:\/\/publicdomainvectors.org\/photocms\/files1\/Man-listening-to-Gramophone-Detailed.svg<\/a>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cynic’s guide to speaking Russian fluently even if no one understands you … least of all yourself 10 February 2024 ~ Learn to Speak Russian in 1000 years Whenever anybody hears about my associations with Russia, once they have voiced the usual prejudices and have stopped tutting and shaking their heads or staring at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130],"tags":[2286,2287,2290,2291,2288,2289],"class_list":["post-9950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-life-in-kaliningrad","tag-learn-to-speak-russian","tag-learn-to-speak-russian-in-1000-years","tag-learning-to-speak-russian","tag-russian-is-a-difficult-language","tag-speaking-russian-fluently","tag-stas-tour-guide"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Learning-spoken-Russian.jpg?fit=963%2C1136&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7784,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/toast-making-in-russia-an-important-tradition\/","url_meta":{"origin":9950,"position":0},"title":"Toast Making in Russia an Important Tradition","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"18 \u043e\u043a\u0442\u044f\u0431\u0440\u044f, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"There's more to it than Na zdorovye! Published: 19 October 2022 ~ Toast Making in Russia an Important Tradition One of the great joys of making friends in Russia is the party invitation. 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