It’s that time of year: Americans are busy making — and breaking — their New Year’s resolutions. Russians are too smart to put themselves through such torture.

An effective way to accumulate new vocabulary is to learn words and phrases that have the same root.

On the language of fall and a changing climate.

In this issue's language learning page, we consider Russian songs about trees.

Yes, it is possible to be a Russophile and a Ukrainephile. We explain how.

If it’s hard to gracefully say “no” in English, how much harder is it in Russian, where dissembling requires linguistic gifts that you might not have yet developed?

Tough time learning Russian? It’s not just you. Russians themselves frequently struggle to determine what is “correct.” 

Sometimes a subway is just that. And sometimes it is not. On the perils of inter-lingual travel...

In early March, when Moscow is still buried under more than a meter of snow and people are buried under many inches of fur and heavy wool, there is nothing more annoying than Instagram photos of daffodils, forsythia and cherry blossom buds.

In which we use one of the most beloved songs from a classic film to make some points about genitive case. Get singing!

In honor of the anniversary of the film «Бриллиантовая рука» (“Diamond Arm”), this edition of Учитесь looks at some of the famous крылатые фразы (“winged phrases”), or idiomatic expressions that the film gave to the Russian language.

If a Russian fox met an American fox, would they get along? If Russian folklore is to be trusted, the answer is a definite нет (no).