Этот трудный русский язык

[gera.livejournal.com]

Dear Russian learners,

what aspects of the Russian language do you find most difficult?

Здесь и сейчас; всё и сразу

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

The tricky thing about learning another language through LJ communities is the following:
- if you ask it in a community of those who speak your own language (russian for me), you can't be sure the answer is correct (yes, I don't believe in new language stuff intill I find it at least thrice in books, or come over it in a conversation with a native speaker)
- if you ask in a community where the native speakers gather, you (mainly) have to use english. (But hey, I have problems with translating something into english! )

I need your help with the following expressions: Здесь и сейчас; всё и сразу. I will try to explain their meaning.

Здесь и сейчас - puts an emphasis on the fact that something is happening this very moment. For example, "Я хочу жить здесь и сейчас, надоело прятаться в вымышленном мире", which could be translated "I want to live here and now, I'm tired of hiding in the world I only imagine".

Всё и сразу - if you want a lot, but also know it can't be achieved at once, you say "Я хочу всё и сразу", "I want everything and at once" for example, I say it when I want to speak french nicely after only one year of studing it.

Is there a nicer english way to say it?

Pronunciation question

[apollotiger.livejournal.com]

When you have an unstressed о and an unstressed а next to one another (e.g. фотоаппарат), do you just hold the sound a little longer?

An hour and a half

[ob-ivan.livejournal.com]

I'd like to warn you about one slight difference between English (as well as some other European) and Russian the so called "irregular fractions", that is, which have numerator greater than denominator, and thus, are more than a unit. The difference concerns only fractions when used together with a noun that is being counted (examples follow).

The English tradition is to read them following the scheme:
integer part - noun - "and" - fractional part

The main example:
- 90 minutes is said as *subj*: one hour and a half

Sometimes this tradition spreads also to "hundred", "thousand" and other words:
- 2,500 = "two thousand and a half" (i believe this to be rare, though :)

In Russian you never name a noun before the whole fraction is named. That is, one should use the scheme:
integer part - fractional part - noun

The main example:
- 90 минут - это один с половиной час,
or, more likely, "полтора часа".

Remember! The Russian has the special word for 3/2: полторá (declined irregularly; i post the declination if you will be liking me to)

The second example:
- две с половиной тысячи.

Note also, that with "a half" we usually use the "с" pronoun, instrumental case follows. If the fractional part is other than a half, we use the "и" conjunction:

- Две и две трети ноги - это не так уж мало!
- Two legs and two thirds is not what you call "a few"!

update. Find out more in comments!

survey

[ex-qnn171.livejournal.com]

Hello!
I need to take a little survey for our study of status of Russian language in the world (which is being performed by Russian Ministry of Education), so I would be glad to get as many answers to these questions as possible:
1. Why did you decide to learn Russian?
2. Do you intend to visit Russia for the purpose of language practise?
3. Tell something about yourself.
Thanks in advance!