How i became russian

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

How I Became Russian (Chinese: 战斗民族养成记 ; Russian: Как я стал русским ) is a 2019 Chinese-Russian romantic comedy film directed by Xia Hao and Akaki Sakhelashvili, written by Andrey Zolotarev and Lei Guanglin, and starring Dong Chang, Vitaliy Khaev, Elizaveta Kononowa, and Sergey Chirkov. [1] [2] [3] The film is an adaptation of the 2015 Russian comedy television series of the same name. The film premiered in Russia on 17 January 2019, and opened in China on 24 January 2019. The film follows a young Chinese man named Peng Peng as he tries to win the right to marry the Russian woman he fell in love with by overcoming trials that his would-be father-in-law creates for him. [4] [5]

Production

This film was shot in both Russia and China. Filming took place in Moscow, Beijing, and Shanghai in 2018.

Release

In November 2018, the producers announced that the film was scheduled for release on January 24, 2019.

How Russian differs from other Slavic languages

Legion Media; Russia Beyond

Where did Slavic languages come from and who speaks them?

In the 7th century, as the Slavic tribes subdivided into three groups, so did the Proto-Slavic language, each with its own lexical, morphological, phonetic and grammatical features:

Slavic languages modern map

In fact, the Slavic language group is even more numerous if you count all the regional dialects and the languages of peoples that do not have their own states (such as Lusatian Sorbs, Rusyns, Kashubians and others).

So how is Russian similar to and different from other Slavic languages?

Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian

The very fact that these three languages belong to the same group (East Slavic) suggests that Ukrainian and Belarusian are the Russian language’s closest relatives. Until the 13th-14th centuries, Eastern Slavs spoke Old East Slavic, from which the three separate languages developed over time.

Despite the cultural and historical affinity of the three languages, there are many more differences between them than is commonly thought.

Also, Ukrainian has a past perfect tense (знав був), which Russian does not.

All the three languages use the Cyrillic alphabet, although Ukrainian and Belarusian have some letters that Russian does not:

That said, if you know Russian, you will have no trouble reading the other two languages. Whether you are able to understand what you have read is another matter.

Russian and West Slavic group

This group of Slavic languages includes Polish, Czech and Slovak. They contain many borrowings from German, French, Italian and Latin. In addition, phonetically, they are the most different from Russian, so the chance that knowledge of Russian would help you understand what speakers of these languages say is not very big.

Besides, these languages have sounds that are not found in other Slavic tongues: in Czech, it is the consonant denoted by the letter ř [рж] and in Polish, these are the nasal vowels denoted by the letters ą and ę.

And now the hardest part. If you pride yourself on having mastered the Russian cases and declensions of nouns, adjectives and pronouns, brace yourself: it was just a warm-up! While Russian has only three declensions, Slovak has 12 and Czech as many as 14! Add to it hard and soft varieties of adjectives, which also have singular and plural forms and three genders and you can imagine the number of declension forms there!

Russian and the South Slavic group

— Serbian and Croatian:

In Yugoslavia, Serbian and Croatian were considered a single Serbo-Croatian language with minor regional differences. At the same time, in Croatia only Latin script was used, while in Serbia both Latin and Cyrillic scripts were used.

Most of the letters in the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet are identical to those in the Russian alphabet (with the exception of Ё, Й, Щ, Ъ, Ы, Ь, Э, Ю and Я), but there are also some unique letters that will have to be learned separately: Ј, Ћ, Ђ, Њ, Љ and Џ. Unlike in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet, each letter represents only one sound!

Also, if you speak Russian, you will not be surprised to discover that the stress can fall on any vowel in a word. Yet, there is one “pleasant” surprise: the language of Emir Kusturica and Nikola Tesla has “‘only” four types of stress and vowel length (they depend on which case the word is in), but they may determine the meaning of the word. By the way, mastering Serbian pitch accent is an almost impossible task for a foreigner!

— Bulgarian and Macedonian:

If once, you spent a lot of time learning Russian cases, now you can forget all about them! When it comes to these two languages, the knowledge of cases will be irrelevant, since they no longer have a system of declensional endings. That is why, speaking in Russian, a Bulgarian can easily say: “Эта дыня из мой папа сад!” (“This melon is from my Dad’s garden!”) Yes, Russian declensions can be a pain for speakers of other Slavic languages!

And the cherry on top: a devilishly complex system of tenses. The South Slavic group has nine tenses! Yes, you heard right.

— Slovenian:

A unique feature of this language is that, in addition to singular and plural, it also has the dual number, i.e. special forms used when talking of two objects or persons.

For example, in the sentence “The apple is red. / The apples are red”:

Jabolko je rdeče. (singular)

Jabolki sta rdeči. (dual)

Jabolka so rdeča. (plural)

Bilinguals and foreigners who speak Russian and other Slavic languages share their experience

“I don’t think that my knowledge of two Slavic languages has in any way helped me in learning Russian. Rather the opposite. For me, the biggest challenges are word order, transitivity and the pronunciation of some sounds.

But it is just me. I know a Serbian woman who speaks perfect Russian, but she has no notion of any Russian grammar rules. I also know quite a few Serbs who have lived in Russia for decades and still speak Pidgin Russian.

The vocabulary, of course, is similar, but there are many cognates that have different meanings, so there is a danger of saying something completely different from what you meant. A Russian lecturer I knew (who is half-Macedonian) could, speaking in Russian, literally translate the Macedonian expression: ‘пукнав од смеа’ (‘split one’s sides laughing’) as: “пукнуть со смеху” (‘fart with laughter’).

Of course, Slavic languages are similar. But if you set yourself high goals, for a Slav it should be all the same whether they are studying Russian or Papuan. The goal is the same.”

“I grew up in a bilingual Russian-Bulgarian family. My parents became fluent in each other’s language. Having settled in Russia, over time, my dad learned to speak perfect Russian and fully assimilated in Russia. Although, when he first arrived in Moscow as a 20-year-old student, he knew the language at the school curriculum level (in socialist Bulgaria, Russian was part of the curriculum). So, at first, there were some amusing incidents involving his Russian. For example, once, while telling my (future) mom about his hometown, he said: ‘All our roofs are covered…’ There was a pause, as he was searching for the right word, ‘…with turtles…’ (Of course, he meant ‘tiles’ [черепица], but confused it with ‘turtle’ [черепаха])”

“I have no doubt that knowledge of Russian helps in studying other Slavic languages, but one cannot say that it always leads to learning them well. At the initial stage of learning [another Slavic language], Russian helps to quickly navigate the grammar and it may seem that everything is very simple and understandable precisely because of Russian. However, at a more advanced stage, one has to ‘forget’ one’s Russian, since it stands in the way of grasping the peculiarities of the other language and mastering it in a more natural way. It is better to start thinking in the other language and avoiding the thought: ‘How will it be in Russian?’ I faced this problem more than once when I was studying, for example, Serbian, Bulgarian and Rysian. That said, it pleases me to remember how during my first trip to Serbia I noticed that I was speaking Serbian ‘with a Russian accent’. But, on the other hand, I realized then that I needed to somehow get rid of my ‘bad’ habits in order to start speaking Serbian for real. After that, Russian and Serbian became completely different languages in my head, and I stopped confusing their vocabulary and grammar.”

If using any of Russia Beyond’s content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.

Russian accent? That can be a piece of cake! Part 2: Check out our list of 8 Russian series

In Part 1 of our blog post series on mastering Russian pronunciation and acquiring a good accent, we covered a list of podcasts worth listening to, so that you won’t get lost in the sea of options.

Today, we’re going to have a closer look at popular Russian series. Although these are not the best language-learning resource for beginners, you can definitely give them a try if you are at least on a lower intermediate level. You may find it difficult to understand series at the beginning, but keep watching and you’ll see that your comprehension will be getting better with each episode. Soon enough you’ll start laughing at the jokes! On top of that, series are an amazing resource of colloquial language, informal phrases, and slang you definitely won’t find in a textbook. Learn a few of these expressions, and surprise your conversation partner during the following lesson.

Let’s get started!

Кухня (Kukhnya)

Many of you are probably already familiar with this Russian TV series as we’ve recommended it several times on our Facebook page and in the video courses. It’s a popular sitcom that focuses on the life of personnel in a prestigious French restaurant called Claude Monet. The main character of the show, a young cook Max, has finished his culinary college training, completed his army service and now he’s trying his luck in Moscow. He ends up in the kitchen of Claude Monet. He and the entire staff of the restaurant often find themselves in humorous or dramatic situations. We follow individual characters at work as well as in their private life for as many as 6 seasons, which means that you will probably grow really fond of them. Also, it provides a lot of listening material, that you won’t use up too quickly.

“Kukhnya was part of my daily routine while I was actively learning Russian. I started to watch it after about 5 months of learning Russian (I was starting from scratch), and the first progress in understanding was visible in 2 or 3 weeks. The way this series was filmed is amazing – everything is modern, clearly shot with close-ups of beautifully prepared dishes in between the scenes. I am not normally very keen on the quality of filming, but you can see at first glance that this series was filmed by experts, and it’s very different from what we are used to in a mainstream American series. Apart from that, it’s also very funny, I was laughing almost all the time. Highly recommended!” Lydia Machova, founder of Language Mentoring

On top of the 6 seasons, you can also watch 2 feature films, Кухня в Париже* (The Kitchen in Paris), that followed Season 3, and Кухня. Последняя битва* (The Kitchen. The Last Battle), that followed Season 6.

*When using these websites, be careful and never click on adverts. We also recommend having high-quality antivirus software installed to protect your devices.

Отель Элеон (Hotel Eleon)

We meet several of our favorite characters from Кухня in the 5-star Hotel Eleon. Senya becomes the chef of the restaurant after Victor Barinov retired. Marina, Senya’s wife becomes the head accountant of the hotel. Elena Andreevna is already tired of managing the hotel and leaves the responsibilities to her reckless nephew Pavel. But Pavel is too busy with parties and short-term relationships to take care of the hotel, so he hires Sofia, an acclaimed manager from Brussels. Shortly after her appearance, she turns both the routines in the hotel and the personal lives of its personnel upside down. Nastya is promoted to be the manager of the restaurant, while Kostya stays to work as a bartender. Also, a new important character, Dasha, appears, who had fallen victim to marriage fraud, lost all of her savings, and decided to work as a chambermaid in the hotel.

“Hotel Eleon is my favorite Russian series, I was excitedly awaiting every new episode and watched it right after it was released. The authors kept all of my favorite characters from Кухня and developed the plot around the whole hotel to make it even more engaging than it was with cooks and waiters in the restaurant only. It’s full of jokes and simple language, and that’s why I recommend it to everyone, even on a lower level of language proficiency, while you are only getting used to the Russian speech tempo.” Veronika, Team & Autodidacts’ Academy manager

If these series are not enough for you, don’t forget to watch the sequel called Гранд (Grand).

Как я стал русским (How I Became Russian)

After a young American Post journalist Alex publishes a provocative article about a senator, the editors send him away on a long-term assignment to Moscow. He is supposed to stay there until the senator calms down and the fuss has blown over. Right after landing, Alex starts to find himself in a lot of comical situations that mostly arise from cultural differences between America and Russia. Apart from these, Alex is involved in many more problems through Roman, his editor’s limousine driver. Just before Alex starts his job, Roman gets him drunk with vodka at the home of Roman’s father-in-law, a famous oligarch. He then loses Alex’s money meant for renting an apartment. And by inviting his ex-girlfriend to Moscow, he makes it complicated for Alex to get closer to Anne, Roman’s sister.

“How I Became Russian is an amazing series full of unexpected and funny situations, informal language, and slang, so by watching it, you’ll learn a lot of useful phrases. I usually watch with a pen and paper at hand. Later I copy all the interesting phrases to my Goldlist. Also, it is so gripping, I usually cannot stop myself after watching just one episode.” Barbara, language mentor

The only downside of this series is that it only has one season. After that, you’ll have to find something else to watch. But you can also watch a film adaptation with the same title: “Как я стал русским”. It doesn’t have much in common with the original plot, but if you like comedies, it’ll be your cup of tea.

Екатерина (Ekaterina)

Ekaterina is a historical series about the Russian tsarina, Catherine the Great. It’ll show you quite a few surprising facts you probably didn’t know about the hardships this influential figure had to overcome in her life. She’d never been loved by her husband Peter III. Her mother-in-law, Tsarina Elisabeth Petrovna, put up with her only because she wanted grandchildren. As soon as Ekaterina’s son was born, he was taken from her and Ekaterina couldn’t see him for several years. In spite of all this, Ekaterina was a strong woman, who loved Russia. Shortly after her coming to power, she strengthened Russia and instituted reforms. Ekaterina also substantially contributed to the development of Russian culture.

“I love historical films and series, and I must say that this one is amazing! In the beginning, I wanted to watch just a few minutes but three hours later, I noticed that it was Saturday afternoon and I was still in my pajamas. And what was the best thing? That I wasn’t being lazy, I was learning Russian! It was relaxing, it was fun, I love getting better at Russian and learning interesting facts about Russian history at the same time! I learned lovely phrases such as “ваша светлость” (meaning Your Highness), and I found out that when priests recite psalms and prayers in medieval Russian, it sounds almost like my native Slovak!” Lydia, founder of Language mentoring

In case you grow fond of Ekaterina, don’t miss season 2 (called Взлет) and season 3 (called Самозванцы).

And if you want to learn even more about Russian history, watch Годунов (Godunov), Романовы (Romanovs) or София (Sofia).

Троцкий (Trotsky)

This eight-episode historical series explores the life of Leon Trotsky and his role in the political affairs of 20th century Russia. In the series, Trotsky himself tells his story to Canadian journalist Frank Jackson. He starts with key moments of his life and suddenly feels the urge to tell people about many more events he must’ve faced on his own.

“This series is nice and up-to-date, it shows beautiful natural scenery, uses authentic costumes and scenes. I loved that they made Trotsky narrate his story to a journalist in the later days of his life. He describes the key historical events as if from his memory. Highly recommended!” Veronika, Team & Autodidacts’ Academy manager

Мажор (Silver Spoon)

This is a Russian crime drama series. (Мажор is also a colloquial term for a child of wealthy parents who uses their parents’ money without being productive themselves.)

The main character, Igor Sokolovsky, has just finished his legal education. However, being the son of an oligarch, he doesn’t try too hard to find a job or use his talents. Instead, he spends his father’s money partying in nightclubs. One night, he gets into a fight with policemen. His father wants to save him from ending up in jail, and sends him to work in the particular police precinct, he had conflicts with previously. Igor considers this a minor bump on the road and hopes his father will eventually change his mind. But gradually, he “mans up,” finds real friends among policemen, falls in love, and sets a goal for himself – to find his mother’s murderer.

You can find this series on Netflix under the English title Silver Spoon.

Ищейка* (The Closer)

This detective series is an adaptation of an American series with the same title, The Closer. Investigator Lt. Col. Aleksandra Kushnir is transferred from Moscow to a new assignment in a small town by the Black Sea, Divnomorsk. She is supposed to lead the criminal investigation department. On top of that, her new direct supervisor is her ex-boyfriend Pavel Mishin, who definitely didn’t expect her arrival. Her new colleagues call her a “search dog” because of her unusual investigative methods and superb logical thinking. However, thanks to these, she quickly and successfully solves complicated cases and brings amazing results for the whole department.

*Be careful while using this website as well.

Интерны (Interns)

Interns is a comedy series that follows the work of four fresh alumni of medical studies. They are a self-confident and complacent son of a senior doctor of the department, a botanist, who doesn’t know anything except for cramming his head full of study material, a guy who doesn’t care about his profession at all, and a charming compassionate woman. All of them are young inexperienced medical interns who often find themselves in comical or almost absurd situations. The head of the department doctor Bykov, is a famous cynic with unbearable character. He doesn’t care to help them or oversee their work but he enjoys making fun of them a lot more.

If you haven’t found your favorite on our list…

No problem at all! You can find your new favorite very easily. But how? Start by typing „лучшие российские сериалы“ into Google. Then have a look at what Russians watch and what the ratings of these series are. If you like something, copy the title into Youtube and check if you can watch it there for free. In case that’s not possible, use Google again, and type the title + „смотреть онлайн“. Also, you can check what Netflix has to offer under Russian TV Shows.

And remember to let us know what you found! We would love to hear your recommendations in the comments.

Should I watch with subtitles on?

Great question! Try to watch as many series as possible without subtitles. Or you can try to alternate (one episode with subtitles on and the other with subtitles off). But be careful not to turn an hour of listening into an hour of reading! All the details about when to use subtitles and when it’s better not to can be found in our e-book called Watch and Learn, along with much more information about how to make watching series an effective language learning method. The e-book is available as a bonus material in both Language Mentoring video courses: Language Key (for beginners) and Language Master (for intermediate and advanced learners).

How I Became Russian

Movie: How I Became Russian
Chinese Title: 战斗民族养成记 / Zhan Dou Min Zu Yang Cheng Ji

Language: Mandarin
Director: Akaki Sakhelashvili, Xia Hao
Screenwriter: Andrey Zolotarev, Lei Guanglin
Origin: China, Russia
Source: Adapted from the 2015 TV series Kak ya stal russkim

Synopsis and Plot Summary

A Chinese man from Shanghai has come to a foreign land because of his Russian girlfriend.

He is in for the surprise of his life when he encounters his biggest obstacle yet. His girlfriend’s father is an obstinate man determined to make life difficult and he must jump through hurdles to prove his love.

Cast

	Dong Chang as Peng Peng
	Elizaveta Kononova as An Na Tuo Li
	Vitaliy Khaev as Yi La
	Sergey Chirkov as Luo Ma

Stills

Let us know why you like How I Became Russian in the comments section. Please also share these fun facts using the social media buttons below.

How an Englishman fell in love with Russia and became. ‘Russian’!

Personal archive; AST, 2021

Craig Ashton has been living in St. Petersburg for more than 15 years. He fell in love with Russia and the city on the Neva, learned to speak the language fluently, worked as an English teacher in a school, translated computer games, runs a popular blog about his life in Russia, and even wrote a book in Russian. Having read it, we talked to Craig about Russia and the Russians.

First acquaintance with Russia

AST publishing house, 2021

Onion-domed cathedrals, tanks on Red Square, cabbage and potato soup, and a smile only on (very) special occasions — this is pretty much all this guy from Manchester, England, knew about Russia before 1999. One other thing, of course. He had seen plenty of Hollywood movies in which all Russians are bad guys (and nearly all bad guys are Russian).

Later, Craig decided to study Russian at the University of Exeter, which is when he realized just how “beautiful and incredibly difficult” the language is. He came to Russia for the first time in 2002 with a group of fellow students on their year abroad. He fondly recalls his first impression, when a woman called Lyubov Serdechnaya met them at St. Petersburg airport. He was amazed that in English her name literally translates as ‘Love Heartly’. True to her name, she cared for them like a mother, but one with an iron fist.

“For me, she was the archetypal Soviet woman. Very similar to the heroines of Soviet posters — a proud face with a serious expression, a raised hand directing everyone in pursuit of a great cause,” writes Craig in his book Excuse Me, I’m a Foreigner, or «Извините, я иностранец» in Russian (AST Publishing House, 2021).

Craig in St. Petersburg

Back then it was difficult for him to communicate with Russians; his vocabulary was too small. Today, however, he talks freely about his love for smelt, herring under a fur coat, the dacha and other facets of Russian life. He also knew nothing about himself: “I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted. But after my first year in Russia, I knew I had to live there.”

Why Russian?

“All my Russian friends have asked me this. Sometimes with an ‘Are you mad?’ tone of voice, which saddens me. As if the Russian language isn’t wonderful or important. As if it’s not spoken by hundreds of millions of people. As if it’s not one the most beautiful languages in the world!” writes Craig. “You might not be aware that Russian sounds very pleasant to English ears.”

Craig on a TV language game show

Having befriended German far more than mathematics at school, Craig decided that languages were for him, only he wanted something with more bite. Even better if English people were held in high esteem in the country where it was spoken. And, naturally, Hollywood movies full of Russian villains and femmes fatales worked their magic.

“Russian gripped me immediately; it was music to my ears, literally. I fell head over heels in love with its sounds, its quirks, its grandeur,” writes Craig.

At first, his grades in Russian were low, but then Craig discovered the songs of Tatu, Verka Serduchka, Valeria, Propaganda and Dolphin. He started listening to Russian music and soon became the best in his class. He also read Anton Chekhov and children’s books, but it was music, he believes, that helped him to master Russian.

Lost in translation

“There have been several traumatic moments in my life that I’ll never forget: my first sunburn, my first fight, my first rejection by a girl and. my first lesson on the letter Ы. (Read more about this phonetic monstrosity here.) The letter Ж, on the other hand, “shaped like a crushed insect,” was far easier to swallow.

The second difficulty was the two “you” — a feature of many European languages but lost in modern English. It is customary in Russian to refer to a stranger or older person as “вы”; while friends and relatives are addressed as “ты” (corresponding to the archaic “thou”; similarly, “you” in English was once the polite as well as the plural form). This linguistic dimension means that Craig, when speaking to someone new, always looks forward to being asked which form of address he prefers.

If only ‘A Russian grammar workbook’ helped to speak fluently.

«It gives me an opportunity to wave my hand graciously and declare in Russian: ‘Hа ты, на ты, конечно, да что Вы? [Thou, of course, why do You ask?],'» writes Craig. “Well, how can you refuse a person who asks to be addressed informally. It’s an offer of closeness, friendship, maybe love, then marriage!” That said, Craig is never the first to suggest using the informal form, fearing that he might misjudge the situation. Therefore, even with children, Craig uses the respectful “вы” to begin with.

Incidentally, Craig says that on his blog, which boasts more than 30,000 followers, the most popular posts are the ones about his various trials and tribulations, be it with the Russian language or visas and paperwork.

A foreigner’s eye

To begin with, Russians struck Craig as rude, but then he realized that this is not the case. «Russians tend to be more direct and frank about subjects the English would prefer to ignore. An elephant in the room is less likely to be ignored and spades are often just called spades. Having spent the first 20 years of my life constrained by various social rules, when I first got to Russia, I was often surprised by this tendency (this is not a universal truth, plenty of Russians are quite capable of being ‘delicate’),» Craig told us.

In love with St. Petersburg and its architecture

During his first decade in Russia, Craig lived like an Englishman with no desire to change his ways. But after a few years, he started trying it for himself and found it pleasantly liberating to be able to speak out, to tell the Emperor he wasn’t wearing any clothes and enter discussions he would previously have excluded himself from. “This is not to say I now wear my mind on my sleeve at all times, but Russians’ honest straight speaking has definitely been a welcome improvement in my life.»

Craig also liked the way the Russians do business. For example, when working as a school teacher, through acquaintances he found a job as a translator of computer games. Back in England, this would have been impossible, he says. He would have had to submit a resume and attend an interview, but here he was hired immediately. «It’s not what you know, but who, as the saying goes. That’s especially true in Russia.»

Craig’s mom says he smiles less often now.

Craig also fell in love with Russian women, or rather the one he married. We asked him the perennial question: how do Russian women differ from their, in this case, English counterparts?

«As far as I can tell, Russian women have a more traditional vision of what a relationship should be and how a man should act. Men are generally expected to take care of a date, holding their coat, pouring them drinks (do not let your Russian girlfriend pour her own drink), opening car doors, etc, etc. Further into a relationship, a man is generally thought to have to be capable of hammering a nail into a wall, fixing a burst pipe and other such knowledge and skills. In return, Russian women tend to take on more traditional gender roles.»

In general, Craig says that Russians are strong people who live by the principle of «do what you must and what will be will be.»

If using any of Russia Beyond’s content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.