Russian is a phonetic language. The way you pronounce words is how you write them. The way they are written tells you how to pronounce them. Each letter has its own sound and generally keeps it. Unlike Dutch and English, Russian is quite consistent in this regard.

(Image © Gummbah)

A Зануда is someone who’s a downer or a bore. The rapper Зануда (Zanuda) was born (in 1981) as David Nuriyev (Давид Нуриев) in Baku (Azerbaijan), but moved to Moscow at age nine. He was part of Centr and also goes by Птаха (Ptaha).

A short poem (called ‘Woordenschat’ – Vocabulary) by Jaap van Lakerveld goes like this:
A man whose small vocabulary
I estimate to be six words
says to the woman who loves him
when she asks how he feels about her
‘I don’t have the words, my dear’

Каспийский = Caspian; Груз = cargo or load, also meaning goods or a burden. Каспийский Груз comes from Azerbaijan (which borders the Caspian Sea) but sings in Russian, and that’s all that matters.

Against hipsters, that’s Хипстер (= hipster) by Би-2. Whether the lyrics start with Болью хипстер (tormented hipster) as here is claimed (with a translation that’s not entirely correct), or with мой милый хипстер (my dear hipster) as seen here and in many other places, he gets the short end of the stick.

Владимир Владимирович Путин is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) on October 7, 1952, президент (= president) since Boris Yeltsin stepped down with this speech on December 31, 1999. For the entire 21st century, Putin has been босс or the boss, even when Medvedev was officially in charge for a short time.

Me and your cat warm your bed, don’t sleep without us, and don’t run away from us – that’s what Я и твой кот/ греем твою кровать/ без нас не уснуть/ от нас не сбежать says (roughly). Furthermore, the chorus mentions that when she went to sleep (когда она ложилась спать), he chased her in her dreams (он догонял её во снах) – the ‘he’ being a young man with a flower (красивый юноша с цветком), so it could be worse.

If you’re tired of the ABC videos but still haven’t mastered the алфавит (alphabet), you can listen to songs that Russian children sing to get it into their heads. Useful for remembering the order of the 33 буквы (letters), though you may feel for them.

Cyril and Methodius, brothers and Christian monks, are at the foundation of the Russian script. It is called Cyrillic because Cyril invented it, in the primitive form of the Glagolitic alphabet, which was revised and simplified after his death. Cyril and Methodius came from Thessalonica (Greece) and were missionaries: the script was meant to translate the Bible and spread the faith.

Rap is (or was) popular in Russia. Центр (tsentr) or Centr is one of the pioneers of modern rap. It began in Moscow in 2004, founded by Rolexx (now known as Гуф or Guf) and the Princip – see more on Wikipedia.

Slim, or Slimus (Moscow 1981), comes from Centr. From his EP Место под луной (A Place Under the Moon, 2018), Намедни means something like: recently, lately. Slim gives his take, and the visuals are equally striking.

Judging Россия (Rossiya, that’s Russia) is something anyone is free to do. But (= но, which sounds like no) most Russians will barely understand it and care even less. Moreover, there’s a good chance you’ll offend the Russians who do understand it, and make yourself look like a дурак (durak) or fool.

Not all beginnings are difficult. Первый (pjervie) means ‘first’, and the first words you hear are Попадая в мою кровь. Freely translated: creeping into my blood. You can see in the clip what can creep into a man’s кровь (blood).

Learning Russian begins with that fascinating alphabet. 33 characters, just 7 more than in our ABC, so how hard can it be? Find out for yourself, of course. Try apps, for example: plenty of options on Google Play and Apple App Store, often for free. Or by watching and listening to clips – also for free. The second language is usually English.