Cultural Life
Explore Russian words for festivals, family, music and food. Every word comes with its script, a transliteration to help you say it, and the English meaning.
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Cultural Life
Cultural life is about festivals, family, food, music and traditions. In this module you will learn the key Russian words for them. Russian is written in the Cyrillic alphabet. Every word below is shown with its script, a transliteration in brackets to help you say it, and the English meaning.
Key words (1)
Learn these four cultural words:
Match each word to its meaning
- праздник (prazdnik)
- семья (semya)
- музыка (muzyka)
- еда (eda)
- festival
- family
- music
- food
What muzyka means in Russian
What does the Russian word музыка (muzyka) mean?
- music
- food
- family
- festival
Key words (2)
Now four more words about celebrations:
Match each word to its meaning
- танец (tanets)
- традиция (traditsiya)
- песня (pesnya)
- вечеринка (vecherinka)
- dance
- tradition
- song
- party
Cultural life
Select the TWO things that are part of cultural life.
- Celebrating festivals with family
- Enjoying music and dance
- Ignoring all traditions
- Never celebrating anything
Choose the Russian word
In Russian, the word for 'family' is _____, and the word for 'music' is _____.
The Cyrillic alphabet
Russian is written in the Cyrillic alphabet. Some letters look like Latin ones but sound different: В is 'v', Р is 'r', and Н is 'n'. The transliteration in brackets shows the sound. Big celebrations bring families together with food, music and dancing.
A special day
What does the Russian word праздник (prazdnik) mean?
- festival or holiday
- homework
- school
- the weather
Cultural life in action
Think about how cultural life works, using the words you have learned.
- During a festival, families gather to share...
- The Russian word музыка (muzyka) refers to...
- Traditions, традиции (traditsii), are...
One more
The Russian word for 'food' is _____, and the word for 'festival' is _____.
Your turn: write in Russian
Write two or three sentences IN RUSSIAN about a festival and what is enjoyed at it. Write in Cyrillic - the transliteration in brackets is a reading aid only.
- Name it: праздник (prazdnik - a festival) or вечеринка (vecherinka - a party)
- Say what you like with Мне нравится… (mne nravitsya - I like ...): Мне нравится еда (mne nravitsya eda - I like the food)
- Join two with и (i - and): музыка и танец (muzyka i tanets), or add песня (pesnya - a song)
- Mention традиция (traditsiya - tradition) or семья (semya - family)