Today let’s try to practice some Russian tongue twisters! 
Tongue twisters are a great tool to improve your pronunciation, focus on difficult sounds and increase your speech speed (and more importantly – make it clearer). 
Try to repeat after me (I’m reading each one 2 times – super slow and then closer to normal speed):

от тОпота копЫт пЫль пО полю летИт.

на дворЕ травА, на травЕ дровА. не рубИ дровА на травЕ дворА!

кукУшка кукушОнку купИла капюшОн, надЕл кукушОнок капюшОн, в капюшОне кукушОнок смешОн.

These tongue twisters focus on different Russian sounds. Please try to articulate them as clear as possible, don’t chase the speed. Good luck! 


Russian with Elina

Russian tongue twisters - part 1

In this episode we will get to know the numbers in Albanian (1-10) + I have ... I hope they are easy for you. Enjoy it! 

Let's speak Albanian

Numbers in Albanian (1-10) + I have a... / Numrat në shqip (1-10) + Unë kam ...

NATASHA: What time is it? We’re going to be late!
TONY: It’s a quarter after seven. We’re on time. Don’t panic.
NATASHA: But I thought we had to be at the restaurant by 7:30 for 
the surprise party. We’ll never make it there with all this 
evening traffic.
TONY: Sure we will. Rush hour is almost over. Anyway, the party 
starts at 8:00. But I do need help with directions. Can you 
call the restaurant and ask them where we park our car?




LANGUAGE NOTES
• It’s a quarter after seven. This phrase is one of the most common ways of stating 
this time. It means: “It’s 15 minutes past 7:00.” Another possibility here is to simply 
say: “It’s seven fifteen.” In general you can say: “It’s a quarter past the hour.” How do 
we know the time of day? Look for context clues: “evening traffic.”
• In the dialog, Natasha and Tony are going to a surprise party. They need to be on time. 
Therefore there is an element of stress and urgency. When someone is stressed for 
time you can use expressions like: Don’t worry. / Don’t stress. / We’re fine. / We will 
be on time.
• Natasha thinks the surprise party begins at 7:30. There are two different ways to 
express this time. You may say simply “seven thirty” or “half past seven.”
• Rush hour is the time of day—usually in the morning and evening—when traffic is 
heavy because of people commuting to and from their workplace by bus, by car, by 
subway, on foot, etc.

English Conversation practice (30-day challenge)

Day 5: Ask about the time

El síndrome de Burnout puede ser el detonante de otras enfermedades, si sientes agotamiento todos los días, estrés crónico o insatisfacción laboral es posible que estés sufriendo de Burnout. En este episodio te explico de qué trata este síndrome.

De todo un poco

Temporada 1 Episodio 1 Síndrome de Burnout 

Have you ever been "taken for a ride"? If you've been tricked or lied to before, then the answer is yes. Here are some other expressions about lying.

If someone confidently tells you a big lie and doesn't seem to feel bad about it, then you can say they are "lying through their teeth." Such people might make a "web of lies," telling many lies to make people believe them. And if someone lies all the time, you can say they "lie like a rug" – which is a joke using two meanings of "lie," because a rug can only lie on the floor.

If someone lies to you, tricks you, or wants to stop you from finding something out, you can say they are trying to "pull the wool over your eyes." The expression comes from the early 19th century, and may be talking about the wool wigs that some people wore at the time. So someone could pull your wig down, covering your eyes and stopping you from seeing what was really happening.

But not every lie is a big one. Sometimes people just "bend the truth," which is telling a small lie that is usually not serious and probably won't hurt anyone. Often people "bend the truth" by saying something that's part-true, while leaving out important information.

But if someone "stretches the truth," they are probably saying that something is better than it really is. Some people might stretch the truth to make a story more interesting.

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Don't Get 'Taken for a Ride' With These Lying Expressions

今天是4月3日，星期六，天气晴
今天，女儿从学校放学回家，说只有一项（xiang4, measure word) 作业，就是画画，画一张画，我的梦想(meng4xiang3, wishful thinking)。画完后，她把画给我，妈妈请你拍照(pai1zhao4, take photo)，然后发(fa1, to send to)给老师吧。她很开心, 看起来很喜欢那张画。我想她可能画了医生，因为她一直说长大以后要做一个医生。结果一看，根本不是医生，而是一片大海。
海上有一只美人鱼。公主的身体，鱼的尾巴，颜色很漂亮。海边还有一座小岛，岛上有一棵大树，海里画了不少的鱼，各种各样的。海底呢，还有一个箱子，里面有宝石（bao3shi1, precious stone）。
我觉得很奇怪，不知道她画了什么梦想。我问她说：老师说要把自己的梦想画下来，从这幅画里，我看不出你的梦想呀？然后，她指着(zhi3 zhe, to point to)那只小小的美人鱼说：这就是我的梦想。
“什么？你的梦想是做一只美人鱼吗？”我有点惊讶呀：“为什么呀？”
女儿看着我说：“因为美人鱼不用每天洗头和洗澡呀！”
可是你要怎么和老师说呢？这可是作业！
我哭笑不得(ku1 xiao4 bu4 de, find sth. both funny and annoying)，你就这么不喜欢洗头和洗澡呀？但是你的想法真的是好可爱！好吧，真的是我自己亲生的，好像我小时候也不喜欢刷牙和洗脸。
那么，你小时候有没有什么特别可爱的事情呢？

中文小天地 Little Chinese world

女儿的梦想 The dream of my daughter

Continuamos aprendiendo vocabulario relacionado a la comida peruana. Información sobre la palta peruana.

Transcripción disponible en: https://conpedepatria.blog/2022/08/10/la-palta/

¡Gracias por escuchar!

Learn Peruvian Spanish

3. La palta

你们不要忘记，我当时处在远离人烟千里之外的地方。
Remember, I had crashed in the desert a thousand miles from any inhabited region.
而这个小家伙给我的印象是，他既不像迷了路的样子，也没有半点疲乏、饥渴、惧怕的神情。
And yet my little man seemed neither to be straying uncertainly among the sands, nor to be fainting from fatigue or hunger or thirst or fear.
他丝毫不像是一个迷失在旷无人烟的大沙漠中的孩子。
Nothing about him gave any suggestion of a child lost in the middle of the desert, a thousand miles from any human habitation.
当我在惊讶之中终于又能说出话来的时候，对他说道：
When at last I was able to speak, I said to him:
唉，你在这儿干什么？
But– what are you doing here?
可是他却不慌不忙地好像有一件重要的事一般，对我重复地说道：
And in answer he repeated, very slowly, as if he were speaking of a matter of great consequence:
请…给我画一只羊
If you please– draw me a sheep.
当一种神秘的东西把你镇住的时候，你是不敢不听从它的支配的，
When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey.

在这旷无人烟的沙漠上，面临死亡的危险的情况下，尽管这样的举动使我感到十分荒诞，
Absurd as it might seem to me, a thousand miles from any human habitation and in danger of death,


我还是掏出了一张纸和一支钢笔。
I took out of my pocket a sheet of paper and my fountain-pen.


这时我却又记起，我只学过地理、历史、算术和语法，
But then I remembered how my studies had been concentrated on geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar,


就有点不大高兴地对小家伙说我不会画画。
and I told the little chap (a little crossly, too) that I did not know how to draw.
他回答我说：“没有关系，给我画一只羊吧！”
He answered me:“That doesn’t matter. Draw me a sheep.”
因为我从来没有画过羊，
But I had never drawn a sheep.
我就给他重画我所仅仅会画的两副画中的
So I drew for him one of the two pictures I had drawn so often.

那副闭着肚皮的巨蟒。
It was that of the boa constrictor from the outside.
我听了他的话，简直目瞪口呆。
And I was astounded to hear the little fellow greet it with.

不，不！我不要蟒蛇，它肚子里还有一头象。
No, no, no! I do not want an elephant inside a boa constrictor.
他接着说：“巨蟒这东西太危险，大象又太占地方。”
A boa constrictor is a very dangerous creature, and an elephant is very cumbersome.
我住的地方非常小，我需要一只羊。给我画一只羊吧。
Where I live, everything is very small. What I need is a sheep. Draw me a sheep.
我就给他画了。
So then I made a drawing.

小王子-The Little Prince-Read in Chinese

小王子第四章：画一头羊

はい。こんにちはようへい先生です。えー、今日は”すごい”の お話(はなし）をします。
1ヶ月ぐらい前にアメリカ人の生徒（せいと）と会話（かいわ）をしました。ちょっと聞いてください。 
せいと：ようへい先生、ちょっとハサミを取ってください。
ようへい：はい、どうぞ。
せいと：すごい。
ようへい：？？？

はい、この”すごい”は ちょっとへんです。It`s a little bit weird for Japanese.
“すごい” 16課でならう ”すごい”は、「日本語が上手ですね。すごいですね」 え～、これはとても良い、splendid という意味(いみ）ですね。と、あと12課で「うわあ、すごい人ですね」とならいました。これは多い”、”たくさん”、という意味（いみ）ですね。
はい。あと、カジュアル、casual expression, colloquial speechで、すごいはとても という意味（いみ）にもなります。で、えー、このアメリカ人の生徒(せいと）の方は、あー、”great=すごい” と思ったんだと思います。
で、日本人の英語を勉強してる人も、このグレイトをえ、とてもとても良い、splendidと思っている人が多いんですね。でも、ちょっとちがいますね。great。うん、 すごい。
この場合（ばあい）、In this case、
せいと：ちょっとはさみを取ってください、ようへい先生。
ようへい：はい、どうぞ。
せいと：”ありがとう”！

これがいいですね。うん、This is better. はい。これをまちがっている生徒（せいと）が、時々います。ちょっと気をつけてください。 
はい、今日も聞いてくれてありがとうございました。じゃあ、日本語の勉強がんばってください。バイバイ👋
