Finally, the post about lovely Slovenia! Before my trip to Slovenia, all my knowledge on the country was limited to the 2 facts. I basically knew that Ljubljana is its capital and that I will likely understand the local language due to its similarity to Russian. I was curious about Slovenia; however, I cannot say... Continue Reading →
June seems to be the national holiday month. Today, Russia celebrates the Russia Day. Congratulations! Pictures from my Instagram
Yesterday, 10th of June, Portugal celebrated the National holiday - Day of Portugal, also known as Camões. This holiday is dedicated to Luís Camões, who wrote a poem about great Portuguese explorations. Congratulations, dear Portugal! Thank you for sharing your discoveries and amazing historical facts with me and for introducing confidential and knowledgeable people. It... Continue Reading →
Traveling abroad we become more conscious about different accents. But why do they exist? You can read it in my other blog, which is related to language learning.
A very distinctive part of non-native speakers’ speech is accent. You probably heard a foreign person speaking your native language and struggling to pronounce some sounds correctly. The same occurs to us when we speak a foreign language.
Accent is something that distinguishes native-speakers from non-native. But why do we have an accent? We are born with the ability to pronounce any sound; however, our mother tongue ‘filters off’ the sounds which it doesn’t contain. This means that after 6 years old, our ability to learn other sounds (ones which are absent from the own language) is declining. Thus, we end up having accent in a foreign language in adulthood.
The accent is shaped by the peciliarities of the mother tongue, and the level of accent varies depending on the language we learn. What does this mean? Here is example: I am Russian, and I noticeably will have accent speaking…
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Today is the National Day in Sweden. Congratulations! The first time I visited the country in 2008, and I fell in love with its history, particular architecture, and lovely people. Picture from my Instagram
Europe is a diverse place with a number of languages and cultures. Despite knowing and understanding the differences, we still have some confusion in communication. One of the aspects I want to discuss is greeting people from other countries. The reason is that greetings caused many awkward moments equally for me and my conversation partners.... Continue Reading →
Today I will have a food related post, particularly I will introduce the difference between Russian and Finnish soups. In Russia, soup is basically the main dish of the day, and it is served for lunch. If you have any space left in your stomach (which I doubt), you can continue with another dish. Russian... Continue Reading →
Did you notice while travelling that people smile more in some countries and less in other ones? I lived in Russia, Finland, and Portugal and visited other countries in Europe. Interestingly, smiling is a part of the culture, which has its local norms. This means that smiling should occur in definite situations with definite people... Continue Reading →
This is the last post of Malta, and I want to summarise all my experiences and impressions. First of all, I am always very careful with my expectations regarding new places. However, it was not the case with Malta. I was already overexcited with the place just from seeing pictures. I felt that the country... Continue Reading →
