How to Look Younger?

There are many pieces of advice on the internet. You can find anything from the diet and sleep routines to more invasive methods such as injections and plastic surgery. For some people, they work, while for the others - hardly. What seems to be the solution that will work 100%... to reply to the question…

Vacation

I start my vacation today. Well, the first part of it. I want to dedicate it to some traveling, eating, and a lot of sleeping. Today, I had the chance to sleep as long as I want. No limits. Guess what? I woke up at 6.30 a.m. as a matter of a habit. Waking up…

Autumn Gold

Almost Summer 🌞

Silent Turku

Early morning + lockdown = the image of abandoned town. But you know what? I like it!

Your Comments

First of all, congratulations on the spring. The new season just came here for a second, and now it's winter again. Likely, Finland will greet spring in May next time. I want to say thank you for your comments. Although I hardly have time to reply, I always read them. I am truly impressed by…

Day 15. Mongolia

No, I have never been to Mongolia. This is the country I dream to visit, and now it is the perfect time to dream about traveling in general. So, what is so special about that place? 1. Mystery. Only think about it, how many news have you heard about Mongolia? How many TV shows have…

Day 12. Post about Finnish Culture

I was sure that I have already shared this post. However, I found it in my drafts. As I have just celebrated 11 years in Finland, I think this post will suit the place perfectly well. Here is my subjective opinion about the country I live: When I am travelling outside Finland, people ask me…

Why Do We Have Accent?

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.

Learning Languages with Elena

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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The ‘Horror’ of Cultural Diversity – Greetings

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.…