LEVEL: Third- and Fourth-Year Russian

PARTICIPANT(S): Aleksandr

UNIT TITLE: Love in Russian Culture

DESCRIPTION OF UNIT: In this videoclip, Aleksandr, a faculty member at a Russian university, speaks about the idea and conception of sexuality, eroticism, and love in Russian culture, charting it through Russian literature through today. This videoclip is encoded in Apple's QuickTime format; you may need to download the QuickTime plug-in before being able to watch the video.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR UNIT: First watch the video and try to follow the Russian without worrying about whether you are catching every word. To help you initially, there is a short glossary of words and phrases to the right of the video. After watching the video once in this fashion, write a short paragraph in English summarizing what you understood. Watch it as many times as necessary in order to be able to understand it. Feel free to explore other units!

  • обложка: cover
  • видимо (from видеть): evidently
  • съёмка: photo
  • подходить: to suit, fit (also "to approach")
  • страстный: passionate, ardent
  • безумный: crazy, mad (root: ум)
  • разумный: reasonable
  • чувственный: sensual
  • разумный: reasonable
  • накаченный: buff
  • тусоваться: to hang out
  • внутренний паспорт: internal passport
  • собственность: property
  • разведённый: divorced (noun: развод)
  • подавлять плоть: to supress the flesh
  • удовольствие: pleasure
  • грех: sin
  • пост: abstinence, fasting (also "post, station")
  • подчинённый: subordinate (verb: "подчинить")
  • супруг(а): spouse (masculine, feminine)
  • сознание: consciousness
  • гулять: to stroll, relax, socialize with friends, break down internal barriers
  • гулящая: (19th century) about a woman who portrays herself as sexually available


The Russian Language Video Project was made possible through a generous grant from the University of Denver's
Center for Teaching and Learning.


All video clips and materials on this site (www.du.edu/ahss/schools/langlit/programs/russian/resources) and its subdirectories are the property of Luc Beaudoin and are subject to intellectual copyright. All participants in these video clips have signed an agreement with Luc Beaudoin about their participation in these video clips. This agreement is on file at the University of Denver. All the names of the participants have been changed and any similarity to the identity of any person, living or dead, is unintentional. Any unauthorized use of these video clips or materials will be pursued through all available legal means.

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