Russian Geography Lesson 11 - лён
FULL LESSON: http://www.ruskyed.com/GEO/geo11a.html TRANSCRIPT: ------- Rusky Ed here with a lesson which focuses exclusively on a single plant. More on the identity of this very special plant after the intro song. In the meantime, inspect the focus words! The plant that shall be discussed in this video is flax or лён in Russian. Before we get too far into the discussion of this plant, let’s take a quick look at its declension. Some forms of лён include лён, льна, льну, льном, and льне in the singular and льны, льнов, льнам, льнами, and льнах in the plural. So, you can see that the declension of лён is slightly out of the ordinary. The following sample sentences include some examples of лён in action: Он перемешал молотые семена льна с овсянкой. Он смешал молотые льняные семена с овсянкой. (He mixed ground flax seeds with his oatmeal.) Льняное масло содержит полезные жирные кислоты. (Flaxseed oil contains essential fatty acids.) Стебли льна достигают высоты выше одного метра. Стебли льна вырастают выше одного метра. (Flax stalks grow to a height of over one meter.) Historically, flax has special significance in Russia. In fact, it has been grown for over 4000 years as a food and fiber crop. As you probably know, linseed oil, or льняное масло in Russian, is derived from flax seeds. Also linen, or бельё in Russian, is made from flax fibers. So, as you can see flax is a highly versatile and useful plant. Not only that, but the flowers are quite pretty too. Flax tolerates cold climates and poor soil better than most plants and as a consequence it thrives in northern portions of Russia. In fact, quite a bit of flax is grown near Pskov (Псков) shown on the map in purple, the Arkhangelsk Oblast (Архангельская область) shown in red, the Kola Peninsula (Кольский полуостров) shown in orange, the Vologda (Вологда) region shown in blue, the Smolensk (Смоленск) region shown in yellow, and northern Siberia (Сибирь), as well as other areas. It is worth noting that Russia is third on the list in terms of worldwide flax production, behind only Canada and China. The Vologda (Вологда) region is particularly well-known for growing and processing flax products. BTW, the Ferapontov Monastery (Ферапонтов монастырь) is located in the Vologda region and is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List of historic places due to its excellent examples of Russian medieval art. The vocabulary list for this lesson on flax includes: лён - flax льняное масло - flaxseed or linseed oil Вологда - Vologda Кольский полуостров - Kola Peninsula монастырь - monastery молоть - to grind, mill And now for some review material. The first review sentence contains the following words: есть - there are, am, is, or have (although it can also mean to eat) другой - other, another, different способ - method, manner, means, mode, way Combining these words into a single sentence, we derive: Есть другой способ. (There is a different way.) Words necessary to understand the second review sentence include: всегда - always лучший - better, best простой - simple, basic, ordinary Combining these words the following sentence can be constructed: Лучший способ не всегда самый простой. (The best way is not always the easiest way.)
FULL LESSON: http://www.ruskyed.com/GEO/geo11a.html TRANSCRIPT: ------- Rusky Ed here with a lesson which focuses exclusively on a single plant. More on the identity of this very special plant after the intro song. In the meantime, inspect the focus words! The plant that shall be discussed in this video is flax or лён in Russian. Before we get too far into the discussion of this plant, let’s take a quick look at its declension. Some forms of лён include лён, льна, льну, льном, and льне in the singular and льны, льнов, льнам, льнами, and льнах in the plural. So, you can see that the declension of лён is slightly out of the ordinary. The following sample sentences include some examples of лён in action: Он перемешал молотые семена льна с овсянкой. Он смешал молотые льняные семена с овсянкой. (He mixed ground flax seeds with his oatmeal.) Льняное масло содержит полезные жирные кислоты. (Flaxseed oil contains essential fatty acids.) Стебли льна достигают высоты выше одного метра. Стебли льна вырастают выше одного метра. (Flax stalks grow to a height of over one meter.) Historically, flax has special significance in Russia. In fact, it has been grown for over 4000 years as a food and fiber crop. As you probably know, linseed oil, or льняное масло in Russian, is derived from flax seeds. Also linen, or бельё in Russian, is made from flax fibers. So, as you can see flax is a highly versatile and useful plant. Not only that, but the flowers are quite pretty too. Flax tolerates cold climates and poor soil better than most plants and as a consequence it thrives in northern portions of Russia. In fact, quite a bit of flax is grown near Pskov (Псков) shown on the map in purple, the Arkhangelsk Oblast (Архангельская область) shown in red, the Kola Peninsula (Кольский полуостров) shown in orange, the Vologda (Вологда) region shown in blue, the Smolensk (Смоленск) region shown in yellow, and northern Siberia (Сибирь), as well as other areas. It is worth noting that Russia is third on the list in terms of worldwide flax production, behind only Canada and China. The Vologda (Вологда) region is particularly well-known for growing and processing flax products. BTW, the Ferapontov Monastery (Ферапонтов монастырь) is located in the Vologda region and is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List of historic places due to its excellent examples of Russian medieval art. The vocabulary list for this lesson on flax includes: лён - flax льняное масло - flaxseed or linseed oil Вологда - Vologda Кольский полуостров - Kola Peninsula монастырь - monastery молоть - to grind, mill And now for some review material. The first review sentence contains the following words: есть - there are, am, is, or have (although it can also mean to eat) другой - other, another, different способ - method, manner, means, mode, way Combining these words into a single sentence, we derive: Есть другой способ. (There is a different way.) Words necessary to understand the second review sentence include: всегда - always лучший - better, best простой - simple, basic, ordinary Combining these words the following sentence can be constructed: Лучший способ не всегда самый простой. (The best way is not always the easiest way.)