Untranslatable

A special episode of Ruspod Shorts focuses on a bunch of Russian words that are very rarely translated into English: some, because they actually entered the English vocabulary; some, because they describe specifically Russian things; and some, because there's just no way to translate them, they can only be explained. 

Listen to the audio lesson

Vocab

погром [pah-GROHM] — pogrom, a violent riot

бабушка [BAH-boosh-kah] — an old lady; babooshka in English is a head-scarf

спутник [SPOOT-neek] — sputnik, satellite

космонавт [kos-moh-NAHFT] — cosmonaut, a Russian/Soviet astronaut

большевик [bohl'-sheh-VEEK] — Bolshevik

гласность [GLAHS-nost'] — openness, publicity

совет [sah-VYEHT] — council, advice, soviet

интеллигенция [een-tyeh-llee-GYEHN-tsyh-yah] — intelligentsia, intellectual class

пошлость [POSH-lost'] — poshlost

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