Learn how to ask for directions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RussianPod101.com. This is Business Russian for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 20 - Asking for Directions at an Office Reception. John Here. |
| Karina: Привет, I'm Karina. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask where the office is. The conversation takes place at an office. |
| Karina: It's between a receptionist and Linda. |
| John: The speakers are strangers, therefore, they will speak formal Russian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Секретарь: Миссис Бейкер, проходите. |
| Линда: На каком этаже офис Елены? |
| Секретарь: Она ждёт Вас на третьем этаже. |
| Линда: А где лестница? |
| Секретарь: Вы можете воспользоваться лифтом, прямо по коридору и налево. |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Секретарь: Миссис Бейкер, проходите. |
| Линда: На каком этаже офис Елены? |
| Секретарь: Она ждёт Вас на третьем этаже. |
| Линда: А где лестница? |
| Секретарь: Вы можете воспользоваться лифтом, прямо по коридору и налево. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Receptionist: Mrs. Baker, you can go ahead. |
| Linda: What floor is Elena's office? |
| Receptionist: She's waiting for you on the third floor. |
| Linda: Where are the stairs? |
| Receptionist: You can use the elevator, down the hall to the left. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: I guess it’s Linda’s first time at this office |
| Karina: It appears that way! She needed directions to get to Elena’s office at least. |
| John: And lucky Linda, she doesn’t even have to use the stairs. |
| Karina: Elevators are common in multi-storey office buildings in Russia. |
| John: That’s good. How about other places, like shopping malls? |
| Karina: Yeah, you’ll usually find them there too. |
| John: How are floors numbered in Russia? Is the floor on the same level as the ground known as the first floor, zero, or the ground floor? |
| Karina: It’s the first floor. |
| John: How are basement levels numbered? |
| Karina: They aren’t very common, but if they exist, they will be B1. |
| John: Are any floors skipped due to superstition? |
| Karina: Thirteen is seen as an unlucky number in Russia, but there’s still a thirteenth floor. |
| John: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Karina: проходить [natural native speed] |
| John: to come through, to come in |
| Karina: проходить[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: проходить [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Karina: этаж [natural native speed] |
| John: floor |
| Karina: этаж[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: этаж [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Karina: лестница [natural native speed] |
| John: stairs |
| Karina: лестница[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: лестница [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Karina: лифт [natural native speed] |
| John: elevator |
| Karina: лифт[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: лифт [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Karina: прямо [natural native speed] |
| John: frankly, directly, straight (on) |
| Karina: прямо[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: прямо [natural native speed] |
| John: And last... |
| Karina: налево [natural native speed] |
| John: to the left |
| Karina: налево[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: налево [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is... |
| Karina: воспользоваться лифтом |
| John: ...meaning "to use the elevator." What can you tell us about this? |
| Karina: Let’s break down the verb воспользоваться. |
| John: This means “to use,” in this sentence. |
| Karina: First is the prefix вос |
| John: meaning “to complete the action” |
| Karina: then the verb пользовать |
| John: “to use” and finally |
| Karina: the suffix ся, “to do it by yourself.” |
| John: So this verb is both reflexive and perfective. |
| Karina: You can use it with other nouns such as туалет and машина. |
| John: “Toilet” and “car,” respectively. Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Karina: Sure. For example, you can say, Воспользуйтесь лифтом, чтобы подняться на пятый этаж. |
| John: ...which means "Use the elevator to go to the fifth floor." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Karina: прямо |
| John: meaning "straight." What can you tell us about this word? |
| Karina: This can be used for three different things. |
| John: The first is the direction “straight.” |
| Karina: The second means a “true meaning.” |
| John: So to say something “straight” or “frankly.” |
| Karina: Its third use is for sarcasm, like прямо герой. |
| John: “What a hero!” Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Karina: Sure. For example, you can say, Идите по этой улице прямо. |
| John: ...which means "Go straight on this street." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Karina: налево |
| John: meaning "on or to the left." What can you tell us about this word? |
| Karina: This also has three meanings. |
| John: The first is, again, direction. |
| Karina: The second is to do something illegally. |
| John: And the third is “to cheat on,” such as “to cheat on one’s wife.” |
| Karina: Which is сходить налево. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Karina: Sure. For example, you can say, Налево - будет больница. |
| John: ...which means "There will be a hospital on the left." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about asking where the office is. Asking for directions is one of the most important things you can learn in any language, I think. |
| Karina: I think so too. It comes in handy in many situations, such as trying to find an office. |
| John: How do we ask a simple question like, “What floor is it?” |
| Karina: Какой это этаж? |
| John: How about “What floor is Elena’s office?” |
| Karina: На каком этаже офис Елены? |
| John: Of course, you can change the name for anyone there. |
| Karina: An even easier way of asking where someone or something is is by using где. |
| John: This is the question word “where.” |
| Karina: Just follow где with the name, or a noun in dictionary form. Где Елена? |
| John: “Where is Elena?” |
| Karina: But be careful, we use Где for location, but not direction. |
| John: In English, we can use “where” in a sentence like “where did she go?” |
| Karina: In Russian you would say Куда она пошла, which uses куда. |
| John: So there are two different “wheres”: one for location and one for direction. |
| Karina: You also have to use nouns differently depending on whether they’re used for location or direction. |
| John: How do we use nouns when talking about location? |
| Karina: It needs to be in prepositional case - в офисе |
| John: Which means “in the office.” How’s this case formed? |
| Karina: Add -e to the masculine nouns and change the last letter into -e or -и in the feminine nouns. So all of them end in -e or -и. |
| John: What about directions? |
| Karina: With directions, you use accusative case - в офис. |
| John: “To the office.” |
| Karina: In the accusative case, only feminine nouns change their endings into -у or -ю. |
| John: Okay, thanks for the extra information! |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Karina: Пока! |
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