Russian webcasts are back!

[Richard Robin]

Dear SEELANGovtsy!

Special Russian webcasting (*Mnbnqrh medekh m` sopny8mmnl psqqjnl
 g{je*) is back for a third season.  The URL is
http://www.gwu.edu/~slavic/webcast. Last year's broadcasts are archived
there and still available.

*Mnbnqrh medekh m` sopny8mmnl psqqjnl  g{je *delivers a survey of the
previous week's news in simplified standard Russian. Listeners of Voice
of America's "Special English" broadcasts will recognize the slightly
slower rate of speech and textual redundancy which characterize these
webcasts.

*Why sopny8mm{i psqqjhi? *Back in Soviet times, the news was easy to
understand. The propaganda-laden messages were predictable and the
diction clear and slow. Post-communist newscasts feature telegraphic
speech and slurry diction. Our webcasts serve as a stepping stone
between the teacher talk of the classroom and the "real" Russian of the
media.

*Authentic news. *The news itself is taken from a number of Russian
sites, including Lenta.Ru, Gazeta.Ru, and ]un Lnqjb{. The accompanying
exercises pre-listening background information, vocabulary support, and
post-listening activities. Some of these are open-ended questions.
Others are interactive. Listeners can check their answers with a mouse
click.

*Timeframe. *Newscasts are posted once every two weeks. The news cycle
covered is from Monday to Friday. The news is recorded and posted the
following Monday. Exercises are available by Tuesday morning. In other
words, listeners should expect at least a 96-hour delay in "timeliness."

*Who can listen? *The news items, style, and exercise level are aimed at
students with listening skills at ACTFL Intermediate Mid to Intermediate
High. In most cases, that corresponds to college Russian at the end of
second-year.

*Copyright information. *Users may download both the written and audio
versions of the exercises, copy them, and redistribute them. The only
restriction is that the material must be cited: "Novosti nedeli na
uproshchennom russkom jazyke, a project of the National Capital Language
Resource Center. www.gwu.edu/~slavic/webcasts/."

*Complaints and kudos *can be sent to the project director: Richard
Robin <mailto:rrobin at gwu.edu>.

*Credits. *Project director: *Richard Robin*. News rewriters and
exercises: *Natalia Bessergeneva* and *Richard Robin*. Voice: *Natalia
Bessergeneva*. JavaScripting: *Natalia Bessergeneva*.

--

Richard Robin
Language Program Director for Russian
Department of Romance, German, and Slavic
Phillips Hall 509
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20052
rrobin at gwu.edu
http://home.gwu.edu/~rrobin
202-994-7081

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