When I was studying in Russia, the cleaning lady at the school would recite Pushkin off the cuff, and that's when I realized that Russian culture is definitely more literary than American culture. I've heard this too about China, that people read a lot of Chinese classical literature in school and so people there tend to use lots of literary quotes in daily conversation, and knowing these quotes is really part of being a native Chinese speaker. In the US we have English class and read books but I feel like most students aren't taught to really take it seriously. I feel like all our shared cultural references are from TV :(

Amazing series! Loved this video. It was just missing my favorite thing from Russian art: Classical music! You have some of the most incredible and renowned composers in history! It's Russian classical music that initially got me interested in the Russian language, history, and culture. :)

The Soviet Union had the best kids' cartoons and stories in the world, imo, and of course Russia is still great at it. Really excellent artists went into kids' stuff (maybe because it was easier to be apolitical.)

I love Russia so much that I cried of sadness when I had to come back!

Awesome video bro! Thanks!

Russian culture is amazing. Russian culture has scientists, chess masters, and writers and so much more.

Loving this series! Thank you for teaching us. Russian literature is the best. Спасибо большое.

Great episode! Love th authentic view on Russia. Thank you so much from Germany

1:48 In Serbia a parent would say this to a child when the child messed something up big time. 😆😆😆

Bulgokov (Master and Margarita only) is popular in the San Francisco Bay Area. He often gets forgotten on these lists.

Hi. I am Romanian and there are many similarities between Russia and Romania, due to the Communist heritage but not only that. My parents learned Russian in school and my father, Now 77 is still able to write Russian cursive (handwritten). I love the Russian culture and the language, I have a translation company and I specialize in languages.

Thanks you so my fedor your helping me learn so much about my heritage and language as a 3rd generation Russian living in New York City keep going much love мой братан

I love it. Cheers from Spain.

2:39 i LOVEEEE russian cartoons and my fav is “котёнок по имени Гав”

Wow that red or pink museum was maybe the most beautiful building I've ever seen

I was pleasantly surprised that you mentioned Cheburashka and Crocodile Gena. My friend grew up in the 1970s and has very fond memories of them.

Finally, true russian culture!

Thank you so much for this! I hope you would also give some introductions to Russian classical musicians.. they are the main reason I started picking up Russian language

I am czech and I like Taras Bulba, and the phrase you mentioned was the first one that came to my mind :D I use it in czech sometimes.

I have a Russian reader. And I recently read a couple of short stories by Pushkin from it, in the original Russian. Plus I've also seen the Soviet-era show Будильник. It had both animated and live-action segments. With celebrity guests too, kinda like Sesame Street. There was one where Eduard Khil appeared (a.k.a. Mister Tro-lo-lo).

Я люблю кино. Виктор Цой.

Russian literature is the best. Dostoyevsky is the reason I’m learning Russian. Tolstoy, Turgenev, Pushkin, Gogol, Solzhenitsyn, etc… Russia just dominated world literature for over a century

My first introduction to anything Russian was the band T.a.T.u, were they as popular in Russia as they were in the U.S.?

@Fedor Shirin: thank you for introducing me to Vysotsky. The voice, passion, and commitment - unique. But the metaphorics and undermeanings of the lyrics. His premature death was a cultural loss not only to Russia but to the world. I listened to “Банька по белому” and “я не люблю …” this afternoon and aside from the voice, man -those lyrics !!!!! “I do not like when they crawl into my soul, especially when they spit in it.” -Vladimir Vysotsky I sent the above two poem-songs to a friend in New York. Her reply: “Wow! So characteristic that specifically Russian music conveying pain longing and Hope, stole from the heart and the gut.” It is frustrating just how isolating one’s own language is - a mental inbreeding depriving one of too much of the richness that is out there. Again, Спасибо.

I like your new videos Fedor. Better than teaching French! 😜

Молодец Федя , просвещаешь иностранцев 😂

nooo u didnt mention ic3peak, poshlaya molly, pharaoh.. very modern and way better than little big. pharaoh is rap, poshlaya molly is like melodic rock kinda, and ic3peak is its own genre like rap/visual art/witch house. hofmannita is still lesser known but she’s good too. u should definitely cover ic3peak one day they deserve it so much

hi there! thanks for introducing me to wladimir vysotsky. personally i got hooked on russian music by stumbling across grashdanskaya oborona on youtube. i would very much like to know if yegor letov is widely known in russia or more a corner phenomenon? and i started reading zamyatin.. not really sure if i want to read sth as long as "war and peace". did it change your view on the world to read it?

Interesting overview. When I heard famous Russian scientists my initial reaction was Лев Ландау, but I guess he is not general knowledge

How come you didn't mention beautiful sounding and hugely popular Любэ?!?

I really like Leningrad and animal jazz for music

I like the Russian composers, art, traditional clothes and their folkmusic and dances. But I do also collecting Sovjet cameras. Also do I have in my roots some Russia/Ukraine. So....start to learn the languages.

Inventors and scientists: MIKHAIL KALASHNIKOV Nice shout out for Mendeleev though

Masha and Medved

Oh, I like Kino too. I also like Basta, who is also rap & hip-hop.

Hey man love your videos but could you make one on the difference between делать and сделать or any other words that involve the two

Big help

"Intelligency" also have great music 😅

Thank you so much Fedor for all your videos! Love your passion! But also, ain't it interesting how married men tend to put on a little weight...? 😅🤣

Polina Gagarina is the best example of Russian culture!

I'm born in Canada, but my heritage is Russian and I wish I knew Russian and was more involved, so I'm trying to learn now and would love to go there some day aswell

Also no love for Slaughter to Prevail?! @AlexTerrible should be the next Tsar I reckon 😉

Dostoevsky... Tchaikovsky... Rimsky-Korsakov... Hermitage... vodka... and most importantly, Orthodox Christianity ☦☦☦

8:50, i never heard any of them

Messer Chups (best Russian band): kzfaq.info/get/bejne/asCpd92VldTNg2Q.html

Favorite modern Russian novel: Laurus

I'm from India and I have listened maskau , karobeinin ,dereniese Dance, la calîn and ofcorce the Russian anthem from the memes

The heart and essence of Russia, no matter how misguided the majority may be at any point in time, is what makes it possible to speak of “Holy Russia”, the Orthodox Church

Ive listened to miyagi for a while now! Check him out guys he is really good!!

Little Big are amazing!

Ну, Заяц, Ну погоди!

Did you watch ну погоди?

Поддерживаю! MiyaGi & Andy Panda

What about Molchat Doma? Are they Russian?

If you're interested in more traditional modern Russian music you should actually go check this guy (Igor Rasteryaev) and the programm (by Morgulis) in particular. Igor has some really pretty songs. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/d8WdedaeuNCrY6s.html kzfaq.info Also there're many R-rock bands I'd love to recomend, but they are too many in number.

No Molochat Doma!?

Vitas - The only Russian musician I know. Mostly as a meme, but I like it.

So you mentioned three great classical Russian writers, but when it came to music you ignore the great Russian composers and talk about some bands that have been over-influenced by recent American music instead?

What about Russian painters?

People tell me that Tsoi is a legend, not just some foreigner

You say a lot that "everyone" in Russia does this or that, which makes Russia seem like a very homogenous country/culture. I think it would be really interesting if you talked about the degree of diversity within/across Russia in one of your videos. Given how gigantic the country is, there must be many regional differences as well.

Скажите, пожалуйста, каким образом Вы так хорошо инглиш выучили? Вы где-то за рубежом выросли?

Скриптонит?

Viktor Tsoi

My grand parents came from Eastern Europe and they always had an extreme hatred of communists. I would be curious what the typical young Russia thinks of communism.

It reminds me of America in the 70's....except everybody speaks Russian. When I arrived in Moscow the first time I was sure I had fallen asleep on the plane and it had returned to New York but all the signs were in Russian. 😃

Mendeleev is fine but you could have done much better than Gagarr

Has Russia had any global cultural impact in the last 32 years? Or is its culture currently entirely internalised? Imperial Russia had great, world-renowned ballet, composers and writers. Some even emerged to have wider global impact under the USSR. I can name numerous Russian dancers, composers and novelists from the past, but no contemporary ones. However, Russia seems to be a bit of a cultural desert at the moment. Am I wrong?

You could have done better with inventors and scientist

I do wanna go to Russia but y'all closed the borders

In my opinion the best Russian pop music is by female solo singers : Monetochka and Luna for example. Male solo Russian singers almost all sing rap and are almost all absolutely terrible.

My six favorite cultures ever. 1) Russia 🇷🇺 2) Japan 🇯🇵 3) Germany 🇩🇪 4) Lebanon 🇱🇧 5) Chile 🇨🇱 6) Israel 🇮🇱 As you can see, Russia is my number one.

What is it? It's FOR RUSSIAN PEOPLE. NOT for FOREIGNERS!

isnt russia homophobic?

OMG your musical taste is so white heterossexual man HSUAHSUAHSUAHSU what about Polina Gagarina, Sergey Lazarev, Dima Bilam, Ani Lorak, Egor Krid?