Hi, girls! Just now I found this “English corner”. I saw it but I always postponed reading. Now I read all topics and I understood that it’s very good idea to communicate in English. I can explain... After staying at home almost 1 year I feel that I am loosing my English knowledge, even now, while I’m writing I feel difficulties. But not so far, I mean 1 year ago English was my second language at work .

But, let’s start from the beginning. In this topic I should introduce myself. Well...

My name is Anna. I’m 26 years old. I graduated from FESU (Vladivostok Institute of International Relations (Asia Pacific Area). Except all basic subjects I studied 2 languages: English from the beginning and we chose second language. I chose Korean. Owing to student exchange program I studied in Korea (University of Ulsan) during 4 months. My Korean knowledge was enough for simple communication so I visited Korea once more, but not as a student but as interpreter. But now after 5 years without any practice I forgot everything .
After University I entered to the great telecommunication company with Korean capital and Korean high management and worked there during 4 years. To my great disappointment all Koreans in our company spoke English and English was our working language. That’s why I forgot Korean at all .

Now I stay at home with my lovely son. His name is Anton. Today he is 9 months. How long am I going to stay at home? I can’t answer. Sometimes I missing - miss my work very much but at the same time I understand that I won’t be able to leave my son with someone. No. Not now. Anyway I am not along, I meet with my friends, colleagues very often and I communicate with them by ICQ. And my dear son!!! I don’t have any minutes for boredom. I try to find positive moments in everything. So I’m happy !

That’s my short story about myself. Don’t be so strict to my grammar and style. May be it’s emotional, but as I am very emotional myself I can’t write another way

P.S. Diavona, very good idea with English corner!!! My respect!!!
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edited by Diavona*
Very good!

Anna, thnx. It is very useful for all of us.
Sorry, girls, that I dedicate too little time to this forum.
In the future I'll try to mend the situation

well I desided to join you

my grammar is probably very bad, as I didn't have - have not any practice since 2003 (after changing my work).

I graduated from the Fear Eastern Academy of Economics and Management in 2002. I started working on the 3'rd course - better year as an enterpreter, in a telecom company and it was great that at my work it was more English then Russian (even when I started working in marketing). Then I've changed my work (in 2003) and now I have no practice at all

When I was a little girl I wanted to be an enterpreter

I'm happily married and I have a wonderful little sun (sun or son? It doesn't matter at all! )! Now my small family is everything for me as I don't work and can be all the time with my boys

I have a lot of interests, but I can't do something for a very long time First of all I like photography. It's difficult to say what I like more - making photos or working with them in Photoshop I like drawing, embrodery. My new hoddy is needle felting. I find - have found info about this art in the Net and desided to try... and to tell you the truth I like it

sorry for my grammar I'm better in speaking English, but not writing
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edited by Diavona*

Вы не возражаете, если носитель языка присоединится к группе?
It would be interesting for me to communicate with all of you -- and maybe it would be a little helpful to you if I participate?

My name is Lisa, and I'm an American living here in Vladivostok. I have a daughter named Anna (we call her Anya, естественно/naturally) who is 7 months old. She was born in Washington, DC, and my husband and I moved to Vladivostok when she was 2 months old, last October. Winter in a new place with a small baby was a little hard, so I'm glad that (maybe??) spring is now gradually beginning.

I'm 35 years old, and by training I'm a historian. I studied Russian history in graduate school in California -- at the University of California at Berkeley, near San Francisco. Maybe you've heard of it -- the Vladivostok of the US? (I'm joking, of course. It just seems that Vlad is always called "the SF of Russia." ) I lived in Russia a few different times for study, but always in European Russia, so the Far East is completely new to me, and fascinating.

Right now I'm mainly at home, taking care of little Anya, but I'm slowly making progress on some historical reading and writing. It's interesting to me that some of you enjoy history as a hobby! I'm glad to hear it. I also teach English composition (writing/письмо) for a couple of hours per week at the VGUES School for Gifted Children. Evguenia, I'm curious, where do you teach?

You all have very good English -- you should be really proud and shouldn't excuse yourselves! (You're especially good for taking the time to practice while you're busy raising small children!) And so many of you have Asian languages, too; I'm impressed. Thank you for starting and participating in this forum! I hope you don't mind if I participate sometimes, and I look forward to reading more about you and your lives, your kids, etc.

Bayleaf! I'm so glad to invinte you to join our club!
I think that we really need an English speaking person. You know, I'm a YOUNG teacher, so I can make mistakes too and I was worrying a lot that there wasn't a person who could help me (and the others) to correct them.

I have some questions to you. Is your husband Russian or American? How and where did you meet?
Have you a hobby? May be you enjoy knitting, emroidering or smth else///
Join our Handicraft club here
http://www.vladmama.ru/forum/viewforum.php?f=106

Please, join us here too
http://www.vladmama.ru/forum/viewtopic. ... sc&start=0
tell something about yourself (in Russian )
As for me, I teach at home, I have 3 girls (seems I have mentioned it earlier).
My Dad has friends in SF, he travelled there a couple of years ago and he enjoyed his trip very much.

I'm very sorry I haven't responded to your welcome message, Diavona! I mentioned that I teach a couple of classes at the VGUES school, but for the past 2 weeks I have been teaching even more, while a colleague is out of town. I've been so busy that I haven't had time to look at this forum!

Well, I'm happy to help correct mistakes or answer questions, but don't think that I'm just watching for something wrong. I'm glad to have some social interaction, too! So you teach at home, Diavona -- individual students, like "tutoring," or bigger classes?

When my overburdened schedule ends, tomorrow, I will have to look at the craft forum -- I do knit, and it was something I was still learning to do and enjoying while I was pregnant. Now it's hard to find time to do it, but when you are sharing a hobby with others, sometimes it can be easier to do. (I really need to return to my very ambitious project that I abandoned even before my daughter was born -- I was knitting my husband a sweater, but the heavy wool was too warm to work with when it got hot last summer in Washington DC, where we lived before Vlad.)

Ah, wow, SF -- that's my second home!! My husband, Dan, and I met while studying at Berkeley, and he spent many years living in the Bay Area. He is American, and -- I guess it kind of identifies us fairly clearly to say, but why not -- he is working at the American consulate here in Vlad. We plan to live here for 2 years.

Well, for today I need to stop here -- need to get to school once again. Thank you for welcoming me -- I will definitely be checking in on these forums and writing again, it's just a matter of finding time (but I don't know how you do it, with 3 kids! Wow -- I am impressed).

Oh, and one thing I will want to write about and ask you all more about, since so many of you on this list are "sinologists" -- we took a trip to China at the end of last week, our first visit. So many impressions and so exciting! We loved it.

Diavona*, I should disagree with your correction. I think that our nativespeaker can confirm it: "I work with the bank" (my variant) is correct. So please, erase your correction, OK?

Yes, Kath, I looked through your message and thought I was wrong.... sorry!
But for me, the phrase "to work with" always meant "работать с... работать в сотрудничестве с..."
Thanx for putting me hep

It's OK . I'll try to avoid ambiguity in my messages in the future.

Kath, Diavona -- I'm sorry I haven't checked the forum in a long while!
In case it is still a burning question about how exactly a native speaker of American English would say it, here are my "2 cents":
I would say "I work in a bank," if my point is simply to say where I work, or who employs me. But since you offered to answer any questions about banking in general, and I think you really were stating your profession, so you could also say "I work in banking."
I guess I would tend to agree that "with" is for colleagues ("I work with Masha") or methods ("I work with my hands" or "I work with numbers") -- I tried to think of other phrases where I'd use "with" in talking about work, but couldn't think of any!
Lisa

Yeah! That's what I meant! But then I found in Multilex "to work with" always meant "работать с... работать в сотрудничестве с..." and I thought you must be collaborating with the bank.

Actually, you're right (not to "nit pick" or "split hairs" [i.e. pay too close attention to small details]): let's say Kath had her own business and had some collaboration with a bank; then I guess I can imagine saying that sentence.

Hi, let me join your club My name is Alexandra, I'm 27 and I also graduated from Far Eastern Technical University, Institute if Human Resources. My languages are English and French, though my French is far from being good Now I stay at home with my little doughter, Alina, she is only 3 months old, and I don't have English practice at all, that's why I'm really glad there is such club here and especially we have a native speaker as a member!

Bayleaf,
I am really surprised with your Russian! I read some of your posts at this forum and was very surprised that this is not your native language

Oh, my doughter is calling... sorry

Сашуля
Welcome!

Where do you live?

I always wanted to learn French! Some years ago I was crazy about French musicals like "Notre Dam De Paris", "Romeo and Juliet" and so on. I downloaded the soundtracks, listened, sang and tried to translate the texts from French with a dictionary (with no knowledge of language at all )

I also was crazy about Notre-Dame , I even read the book, but found only an English version, though there were many french parts. And I translated all the songs of the musical

I live in Vladivostok, Trudovaya, if you know

Сашуля
Have you translated them into the poetry? Please, show us

Hi Сашуля, and welcome!

Where is Trudovaya? I know I have heard this name, but I can't remember in what part of the city it's located.

Thank you for complimenting my Russian -- all I can say is, I try very hard, and I've been studying Russian for a long time. I guess it has been almost 20 years now, which I'm surprised to realize!

I hope you're enjoying being a mom, and that both you and Alina are healthy and happy. Do you have (did you have, before she was born ) any particular hobbies or interests? I'm always so impressed by the creative Vladmamas who show their handiwork or cooking or other creations here on the forums. I am still staring at my bin of yarns, wondering when I will have the chance to knit again... (but thoroughly enjoying being busy with Anya instead).

Bayleaf,

Trudovaya is not far from Lugovaya, if you know .

As for my hobbies, before I was going for ball dancing and sometimes knitting, but now I don't have time at all ... Then I had to stop dancing because of my work, and now all the time I am busy with my daughter. She is sleeping, and I can read this forum a little now