- Svetlana Boym, “Estrangement as a Lifestyle: Shklovsky and Brodsky”

“Bilinguals overwhelmingly report that they feel like different people in different languages. It is often assumed that the mother tongue is the language of the true self. (…) But, it first languages are reservoirs of emotion, second languages can be rivers undammed, freeing their speakers to ride different currents.”

Well one day this asshole who had been kind of tagging along with us asks her why she talks like that because it makes her sound dumb and I still remember her response word for word.

“In Russian I am so intelligent and clear. In English I am like [an] idiot”

They’re speaking your language because you don’t know theirs. That’s not something they should be made fun of, it’s something that should be commended because learning a language is hard fucking work.

🌀 Сиде́ть сложа ру́ки – (literally: to sit with one’s arms folded).

To sit twidding one’s thumbs

Meaning: to be idle; to sit still doing nothing.

Пример/Example:

Нам нельзя просто сидеть сложа руки - We can't just do nothing.

Мы не можем сидеть сложа руки, когда эти предметы исторического наследия остаются украденными - We cannot sit idly by while those historical artefacts remain stolen

🌀Сиде́ть на чемода́нах - (literally: to sit on one’s suitcases)

Packed and waiting to go / ready to go / have all one's things packed and be waiting for the moment of departure.

Пример/Example:

С раннего утра весёлая компания сидела на чемоданах и с нетерпением поглядывала в окно.- From early morning, the cheerful company packed and waiting to go, looking impatiently out the window.

🌀Сидеть между/ на двух стульях. – (literally: to sit between/on two chairs)

To run with the hare and hunt with the hounds; to play a double game; you can't do it both ways

Meaning: to try to adhere to two different, irreconcilable points of view; to try to keep the favour of both sides in a dispute

Пример/Example:

Сидеть на двух стульях, как это делаешь ты, опасно. - Straddling two worlds as you are, it's dangerous.

🌀Се́сть в лу́жу - (literally: to sit down into a paddle)

To put one’s foot in it: to get oneself into fix/spot

Meaning: to get oneself into an awkward position or compromising situation; to let oneself be duped; to do or say something stupid.

Пример/Example:

На этот раз он сел в лужу. - He fell down badly that time.

🌀Се́сть на мель / быть на мели́ - (literally: to sit down on a shoal)

To be on the rocks; to be in low water; to be in a tight corner

Meaning: to get into an extremely difficult situation; to be in unsatisfactory circumstances, especially with little money.

Пример/Example:

Слушай, я сейчас на мели. - Listen, I don't have the money on me.

Через пару месяцев мы будем на мели. - In a couple of months, we'll be declaring bankruptcy.

🌀Сиде́ть на ше́е - (literally: to sit on one’s neck)

To leech off (someone)

Meaning: To be a burden to smb by being dependent on him for care, monetary support etc .

Пример/Example:

JLPT Level: Unlisted, but the kanji is N1

This kanji has 3 parts:

氵

The “water” radical

門

Open gates

⽟

Jewels, riches. (the little ` at the bottom has been left out for simplification)

Put these three together to represent “a home’s wealth growing in abundance.” The water radical also gives it the literal meaning of “an enrichment of moisture,” which can be used in terms of agriculture or beauty products, for example. You see it in a lot of beauty product ads in particular. 

While both words mean “author”, you use them differently.

作家 is the job title, the writer. So if you asked what that guy over there in the chair does for a living, you would say 作家, because he is a writer.