A plan for Saturday in Russian

How the whole thing sounds

The situation: friends decide where to go on the day off. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.

• Что делаем в субботу? Билет в кино дорогой стал.

  Chto delaem v subbotu? Bilet v kino dorogoy stal.

  What do we do on Saturday? A movie ticket has become expensive.
• Давай в поход — погода обещает сухой день.

  Davay v pokhod — pogoda obeshchaet sukhoy den.

  Let's go hiking — the weather promises a dry day.
• В поход так в поход. Палатку берёшь?

  V pokhod tak v pokhod. Palatku beryosh?

  Hiking it is. Are you taking a tent?
• Палатку. А утром рыбалка — я место у реки знаю.

  Palatku. A utrom rybalka — ya mesto u reki znayu.

  A tent. And in the morning fishing — I know a spot by the river.
• Тогда встречаемся в семь у моего подъезда.

  Togda vstrechaemsya v sem u moego podezda.

  Then we meet at seven by my entrance.
• Договорились. Я захвачу термос и что-нибудь вкусное.

  Dogovorilis. Ya zakhvachu termos i chto-nibud vkusnoe.

  Agreed. I'll bring a thermos and something tasty.
• И не забудь очки — без них не увидишь дорогу.

  I ne zabud ochki — bez nikh ne uvidish dorogu.

  And don't forget your glasses — without them you won't see the road.
• Не забуду. Суббота будет длинной и весёлой.

  Ne zabudu. Subbota budet dlinnoy i vesyoloy.

  I won't forget. Saturday will be long and fun.

Lines one by one

How to prepare for a conversation like this

Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.

And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.

• Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.checked many times
  Teimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
• That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many times
  Xiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.

Next

• The whole phrasebookAll situations in one list
• A first meetingA chat in a café
• At the caféAn order for two
• How to get thereAsking a passerby for directions
• Haggling at the stallSaturday, the apple stall at the market