US woman develops Russian accent after falling down stairs

Some people fall on their heads and wake up with their memories wiped out. A few revive with their personalities totally changed. Others die. Robin Jenks Vanderlip fell down a stairwell, smacked her head and woke up speaking with a Russian accent.

Vanderlip has never been to Russia. She doesn't remember ever hearing a Russian accent. She lives in Fairfax County, was born in Pennsylvania and went to college on the Eastern Shore. Yet since that fall in May 2007, the first question she gets from strangers is: "Where are you from?" "They say your life can change in an instant," she said in what sounds like a thick Russian accent. "Mine did."

For 42 years, Vanderlip, whose case is being studied at the National Institutes of Health and the University of Maryland, spoke with what NIH neurologist Allen Braun called a typical mid-Atlantic American accent. But since the fall, her clipped way with consonants - dropping the final "s" from some plural words, saying "dis" and "dat" for "this" and "that" or "wiz" instead of "with" - and her formation of vowels - "home" sounds more like "herm," "well" sounds like "wuhl" - identify her more like a transplant from Moscow. The more fatigued she becomes, the thicker her accent grows.

What she has, Braun and other doctors say, is Foreign Accent Syndrome - a legitimate though rare and little understood medical condition that can follow a serious brain injury. "It does sound strange," Braun said. "It certainly does sound like someone has a foreign accent." The syndrome was first described by a neurologist in the closing days of World War II, when a Norwegian woman injured by a shrapnel hit to the head fell into a coma and woke up speaking - most unfortunately for her - with a German accent. (Fellow Norwegians ostracized her as a result, according to the medical literature.) Since then, fewer than 60 cases have been reported worldwide.
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Russian democracy caught in action

A new video has revealed that most Russian MPs cannot even be bothered to go through the motions of democracy but prefer to bunk off and let the few MPs who do turn up vote in their stead. The footage, shot last week in Russia's Duma, the 450-member lower house of parliament, showed three MPs frantically running from empty seat to seat in order to vote for fellow deputies who were playing truant after lunch.

The vote, which made it illegal for motorists to have any alcohol in their blood, was passed by a crushing 449 votes even though there were only 88 MPs, or just over one fifth of the chamber, present. Western critics say the parliament is little more than a puppet chamber that does the Kremlin's bidding. But Kremlin-backed politicians insist it is a serious institution and on Wednesday rushed to condemn the incident as "shameful" while conceding, rather oddly, that such practices were a regular occurrence.



You cannot call a situation where MPs run all round the chamber pushing buttons for absent colleagues anything other than a disgrace," said Sergei Mironov, leader of the Kremlin-friendly Just Russia party.

"Usually, voting in parliament takes place at the end of a session when the cameras have left and the journalists are not in the chamber." This time was different though and a cameraman from Russian TV channel Ren TV caught the farce on camera in a video. One unidentified MP was caught voting nine times. Critics said the abysmal turnout technically made the vote illegal since the rules of parliament itself stipulated that a majority of MPs needed to be present for its activities to be legitimate.

The Most Unusual Metro In The World

Leonid Murlyanchik has been building his metro alone since 1984. All materials are bought for his retired fee. Construction is not over yet. By the way Leonid has all necessary documents and permits for this metro. An entry to the station. Here the ceiling is high and the walls are plastered


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School leavers in Moscow

25 of May is the last day for school leavers. They celebrate it, bathing in Moscow fountains and drinking sham everywhere.




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Russian Lessons. # eight. the first phrases

These simple phrases you can use every day!

URAL Patrol T

One of the premier producers of sidecar motorcycles, Ural's designs, created to handle any type of terrain, date back to World War II. Established in 1939, the Russian brand's origins are muddled with stories of smuggling BMWs from Germany through Switzerland for reverse engineering. But the slightly tamer tale—Stalin bought the blueprint directly from Hitler or the BMW factory thanks to a friendly wartime pact—might be more likely.

The latest model, the Patrol T, is as utility-oriented and durable as Ural's other models, but this updated version works for a variety of riders. The world's only on-demand two-wheel-drive sidecar drive shaft provides increased security for inclement conditions (allowing the sidecar driver to control the wheel and perform like a street-legal ATV), and the ample trunk space offers more room for extended journeys.

The now Seattle-based company still manufactures their motorcycles in Russia, test-driving them through the icy Siberian wilderness. While the sidecar style doesn't offer the flexibility of a café racer or sport bike, the Patrol T has an opposed twin engine that provides major momentum and smooth acceleration for thrill-seekers, and—combined with its fully functional all-terrain capability—off-road adventures abound.

Available in "olive drab" as a reminder of its military roots, the Patrol T sells from dealers around the world for about $12,400.found here

Russian Lessons. # seven. How old are you?

Now, when you’ve already known Russian numbers, we can talk about the age. Englishmen say "How old are you?" , Russian say "Skol’ko tebe let"
In replay you usually hear the number only.