The word против in Russian means “against” in the sense of being for or against an idea. It can be used adverbially, without an object:

In the above dialog the phrase that is translated “Are you okay with that?” literally means “You aren't against?” This is one of those places where a word for word translation would get the tone of the dialog wrong; instead a good translator will select a phrase in English that matches the emotional content of the original. Another example:

The word против can also be used as a preposition that governs the genitive case:

Hm... what other things have the Russians battled against? Ah, yes, here's a glorious reminder of one of the lesser known battles of World War II:

Can you read the sign? That's right: STALIN VERSUS THE MARTIANS! What, dear reader? You didn't know that Stalin saved the planet from evil aliens while also fighting the Nazis? That is because you have an American education and can't tell the pax romana from the chicken pox. This vital battle is commemorated in an RTS game by BWF/DreamLore/N-Game. In short, it's an übersimplified version of Blitzkrieg II (review here). Do you want to know more? Do you want to see Stalin dancing like a raver kid strung out on Ecstasy? Then you need to view this trailer:

Attentive students will notice that Stalin's Russian is not so great. That's because he was an ethnic Georgian who never really perfected the language. Russians love to poke fun at people what can't talk right.

Just recently I have been thinking about the things that I miss since I moved to Phoenix. I was going though the pictures I took on my fall trip to the East Coast. The first thing that catches the eye is gorgeous trees dressed in their colorful gowns: red, yellow, green, and anything in between. While adults enjoy the pretty view and romantic walks in the park, the kids have the best time running around and diving in a huge pile of leaves... at least in Russia they do

The word leaf in Russian is «лист». It can be any tree leaf as well as fig, cabbage, laurel, currant, or a oak leaf. We have a rather well used expression with the latter:

This expression is used when one person constantly follows the other to ultimately express his or her affection for them without the subject’s consent or reciprocation. It literally means “He has stuck to me like a sauna leaf.” This saying comes from the famous Russian bathhouses, where hitting oneself with a bundle of green birch twigs while steaming is considered a great cleansing procedure. The repeated thrashing eventually breaks the leaves off the twig, and they stick as flat as can be on your sweat-soaked body. Now that is a great image.

The plural form of the word «лист» is «листья».

Do note carefully how the noun is declined in the plural:

The Russian word for ‘there’ in the sense of being located ‘there’ is там.

Of course, it's used in much simpler sentences as well.

The one thing we as Americans have to be careful about is not to use the word when talking about going ‘to’ a place. In other words, you can't say in Russian «Я там езжу каждое лето» “I go there every summer.” For that sense we have to use туда, which we will address in the next couple of days.

Russian has a specialized adverb that means “from here,” and that word is отсюда. Sometimes you can find it in extraordinarily short sentences that confound beginners:

The word combines naturally with verbs of departure, although it can often be left out of as well, just as in English:

The old-fashioned word for отсюда in English is hence. Nowadays it is mostly used when discussing the source of a logical conclusion. The Russian word can be used the same way:

It is interesting how similar sounding words mean different things in different languages. I wonder how it came about. Maybe a long time ago a group of friends visiting a foreign land dropped a word in a conversation, while speaking their native tongue. The natives heard it, liked the sound of it and decided to adopt it in their language. However, because they did not know what that word meant, they came up with a whole different meaning for it.

Take for example батон. In Russian it means an oblong loaf of white bread. However in English button, which sounds similar, has a completely different meaning.

The word батон comes to Russian language from French bâton, which means stick, hence the elongated form of this particular bread loaf.

There can also be «батон колбасы» “sausage loaf/stick” or «батончик» a candy bar.

I remember when I first started learning English in primary school; I had this girl, Nastya, in my class. She was an “A” student and really good at languages. One time we were working on an exercise together and she decided to play a joke on me. She kept asking me different questions about батон, interchanging the meanings between English and Russian. Even though I knew what button meant in English, I kept falling for it. She would say:

When I, being gullible, would say “sure,” she would laugh and exclaim:

I wonder whatever happened to that girl...