Who is Rusky Ed? Why does he do what he does? What are his qualifications?
And why is his pronunciation of Russian words so atrocious? Rusky Ed doesn't provide
complete answers to these questions, but he does provide a few clues.
On his website ( ruskyed.com), Rusky Ed
provides many useful links, not only to over one hundred and sixty lessons teaching
the Russian language, but also a few links to pages that provide a little insight into his psyche.
One link, labeled "Spicy Details," provides a little information about Rusky Ed, but the details
are a little sketchy. In fact, it provides more information about the lessons he presents than
about the man himself!
We get a little more information from Rusky Ed's
MySpace page. There he indicates that he likes soccer, vodka, women, violent movies, books containing
pictures, and that he gets his news from Russia Today and
Pravda
(ПРАВДА). We also learn that Rusky Ed's zodiac sign is Scorpio
and that he is single. Additionally, there are a few blog entries on Rusky Ed's MySpace page that highlight a
few of his YouTube videos. Moving on to
Rusky Ed's YouTube
channel, we discover that Rusky Ed has uploaded over
one hundred and seventy videos and that his most viewed video is
"Rusky Ed's Alphabet Song"
with about thirty-seven hundred views.
Rusky Ed has a disclaimer prominently displayed on his YouTube channel that clearly states that
the information presented in his lessons is not one hundred percent accurate.
Further, Rusky Ed classified his YouTube channel as a comedy
channel and the description of each lesson indicates that it is a parody or a spoof. And yet Rusky Ed provides
a lot of value to learners of the Russian language. Not only does he present video lessons, but each video is accompanied
by a full lesson complete with sound files, written information, and an interactive quiz. Further, the lessons are brief
and to the point. Videos are usually under three minutes in length and lessons can be completed in less than
twenty minutes. Not only are Rusky Ed's lessons useful for English speakers attempting to learn Russian, but the
converse is most likely also true!
