withteeth.fun

The Joy of Barely Understanding Foreign Media

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I think one of the biggest steps when learning a foreign language is transitioning from “learning” to “using.” And a big part of that switch is moving away from media made for learners.

Why would you want that? Partially because content for learners is usually not that good. Those books, shows, and games mostly just try to lump required vocabulary together until it resembles the real thing. And you probably want “the real thing” if you want to enjoy the language.

Zettelwerk

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve created a telegram bot that makes it easy to create Anki German flashcards on the go. If you’re studying German with Anki, check it out!

Escape to Istanbul: Log

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Day 5. 10.03.2022

A group of cool students let me stay with them for a week, so I’m leaving my friendly neighborhood hostel.

A snow storm ramps up, and miniature snowflakes are instantly melting when they hit the asphalt. To celebrate this, the cafe placed a personal heater under my feet. After figuring out how to say “1 coffee” in turkish, I was eager to whisper these words to get a cup of excellent cup of ground “kahve”, which I sampled last time here. Lord knows the reasons for this, but my words were interpreted as a wish for a cup of metallic-tasting instant “nescafe”. How a country, which cares deeply about this particular beverage, can do that to a human being is beyond me.

Allocating (dis)comfort

Wed, 02 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

If getting out of your comfort zone is so damn good for personal growth, why are comfortable jobs in big companies so popular? One reason could be that some people just seek maximum comfort. Another reason is that comfortable environments give space to focus on hard, uncomfortable problems.

Why focus on uncomfortable stuff? Discomfort is a sign that whatever you are doing, it’s new, it’s weird, you don’t understand it well. Which means that you can learn something new or discover something valuable here. And that seems like a good enough reason to value discomfort, even though discomfort by itself doesn’t guarantee results.¹

Errors in learning Chinese, 2 years in

Fri, 02 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Mandarin Chinese is the first foreign language I’m learning by myself, and I’m surprised there are so few universal best practices. Resources with hacks and tricks(like http://hackingchinese.com for Chinese) are a great starting point, but they still leave room for delusions.

Here are some of mine.

You have to master the language before using it

When travelling in China in 2019, I didn’t talk to people as much as I wanted¹, because I was afraid to “fail” a dialogue, making people uncomfortable. But in my experience, nobody cares if you don’t speak perfectly. More than that, if you’re positive and respectful, then even a dialogue where both sides fail to understand each other is often mutually amusing. Still, I have to suppress the fear of fucking up when talking to strangers in Chinese. Those who can suppress that fear, have a crawling, mumbling baby advantage of failing fast and learning faster.

Tasks and Stories

Sun, 31 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

By thinking about tasks, we automatically create stories about them. When planning to cook, we imagine the components, the efforts, the look and taste of the final dish. A set of events with emotional peaks and valleys. A story. Unconsciously, by default, we feel that the more exciting a story is, the more important its task.

This doesn’t cause much trouble, except when we perceive an unimportant task as important, only because its story is exciting.¹ These deceivingly important tasks are getting stuck in your head and prevent you from focusing on truly cool stuff. What can you do about them? Well, you can try making the task’s story less thrilling(like by removing the emotional reward²), but trying to fight the narratives can be time consuming or impossible. While just being aware of stories that drive your actions, is the most powerful way of being disenchanted by them.

Gotta light?

Thu, 02 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Made for “Weekly Game Jam - Week 55”. Theme: “Got a match?”.

Muscle Mass

Sat, 07 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Small Flickgame about a man who was fond of iron. Created in several evenings of rigorous drawing and redrawing of frames.

Art installation for GAMMA festival

Sun, 01 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Designed interactions, integrated multiple analog & digital systems, optimized liquid simulation.

Tower Of Nam

Fri, 26 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Short game set in 1975 Vietnam.

All sounds(except rain sample) created with PO-32 synth.

HTC Vive VR game for an escape-room.

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

A VR game for HTC-Vive, created as part of an escape-room experience in Saint-Petersburg. VR space was precisely mapped to the geometry of a real room, making every virtual object feel tangible.

Coded game logic, designed interactions, managed a remote 3D artist.

Monastery Photogrammetry

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

SpheraVR studio photogrammetry project, that I’ve been involved with.

We’ve spent the whole night locked in a local, Saint-Petersburg monastery with several photographers, shooting every inch of the huge, two-storied space. After that, we’ve embarked on a months-long journey of generating hi-poly meshes, cleaning them & assembling into a coherent virtual location, as a GearVR app.

Sadly, even though the app was completed, it was never released on GooglePlay(or anywhere else).

Unbelievable Deals Of Loving

Tue, 13 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Game about trying to attract your forgotten family members to your apartment by buying cool stuff on tv-shops.

Created for LD37 Jam in 72 hours. Game design & programming by me. Art by Anastasia Prokofyeva aka Mifmorerak.

Моя улица-2016/My Street 2016

Wed, 01 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Small WebGL project for Esquire magazine, created with Unity3D.

Roundle

Sun, 01 May 2016 00:00:00 +0000

A 2D mobile time killer, created with Unity3D. Coded the whole thing by myself & designed difficulty progression. The game was released on the AppStore and GooglePlay.

Hey

Thu, 10 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Created with Unity3D from scratch for “MiniLD 65” game jam in 72 hours. Participated in creation as a programmer and a designer.

Outdrive

Mon, 01 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Endless synth-wave racing game, released on Steam in 2016. Participated as as Unity developer, coding gameplay logic.

Rebel Dancer

Thu, 10 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Created with Unity3D from scratch for “Ludum Dare 34” game jam in 72 hours. Participated in creation as a programmer and a designer.

The Man Who Fears

Tue, 01 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Short story game about dreams, failures and online simulations. Whole project created by me with Unity3D.

Shotgun Breeze

Wed, 01 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Created entirely by me with Unity3D from scratch for “Multijam Ultra” game jam in 48 hours.

Tochka Banking App

Mon, 01 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Co-programmed iOS bank app, closely collaborating with server-side team, management and remote UI designers. It’s ranked as the best mobile bank for small business in Russia by analytical agency Markswebb Rank & Report in 2015, 2016 & 2017.

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

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