Chris Pinnock, Author of Learning Russian Verbs

This transcript was produced using AI tools, and the YouTube video has complete subtitles!

Len: Hi, I’m Len Epp from Leanpub, and in this episode of the podcast, I’ll be interviewing Chris Pinnock. Based in London or near London, Chris is an IT professional with a 25-year career in IT, telecommunications, and blockchain. He currently works at the Tezos Foundation, a Swiss foundation supporting the development of the Tezos blockchain. He runs the foundation’s mining infrastructure and the IT department. You can follow him on Twitter at @ChrisPinnock and check out his website at chrispinnock.com. Chris is the author of the Leanpub book Learning Russian Verbs. In the book, Chris helps you learn Russian by presenting verbs grouped by subject with very helpful conjugation tables. In this interview, we’re going to talk about Chris’s background and career, professional interests, his book, and at the end, we’ll talk a little bit about his unique approach to writing and publishing this book. So thank you very much, Chris, for being on the Leanpub podcast.

Chris: Thanks for having me, it’s great to be here.

Len: I always like to start these interviews by asking people for their origin story. So I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about where you grew up and your path into a career in cloud computing and technology.

Chris: Yeah. I think it’s a little complicated. I’ll try and keep it as simple as I can. I grew up—so I live in Essex, and I grew up near here. I was good at computing. I was relatively good at mathematics and did my A-levels in computing and mathematics. For whatever reason, I decided mathematics was what I wanted to do. I went to university, and three, four years in, I decided I wanted to do mathematics. That was it. I wanted to lecture in mathematics. I did a PhD, and at the end of the PhD, you’ve got to think about what you do next. The obvious thing to do is try and get a postdoc. I applied for one or two postdocs, but they were quite difficult to get. I ended up in a job doing Unix system administration at the college where I’d studied. That was a limited contract. About nine months in, I thought, “Well, I’ve got to start looking for something else.” An opportunity came along to go and do that in a telecommunications company.

So I joined the IP networking team, and this was like 24 years ago. Some of the technologies that you think of now were new, bleeding edge. We were selling what you can buy now for thousands of pounds a month. I worked my way up there to VP level. It took me a few years, and I ended up running the entire systems team. By 2011, I was Vice President of Systems, running all of the IT for this pan-European company that had a big network—good stuff.

Around 2015, I started to get a little bored of looking at the same things every day. So I went out and did some consultancy for a few years and ended up contracting. Then I got a call for this job at the Tezos Foundation. It was supposed to be two days a week running some IT on AWS. But when the job description came through, it was four pages of various other things. I thought, “Well, I’m going to take that.” And that’s where I’ve been for three and a half years. I’ve learned lots of new things doing that.

What I haven’t told you is rewind back to 2013. I was in Prague working at the telecoms company. I had done some movement of staff to the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, spending about three weeks every month in Prague. That’s where I met my wife. She’s Russian. So, purely by accident, I met my wife. We got married in 2015, and we’ve been together for about nine years. I decided it was a good idea to learn Russian—purely for practical reasons, as her family doesn’t speak English.

Len: That’s great. That’s a great story. I’ve got a couple of fun questions to ask you about that. The first one is: I used to live in London and studied in the UK. I always wondered what it would be like to be a student in London because there’s so much distraction and fun—so many interesting things to do all the time. Did you find being in a great city like that a distraction while you were studying?

Chris: Yes and no. I was quite a good student. I used to spend my summers reading notes and writing my own notes, almost to exhaustion. On a Wednesday, the combinatorics study group would meet. We’d meet at 2 o’clock, finish at 3 o’clock, and then go down to the Old Globe in Mile End. It doesn’t exist anymore, but we’d have a few drinks and talk about combinatorics, groups, and all these good mathematical things.

I remember several occasions where we finished our study and moved straight into these discussions. So yes, there are distractions, but some of them are part and parcel of academic life—socialization and intellectual discussion over a few drinks. I finished in three years; I handed in and finished the exam right at the three-year mark.

Len: Another version of a question that comes up relatively frequently on the podcast is: you studied mathematics, you got a PhD, and you went into computing and technology. Do you wish you’d studied computer science instead?

Chris: Well, when I was at A-levels, I was going to study computer science. But I had a really good mathematics teacher. He published papers but hadn’t handed in his PhD; he’d stopped for some reason. Later, he rectified it. He was able to explain mathematics very well. It’s something I’ve taken away from him—if you can explain the subject and put it into concepts people can relate to, it’s very helpful.

I still tell this story: I walked out of one of his lessons where he’d just taught us how to do differentiation. He taught us limits and everything. I walked over to my grandparents’ house, sat down, and explained it to my granddad that same afternoon. He was surprised that I could explain it. So, I had this very good teacher, and that was probably instrumental in why I chose mathematics.

But I always had computing at the back of my mind. We did a bit of computing as part of the mathematics degree.

Len: Before we move on to talk about the book, being able to explain things systematically and well is something your book obviously puts into practice. Before we get to that, can you talk a little bit about Tezos—what it is, how it works, what baking is, and what you do for them?

Chris: Tezos is a blockchain created by Arthur and Kathleen Breitman. It was originally developed with a focus on governance. You know, the NFTs you see, the artworks—they’re really smart contracts. Tezos has all those things, but Arthur wanted to make sure we could change the chain rapidly and have some kind of involvement.

The people that make the blocks are called bakers on Tezos. They’re called validators on other proof-of-stake chains. The bakers get to vote. You have to put a stake down to bake, and that’s Tez, the native coin. If you’ve got more Tez than someone else, you’ll get more votes and more baking opportunities. We vote on proposals, and the chain changes the economic protocol based on these votes. That’s the differentiator. It’s also been highly stable—we haven’t had an outage since inception.

I work for the Tezos Foundation, and we administer the fund from the fundraiser. Back in the day, people contributed Bitcoin, money, or other assets into a fundraiser and received Tez in return. We manage that fund and spend it on grants and investments to keep the chain going. For example, we’ll pay money to a wallet provider so there’s a Tezos wallet, or to an NFT provider so they have a functioning site.

The idea is that in five to ten years, when our money is gone, these things will be able to maintain themselves and carry on.

Len: For people listening who might be mystified, what’s the difference between a proof-of-work and a proof-of-stake blockchain?

Chris: That’s a good question. The thing about Bitcoin is that you’ve got to have a lot of compute power, and the reason for that is to prove your work. People often say it’s a complicated mathematical puzzle, but it’s not. What you’re doing is taking a block, hashing it, and changing a few values in that block to get a different hash. You’re trying to make the resulting number fit under a certain threshold.

As time goes on, the Bitcoin network lowers that threshold, which makes finding a block harder. If you and I put a computer on the network today, we’d be very unlikely to mine a block. It would take a lot of compute power and electricity, and there’s also an element of luck.

With a proof-of-stake chain like Tezos, it’s different. You have a stake, so your validator—or miner, as they’re often called—has a wallet connected to it with a security bond in the native coin. Based on how much stake you’ve got, you receive a number of slots. In those slots, you’re expected to produce blocks.

The only “naughty” thing you can do is produce two blocks in the same slot, which is called double baking. If you do that, the network notices, and you lose your bond. That’s why you stake. If you have two blocks, it splits the chain, which is undesirable.

On Tezos, you can bake with something as small as a Raspberry Pi. You don’t need massive compute power, which makes it environmentally friendly. There’s no fighting over who produces the block, and that’s a key difference.

Len: You mentioned that Tezos is like Ethereum. Can you write programs or applications in the network?

Chris: Yes, we have a Turing-complete language called Michelson. We also have three high-level compilers that compile down to Michelson. You can write smart contracts to do various things. For example, you can create an NFT that has a piece of artwork stored somewhere with an ownership record. If the NFT is sold or transferred, you can set rules so the original owner receives 10% of the transaction. That’s all written into the smart contract.

Similarly, you and I could create a contract that says if it’s called, the funds are split 50% one way and 50% another. These are the kinds of things you can write on the chain.

Len: Great, great. Just before we move on to talking about learning Russian, you mentioned that the money could be gone in five to ten years. I can’t let you go without asking about that—do you really believe that?

Chris: No, not exactly. The foundation has a fund, and we’re investing it. We’re planning for a long runway. But there’s always the possibility that something could happen where the value drops significantly. We are planning for the long term, but 20 to 30 years down the line, who knows?

What’s important is ensuring the Tezos chain is self-sustaining. Bitcoin, for example, looks after itself because it has a strong ecosystem and community. That’s what we’re aiming for.

Len: It’s such a fascinating time to be alive in so many different ways. There’s so much creativity and innovation in cryptocurrency and blockchain applications. It’s amazing to see all the different approaches and use cases out there.

Now, moving on to learning Russian—you mentioned your wife is Russian, and her family doesn’t speak English. What’s a better way to learn Russian than picking up a Penguin book like I did when I tried to learn some Russian for a trip to Kyiv?

Chris: There are several ways. If you go to a traditional school with Russian teachers, they’ll often focus heavily on grammar. My wife, who learned Czech in three months and has picked up Italian and other languages, is a very practical learner.

The key is to be prepared to make mistakes and encourage the people you’re speaking with to respond in Russian. You also have to persist. For example, I’m learning French now. I recently ordered steaks, and the server simply asked if I wanted them medium without bothering to try speaking French to me. But you just have to persevere and not get embarrassed about it.

Len: That’s interesting. I noticed the same attitude throughout your book. For example, you encourage readers not to be afraid to skip over things they don’t understand. You emphasize that language learning is a journey that takes time and practice. You even use a bodybuilding analogy—it’s like building muscles. You can’t just take a pill and expect to be strong forever; you have to exercise consistently.

Chris: Absolutely. You need repetition—repeat, repeat, repeat—and then repeat some more. Especially as you get older, if you put a language down for even two weeks, you have to pick it up again and put in the work. But the key is not to beat yourself up over mistakes, especially if you’re not taking a test. Most people are happy to help you and correct you as long as you’re polite and receptive. When someone makes a mistake in English, we don’t think they’re an idiot; we explain it and help them.

Len: One point you make in your book is that it assumes readers have already learned the alphabet. The Russian alphabet can look daunting at first for English speakers, but many characters map onto similar sounds. For example, words like “photograph” can be recognized fairly quickly in Russian.

Chris: Yes, to a degree. The modern word “photograph” is essentially the same in Russian, but there are other words that aren’t. I’m also working on another book on Leanpub about Russian handwriting, though I had to shelve it temporarily after breaking my arm. The Cyrillic alphabet comes from the Bulgarians, who based it on a mix of the Greek alphabet and other sources. You can trace the history back and see how certain letters evolved. For example, Russian has both a “v” and a “b,” which come from Greek where you had both versions.

Len: That’s fascinating. I’ve noticed that once you understand some Greek letters, like the “pi” for “P,” it’s easier to recognize certain patterns in Russian.

Chris: Exactly. Once you’ve dealt with Greek letters in mathematics, for example, it’s not a huge leap to recognize them in Cyrillic.

Len: You mentioned in the back of your book that you wrote a Go computer program to format the tables for verb conjugation. How does that work?

Chris: I originally wrote it in Perl, but Perl has some challenges with UTF-8, which is necessary for handling Cyrillic characters and accents. In Russian, you indicate stress with an accent, which can be tricky to manage programmatically. I was learning Go at the time and found it perfect for this task.

The way I set it up is quite simple. Each verb page in the book has a special format with nine lines that provide just enough information to conjugate the verb. The examples and any free text are included. Then I use a makefile to run a Go program on each one, which builds the tables. This approach allowed me to output the content as Markdown tables, which integrate seamlessly with Leanpub.

If I’d tried to do this manually in Word or another tool, it would’ve taken much longer. Automating the process with Go saved me a lot of time.

Len: That’s really interesting. Leanpub books are written in plain text using Markdown—or specifically, Leanpub’s version of Markdown called Markua. This makes it easy for technical users to generate and update content programmatically. For example, if you’re writing a book with tables or conjugation lists like yours, you can automate those parts instead of typing them out manually.

Chris: Exactly. All the tables in my book are generated automatically. The only time I had to intervene was for irregular verbs where the conjugation rules didn’t apply. Using Markdown and automating the formatting made it much easier to manage and update the book over time.

When I started writing this book, Markua was relatively new, and tools for creating EPUB and Kindle books weren’t as robust as they are now. You can create books with Pages or Word these days, but you’re still limited in terms of dynamic content, bibliographies, or cross-references. Writing in Markdown gave me full control over the structure of the book.

Interestingly, the first word processor I ever used, back in 1986 on a BBC computer, also used plain text formatting. You’d add stars around words to make them italicized or lines to underline them. I guess I’ve been working with Markdown-like systems for a long time!

Len: That’s a great point. Back in the day, typewriters used underlines to indicate text that should be italicized. You’d hand the document off to a typesetter who would make the final adjustments. Now, when you add asterisks to text in Markdown, it’s essentially the same idea—but you’re giving instructions to a computer instead of a person.

Chris: Exactly. That’s why I found Leanpub’s plain text system so effective. It allowed me to automate and focus on the content rather than formatting.

Len: You’ve been publishing this book in-progress on Leanpub. Did you have a specific approach to releasing updates, like publishing new chapters on a regular schedule?

Chris: Initially, I struggled with consistency. Last year, I started making serious progress, and this year I came across a book called The 12 Week Year. It explains how companies often rush to meet annual targets in Q4, so the authors suggest working in 12-week cycles instead. You set daily goals and focus on delivering within those shorter timeframes.

I adopted that approach to finish my book. For the last 12 weeks, I’ve been adding two verbs per day, reviewing them, and updating the book. My wife checks the verbs for accuracy and sometimes my Russian teacher helps as well. Every few months, I release an updated version of the book. By next week, I expect to have all the verbs drafted and reviewed. At that point, I’ll declare the book 90% complete, and I might even get it proofread or consider it finished. The best part is I can always come back and add more content later if needed.

Len: That’s a really interesting process, and I love hearing how you’ve structured it. I think I saw on social media that you’re aiming to finish the book by Christmas or the end of the year. That’s a natural target for a lot of projects.

Chris: Yes, that’s the goal. It’s been a productive year, and I’ve made steady progress. The 12-week system has been instrumental in keeping me on track. I think I’ll have all the verbs drafted by next week, and once that’s done, I’ll mark it as 90% complete. There’s still room for improvement and additions in the future, but it’ll be in a finished state for readers.

Len: It’s fascinating how authors approach the idea of a “finished” book, especially with Leanpub, where you can update the book anytime. I remember one author who left his book at 99% forever, thinking it was generous to let readers know he’d keep adding content. But some people started complaining, asking when the book would finally be “done.” He eventually marked it as 100% complete, even though he kept updating it.

Chris: That’s interesting! I can understand that. I’ve already decided not to include Russian verbs of motion in this book. They’re complex and would require at least another chapter to explain properly. There are about 20 verbs of motion, and I think they deserve their own book rather than being crammed into this one.

The key takeaway for this book is understanding the difference between imperfective and perfective verbs. If readers walk away with that knowledge, I’ll consider the book a success. Verbs of motion can be a separate, in-depth topic for another time.

Len: That makes sense. Sometimes it’s better to focus on a specific aspect rather than trying to teach everything in one massive book. A smaller, focused book is often less intimidating for learners.

Chris: Exactly. Breaking the material into chunks makes it more approachable. It’s also a classic way to teach and learn languages—one step at a time.

Len: One question I always like to ask authors on the podcast is: If there were one magical feature we could build for you on Leanpub, or one thing that has frustrated you, what would it be?

Chris: Good question. I think we’ve talked about this before—one of the reasons I’m not on the latest Markua version is the way tables are handled. In older versions, you could use tables to format text without requiring a header row or visible lines. I used that feature to lay out verb conjugations. I’m not sure if the latest version supports this, but if it does, I’d happily upgrade.

Aside from that, any time I’ve reported an issue, the team has been quick to fix it. The output quality is excellent, and the books render beautifully on Kindle and Apple Books. If anyone has an issue, I’d encourage them to email hello@Leanpub.com. The support is great, and you’ll get help quickly.

Len: Thank you for saying that! It’s always great to hear feedback from authors. At Leanpub, we try to read every email and prioritize fixes or new features. Sometimes an author requests something obscure, but if it’s important, we try to make it happen. I think we have a higher proportion of authors who are technical experts—blockchain specialists, PhDs in mathematics—compared to other platforms, which leads to really excellent feedback.

Chris: That’s great to hear. Honestly, the platform has been fantastic for my needs. The ability to use plain text and programmatically generate content makes the entire process so much easier. It’s a powerful system, and I’m glad to have been able to use it for this book.

Len: Well, Chris, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to me today and to share your experiences with the audience. Your book Learning Russian Verbs is fantastic, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to learn Russian. Your other book, Learning Russian Handwriting, is also a great resource. Both are excellent starting points for language learners.

Chris: Thank you very much for having me. It’s been great to be on the podcast. Leanpub is an amazing system, so keep up the great work.

Len: Thanks!