Russian Language Blog

Wrapped up in a thrilling conversation in Russian (this also goes for in Russia) and feeling rather impressed with what someone else has just said, but at a loss for concrete words to express such notions, one does not always know what to say. Of course, you could always make the classical comment of «хорошо!» [good!], but isn’t that a little too boring, a little too ‘hey, I’ve just finished studying a year of Russian for beginners and I know how to say that and «с 1989 года я больше не являюсь членом партии по очевидным обстоятельствам»‘ [since 1989 I am no longer a member of the party because of obvious circumstances]? Why not try to spice up the chat with «отлично!» [excellent!] or «как интересно!» [how interesting!]. You could also go a little bit colloquial and say something like «здорово!» [wonderful!] (but make sure you don’t put the stress on the second o, and end up saying «здорово!», which is an informal way of saying hello. Especially in Siberia, said Dostoevsky back in 1855), or «классно!» [‘awesome!'] (you could also just shorten it to «класс!» [‘awesomeness']), and from there the road isn’t far to the well-known «супер!» [super!]. But we’re here to learn something new, now aren’t we? How about splashing and dashing the useful phrase of «ничего себе» around oneself in Russian discussions?

«Ничего себе, какой классный бывает закат солнца в Сибири временами!» [Not bad (at all) how awesome the sunset in Siberia is from time to time!] Though this sentence is a typical example of сугубо разговорный стиль [predominantly spoken language], I would still advice you to try and say something like it once in a while.

Thus we’ve come to the conclusion that the fascinating phrase «ничего себе», which should be translated as ‘nothing to oneself’ in English actually means ‘not bad; pretty good; pretty well’, and is a useful comment to make when something someone says impresses you. But in what kind of situations would that be really appropriate? Let’s learn from a couple of examples:

- «Вчера на улице я нашёл 5000 (пять тысяч) рублей, и наконец-то узнал, какой город на той бумажке – Хабаровск!» [Yesterday I found 5000 rubles on the street, and finally I found out what town is on that bill - Khabarovsk!]

- «Ничего себе!» [Not bad!]

- «Знаешь, я с мисс Мира этого года, которая русская и из Сибири, встречался в своё время, пока учился в институте.» [You know, I dated Miss World, who's Russian and from Siberia, back in the days, when I studied at the institute (i.e. went to college).]

- «Ничего себе!» [Not bad!]

- «В магазине сегодня яблоки по 35 (тридцать пять) рублей стоят! Спеши!» [Today apples cost 35 rubles in the store! Hurry!]

- «Ничего себе!» [Not bad!]

- «На следующей неделе будет 28 (двадцать восемь) градусов ниже нуля.» [Next week it's going to be 28 degrees (Celsius) below zero.]

- «Ничего себе!» [Not bad!]

- «В этом году снег был уже повсюду перед тем, как он выпал в России… Даже в Испании!» [This year snow was already everywhere before it started to snow in Russia... Even in Spain!]

- «Ничего себе!» [Not bad!]

- «Я сдал экзамен на пять!» [I got a five (A; the highest grade) on my exam!]

- «Ничего себе!» [Not bad!]

- «Ты что, удивляешься?» [What, are you surprised?]

- «Нет, ничего.» [No, nothing.]

Next time I think it’s high time to take a closer look at «нечего», which seems to be not too far away from «ничего», but that’s where one makes a huge mistake…

It seems that the people behind this weather service are not too familiar with Russian climate. (Or have their own special convictions regarding it.) I would advise them not exaggerate in this manner [since it might just hit -30 next week] but instead use a picture of a bear wearing a fur hat, holding on to a bottle of the trustworthy 40%…

Until I moved to Russia – and even more so after arriving in Siberia – I never knew the strength and power and glory of «колготки» [pantyhose; or just plain ol' tights]. This word is plural, and only in plural (perhaps because there’s two legs to each pair, or because it is just that – a pair – but hey, what do I know?), so the genitive form will be «колготок». In Russia tights can be a true life-saver. In my collection of tights I have tights for all kinds of weather. I could actually make f scale of my tights according to their ‘heat factor’ if I wanted to and had an extra 30 minutes. Tonight I woke up from being too cold, and I figured it was minus 20 outside, which would make the temperature in my dormitory room on the corner of the building about 10 above Celsius. Straight away, though hardly awake, I knew what kind of tights was needed. I got up and put on a pair under my pajamas pants – my choice was the next to warmest kind, because the warmest are so thick that it would make me sweat, and waking up sweating is almost as bad as waking up from being cold. I almost went back to bed after this, but then I remember something wise I had heard from old people – when it is cold, wear a hat. Because 80% of the body’s heat leaves through the head, wise old people have told me.

It is early in the morning and outside my window it is dark, but the snow is pure and white and new and sparkling in the glow from the street lights. I love early Russian winter mornings, when you walk through the new snow, when it is softly crushed underneath your shoes, and the white air that leaves your mouth looks like cotton candy, and everyone is cold and rushing somewhere long before dawn… And there’s ice and frost on the windows of the buses, and you can only see people in there through the wholes in the frost that they’ve made with the heat from their hands. And everyone’s wearing fur coats and fur hats and after a while you notice that you’ve got white frost on the tips of your eyelashes…

I love the Russian winter. This year it arrived one month later than usually, but that’s nothing, that’s alright, that’s okay – I’m all about forgiveness. Especially now that the snow is here!

Walking down Yekat’s answer to Moscow’s Arbat – улица Вайнера – I came upon these two t-shirts on an ad for a souvernir shop. The first one says: «Лето на Урале было! Но я в тот день работал» [There was summer in the Urals! But on that day I worked.] The second one says: «Екатеринбург любит тебя» [Yekaterinburg loves you].

The white t-shirt got me thinking of the popular ‘Russian reversal joke’ when compared with the very often seen type of t-shirts in the West with such sentences as “I [heart] NY”: In Russia you don’t love your city, in Russia your city loves you! As the ironic generation of the 70′s are growing up and slowly taking over the world, more and more popular becomes the tradition of showing your emotions ironically in the form of words on your chest. In Russia I’ve seen very many, for example «Наша Раша» [Our Rasha - after both the way 'Russia' in English is pronounced with a Russian accent, and the popular comedy show with the same name], «100% настоящий мужик» [100% real man], “No Sex Only Drink”, «Да, но не с тобой» [Yes, but not with you], and «Нам пох*й!» [‘We don't care!' paired with a print of a thick gold chain]. The last one was released as an answer from the rich new Russians to the current economic crisis, but have become everyone’s answer to everything. I don’t think there’s much difficulty as to see the reason for that…

What kind of funny or not so funny but nevertheless ironic t-shirts have you seen while in Russia?