Назовите Эту Птицу! (Name That Bird!) Posted by Rob on Jul 9, 2012 in language, Russian for beginners
Today, we’re going to get some sentence-reading practice as we play a round of that thrilling new шоу-викторина (“trivia-game show”), Назовите Эту Птицу! (“Name That Bird!”).
And without further ado, here’s the ведущая (“TV-show hostess, moderator”) of our show, direct from her sold-out concert appearances in Vegas! Дамы и господа (“ladies and gentlemen”), please put your hands, paws, or wings together and give a warm welcome for that superstar entertainer, the FABULOUS Мисс Жар-Птица (“Miss Fire-Bird”)!!!
[пауза для бурной овации со зрителей — pause for thunderous ovation from audience]
ЖАР-ПТИЦА: Thank you, спасибо! Howdy, folks — I’m the Жар-Птица! You may remember me from my starring roles in such classic fairytales as Иван и Серый Волк (“Ivan and Gray-Wolf”), which inspired Igor Stravinsky’s controversial modernist symphony The Fire-Bird. And, more recently, I’ve branched out into cabaret with “The Жар-Птица Sings Burt Bacharach” at the legendary Golden Nugget hotel/casino!
[пауза для аплодисментов со зрителей — pause for clapping from audience]
ЖП: Thank you… thanks, that means a lot! I suppose they picked me to host this show because I’m totally mythical, and imaginary creatures aren’t covered by Screen Actors Guild union payscales… so, to paraphrase an old Soviet joke, я делаю вид, что существую — они делают вид, что мне платят (“I pretend that I exist, they pretend that they’re paying me”)!
[пауза для смеха с записи — pause for recorded laugh-track]
ЖП: Now, I’m sure you all know the rules of the game. Here with us in the studio is a panel of six mystery guests, and we’ve electronically disguised their faces and voices. Each guest will give you clues to his or her identity, and it’s up to you to…
…Назвать Эту Птицу (“Name That Bird”)!!
ЖП: Naturally, all of our panelists will read their clues in Russian, but в целях помощи нашим иностранным зрителям (“for the purpose of helping our foreign viewers”), we’re providing “invisible closed captions” in English — select and highlight the yellow lines for the full translations, or simply “hover” without clicking if you want a few clues. However, all answers in the comments section must be given на русском языке (“in Russian”)!
And now, let’s get started with our mystery guests…
ПТИЦА № 1: Я по-настоящему “коренная” американка; не из Стамбула и не из Бомбея. А почему-то, и в России и в англоязычных странах, меня назвали безграмотные дураки без всякого понятия географии!
BIRD #1: I’m truly a “native” American — not from Istanbul, and not from Bombay. But for some reason, both in Russia and English-speaking countries, I was named by illiterate morons without any notion of geography!
ПТИЦА № 2: Везде говорится, что я трусливо прячу голову в песок при малейшей опасности. Но это чистая чепуха! На самом деле, я агрессивно защищаю гнездо и яйца, и пинаюсь, будто Брюс Ли!
BIRD #2: It’s widely rumored that I hide my head in the sand like a coward, at the slightest danger. But that’s pure baloney! The fact is, I aggressively defend my nest and eggs, and I can kick like Bruce Lee!
ПТИЦА № 3: Привет! Привет! Дай мне печенье! Я — прекрасная птичка! Приве-э-э-эт! Прекрасная птичка, прекрасная птичка, дай-ка мне печенье! Привет! [пауза] А я серьёзно… уже часа полтора назад я заказал печенье, и ещё жду! Блин, где же официант, блин?!
BIRD #3: Hello! Hello! Give me a cookie! I’m a pretty birdy! Hello-o-o-o! Pretty birdy, pretty birdy, give me a cookie! Hello-o-o-o! [pause] No, seriously — I ordered a cookie, like, an hour-and-a-half ago, and I’m still waiting! Where the heck is the freakin’ waiter?!
ПТИЦА № 4: Среди нас птиц, каждый ест по-своему. Тот кормится зёрнами и насекомыми; другой мышками или лягушками. А я больше всего люблю падаль — желательно тухловатую. (О, какой божественный от неё аромат!) Я сам живу в Египте, а у меня на Фейсбуке симпатичная подружка из Калифорнии — голова у неё совершенно лысая!
BIRD #4: Among us birds, each eats according to his own preference. Some feed on grains and insects; others on mice and frogs. But I love carrion best of all, preferably a little bit rotten. (Oh, it smells just heavenly…) I live in Egypt, but on Facebook I have a cute girlfriend from California — she’s totally bald-headed!
ПТИЦА № 5: Великий русский драматург увековечил меня в названии пьесы. Его звали “Антон Павлович”. А жаль что его фамилию я как-то не могу вспомнить, ведь благодаря ему, моё имя известно по всему миру!
BIRD #5: A great Russian playwright immortalized me in the title of a play. “Anton Pavlovich,” they used to call him… it’s too bad that I somehow can’t quite recall what his surname was; after all, thanks to him my name is famous the world over!
ПТИЦА № 6: Заткнись, хвастунишка — у меня тоже литературные связи! По вечерам, залетаю в самые экслюзивные клубы Лондона, тусуюсь с Винни-Пухом и Гарри Поттером!
BIRD #6: Put a cork in it, braggart! I have literary connections, too. In the evenings, I drop in at [by flying] the most exclusive clubs in London and hang out with Winnie-the-Pooh and Harry Potter!
* * * * *
ЖАР-ПТИЦА: Now that you’ve heard from all the mystery panelists, можете ли вы отгадать — кто они? (“can you guess who they are?”) As the rules said, we’re looking for the Russian names of the birds; but if you know the answers only in English, try using Wikipedia to find the Russian equivalents!
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Comments:
Minority:
What a fun post! I love it!
But there’re some mistakes:
* шкатулка с миниатюроЙ (миниатюра is a fem.gender)
* “голова у неё совершенно лыса!” – it’s not a mistake, but “лысаЯ” sounds a little bit better here.
* Антон ПавлОвич
* “А жаль что его фамилию я как-то не могу вспоминать” – you should use “вспомнить” here. Вспоминать means that you already recalled something. “Не могу вспоминать” may reffer to bad emotion about these memories, but actually the person remembers this thing.
And about birds…
1. индейка
2. страус
3. попугай
4. стервятник
5. Чайка (и Чехов)))
6. Сова
I’m not sure about couple of these birds… But let’s have a try
Rob:
Thanks very much for the corrections, Minority — I fixed the post! (And also put in a few vowel-stresses that I’d forgotten to mark.)
And you guessed all the birds, though for a few of these there may be more than one possible answer:
For #1, Minority gave the word for the самка [female animal], but we’ll also give credit if you know the word for the самец [male animal], even though the bird identifies herself as an американка.
For #3, Minority’s answer is undoubtedly the best-known example, but there are other bird species that can imitate human speech. We’ll accept the Russian names for these, too.
And similarly for #4, there are a couple of other possible answers besides стервятник that fit the bird’s clues. (Technically, an ornithologist might argue that the correct choice of word depends on whether the bird species is from Eurasia, Africa, or the Americas, but we won’t worry about that.)
Stas:
Very nice post, Rob. Very nice.
For #3 question. My professional field is far away from ornithology, however, I know that галки can imitate human speach. And I believe ворОны (crows) can too, at least to some extent, but вОроны (ravens) can’t.
Rob McGee:
Stas: I’m glad you liked the post! If I’m not mistaken, some species of сорока (“magpie”) are also known for imitating sounds of man-made origin (church bells, car horns, sirens, etc.) and in captivity can learn to imitate speech.
And I’m pretty sure that the майна (“mynah bird”) has this ability, too, although the mynah — according to Википедия — is more closely related to the скворец (“starling”), and is in not in the crow family, which includes ravens, jackdaws (галки), and magpies.
Russel:
>овации со зрителей
Зрительские овации или овации зрителей, “со” не нужно.
>аплодисментов со зрителей
Зрительские аплодисменты, аплодисменты зрителей.
>пауза для смеха с записи
Для закадрового смеха.