Learning Russian In The News Posted by josefina on Jul 9, 2008 in language
Learning Russian is no walk in Gorky Park, something I suppose most of you are already more than well aware of. Often we talk about the difficulties of this language, we try to sort out verbs of motions and what not, but when was the last time you heard someone talk about how much fun it is? Because it is fun! Learning a new language is more than simply getting a new set of foreign words and grammatical rules, it is giving yourself another way of expressing yourself, new emotions to go with those new words, new jokes to make with the help of those grammatical rules. I have long suspected that the main reason as to why I spent so many hours slaving over my homework when I was studying «русский язык как иностранный» [Russian as a foreign language] in Omsk, Siberia, was because nobody laughed at my jokes. To make people laugh I had to learn how to be funny in Russian. (Yes, it took more time than just managing to say «Сколько стоит вон та булка серого хлеба?» [How much does that loaf of dark bread over there cost?] or «Можно воспользоваться вашим туалетом?» [May I use your restroom?] but it was definitely worth it!) With time you’ll come to know that the person you were when speaking Spanish back in school has nothing to do with the person who memorized Pushkin’s famous poem «Я вас любил». Speaking of funny, today I came across an interview with a teacher of Russian language as a foreign language , and especially her answer to the last one of the seven questions posed to her made me laugh out loud.
This is how Larisa Osipova answered question number 7:
Обычно на уроках иностранного языка бывает много курьёзов. [Usually in foreign language classes there are many funny situations.] Над чем вы в последний раз смеялись? [At what did you laugh most recently?]
Да, часто возникают сложности с буквальным переводом. [Yes, often occurs difficulties with literal translation.] Недавно мой англоговорящий студент перевёл слово «паб» — public house — как «публичный дом». [Recently my English-speaking student translated the word “pub” – public house – as “brothel” (‘public house’ means ‘brothel’ when translated literally into Russian)]. «Вы знаете, — говорит, — англичане так любят публичные дома: там они обсуждают очень важные проблемы. [“You know,” he says, “English people love their brothels so much: there they dicuss very important problems.”] Эти публичные дома так давно существуют в Англии, и мы их так любим». [These brothels have existed for so long in England, and we love them so much.]
I tried and I tried to figure out funny things like that, literal translations I made when just starting out learning Russian, but it seems my mind is blank today. Maybe someone else would like to share a funny mistake they’ve made, like the one above? (Or perhaps someone actually also made the mistake above?)
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Comments:
Dale:
For get problem translating between Russian and English. I am native English speaker and not sure what you mean by public house. What is a public house? we do not use the term in the USA or at least Ohio. Do you mean the public owned house of the Govenor or President? (example the White House) Or the low cost government owned houses for the poor? Or do you mean something else?
Dale:
I just did a google search and found out what is a public house. It is a bar or tavern or saloon or pub. Never hear the term public house, but pub is short for it. My earlier guesses were not even close to the meaning.
I thought this was a list for helping learn Russian. I guess it is also for learning UK English. ha,ha,ha
Stephen:
Two favorites:
I was buying a few things at the corner store in Moscow, during a B & B style home stay.
Продавщица мне сказала–(е)щё (при)ходите! А я усышал –ещё хотите? Так и ей ответил –Спасибо, нет! Она милая была. Улыбнулась, а надо мной не смеялась.
And this by an emigree teaching Russian at a New England College. Talking about alumni reunion weekend, she said, “А молодые выпустники с детьми все любят хвастаться тем, как богатыми становятся. Приезжают на кампус во своих больших ваннах (т.е. в фургонах–“vans”)
Dale:
Rest room or bath room in Russian is туалет, not ванная. (Do not count on the Oxford Dictionary to help with it. It is UK not USA English, no matter what they adv. the dictionary as being.) If not looking for the туалет but wishing to bath or shower, the bath room is ванная. Standing in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport and asking direction to the rest room or bath room using ванная will not get the directions you want. 🙂
Anonymous:
I once wrote to a Russian (ok, Russian-speaking Ukrainian) pen pal … “я писаю тебе письмо”… not realising of course that писаю is very different to пишу. I’m sure he got some fairly bad mental images before he corrected me 😉
Bruce Dumes:
My Russian teacher at UCLA told me that when she first took her PhD exams, she made a classic Imperfective/Perfective mistake.
Professor: Ты сдавала экзамен? Did you take the exam?
Student: Да, я сдала экзамен! She meant to say she took it, using the perfective to emphasize completion, but the perfective means “to pass an exam”, so she actually responded, “Yes, I passed”, to which the teacher responded:
Professor: Ты сдавала экзамен, но ты не сдала экзамен. You took the exam, but you did not pass the exam.
A sad story, but she eventually passed her PhD exam, so it was OK in the end. 🙂 I hope I wrote the Russian correctly in my story.