Not very often do we think about what are favorite words are. Not in our native languages, neither in the foreign languages we speak. I didn’t really think much about which Russian word I preferred for a long time. My American classmate here in Yekaterinburg told me a couple of weeks ago that her favorite Russian word is «Челябинск» (etymologically speaking it is not a Russian word, but it is a Russian city so we’ll let it slide, won’t we?). She motivated her love for this word by its softness; the English translation ‘Chelyabinsk’can hardly make any justice to it at all. It contains three soft vowels – е, я, и, plus one soft consonant – ч, and since that one comes right before a soft vowel it makes the sound twice as soft. Also in Russian phonetics the rule is that the consonant that comes before a soft vowel also becomes soft and thus it has an additional two soft consonants – л and б. The key to pronouncing soft vowels in Russian is to squeeze in a teeny tiny ‘j’ sound right after them (now my phonetics teacher would probably kill me for this far too basic explanation) and don’t be afraid the least if it comes out sounding a little bit like baby talk. The ‘baby talk’ effect is in matter of fact one of the many upsides to the Russian language’s softness. Russian is a romantic language, a tender language – one of the world’s softest language (and that’s why Pushkin cannot be translated!)

In the university where I study in Yekaterinburg there’s a «столовая» [canteen] where I always go for my daily dose of caffeine and pastries. Perhaps it is because I’m the only in this town to take my coffee black without sugar, perhaps because of my ‘foreignness’ – perhaps I’ll never know why but the lady who works there adores me and always tries to sneak some cream into my coffee when I’m not looking. Two weeks ago she asked me what my favorite word in Russian is. I was baffled at the sudden question and didn’t know what to say, so I said that my favorite Russian letter is «щ» (it is basically a softer version of «ш»). Then I pondered her question over my coffee and realized that my favourite Russian word contains all of my favourite Russian sounds «е», «щ» and «ё» – «ещё»! «Ещё» [still; else; also; besides; in addition; more; as long ago as; as far back as; as recently as; as early as] is a great word. Not only is the phonetics of it wondrous: it contains two soft vowels and one super soft consonant, which is (as displayed on the picture above) just a combination of a soft «с» (because it comes straight after the soft «е») and a soft sign «ь» and the soft «ч», making it okay to write an «о», just like in the graffiti above, since «ё» is really j+o. Get it? In addition to this miracle of softness, it is one of the most useful words in the Russian language (it’s as useful its antonym «уже»).

Saying «ещёбы!» [and how!; I should say so!; you can say that again!] is of course great stuff, but one can do so much more with this word!

For example:

«Ещё рано, Иван Петрович, посидим часик!» [It is still early, Ivan Petrovich, let’s ‘hang out’ for an hour!]

«Яещёнесмотрелэтотфильм» [I haven’t seen this movie yet.]

«А она ещё на скрипке играет!» [In addition she plays the violin!]

«Хочешьещёрюмочку?» [Would you like another glass (or perhaps ‘shot’)?]

«МывпервыебыливМосквеещёв 1982 году» [We were in Moscow for the first time as far back as in 1982.]

«Всёещётак, какбыловпрошломгоду» [It is all the same as it was last year.]

«ЯбыещёразпосетиламузейМаяковского» [I would visit the Mayakovsky Museum one more time.]

«НикогдаещёонинепутешествовалипоКиргизии» [Never before had they traveled around Kyrgyzstan.]