Russian Blog

In the light of the discussion that arised around my last post, I thought I might take today to clear a few things up as well as explain some linguistic peculiarities. After four years in Russia I’ve seen and heard a great deal of things, not all of them have made me happy and proud to be living here, to be able to have the amazing opportunity that I have been blessed with to study a beautiful language and an amazing literature, but some have. I think most people can relate to the problem of immigration, after all we’re living in a ‘global village’ these days. Personally, I see nothing wrong in wanting a better life. Mankind’s progress [including its harmful reverse side, of course] has been achieved because mankind has always [and will always be] dreaming of a better life and working for a better life. Leaving your country of birth in order to find that better life is something that a huge number of people have done, are doing and will do, and to some of them a better life can be found in Sweden or in the US of A, to others in Russia. But that’s not what matters – what matters is that you as a foreigner respect the fact that you’re living in another country, and try to learn its language, understand its culture and participate in its traditions.

One of my Canadian Russophile friends sent me a link to a little something called Russia! magazine. Do check it out, it's really interesting. I wonder if it's avaliable in stores in the states?

One of our readers, who signs his comments here as Stas, sent me a mail with the following link today: "Тест: Знаете ли вы русский язык?" [Test: Do You Know Russian Language?] He told me that he scored 7 out of the 8 questions right, something that, according to statistics, only 15% of Russians are capable of. The structure of the test reminded me of the sample questions from the ЕГЭ (Единный Государственный Экзамен) [Unified State Exam] that were published in my favorite Russian paper, Русский Репортёр, back in May, at a time when almost every schoolkid in Russia was trying their best to pass the two exams in Russian Language and Maths. At the same time their parents and teachers were screaming to the press that the test was pure abuse and therefore against the law, while universities threated to not pay any attention to its results anyway. For the fun of it, I decided to try my luck (and, I suppose, also my knowledge) and test my Russian...

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.

Some things are easy. When it comes to the verb «любить» [to love] it is no surprise that the noun to go with is no other than «любовь» [love]. Other things – not so much. It is not always uncomplicated to figure out which noun goes with which verb, and sometimes guessing is not recommended. The difference between the words «жалоба» [complaint] and «жалованье» [salary] is only big when translated into English, or any other language, but when faced with the two of them and the one verb «жаловаться» [to complain (of)] in Russian things tend to get complicated. This verb, of course, goes with «жалоба», but that can slip anyone’s mind since the verb that created «жалованье» is now very seldom used in colloquial speech: «жаловать» [to reward; to respect; to visit]. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve complained of poor service in many a respected Russian restaurant with the words: «У меня к Вам жалованье!» wanting to say ‘I have a complaint for you!’ but instead sounding very unfrightening with the words: ‘I have a salary for you!’

A while back I posted an entry with the title ‘The Russian Emotion: Sickness’ , but it seems that I left one way of expressing feeling under the weather unmentioned back then. One early morning last fall a Russian friend told me: «Ты выглядишь неважно.» That didn’t make much sense at all to me at first, since I thought she had just said to me: “You look unimportant”. Well, perhaps I wasn’t wearing a smart suit and it could be that I went too easy on the mascara that morning, but does that make a person look unimportant? I was, to say the least, puzzled, this leading to silence on my part and caused her to further develop our conversation on her own with a follow-up question: «Не заболела ли ты?» [You’re not sick, are you?] That was when I had myself a little aha-moment and answered: «Нет, не думаю, хотя горло немножко болит» [No, I don’t think so, even though my throat hurts a little]. What turned out to be the beginning of a cold was also the beginning of understanding the second meaning of the adverb «неважно» - unwell; not very well.

Russia is an enormous country. It is inhabited by millions of different people. Its history is colorful [to say the least], the culture exceptional and vivid, it is a country that has given many great artists, writers, thinkers, scientists [the list could go on and on] to the world, but never mind all that now, дорогие мои [my dear ones], because the time has come to narrow everything, all of that, down to one. One person to become «Имя России» [Name of Russia]. Or at least that’s the plan according to Russia’s Number One State TV-channel, appropriately named «(Телеканал) Россия», something they proclaim with a flashy banner on the main site going: «Исторический выбор 2008» [Historic Election 2008], and no, I suppose they’re not talking about picking Medvedev for president back in March. That was only about politics, but this election is more than politics – this is about picking one single person from all of Russian history to represent it, to give it a face, and yes, a name. Apparently, those red ‘cheburashkas’ («Чебурашка») that are going to be the symbol of Russia in Beijing during the Olympics next month are not enough. Obviously, this country feels the need for a mascot that’s a little less cuddly, and this might have been the reason for the vote that started out with 500 nominees, but was narrowed down to the 50 most voted for after June 12th. And yes, you can vote too, all you need to do is click here and pick your own favorite. And if you click on «рейтинги» you’ll find the top twelve, which, unless they fall out of favor that is, will go to the third round on September 1st. And who’s number one, if not Stalin? Well, I’m all for a less hug-able and snuggle-worthy Name of Russia (despite having a little soft ‘cheburashka’ dangling from my bag), but a… dictator?